Greenish Warbler and Franklin's Gull up North!

With Greenish Warbler being a predominately east coast bird that rarely makes it across to the north west, I was still yet to see this charming autumn migrant despite many visits to Spurn and other east coast localities during September. Therefore, when an individual in Cleveland developed a pattern of showing well in a small patch of trees during the week and on in to the weekend, it provided the perfect opportunity to finally catch up with this much needed autumn warbler.

With Alex only having previously seen very brief views of a Greenish Warbler before a number of years ago, he decided to drive the 2 ½ hour journey to take us up to the north east, the very real prospect of the adult Franklin’s Gull in Northumberland making a reappearance during the day firmly at the back of his mind!

Arriving at Saltburn and heading east along the cliff top path beside the Ship Inn pub, we were soon looking straight in to the dell that the Greenish had been favouring, the bird immediately on show in the small Sycamore saplings directly below and giving absolutely amazing views as it flitted between the leaves.

Similar in size and structure to an Arctic Warbler or Chiffchaff, we could clearly see the single white wingbar on the wings along with the broad white supercilium, differing from the often similar Arctics by having it extending through on to the forehead.

Watching this spritely individual for well over an hour, it appeared to stick to just the one tree filled hollow, not venturing out of this area during our time there and working its way back and forth between the bushes.

The small section of bushes in the dell the Greenish Warbler was favouring

Having not checked our phones whilst watching the Greenish, I was therefore pleasantly surprised to see the Franklin’s Gull had made a reappearance an hour earlier at Whittle Dene reservoirs, just under an hour and a half further north from where we currently were.

The beautiful views from Saltburn!

With Alex driving, he made the decision that we should try for the double, heading north up the A1 with our arrival time estimated to be nearly 6pm. With the Franklin’s Gull heading off to roost at around 7pm the previous day, this gave us around an hour’s window to connect – it could prove tricky especially if the bird was mobile. Then, disaster struck – being literally 5 minutes away from the site and travelling down the winding farm lanes heading towards the reservoirs, news came on that there was no further sign – nightmare!

Not giving up and spotting a mass of gulls congregating in a ploughed field, all dive-bombing the freshly turned soil behind the tractor in the search for unearthed invertebrates, we trawled through the numerous Black-headed and Common Gulls in the hope of spotting the Franklin’s.

After several sweeps through the scope and with hundreds of gulls getting up from the neighbouring field and flying off towards the reservoirs, we headed east to see if the Franklin’s Gull had returned to the field it had been seen in yesterday evening. Walking along the reservoir track and dodging the hundreds of mozzies buzzing around our heads, again we were met with the sight of lines upon lines of gulls, clearly gathering in a pre-roost.

The picturesque evening light over Whittle Dene Reservoirs

With no sign of the Franklin’s in with the hundreds of Black-headed and Common Gulls, a stroke of luck saw a birder running down the track towards us, arms flailing in the air to get our attention and shouting madly. This could only mean one thing – Franklin’s!

Immediately, the 10 or so gathered birders, me and Alex included, legged it down the path, rushing over the fence and setting up our scopes on the opposite field, faces flushed and hearts pumping furiously.

Squinting through the scope, finally we had our prize – one smart looking winter plumaged Franklin’s Gull happily strutting along the clods of earth and picking at any morsels disturbed in the soil.

Much smaller than I had expected and with the head pattern much more subtle than I had imagined, zooming in revealed a number of diagnostic features to confirm the ID. The thick white crescent shapes above and below the eye were clear to see, as was the slightly darker mantle and blackish bill. The head pattern was also a giveaway from the Black-headed Gulls, being much more extensive and forming a large dark black patch behind the eye and up on to the head.

With the Derbyshire bird in 2010 being before my time and with all subsequent Franklin’s Gulls in recent years being just a touch too far away in Hampshire and Essex, it was great to finally catch up with this Yankee rarity.

Not being a huge fan of gulls personally (they all look the same!) I had to admit that I did especially enjoy the Franklin’s – the thrill of the bird being there against the odds when it looked like we would dip (as well as the relief that we wouldn’t have to shell out for a hotel to stay over and try again the next day) made it, along with the Laughing Gull at New Brighton, one of the more memorable gull twitches!

Alex's Franklin's Gull video

Having scored with both our targets, we headed back to Cheshire happy and content, having secured great views of both birds after what was hopefully the start of a promising and fruitful autumn. 

Lindisfarne Helleborines!

Out of 50 species of orchid that regularly occur in Britain & Ireland and having been on a quest to see them all for the past 8 years, I had finally got down to just one species left to find – Lindisfarne Helleborine.

Endemic to just the small island of Lindisfarne off the north Northumberland coast, this unobtrusive and at first glance relatively plain looking orchid is in fact rather special – it grows nowhere else in the world and is restricted to just a few dune slacks towards the western edge of the island. With plants quickly going over if the weather is particularly hot, as soon as I got word that the Helleborines were in flower I arranged a day off work so we could travel up to see this British speciality. Usually flowering at the start of July, the particularly wet season meant that this year they were several weeks late – just coming into their peak on the third weekend of the month.

