New Quay part 2

I cannot think of a better way of spending a summer's day than sitting on the seawall at New Quay in Wales and watching the Bottlenosed Dolphins.
Land-based cetacean-watching often means long hours spent on remote headlands staring though a telescope at a featureless ocean in the hope of sighting distant fins or maybe a blow from a whale. But at New Quay even the casual observer without binoculars can get good views of dolphins.
The following photos were all taken from the seawall at New Quay. I'm posting a few extra photos because I know that many dolphins are known individually by their fins and that researchers, such as those at the Sea Watch Foundation, can find such data useful.
Dolphins are indescribably beautiful, so I won't try. No captions required.

I was thrilled that one of my dolphin photos appeared on Autumnwatch Unsprung last year!

New Quay part 1

Late last August I spent a day in the lovely seaside town of New Quay in West Wales with the aim of photographing some of Cardigan Bay's resident Bottlenosed Dolphins.
The sun was cracking the flags when we pulled into the carpark early in the morning; conditions were perfect for a spot of land-based dolphin watching. But, initially, other wildlife was to distract me from photographing my target species.
While obtaining my parking ticket I noticed a small flock of House Martins flocking around the window of a house adjacent to the car park. Not one to resist a photo opportunity, I grabbed my DSLR off the car's back seat and positioned myself below the window. Surprisingly, there was no sign of any House Martin nests on the building, so I thought the birds must have been exploiting a feeding opportunity. But there was no evidence of any potential prey such as insects around the window. The birds would swoop up to the window, hover, then swoop back towards the sea. I have no idea what they were doing and the sight of distant dolphin fins breaking the water of the bay precluded me from staying for more than a few minutes. But I did manage a few record shots of the martins in flight.

 But there were insects near the car park; butterflies in fact. A number of species were making the most of the sunshine, including Small Tortoiseshell and a Painted Lady. The latter was the only butterfly of that species that I saw last year. It was quite a tatty individual, but they are long-distance migrants and are always a joy to observe, so I had no qualms about photographing this battered insect.

We made our way through the throngs of summer holiday makers down to the harbour, where we found a suitable spot on the harbour wall and settled down for a day's land-based dolphin watching in the sun.
While the resident Bottlenosed Dolphins were our main quarry, the presence of numerous species of seabirds were an added distraction. The Herring Gulls were easily tempted close by our picnic. A juvenile Herring Gull provided me with one of my favourite flight shots of the year.

 But gulls were not the only seabirds to be seen. Gannets could be seen diving in the distance; clearly the fish that support the dolphins in this area are also dinner for a variety of birds. The mini-albatross that is the Fulmar swept past on stiff wings and moulting Sandwich Terns were also seen.

A pair of juvenile Shags drifted past on the current and were eminently photographable.

And the seawall also provided rich pickings for a Rock Pipit, but the midday sun was a bit harsh for decent photography.

A great wildlife day was unfolding and then the dolphins appeared close inshore. But those photos will appear in New Quay part 2!

