WILD TIREE: October 2013

Friday 25 October 2013

THE NEW PATCH LATE SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER

Autumn is the time for migration and Tiree's lack of trees sometimes makes it difficult to locate some of the smaller migrants such as warblers and flycatchers. One of the best locations has proven to be Balephuil, with both the small willow and elder copse at Main Road Farm and the gardens along the wee track down to John Bowler's house attracting a host of scarce and rare migrants over the last few years. This area has an enviable list that includes Northern Parula, Brown Shrike, Blyth's Reed Warbler and Western Subalpine Warbler.

I've been trying to find my own patch with some trees and cover for some time and finally think I've got it sorted. I have been planting up my own wee copse in my walled garden at Hynish, but until then my new patch is the Dentist's Garden at Baugh. There is a small copse of mostly stunted sycamores, an area in the lee of the byre with Olerea and a hedge of Hebe, a small area behind the byre with brambles and willows, and another small copse of willows and a single small, but spreading, sycamore along the northern boundary.

View to the Doctor's and Dentist's from main road (photo by Jacqui Bennett)

The Dentist's garden, Baugh

The main sycamore stand

Olerea (with Blackcap)

The Hebe hedge

The willow & sycamore stand (with Yellow-browed Warbler top centre)

I have been watching this area almost daily since mid-September in the search for migrants and so far it has been pretty productive. There has been a constant turn over of commoner migrants such as Goldcrests, Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps, as well as good numbers of winter thrushes such as Redwings. On 25th September I found a lovely Yellow-browed Warbler, new in from Siberia, in the main sycamore stand. It seemed to vanish for a while, but was seen again on the 29th by Bill Allan, although it could just as easily have been a new bird. On the 24th October I came across another Yellow-browed Warbler, initially in the Hebe hedge, before settling for the afternoon in the willow & sycamore stand at the northern boundary. This was a very vocal and showy bird as the four photos below show. It was present again on 25th in awful weather conditions.

Below:- Yellow-browed Warbler, Dentist's garden, Baugh 24th October 2012

SEPTEMBER 2013 & YANKY WADERS

Whimbrel (Simon Wellock)

Black-tailed Godwit (Simon Wellock)

September on Tiree is the best time for searching for vagrant American waders which have been blown across the Atlantic. This year would again not disappoint. Keith Gillon found a juvenile Semipalmated Sandpiper at Gott Bay on 6^th, which then relocated to Clachan where it continued to show, although was often elusive, until 12^th. After several attempts I finally managed to catch up with it on 9^th when it shared a small tidal pool with 3 Knot, a Little Stint and 6 Dunlin, just in time for the lot to be flushed by a female Hen Harrier.

There was a juvenile Baird’s Sandpiper at Loch a’ Phuill on 5^th and the now annual Buff-breasted Sandpiper at Loch a’ Phuill on 17^th but neither hung around long enough for me to see them. West Tiree had up to three different juvenile Pectoral Sandpipers throughout the month. I saw one on the 10^th at Middleton and another with 75 Snipe in a flooded field at Balinoe. American Golden Plovers are annual these days, although picking one out amongst the many thousands of European Goldies, in often very mobile flocks, is not always easy. This September there were four different AGP’s on Tiree. There were fine adults at Sandaig/Middleton/Greenhill from 5^th to 10^th and Ruaig/Vaul from 12^th to 23^rd. I saw the first one at Greenhill on 6^th (see photo) and again on 10^th when it gave superb views at Middleton. There were also juveniles at Greenill/Loch a’ Phuill from 9^th to 11^th which I saw on 10^th and at Ruaig, from 9^th. I saw the Ruaig bird on its last day, the 13^th.