With Lindisfarne cut off from the mainland during high tide, we had arranged overnight accommodation nearby ready for a morning crossing, and meeting one of the wardens on site at just after 11 we were led through the dunes and to the outskirts of the colony. 

To prevent trampling and destruction of the site due to curious orchid hunters searching for the plants, the wardens led us to a small group on the edge of the dune slacks where about 7 plants were in flower, the aim being to preserve the main colony and allowing those interested to admire and photograph the orchids to their hearts content.

Spot the Helleborines!

Similar to the closely related Dune Helleborine in both looks and habitat, DNA testing confirmed that Lindisfarne Helleborines are indeed separate and worthy of full species status. With around 200 flowering plants on the Snook (a section of the island) and growing nowhere else in the world, their existence could potentially be precarious - habitat degradation or severe flooding may prove disastrous for this isolated colony.

Whilst the abundant Early and Northern Marsh Orchids scattered across the dunes were already over, the Marsh Helleborines also on site were in prime condition, creating a beautiful carpet of white frilled flowers across the wetter dune slacks.

As the tide was fully in over lunchtime rendering the causeway flooded and unpassable until after 5pm, this presented an opportunity to explore the rest of the island, with several Grey seals, a colony of nesting terns across the bay and a female Eider with her fully young in tow all notable highlights as we walked to the castle.

Lindisfarne Castle

Lindisfarne Priory

The causeway!

With an 8 year long quest now completed and having seen and photographed all of the regular flowering orchids in Britain & Ireland, this now just leaves the almost mythical Ghost Orchid to track down deep in the Herefordshire or Chilterns woodlands – no small task by any means!

Scilly Pelagic Magic - Wilson's!

Wilson’s Petrel – an elusive and enigmatic seabird that evades the vast majority of British birders during their lifetime, unless of course they’re prepared to make a lengthy pilgrimage to Cornwall each summer and spend time exploring the vast seas surrounding the beautiful Scilly Isles in search of seabird gold.

With Bob Flood, Joe Pender and the rest of the crew on board the now famous ‘Sapphire’ having well and truly mastered the art of tracking down these mysterious petrels, their Scilly Pelagic boat trips have a high success rate during summer weekends, often attracting up to 4 or 5 birds to the boat at once.

Having experienced 3 pelagics last August, but with no luck on the Wilson’s Petrel front (it was a very late year for them last year), this August again saw us make our way down to Penzance ready for the Scillonian crossing the next morning. Stopping off en-route to admire the long staying Dalmatian Pelican that’s been spending its time loafing at Restronguet Creek and the surrounding Cornish coastline for the past 3 months, we eventually had relatively distant views as it lifted up its head to show the magnificent yellow bill and confirm our suspicions as to the ID (it was asleep at first and looked like a giant washed up buoy!).

The 'rancid' Pelican!

Having been tracked from Poland, Germany and France, only time will tell if this bird is accepted on to Category A of the British List!

Restronguet Creek

Arriving at St Marys on Scilly the next day, we had plenty of time to explore the island before our first of three pelagics on Monday night, taking in the beautiful beach scenery that St Marys has to offer and soaking up the sun. Unfortunately we didn’t find anything of note at either Lower or Higher Moors throughout our week on the island, several Snipe and a smattering of Common, Green and Wood Sandpipers being the best we could muster. 

With the moss and lichen coated trees and hidden marshy groves, it wasn’t hard to imagine the plethora of American vagrants the area has undoubtedly held in autumns gone by.

A Knot Grass Moth caterpillar that we found on the boardwalk at Lower Moors

With Monday night’s pelagic sadly not featuring any of the large Shearwaters or our much sought after Wilson’s, we settled for point blank views of around 40 European Storm-petrels whizzing around the boat at top speed. A nice Long-tailed Skua that we watched approach the boat from being just a spec in the distance to flying overhead was also a bonus, as were the two Blue Sharks that were caught and tagged as part of the on-going research programme in to their distribution in British waters.

The beautiful Scilly scenery

Friday evening (and our next pelagic) soon dawned rough and stormy, a huge weather front from the west blowing in with ginormous waves forecast and winds in excess of 50mph! Certainly not ideal sailing conditions, and whilst the Scillonian had been cancelled due to the ferocious weather, in complete contrast we headed out in to the storm in pursuit of large shearwaters and petrels!

It was immediately obvious that the high westerly winds had brought in huge numbers of Shearwaters, and it didn’t take long before we had our first Cory’s – a lifer for me and Alex – soaring towards the boat, a second bird in quick succession. 

Having missed Cory’s Shearwater on our pelagics last year, this was a huge relief, and despite the howling gales we enjoyed incredibly close views as these remarkable seabirds expertly cut through the air with incredible power and grace.

The huge waves we experienced during the pelagic!

With approximately 42 Cory’s seen during our 5 hours out at sea, along with a handful of Great Shears, at times flying right over the boat, the evening was a huge success – even more so considering I’d managed to avoid the seasickness I’d suffered on Monday’s much calmer pelagic! Relief! With just one more pelagic left on our 2016 trip, it was well and truly last chance saloon on the Saturday to get our desired Wilson’s, and with the winds perfect and less rain forecast, we were definitely in with a shout!

