An Arctic Adventure 19th - 24th March (Day 2)

After two hours sleep, and feeling surprisingly refreshed, we set about arranging for our hire car to be transferred from the airport to our hotel. The weather was fantastic, still and sunny with a cloudless sky that belied the conditions we had experienced overnight, although the fresh covering of snow was very evident. The plan today was to drive north to Batsfjord, and as we had a long drive ahead we were keen to get moving.

View from the Scandic Hotel - Kirkenes

Our car arrived within half an hour, and in a matter of minutes we were on our way, well almost. Whilst loading up the car we were continually being distracted by a small flock of Waxwings that were flying around the town. On a couple of occasions it appeared that they would land in a nearby tree, so we had our cameras at the ready, but they didn't. But as we were leaving the town we stumbled across a flock of over 100 birds feeding on berries. With the morning light being so good we couldn't resist stopping.

Waxwing - Kirkenes

Waxwing - Kirkenes

Waxwing - Kirkenes

With time pressing on, a long journey ahead of us and feeling slightly nervous about the driving conditions we were soon on our way. We were hoping the see the eclipse of the sun at 11am but as we left Kirkenes cloud was already building, and as we headed north it became decidedly thicker. It was a great relief to feel how the studded snow tyres dealt with the compacted ice on the roads, and we were soon making good time. One of the areas we were hoping to bird en-route was the Tana Valley, as it was a good area for Hawk Owls, but by this time the weather had really taken a turn for the worst. Not only had the light gone, due to the eclipse, but the blizzard conditions made visibility very poor. 

We were aware that the mountain pass to Batsfjord was only passable in convoy, with a snow plough in front and a support vehicle behind. There were set times when they crossed the pass, the next being 14:30, we were one of 11 vehicles in the convoy and made it through without a hitch.

The Convoy North to Batsfjord

We arrived in Batsfjord at around 15:30 to a very wintering scene of light snow and bitterly cold conditions, but then we were in the Arctic. As the light was failing we decided to do a bit of birding rather than check into our hotel, and at our first stop we picked up a couple of Steller's Eider roosting on the snow, one of Si's target birds. There were also a couple of Common Eider on the water but otherwise it was just gulls.

Steller's Eider - Batsfjord

We continued exploring and soon found a flock of roosting gulls near a fish process factory. The flock included several Glaucous Gulls, of mixed ages, Great Black-backed Gulls, Herring Gulls, of the nominate race argentatus, Kittiwakes and a single Iceland Gull. 

Adult Glaucous Gull - Batsfjord

1st Winter Glaucous Gull - Batsfjord

Adult Glaucous Gulls - Batsfjord

A summer plumaged Black Guillemot and a handful of Long-tailed Ducks were the only birds to speak of on the water, but a flock of roosting Purple Sandpipers were a nice find. There were over 200 birds present roosting on the side of a seawall, and as is quite usual for the species, they were very approachable. Simon spent a bit of time photographing them but I had foolishly left the car without my hat and gloves on, and could only grab a few shots before having to head back to the car to warm up. The picture below highlights just how effective the insulation of birds feathers are, as the snow was laying on top of the birds.

Purple Sandpiper - Batsfjord

With the light now all but gone we headed to the Polar Hotel, which was our accommodation for the night.

An Arctic Adventure 19th - 24th March (Day 1)

Back in 1999 I did a trip with a group of mates to Finland and Varanger Fjord, Norway in search of owls, seabirds and sea ducks. The trip ran from 29th May through to 6th June and there are certain experiences from that remain as vivid memories. When I was asked by my good friend Simon Colenutt (The Deskbound Birder) if I fancied a winter trip to north Norway, I jumped at the chance. My trip in 1999 was a whistle-stop tour that focussed on key sites for key birds, and this trip was no different. It was primarily designed to get Simon two key species, Steller's Eider and Pine Grosbeak, both of which would be new for him. I was not expecting to get any new birds.

Our trip began on 19th March with a flight from London Heathrow to Oslo and then an onward flight to Kirkenes in the north. There was a 4.5 hour gap between flights and so we had arranged to meet Simon Rix (Oslo Birder) a British birder now based in Oslo. There wasn't much around but a spot of birding was infinitely better than sitting in the airport for four hours. After checking in our baggage for our onward flight we met up with Simon and headed out. Our first stop was scheduled to be Nikevegan, which was the staging site for a flock of 'Taiga' Bean Geese. Our trip got off to a good start as en-route to the Bean Goose site we bumped into a Great Grey Shrike, which performed well for a while and whilst watching it we also had Bullfinch, Great Spotted Woodpecker and Greenfinch.

