Black Scoter – off Llanfairfechan, Gwynedd, 16th November 2005
My attempt at capturing the joys of looking for rare scoters in amongst flocks of common ones, in poor viewing conditions, involving less than good light, a swell, distant birds which are constantly diving / changing position, etc.. The huge yellow schnozzle certainly helped!!!
In September and October 2005, I had quickly learnt a lot more about Common Scoters in the Irish Sea than I had ever imagined I would. This was as a result of my involvement writing a report on the initial year of post-construction ornithological monitoring for the North Hoyle Offshore Wind Farm, off the North Wales coast (the one they always show library footage of), on behalf of ERM Scotland. And on the 15th / 16th September 2005 this work had even involved a (night and) day on the fantastically well-equipped Prince Madog survey vessel during one of the current monitoring surveys visits, during which we sailed from Menai Bridge out to the site off Rhyl and back, seeing small packs of Common Scoter as we did so.
I had idly wondered about the Black Scoter that was frequently reported off Llanfairfechan then, but at this time this was solely that, idle wonderings. After all, it was only the North American subspecies of Common Scoter…… .
However, just under a month later, (but too late!), circumstances changed. On the 14th October 2005 the BOURC announced that it had made the decision to formally treat Black and Common Scoter as two separate species, thus making it far more attractive to twitch the one off Llanfairfechan. This bird was a regularly returning bird, having first been recorded between the 10th March and the 8th May 1999. It was either missed (or not reported) or elsewhere the following winter, but in was reported there, (albeit intermittently) on the 19th, 20th and 28th January 2001 and between the 17th December 2001 and the 8th April 2002, between the 3rd November 2002 and the 28th April 2003, between the 28th September and at least the 31st December 2003, between the 28th October 2004 and the 30th April 2005, and from the 3rd October 2005 onwards....... .
So, it was there, and it was now a full species, a tick in its own right. I just needed to find the excuse to go....... .
As luck would have it, salvation was at hand in the form of a Green Heron, which turned up at Red Wharf Bay on Anglesey on Monday the 7th November, although it had probably been around for at least eight days before it was first reported. This bird was proven to be the same one that had previously (and frustratingly for me, given that I could go to see Eddie Leahy in County Limerick whenever I wanted) been seen at Schull in County Cork, Ireland between the 11th and 13th October 2005.
Now the combination of both Black Scoter and Green Heron were (almost literally) an attraction and a half, and I began to plot how best to arrange a trip to take in both at once.
The most sensible way was to wait a few days and tack the trip onto my planned trip south sometime before Thursday the 17th November when Gary, Chris, Steve and I would be meeting up for our annual lads weekend away, this time in Cologne.
However, this was a high-risk strategy as it would involve a substantial delay before I got there; always twitch early and so on.
Life was complex enough at the time, so I had to be patient and just hope the Green Heron would stick. Certainly, there was every chance of the Black Scoter doing so, as it had been present for the past few winters, but the already highly mobile Green Heron…..?
Anyway, for a variety of reasons I made arrangements with Gillian not to have the girls overnight on Thursday the 17th November, and so once I had dropped them off at school on Wednesday the 16th November, I was a free man until I collected them again on Tuesday the 22nd November.
As such, I packed everything the night before and then once I had dropped the girls off at school, I hurtled along the M8, M74, M6, M56 and A56 to north-west Wales. My original plan was to get to Red Wharf Bay and see the heron and then stay overnight to give myself time to locate the potentially tricky and tidal Black Scoter the following day.
However, the journey went well, and once I was in Lancashire there was a pager message saying that the Black Scoter was showing off the café on the promenade in Llanfairfechan. This caused me problems, as now the temptation was to take this in first, and then go on to the ‘biggy’.
This I then did. By the time I reached Llanfairfechan it was probably around 14:00, and I had to navigate my way to somewhere nearby to park, make sure I was looking in the right place, locate the bird, take it in, and then move on quickly to continue on to Red Wharf Bay to repeat the process.
Recollections beyond the very basic are minimal to say the least. I have vague memories of getting off the A56(T), finding somewhere to park, and then crossing the trunk road to get onto the promenade. Once there, I was well and truly on my own. Fortunately (or not) the stage of the tide cycle and state of the waves were in my favour and once I had set up my ‘scope and had a quick scan I was quickly able to locate the scoter flock(s?) offshore, and easily enough one with a huge amount of yellow-orange on the upper mandible. Little more to say really. Certainly not the best views as quite distant and not the best light, or the longest, as I had a bird to see, but..... .
Seemingly, this bird was about the sixth individual ever to be recorded (difficult to determine exactly because of returning birds). Given the specific status of Black Scoter changed in October 2005 there may have been an increase in interest in the species (and so more effort put into finding and reporting them); having previously looked for them at Lunan Bay in Angus and Dundee, for example, I saw another off Murcar in Aberdeenshire with Stuart Green (possibly after seeing the Sandhill Crane at Strathbeg in 2011?).
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