Elvis, the King! Ythan Estuary, 13th June

Only 3 days of the holiday left, totally knackered after Monday's walk up the mountain and Tuesday's expedition out west.  Time to take it easy? No chance! Not when there is another star bird within easy reach of our base in Speyside. Even though we've seen "Elvis" the drake King Eider almost every year since he first appeared at the mouth of the River Ythan near Aberdeen and a couple of times at his winter quarters at Burghead in Moray, we just had to go and pay homage to him once more.

"Elvis", June 7th 2011

The Ythan Estuary is an internationally important area for many breeding seabirds, in particular terns of four different species and also acts as a staging ground for post breeding Eider ducks. Also present at the mouth of the tidal river is a large colony of seals which attract a lot of attention from visitors although a lot less of mine. My focus is always on the birds and as well as getting views of Elvis it's great to watch the antics of the terns as they fish and to attempt to photograph them as they do so. The greater area also serves as a magnet to migrating birds at various times of the year and we've ticked Greater Sand Plover, Lesser Yellowlegs and Barred Warbler here in the past as well as the King Eider. A terrific place for birds and I'm very envious of the local birdwatchers.

We arrived mid-morning, having checked previously that high tide was around midday, the terns and the ducks go fishing on a turning tide and should come in closer for better views at that time. As we walked along the soon to be covered compacted sand a returning birder went out of his way, despite my best interests to avoid him, to tell us that the King Eider was "asleep on the far bank just by the lump of polystyrene". My pet hate is other birders telling me where stuff is before I've had a chance to look for myself! If I ask nicely then I'm happy to be told where a bird might be but, come on, give me a break, finding a bird for oneself is half the fun. Killjoy! Yes, I'm a grumpy Old Caley at times, I know. Anyway on arriving opposite the loafing Eider flock, out of spite I naturally tried to look everywhere but next to the lump of polystyrene, and then, when I did look, just couldn't resist it of course, I couldn't find the King! It took me 15 minutes to pin him down, he was asleep in a small huddle of his cousins nowhere near to the spot that I was pointed towards. So maybe I got the buzz of "self finding" him anyway.

"Elvis" the King Eider asleep in the loafing flock of Eiders

Some more birders arrived and when one approached and asked the whereabouts of the King I was happy to tell him! Because he asked. For the next hour the King Eider hardly moved except to shift his position slightly. 

Then without warning he suddenly took to the air and flew straight towards us before turning upstream. Luckily I was prepared when he took off, thanks to Mrs Caley who forewarned me that he was about to do so, and managed a series of nice flight shots. Good enough even for Birdwatch magazine to ask for the proofs and publish one in their July issue! Not so amateur now!!

Elvis returned almost immediately and on landing appeared disappointed that the other ducks hadn't joined him in his quick tour around the estuary. He settled down again amongst the Common Eiders, tucked his head in and went back to sleep. Too much exertion for one day!

"Come on you lazy lot, let's party!"

Later that day I saw a tweet from a friend of mine who lives in the North of Scotland that he had been to see the King Eider that very same day and at the very same time! It appears that Dave was one of the birders who stood watching just along the beach and saw Elvis go on his flight. Shame I was in grumpy mode, since we've only ever spoken on the phone and missed the opportunity for a chinwag! That's two near misses now so hopefully next time I'll get my act together! Sorry Dave.

The high tide arrived but the King Eider didn't shift, that short sortie must have worn him out, but at least a few terns got up and began plunge fishing. The most obvious were Sandwich Terns, the biggest of our breeding terns which breed on the Ythan in good numbers. They are quite happy at showing their prowess at fishing at close quarters and make for dutiful photographic subjects.

Sandwich Terns

The very similar looking Common and Arctic Terns were also active. These two terns, while sharing many plumage characteristics differ enough when seen flying well to identify easily, once practiced. The Arctic Tern is very front heavy and flies almost "moth like" or even, at a stretch like an owl, but with pointed wings of course. The species that I most wanted to see, the Little Tern, was more elusive and mostly stayed well out over the other side of the river when feeding. For now though I was happy to take photos of the more common species.

Arctic Terns

Black-headed Gulls were also "dip-feeding", their method of catching small fry, and a few came in close to our position. Not able to dive in for fish like the Terns, these Black-headed Gulls had adapted well to picking fish off at the surface and were quite successful at it.

Black-headed Gulls

The Seals, Grey Seals I think, were very active and would drift by on the rising tide and peer inquisitively at us stood on the bank. I like to think that they're thinking things like "wonder what it's like up there?", "they're a scary looking bunch" and "bet it's shit!".

Grey Seal

The Common Eiders were also becoming more active but most were flying out to sea rather than staying to fish for clams on the river bed. Perhaps the tide was too strong and fast for fishing today. Cormorants were also flying downriver and out to sea.

Eiders

Cormorant

A few Little Terns at last decided to fish on our side of the estuary. I've had a lot of fun trying to photograph these very small seabirds in the past and enjoyed grappling with them again now. I totally failed this time to get any images of them in dive mode but did manage some of the birds flying past and overhead.

Little Terns

The larger tern species are easier to track and there were now all 4 of the residents fishing fairly close to the beach. Interestingly I thought I saw a Roseate Tern fly out to sea but it was way over on the opposite side of the river. I was alerted to it by it looking gleaming white and sleek next to the other terns but at the time I was unsure. I also neglected to take any photos since it was so far away. That proved to be a mistake because later in the day a Roseate Tern was indeed called from the exact same spot so in all likelihood it was what I saw.

Common Terns

The non-breeding Oystercatcher flock that resides here on the estuary numbered over 100 birds and these were startled into mass panic by an unseen predator, filling the sky with shimmering black and white. The Eiders didn't move a muscle though, I guess they are too large to become prey for any hunting Peregrine or similar.

Oystercatchers

Other birds gracing the estuary and seen flying to and fro were Curlews and Red-breasted Mergansers. Usually there are a lot of House and Sand Martins here too but they were few and far between on this visit.

Red-breasted Mergansers

Curlew

After watching the terns for a while longer we decided it was time to go but not before attempting to get some nice frames of a Swallow that was flying high over the carpark. My record of obtaining decent images of Swallows is pitiful and these were only slightly better than the norm.

Swallow

There is a green keepers hut by the carpark since there is a golf club next door, and on the roof a beautiful Yellowhammer perched and sang its song. I photographed a Yellowhammer in the same spot and in the same pose several years ago and have seen them in recent years too. Seeing as it's unlikely to be the same bird (small passerines are fairly short lived) then it must be habitual for these birds to choose this singing perch year on year and is no doubt a hotly disputed song post.

Yellowhammer

We drove to the RSPB's Loch of Strathbeg reserve but in truth the exertion of the previous days had caught up with us plus it had started to rain heavily so we barely gave the place a second glance except for a quick look at the resident Tree Sparrows. I didn't even bother to take any photos. We were done in!