White-winged Scoter off Murcar, Aberdeen!

White-winged Scoter is one exceptionally good looking bird. Ever since seeing the pictures of a drake photographed off Musselburgh back in 2013, I wanted to see one for myself – the extravagant flick of bold white eyeliner contrasting against the midnight black tones and striking pink bill elevating them a cut above the rest in Scoter terms. Yes, Velvet Scoters are attractive, but White-winged Scoters are in a whole different league.

Record shot of the American White-winged Scoter

With very few records of either race (Deglandi or Stejnegeri) occurring in British seas (just one record of Deglandi from Aberdeen in 2011 and one record of Stejnegeri photographed in Lothian in 2013 – but not actually seen at the time) White-winged Scoters are a truly rare bird in Britain indeed, so when reports surfaced of an adult drake Deglandi type mixed in with the regular Scoter flock off Murcar Links Golf Course in Aberdeen, it was a no brainer to get up there.

Back to Black - Black Scoter off Stag Rocks, Bamburgh, Northumberland

With news that a Black Scoter had been spotted associating amongst the raft of Common Scoter regularly seen off Stag Rocks near Bamburgh in Northumberland during the week (it transpired that the bird had in fact been present since the 15^th Jan), we made the decision to make the long journey up to the North East to see this vagrant American sea duck. Only recently spilt from our Common Scoters in the last decade or so, and with just 13 accepted records, this was a great opportunity to finally nail this mega duck after not managing to get up for any of the previous individuals that have graced the East coast and Scotland over the past 5 years or so and being too young to twitch the long staying individual that resided off Llanfairfechan back in 1999 all the way through to 2007. With birds seen off the Northumberland coast in 2011 (in both the spring and winter) and again in 2015, it is highly likely this could be the same returning individual, especially as the April 2011 bird was actually found off Stag Rocks.

With strong gales and rain forecast for the Saturday however, we decided to call our journey off, thinking it would be near impossible to locate the Black Scoter in stormy seas and driving rain. A report at just after 11am on Saturday morning soon put paid to that theory however, and after booking a last minute hotel 10 minutes away from Bamburgh we were soon on our way north hoping the weather for Sunday would stay calm and dry like predicted.

Nearby Bamburgh Castle

Sure enough, we awoke to an extremely calm and still morning (with Alex soon picking out an Iceland Gull from the hotel window before we were even out on the road) and by 10am we were on site ready to track down the Black Scoter. Being nailed down to a regular site unlike last year’s Northumberland bird, I was hopeful we would connect and joining 30 or so other birders overlooking the sea we were soon watching a distant Scoter flock to the north of the rocks. Despite some of those present convinced one individual had a much brighter bill than the others, the birds were just far too distant to get adequate views and confirm it as the Black Scoter.

A map of where we viewed from - our two viewing spots in red and the car park in yellow

Surf Scoters in North Wales

After failing to catch up with the regular Surf Scoters that can be found off the North Wales coast each year for an incredible 4 winters (despite numerous visits probably nudging in to the 20s!!) I finally saw them for the first time last January off Pensarn.

This weekend as the weather was gloriously sunny (perfect for scoter searching) I made a return trip – this time to Old Colwyn where the reports suggested the birds had been spotted earlier that morning.

Ranging across Llandulas, Pensarn and Old Colwyn, it is always useful to know beforehand where the birds are favouring. Whereas last year they were mostly spotted off Pensarn near to the café, this year the birds seemed to have switched preferences to nearby Old Colwyn, where the majority of the reports have come from this winter.

Used to spending several cold hours staring out to sea in search of them, after around 5 or 10 minutes I couldn’t believe it when I actually picked one out! In one of the more distant flocks, the perfect spring sun made the distinctive white patch on the back of the head and brightly coloured bill literally stand out a mile away. Alex later spotted the second drake a little closer in, and eventually the two came together – a pair of white blobs clearly visible amongst a sea of thousands of all-black Common Scoters.

My phone scoped scoter!

Finding 2 Surf Scoters amongst a flock of thousands upon thousands of Common Scoters may seem daunting, but it is the large white patch on the back of the head and a second white patch where the bill is (sometimes they are too distant to make out the yellow and orange colouration) that gives them away.

The white on the back of the head is clearly visible even at a distance

The light was absolutely perfect for seawatching and by timing it with an exceptionally high tide at midday with a flat calm sea and no wind, I couldn’t have asked for more ideal conditions. Several Velvet Scoters were also in some of the closer rafts – the yellow lower bill and even the white around the eye of the drakes visible through the scope! One in particular seemed very active – flying from raft to raft and proudly displaying the gorgeous bold white squares on the wings as he flew.

The white eye and yellow bill of the velvet (third from the right) can just be made out in Alex's picture

The structural differences between the Velvet and Commons is also obvious

It’s definitely worth waiting for the ideal day to come along, as this makes it so much easier to spot the Surfs in the good light as opposed to fruitlessly scanning a choppy sea in gloomy weather. When all the birds are constantly bobbing behind the waves it can soon turn in to an absolute nightmare!

The birds will soon be leaving the wintering grounds along the North Wales coast to head to their breeding grounds, and with up to 7 drakes spotted this year, they must surely be breeding somewhere in Europe along with the many thousands of Commons. Fingers crossed they all return next year – who knows, they may even reach double figures!

To view from the Rainbow Bridge at Old Colwyn, park next to the small playground on Glan-Y-Mor Road (LL29 9AY) and follow the path to the right towards the sea and past the cliffs. Go over the large bridge that crosses the A55 road and find a good vantage point on the rocks near the small stone hut.