Great Grey Shrike

After a few minutes enjoying the shrike we pressed on to the Bean Geese and picked up a couple of Goldeneye on a small stream, before arriving at the site. There were around 50 birds on show and Simon reckoned that the the rest of the flock, which normally numbered around 150 were there but just out of view. There is an interesting story to these birds in that they winter in Scotland, and have been the subject of a study by the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust to establish where they breed. The birds were initially fitted with neck collars and then satellite transmitters and it is now known where they breed, winter and the route they use for their migration. Details of the study can be found on Angus' Bean Goose Blog.

'Taiga' Bean Geese - note the silver neck collar on the bird in the foreground

Whilst we were watching the Bean geese one thing that was very apparent was the number of Yellowhammers around, a species that is increasingly more uncommon on the south coast of Hampshire. A flock of nine Whooper Swans and a Common Crane were nice additions to our species list.

Six of the flock of nine Whooper Swans

Our next stop was the Glomma River at Udenes, which is apparently a good spot for migrants. It was still a little early in the season for good migration and we were there in the early afternoon, so not the ideal time, but it was worth a shot. We were once again very fortunate in that two Moose were out in a field feeding on the young spring growth of grass. I have seen Moose in Canada on numerous occasions, but this was a new mammal species in the Western Pale-arctic for me.

Two Moose Grazing on the young spring grass

The Glomma River was quite low and there was very little to see, but we did see a couple more Common Cranes, another Whooper Swan, two Greylag Geese, some Mallards and a couple of Herring Gulls. With our time now running out we headed back for another look at the Bean Geese and the Great Grey Shrike and then back to the airport.

We said our farewell to Simon and worked our way through passport control to our onward flight to Kirkenes, all was going well until that is, we tried to land. A change in the weather, and a heavy blizzard meant that visibility was too poor to land and the pilot aborted our landing. We circled for a while before it was announced that we were being diverted to Laksalv Airport, to the west. We had planned to pick up our hire car at Kirkenes and had booked a night in the Scandic Hotel, but unfortunately that plan went out the window. A five hour overnight coach journey meant we arrived at our hotel and 04:50 in the morning.

Up close with a Dartford Warbler...or two

Chris and I have been planning a project looking at Dartford Warblers for a while now and today we finally got the chance to put our plans into action. It was a fantastic bright and sunny spring morning except for being a little breezy, but we thought we would give it a go anyway. The wind was forecast to pick up even more later in the morning, so I met Chris at 7am and headed to the site.

It was breezier than we had hoped, which was made worse by the fact that the site was quite open. We spied our quarry immediately but had no joy at the first site, but at the second we caught a male and a female. There is something pretty special about the small Sylvia warblers, and I have been fortunate to see a few species over the years. In the hand though they are even more stunning.

The male bird has a dark grey head and grey-brown back which contrasts with the dark wine-red underparts, the iris and eye ring are bright red and fine white spots are present on the throat.

Male Dartford Warbler

Male Dartford Warbler

The female is duller with the head and back browner, the eye ring and iris are duller and the underparts paler. The throat is also paler and lacks the white spots.

Female Dartford Warbler

Female Dartford Warbler

I used to ring quite a few Dartford Warblers when I ringed at a site on Hayling Island, but haven't ringed one for a while now, so it was a real treat to catch some again. The wind had really got up by the time we had finished processing the birds, and so rather than try and catch more we decided to wander around and see how many territories we could find. In the full sun there were plenty of males singing and by the end of our stroll we had recorded nine territories, so plenty to do this spring.

Male Dartford Warbler

Male Dartford Warbler

Male Dartford Warbler

There were plenty of other species singing, particularly Linnets and Greenfinches and a handful of Skylark and Meadow Pipits. A pair of Long-tailed Tits were also busy looking for a nest site and were very approachable.

Long-tailed Tit

La Palma, Canaries Islands - 21st - 28th February (Days 5 - 8)

Day 5 (25th Feb) - Birding took second fiddle today as we planned to walk to Santa Cruz and spend much of the day there. There were of course things to see on the way, but the most spectacular event was the enormous sea and the gigantic waves that were crashing ashore, and giving the island a real pounding. 

Crashing Waves - Santa Cruz, La Palma

Bird wise there were the usual species at the hotel, Blackbird, Collared Dove, Canary, Yellow-legged Gull, Sardinian Warbler, and of course the abundant Canary Island Chiffchaff. The same species were recorded throughout the day, with chiffchaffs even common in the city centre. Other species recorded were Red-billed Chough (5), Kestrel (3) and Turnstone (2). The day was somewhat soured by news of a drake Surf Scoter, back in my home County (Hampshire, England), a county tick for me, but never mind, there will be another. A couple of hours sea-watching from the apartment proved successful with 152 Cory’s and 31 Manxie’s past in 45 minutes.

