So far this year, my birding has been split fairly evenly between birding on my own and birding with my birding buddy, Jacqui. Jacqui is enjoying helping me add to my year-list and an extra pair of eyes and ears, as well as a full set of wheels (her car's), is always welcome. With only the option of an ADBC outing to look for waders (which I already have most of the easier species) on the table, Jacqui suggested an 'out-of-season' visit to one of the Angus glens. This would hopefully get me both Red and Black Grouse, plus Raven and maybe a Red Kite. Anything else would be a bonus.
 |
| Red Kite |
Jacqui arranged to pick me up at 0830, so I headed out to meet her shortly after 0820. Herring Gull and Feral Pigeon were first onto the list before I met up with Jacqui. On our way out of Dundee we added Black Headed Gull, Woodpigeon and Carrion Crow. Further up the A90, Rooks were spotted, followed shortly after by the first Pink Footed Geese of the day. Our first raptor, not unexpectedly, was a pair of Buzzards foraging by the roadside on the grass verge. We turned off the main road to head for our glen of choice for the day. Mistle Thrush, Jackdaw, Blackbird, Chaffinch, Greenfinch and Starling soon helped the list to grow. Coal Tit and a few Pheasants were next before we chanced upon a raptor sat atop an electricity pylon. Jacqui stopped the car, and the bird took flight, showing itself to be a lovely
Red Kite, glowing golden in the early sunshine. It circled a few times before we set off again.
A field full of Fieldfares and at least one Yellowhammer soon followed, though as usual, the birds were rather wary of the car and kept their distance. Four Magpies were a slight surprise, but show just how widespread the species is becoming locally, having been a bit of a "hard to find" bird not too long ago. So far this year, I've seen the species on every trip out birding. A few more Pheasants were spotted including a rather nice all white bird which suggests it probably won't be around for too long, given just how visible it is.
Driving further down the glen, we found our first
Red Grouse in the heather near the road. We were to see plenty others, with some giving us very close views and others more wary. We stopped for a brief walk along the road to see if we could find anything else. A Goldfinch and an unexpected Great Black Backed Gull passed over before we headed back to the car to move further on. As Jacqui was photographing a Red Grouse perched atop a fence-post on her side of the car, I spotted some birds taking flight across the other side of the glen. Five male
Black Grouse were joined by a further three as they flew up the glen. Some of the birds dropped back into the heather while I lost sight of the others owing to the angle of the car. We couldn't get a clear shot of around a dozen of the birds we saw a little further on, so decided to try again on our way back.
A trio of Stock Doves flew up from a field as we passed. At the end of the road, we decided to go for a walk, although we weren't expecting to see too much, but nothing ventured, nothing gained. A Dipper on the burn was a nice addition, and there were plenty more Red Grouse around, but it was pretty quiet. As we turned around to walk back to the car I spotted two large birds over the ridge opposite. My first
Ravens of the year, and the fourth of the four hoped for targets for the outing. We found another four and another Red Kite later. Heading back down the glen we missed out on the Black Grouse as the birds had moved on again. A flock of Long Tailed Tits were encountered near one of the houses in the glen, but it was largely just more Red Grouse on our way out. We had another encounter with Black Grouse when we chanced upon a pair together in a stubble field where I was expecting the two birds to just be Pheasants (albeit a dark one), before they took flight.
I had suggested we work our way down the coast so we headed next to Montrose Basin in the hope of finding Pintail in the Basin. I suddenly remembered the Twite feeding site and suggested a shirt walk to try and find some. There was a Robin and a few Blue Tits in the car park, and we had close views of a Treecreeper on the small trees by the path. There were a small group of Mute Swans feeding in a field of crops when we crested the former railway line. A flock of finches flew over but they were only Chaffinches. A few Carrion Crows and a few more Chaffinches were at the scrubby area where we hoped to find the Twite.
It didn't look too promising with only Chaffinches showing, but just as we were contemplating heading back to the car a group of around ten birds suddenly dropped in. A couple of Chaffinches and the rest were
Twite. They didn't stick around long enough to grab a photo, choosing to fly off again after only a few seconds at the seeds, but at least we had succeeded in finding them. A Goldcrest gave us good views as we headed back to the car again to drive to the Lurgies. There were a few species that I didn't yet have possible from here, but none had been reported recently.
