Sunday, December 18, 2022
Monday, December 12, 2022
STEJNEGER'S SCOTER-GULLANE SANDS-LOTHIAN-12TH DECEMBER 2022
On Saturday 10th of December, Britain's first Stejneger's scoter was found off Gullane Point, Lothian. This species was split from White winged scoter as recently as 2019 and was a long-awaited addition to the British list.
Britain's first Stejneger's scoter
There have been several other north-west European records, and in recent weeks, a small influx into the Baltic has produced no fewer than three in Poland and one in Latvia, while another was in Sweden. This species has also been recorded in Ireland on one previous occasion and was found by my good friend Josh Jones, which was a drake bird at Rossbeigh, County Kerry, from February-April 2011.
Ireland's first Stejneger's scoter
I couldn't make it the next morning, so I had to wait on news whether to travel north or not, and there was no sign of the bird from 2 p.m. Sunday afternoon, but I was off the next day, so I got up early and went anyway with my mate Pete Sutton.
The journey north was in adverse weather conditions, freezing fog, ice, and snow, and the roads were treacherous. Have we hit the A702 towards Edinburgh?
A702 at first light
The temperature outside was -16
We eventually arrived at Aberlady Bay and parked the car and walked down to Gullane Point, where I was met with some familiar faces that had just seen the bird that had apparently flown further west down the estuary. Some of the group started to walk down the beach for better views and better light conditions of the seabirds, so we joined them. There were good numbers of common scoter, Slavonian grebe, Velvet scoter, and long-tailed duck.
Velvet scoter and long-tailed ducks
After a good 2 hours scanning through countless birds, a guy next to me got on the bird at the back of a group of Common Scoter. There were at least 7 Drake Velvet scoters asleep, just drifting along constantly, and then the Stejneger's lifted its head and tucked it back in again. I managed to keep on the bird, and then it lifted its head again before they drifted even further out. Thankfully, standing next to me was my good friend Simon Slade, who had seen the bird earlier and had gotten on the bird again. We spent the next hour looking for the bird, but there was no sign. Anyway, we decided to move on and see the black-throated thrush just down the road, and as we arrived back at the parking lot, the Stejneger's was apparently showing again.
On arrival at Haddington, it didn't take long before the male Black-throated thrush put in a stunning performance in its favourite yew tree.
The last few hours were spent back at Gullane Sands, but there was no further sign of the bird as the sun went down.
Gullane sands
We started the long journey back south with temperatures plummeting to -12 just after 5pm. We arrived home just after 9.30pm, shattered but well worth the day out!
Sunday, December 11, 2022
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