Day 6 (26th Feb) - It was another dull and dreary day around Los Cancajos and so we decided to head inland to the National Park of Caldera de Taburiente. But before heading off we were treated to two new species for the trip, both fly-by’s; Little Egret and Sparrowhawk. The other regular species were of course also still present, although a scan out to sea produced only Yellow-legged Gulls.

We set off to the sight of the volcano at Caldera de Taburiente shrouded in cloud and as we headed up the mountain-side the temperature dropped from 18 on the coast to only 9 centigrade. We had wrapped up warm expecting the worst but as we exited the tunnel we were greeted to full sun and a very acceptable 26 centigrade.....which we weren't dressed for. We arrived at the visitors centre and enquired about taking our car to the viewing area at La Cumbrecita. It was a 2.5 hour wait so we booked in and headed off to El Paso and beyond for some birding. 

West Canaries Lizard (male) - El Paso

After a bit of exploring we eventually found ourselves heading south on the LP-212 towards San Nicolas de Abajo. Approximately a kilometre out of the village we pulled over and took a path which was signposted Coladas de San Juan (PR - LP14-1). This was a steep unmade path next to an old larva flow, that was full of Western Canaries Lizards, well actually, every where we stopped was! As we set off a flock of over 50 Red-billed Choughs took flight in the distance, and circled overhead. At least five Kestrels were also present, along with Canaries and Chiffchaffs. I followed the track for about a kilometre into some pines and picked up a couple of Barbary Partridges, and as I turned to head back to the car a flock of at least 30 Plain Swifts passed over. There were also at least three species of butterfly present here, Small White, Canary Speckled Wood and a blue that would just not settle.

With time now ticking on we headed back to the Information Centre in readiness for our slot to drive to the viewpoint. The car park at the centre was full lizards, including some cracking males with full blue throats; whilst watching them a Grey Wagtail briefly landed on the roof of the information centre. The drive to La Cumbrecita was uneventful, in fact I don’t recall seeing a single bird, but that is probably because I was concentrating on the road which was narrow and winding. We arrived at the car park and were greeted by two Berthelot’s Pipits, the first of the trip, and a Chaffinch. A few Chough’s were calling in the distance and a couple of Ravens circled overhead.

Berthalot's Pipit - La Cumbrecita

Berthalot's Pipit - La Cumbrecita

Back at our resort I finished the day with another scan out to sea, this time just a brief one, which resulted in 19 Cory’s and six Manxie’s.

Day 7 (27th Feb) - We awoke to dull, dreary and wet weather this morning which was brightened slightly by the appearance of a single House Martin. With the weather looking so grim we decided to go back over the mountain to El Paso in the hope that it was sunny. I was also keen to catch up with Tenerife Goldcrest, which despite being reported as common in pine woodlands I was yet to connect with on this trip. The trip up the mountain was wet and even when we emerged the other side, it was still shrouded in cloud. Back at the information centre though it was sunny, but very windy. We headed down the road to La Cumbrecita, but stopped in the first area of pine forest past the crossroads. Several Chaffinch’s, Chiffchaffs and three Kestrels were present, but no Goldcrests. Two Red-billed Chough’s and a Raven drifted over at one point, but there was nothing else to report.

Our next stop was the town of Tazacorte, primarily for a coffee, but also because we had not been there before. We found a small square near the centre where we ordered our coffee and enjoyed the 27 centigrade temperature. According to a couple of locals, the west coast is usually warmer as the mountain holds back the bad weather, so if it is sun you want El Paso or Tazacorte may be the places for you. The only birds of note were a Grey Wagtail, and a Blackcap, both the second of the trip.

After Tazacorte, we decided to travel down the west coast of the island along the LP - 2 and re-visit the salt pans at Fuencaliente. It was a long and winding road and we stopped several times en route where the habitat looked good for Goldcrests. Several Canary’s, Chough’s, Chaffinch’s, Kestrels and a couple of Buzzards were seen, but the most notable species was a flock of 30+ Plain Swifts, but once again no Goldcrests.

Plain Swift - Mirador de Charo on LP-2

Plain Swift - Mirador de Charo on LP-2

It was so windy at Faro de Fuencaliente and so any sensible passerine would have been keeping low. A few waders were once again present, but the same species as my last visit; Sanderling (1), Turnstone (15) and Ringed Plover (1), there were also several Yellow-legged Gulls loitering.

Ringed Plover - Salt Pans at Fuencaliente

Turnstone - Salt Pans at Fuencaliente

We were back at Los Cancajos for 6pm and so I decided to have another scan of the sea, since it was my last night. I scanned for 1.5 hours and recorded 342 Cory’s Shearwaters, 43 Manx Shearwater and 10 Northern Gannets.