Year List 2015

All naturalists keep lists. And birders are among the most prolific list keepers; county lists, life lists, British lists, local patch lists, the list goes on!
When I was more of a twitcher my year list was second only to my British list. A year list is a record of all the birds seen in Britain in one year and keen birders can, with a bit of effort, see over 300 species in one year. As a birder who only occasionally strayed out of Northwest England and North Wales my list was of more modest proportions; anything over 200 species was a good year. These days I keep a year list more as a record of what I have seen, and as an incentive to seek out those birds that I missed in previous years.
Last year was a particularly quiet birding year for me as I moved house and my spare time was quite limited. And I  therefore missed species that occur quite regularly such as Mediterranean Gull and Barn Owl.
But the beauty of  the New Year is that the list starts anew and all birds no matter how common are all welcome additions to the overall tally. But don't get me wrong here, birds are far more to me than just ticks and numbers! It is just a fascinating way of recording variations between years. For instance I have already seen a Little Egret this year, a bird that I twitched in Wales in 1987!
New Year's day is a great time to get out and observe the local birdlife and I used to plan my day like a military campaign to maximise my sightings. But these days I am more leisurely, after all there are another 364 days to catch up on gaps in the list. Also, I am currently training for my next marathon, so there is even less time for birding. Having said that I did see my first pair of Goldcrests for the year while out on my New Year's day run. I was crossing a bridge over the River Dee in Chester when I heard their high pitched calls emanating from a small tree. I stopped briefly to observe these tiny birds, before continuing on my way, but not before I had also seen my first Cormorants of the year fishing on the river's weir.
New Year's day itself was a bit of a washout due to the incessant rain, but the highlight was definitely the pair of ring-tail Hen Harriers seen over the marsh at Parkgate. Although I ended the day on a meagre 30 species.
I was in work on Friday, but did add Blue and Great Tit to the list.
Saturday dawned grey and very wet, but my morning run did produce two Jays and my first Long-tailed Tits of the year. My back garden remained in the winter shade all day, resulting in dull photos of the flocks of Starlings and House Sparrows. A brief spell of sunshine in the late afternoon allowed better photos of a Woodpigeon perched on a street light behind my house.

I decided on Sunday that my list required the addition of some quality birds so I went in search of three Black-necked Grebes that had been seen on Shotwick boating lake just over the border in Wales. Although in winter plumage these scarce birds were a real treat, and despite being viewed through a fence I was able to take some "record" photographs. The adjacent field also held four species of swan; Mute, Whooper, Bewick's and Black! Naturally, the latter being an escapee didn't make it onto the list.

 

Look back at 2014

2014 was a busy year for me, unfortunately not due to wildlife watching! I moved house in June and this had a massive impact on my free time; my new house still isn't quite straight yet. I did get out and about when I could but time long trips was limited so I am glad I got to Cyprus before I moved, although I still haven't had time to edit those photos yet either! (Cyprus blog post coming soon, hopefully).
Like a lot of birders I don't twitch as much  as I used to, but maybe that is not a bad thing. But a mega rarity in the form of a Buff-bellied Pipit just down the road at Burton Point proved irresistible and this LBJ showed well at times.

This was a quality year-tick for 2014 as I had seen the bird at the end of 2013 when it was first found.

Cetaceans were also a dominant theme of my wildlife trips last year. A trip to New Quay in Wales in August produced some stunning land-based sightings of Bottlenosed Dolphins, including a mother with her calf. (another blog post in the pipeline!)

While much further north in Northumberland, I went on a boat trip in search of White-beaked Dolphins. Sadly this species wasn't seen on my trip but two Minke Whales and a cetacean life-tick in the form of Atlantic White-sided Dolphins close to the boat more than made up for missing the target animals.

The beginning of summer also coincided with Autumnwatch's 100 days of nature; a challenge to encourage people to attempt to photograph wildlife every day in the run up to last year's Autumnwatch. And this certainly prompted me to get outside with my camera; the results of which are still on my twitter feed @keithscovell3
One of my many highlights of this challenge was a visit to Arnside Knott in Cumbria where I photographed the scarce High Brown Fritillary. My dolphin with calf photo also made it onto Autumnwatch Unsprung!

Closer to home a record number of Pinkfooted Geese, (45,000!) were recorded at Martin Mere in Lancashire, where I was able to witness a remarkable avian spectacle on a par with any starling murmuration.

There was only one very brief cold snap in December and I was lucky enough to be at Leighton Moss RSPB when up to four Otters could be seen running and playing on the ice; truly magical!