Saturday dawned as wet and windy as Friday evening had left us – giving us barely any time to recover after the absolute battering (my knees and shins were bright purple with bruises!) we’d received being tossed around the boat the night before. Speaking to seabird expert and Wilson’s guru Bob Flood before the boat arrived, he was confident we’d be able to get a Wilson’s to the boat – fingers crossed he was right!

St Mary's Harbour - if only the weather had been like this for our pelagics!

Huddling underneath 5 layers of coats, including a bright pink rain cape (it did the job!) in an attempt to avoid the driving rain and waves that were pouring upon us, singles of Cory’s and Great Shearwaters kept us entertained as we headed east of St Martins. Stopping the boat to commence drifting and chumming in an effort to draw in a Wilson’s, it was now a waiting game to see if they would materialise.

Numerous European Storm-petrels soon began to appear, attracted to the mixture of cod liver oil and mashed up fish pouring in to the water, the scent clearly having travelled in the wind. With the numbers of Stormies building, complete with several returning Bonxies, Cory’s and Great Shearwaters, the cry soon went up that everyone on board had been waiting for – WILSON’S!!

Scrambling over to the side and struggling to stay upright as the boat was buffeted about on the water, it transpired Alex was already on the bird, but with the huge winds creating large channels in between waves, it was all too easy for the tiny petrels to vanish behind a tower of water, and my target bird disappeared behind a huge blue wall of ocean.

The crashing waves we experienced on the boat trips - easy for small petrels to get lost behind!

With no sign over the coming minutes, I anchored myself to the side of the boat, ignoring the lashing wind (which actually ripped the hood off my mac it was that fierce!) and splashing waves, putting the extreme rocking motion of the boat and the associated seasickness out of my mind – I was now on red alert for Wilson’s!

Luckily, after an excruciating 20 minutes when the first bird didn’t reappear, the cry went up again – WILSON’S – it’s back!

Spinning around to face the back of the boat and squinting through the spray, the bird I had been waiting to see for over 30 hours of Scilly pelagics was finally in front of me, skipping over the waves almost in slow motion and hanging delicately in the air, a calm contrast to the raging torrent of water over which it hopped with ease – my first Wilson’s Petrel.

The magical moment lasted only a few seconds, the light pale panels on the wings standing out against the velvety black, while the long spindly legs trailed behind, dangling helplessly towards the water. For a brief moment, it seemed like the wind stopped howling and the waves stopped raging as we all locked on to this sought after scarcity in British waters, savouring the seconds and enjoying the moment by simply watching on as the petrel danced over the waves instead of scrambling around for a camera.

Then, in an instant it was gone, carried off by the wind and lost in the waves, aware once again of the crescendo of noise returning as the water crashed against the side of the boat, my mac flapping fiercely out of control in the gales. None of this mattered - finally we had our prize!

With the conditions still ideal for seabirds, we continued to chum, managing to attract a further two Wilson’s Petrels towards the boat, making approximately 4 in total. Managing a few shots with my camera as one passed the end of the boat (the majority of frames were out of focus black shapes or crashing walls of water) due to the intense rocking of the boat, I found it exceptionally difficult to even stand up straight, let alone hold a camera steady to take in-focus photos of a fast moving petrel!

The characteristic yellow feet that Wilson's Petrels show

Instead, it was better to just watch on and admire the Wilson’s spectacle unfolding before us, our last encounter being a bird cruising slowly past the boat at eye level, floating in the wind and giving everyone on board a memory to last a lifetime.

With three days to spare between pelagics, having booked on to dates at either side of the week, we used the spare time to explore more of the islands, taking a day trip out to the wonderful Tresco on the Tuesday – our first Scilly island apart from St Marys. Exploring the famous Tresco Abbey Gardens revealed none of the resident Golden Pheasants that are said to live there, but the beautiful garden features and the photogenic Red Squirrels were more than enough to keep us happy.

The beautiful setting of Tresco Abbey Gardens

An Icterine Warbler that had been found on the Garrison during our stay also had us taking a trip up to this high point on the island, staking out the garden next to the football pitch until this monster of a warbler reappeared in the apple tree, proceeding to flit around elusively and feed for the next half an hour or so. 

Present with at least two Willow Warblers, the Icterine was noticeably larger, with a huge orange bill compared to the Willow’s shorter and daintier beaks. Having only ever seen Melodious before, even abroad, this was a great new bird for me and one I had been hoping to bump in to for a while over several east coast visits. 

A handful of Pied Flycatchers were the only other migrants of note

Having enjoyed a fantastic week on the island in perfect weather (in terms of both exploring and for generating excellent seabird movement!), with gorgeous scenery, excellent food and second to none hospitality at the B&B, we both thoroughly enjoyed ourselves on these charming islands. 

The Scilly Isles carts! One of the highlights of my week!

With our Wilson’s Petrel finally in the bag, along with excellent views of Cory’s Shearwaters and my first Icterine Warbler to boot, who knows when we’ll be back on these picturesque islands in the future – fingers crossed it’s whilst looking at a pristine male Blackburnian Warbler one autumn. We can but dream.