Day 8 (28th Feb) - Our final day so we decided to spend the time walking around the Los Cancajos resort. We headed south out of the resort, then north along the footpath beside the main LP-2, before heading back down into the town. Before starting, a scan out to sea produced around 20 Cory’s Shearwaters, all heading south this time and the usual Yellow-legged Gulls. The typical species were once again present around the resort with Canary Island Chiffchaff the most obvious and Canary and Sardinian Warbler also present. 

Canary - Los Cancajos

We stopped off at a small banana plantation where a female Blackcap showed briefly, and then headed back to the coast. The most notable species was Grey Heron, with a flock of eight heading south, followed by a single bird about 10 minutes later. A male Blackcap was singing in the hotel grounds just as we were leaving, and a final look out to sea produced another handful of Cory’s Shearwaters.

Grey Heron (5 of the flock of 8) - Los Cancajos

By the end of the trip we had recorded 33 species, including most of the target species, but the notable exception being Tenerife Goldcrest. Some species that had been reported as common, such as Berthelot’s Pipit I found decidedly scarce, whereas others, Red-billed Chough appeared to be everywhere. To make my trip complete, I returned back to Hampshire to find that the drake Surf Scoter was still present, so an early morning start on Sunday 1st March and it was on my Hampshire list!

Species List and Locations

Birds

Barbary Partridge - 2 (26/2 - San Nicolas de Abajo at PR LP14.1)

Cory’s Shearwater - 100+ from Hotel, Los Cancajos 22/2, 30 - 23/2, 2 - 24/4 (in morning), 152 - 25/2 (45 mins), 19 - 26/2 (10 mins), 342 - 27/2 (1.5 hrs)

Manx Shearwater - 30+ (22/2 Los Cancajos), 2 - 23/2, 31 - 25/2, 43 - 27/2

Northern Gannet - 10 (27/2 Los Cancajos)

Grey Heron - 9 (28/2 Los Cancajos)

Little Egret - 1 (26/2 Los Cancajos)

Buzzard - 2 (24/2) Los Tilos

Sparrowhawk - 1 (26/2 Los Cancajos)

Kestrel - Seen daily

Ringed Plover - 3 (23/2), 1 (27/2) Salt pans at Punta Fuencaliente

Sanderling - 1 (23/2), 1 (27/) Salt pans at Punta Fuencaliente

Turnstone - 12 (23/2), 15 (27/2) Salt pans at Punta Fuencaliente, 2 (25/2) Los Cancajos

Lesser Black-backed Gull - 5 (24/2) Laguna de Barlovento

Yellow-legged Gull - Common

Rock Dove/Feral Pigeon - Common

Bolle’s Pigeon - 7 (24/2) Los Tilos

Laurel Pigeon - 20+ (24/2) Los Tilos

Collared Dove - Common

Plain Swift - 30+ (26/2 - San Nicolas de Abajo at PR LP14.1), 30+ (27/2 Lp - 2 Mirador el Charo)

House Martin - 1 (27/2 - Los Cancajos)

Berthelot’s Pipit - 2 (26/2 - La Cumbrecita)

White Wagtail - Los Cancajos (22/2)

Grey Wagtail - 1 (26/2 Centro de Visitantes del Parque National Caldera de Taburiente), 1 - 27/2 Tatacorte

Blackbird - seen daily

Sardinian Warbler - seen daily

Blackcap - 3 (22/2, 2 on 28/2) Los Cancajos, 1 (27/2 Tazacorte)

Canary Islands Chiffchaff - Common

Blue Tit (la Palma) - 10+ (24/2 Los Tilos), 2 (26/2 La Cumbrecita)

Red-billed Chough - Seen daily - 50 (23/2) Los Canarios, 50+ (26/2 - San Nicolas de Abajo at PR LP14.1)

Raven - 1 (24/2 Los Tilos), 2 (26/2 La Cumbrecita), 1 (27/2  information centre near El Paso)

Chaffinch (La Palma) - 30+ (24/2 Los Tilos), 2 (26/2 La Cumbrecita), several by information centre near El Paso

Serin - 2 (23/2) San Antonio Volcano area

Canary - Los Cancajos, San Anotino Volcano area, 50+ Laguna de Barlovento (24/2) generally common

Butterflies/moths

Red Admiral - 2 (22/2 Los Cancajos Information centre), 2 - (27/2 - El Paso)

Small White - 1 (24/2 Laguna de Barlovento), 2 (26/2 - San Nicolas de Abajo at PR LP14.1), 2 (27/2 - Tazacorte)

Monarch - 1 (25/2, 28/2 Los Cancajos)

Canary Islands Speckled Wood - 1 (26/2 - San Nicolas de Abajo at PR LP14.1)

Canary Islands Brimstone - 1 (23/2)

Reptiles

Western Canaries Lizard (Gallotia Galloti palmae) - Common everywhere

Other Bits

Mottled Shore Crab (Grapsus grapsus) - common on coast