 

Dolphin Watching in the Farne Deeps

Last Saturday (13th) my friend Jane and I drove to Northumberland. We were booked on a trip with North Sea Pelagics who take their fast rib boat 20 miles offshore with the aim of observing White-beaked Dolphins.
Our small group assembled in the carpark of picturesque Beadnell Bay, where a film crew were photographing our tour leader Doctor Ben Burville. Ben appeared last year on the BBC's Countryfile programme with John Craven who undertook the same trip as us and had great views of the dolphins, so hopes were high. The tractor towed the rib to the water's edge and we clambered aboard. We decided to occupy the front seats so we could spot anything directly ahead of the boat. Although people at the front of the rib experience more of the bouncing motion as the boat skims over the waves we were undeterred, and enjoyed the roller-coaster ride!Conditions were excellent with a sea state of only 1 to 2, and the early morning fog had mostly dissipated by lunchtime.
The trip to the "Deeps" takes about 45 minutes but there were plenty of seabirds to keep us occupied, including many winter-plumaged Guillemots, Razorbills and the occasional Puffins without their bright summer bills. Fulmars and Gannets were numerous as well.

 

Then ,along with another passenger. I spotted a falcate fin breaking the surface and the unmistakable profile of a Minke Whale! The rib slowed to halt and we spent a short time with this magnificent animal ensuring everyone got a good view while being careful not to cause any disturbance. It was definitely a tricky game trying to predict where it would surface again. At one point it surfaced quite close to the rib and we were treated to a shower of its stinky breath! Interestingly, this whale had a distinctive notch cut out of its dorsal fin; perhaps a close encounter with a ship's propeller or maybe a close shave with an Orca?

 



After this fabulous encounter we continued on our way to where we hoped to see the White-beaked Dolphins. We constantly scanned the calm sea for the tell-tale splashes of dolphins and closely monitored the activities of the seabirds; a flock of circling and diving Gannets is often a sign that cetaceans are in the area. And wow! How amazing are Gannets when they dive!
Soon we saw a flock of Fulmars feeding on something in the water, and even appearing to stand on the waves! We edged the rib closer and discovered what was attracting these "mini-albatrosses"; a dead dolphin! And they were standing on the corpse ass they fed.  It was a large animal with most of its guts showing and its skull almost devoid of flesh. This unfortunate animal was identified as a White-beaked Dolphin; not the view I had hoped for. After a few photos of the Fulmars we beat a hasty retreat from the putrefying stench.

Another Minke was seen by some of the group but it was more distant than the first. We continued on our journey and soon reached the "Deeps". The engine was cut and we scanned the calm waters.It's amazing to be that far out at sea with no sign of land, and not even any other vessels to be seen. Conditions were perfect for viewing cetaceans; if anything at all had broken the surface we would have seen it. But, alas, nothing was seen. We scoured the area, and closely monitored the Gannets to see if they had found any fish shoals. But, unfortunately, there were no large flocks of seabirds and, sadly, no dolphins.
Although some of the Gannets did make sweeping passes of the boat providing fabulous views and a chance to test our skills at aging these magnificent seabirds. Additionally, we saw good numbers of juvenile Kittiwakes which were carefully scrutinised in the hope of finding a Sabine's Gull.

We made our way slowly back and were very fortunate to find another confiding Minke Whale that provided another photographic challenge in the dull evening light.

The sun was getting lower in the sky and it was time to head for the shore. But our ever vigilant group did not give up hope.
And then there they were! A pod of dolphins in the dusk! The group of maybe a dozen animals swam adjacent to the rib, with some even riding the bow wave! Amazing! Everyone on the rib was ecstatic with high-fives, whoops and cheers all around. But, wait, these weren't the expected White-beaked Dolphins. They had pale lateral flank stripes that were clearly visible when they leapt from the water despite the fading light. Photography was difficult in the evening gloom but record shots were taken which later confirmed the species as Atlantic White-sided Dolphin; a species I had never seen before! Very unexpected, but that's the beauty of wildlife.
A tired but very happy crew made their way back the sandy bay at Beadnell, where we said our thank yous and goodbyes. And no doubt we were all planning our next northern pelagic as soon as we left the carpark!

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