Friday, April 29, 2022

Thursday 28th April

Greger departed yesterday for England and the Fully Charged Show in Farnborough, with instructions to me to indulge in "unfettered birding" while he's away. Right!

Although it felt a mite early for a pelagic, blue skies and sunshine tempted me into making a snap decision with little time to spare. In spite of the low temperature and even if there were few birds to see yet, a day spent at sea is always enjoyable; so I speed-walked down to the harbour and bought a return ticket for the ferry.

Two schools of porpoise were seen in the distance, and two gannets were my first for the year - likewise two kittiwakes. I thought I glimpsed a pair of puffins but they dived and disappeared.

All too soon we were approaching Stornoway - and looking back along the ship's wake I spotted a white-tailed sea eagle; even this mighty bird is dwarfed by the immensity of sky and sea, and it could hardly be seen without bins.


The eagle veered in towards land and a number of birds went up - including geese.


A great black-backed gull was also involved, but I couldn't see exactly what was going on. Then the ferry turned in towards the harbour and I lost them.

As soon as the ferry docked, a hooded crow flew onto the deck.


I wondered what it had its beady eye on - and the next moment I found out, as it swooped down and landed on the back of the seat on which my rucksack was sitting. Could it smell my lunch?

Seen in Stornoway harbour: herons, a red-throated diver, a small unidentified raptor, a probable swallow, two Iceland gulls, and a bunch of canoodling black guillemots.



Back on board, there was no sign of the hoodie, but as we set sail again I spotted it following us; it alighted up in "the rigging" - though what became of it after that I don't know as I turned my attentions back to sea-watching. 

As is sometimes the case, things cheered up a bit on the return voyage. Scanning with the bins I spotted a Manx shearwater cruising low over the waves and then banking to show the very white, dark-bordered underwings - first time I've seen this.  On my second sighting (I think it was a different bird) I zoomed just a little and then clicked off into its general direction. Enough for a record shot, anyway.


Two fulmars were my first for the year. There were now quite a few puffins on the water, almost all of them paired up; it was hardly a rough sea, but the waves were big enough to hide these tiny birds.


I'm trying to map the Summer Isles - by looking at them from both the land and the sea; and I'm not making much headway. Beyond this island, with what you would think would be a distinctive arch, can be seen Tanera Mor, currently being developed by its rich owner into an exclusive holiday destination - and beyond that, the hazy outlines of Suilven and Canisp. Should be easy enough to line these up on a map and then identify the island (although it doesn't help that I initially identified the hills as Quinag!). Hmmm.


Back in Ullapool, I noticed this immature great black-backed gull, and zoomed in to investigate further.



Sure enough, something has pierced the gull's throat - something it was in the process of eating, I suppose.  LATER: It might be an oral fistula, with the tongue protruding through it. This reminds me of a photo on Portland Bird Observatory's website some years back, of a great black-backed gull with what at first glance (I didn't have my glasses on) looked like a fishing float. It was actually the head of an oystercatcher.  A rather grotesque and Alien-style ending to what had been an exhausting but enjoyable day.

// posted by Christine @ 2:54 AM
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