There were Black Headed and Herring Gulls, Wigeon, a Grey Heron, a few Little Grebes, a few Eider, lots of Wigeon, some Redshanks and a Curlew or two, as well as some distant Shelduck all seen before we had even gone through the gate. A Great Tit called from the bushes before flying up into a tree a short way along the track. We spotted Goosander and Teal next, and then a Greenshank on the far bank, near a couple of Lapwings. There didn't appear to be too much ahead of us that we hadn't already seen, so we turned around again, to move round to the Bank of Scotland hide at the (closed for renovation) visitor centre.
I decided to scan through the distant ducks at a few points on our way back and what I thought looked promising for a pair of Shoveler, turned out to be a pair of
Shoveler, and yet another year-tick. I couldn't see any Pintail though, and a pair of potential Red Breasted Mergansers had done a disappearing act. A Goldeneye flew past giving us another bird for the day. We found the car park closed at the visitor centre so parked in front of the houses and walked back to the small wooden gate. We added both House and Tree Sparrows in the bushes before we walked down to the hide where we found two photographers already inside. There wasn't too much to be seen that we hadn't already seen, and it was clear that the pair were more photographer than birder in the brief exchanges that followed.
We added a few more species for the day - Cormorant, Black Tailed Godwit, Oystercatcher, Red Breasted Merganser and Common Gull but no Pintail. Our next target was to be Corn Bunting, so a detour off the main road south of Montrose was required. I spotted four 'lumps' sticking up from the greenery in a field and Jacqui stopped the car and reversed back.
Grey Partridges, another year-tick, though the rather impatient driver coming the other way was less than impressed. A Kestrel was seen before we arrived at the farm where the Corn buntings are usually looked for in winter. There were birds around, but they were very flighty.
Getting out of the car, I spotted a Reed Bunting in a tree behind the houses. There were also Chaffinches and Yellowhammers, as well as a House Sparrow, but I couldn't find any Corn Buntings among the birds. Mallards were heard from the pond, but they were hidden from our line of sight. We were hoping to see a Glaucous Gull at Arbroath harbour, but more 'lumps' in another field near Auchmithie turned out to be another lucky find - my first
Golden Plovers of the year, around ten or so roosting. There were too many people around at Arbroath near the cliffs so it was only Herring Gulls and Oystercatchers that we could see, so we headed along to check out the harbour area.
Great Black Backed Gulls and Herring Gulls mingled near the burn outflow, while a Grey Heron stood on a rock nearby, but despite scanning through them all, and more birds out on the rocks there was no sign of the Glaucous Gull. I did find a single Turnstone. Flying by offshore we added a Red Throated Diver and another year-tick, a
Shag. Jacqui spotted a Rock Pipit we could hear calling and a Pied Wagtail flew past before we walked back to the car.
We decided to try one last stop, at Craigmill Den, where we would walk down to the end of the burn just in case the Glaucous Gull was roosting there, though Elliot was probably more likely. Things were exceedingly quiet in the Den with hardly any birds seen at all, though Jacqui found Mallards on the burn. Most of the birds at the mouth of the burn were quite distant and nothing else was added, though a Song Thrush and a Wren both stayed hidden though both were heard. With the light beginning to get rather gloomy, having never been particularly bright since the sun disappeared behind the clouds shortly after our Red Kite encounter not long after 0900, we called it a day and headed for home.
66 species seen including 9 year-ticks (in bold) on what had been a pretty productive day. Things get a bit trickier now for a couple of months with regards adding more than a couple of species per outing, though once Spring migration gets underway the list picks up a bit of pace again.
 |
| Pheasant |
 |
| Pheasant |
 |
| Great Black Backed Gull |
 |
| Red Grouse |
 |
| Red Grouse |
 |
| Red Grouse |
 |
| Buzzard |
 |
| Dipper |
 |
| Red Grouse |
 |
| Red Grouse |
 |
| Red Grouse |
 |
| Red Grouse |
 |
| Raven |
 |
| Red Kite |
 |
| Red Grouse |
 |
| Treecreeper |
 |
| Mute Swan |
 |
| Pink Footed Geese |
 |
| Wigeon, Redshanks etc |
 |
| Redshank & Greenshank |
 |
| Shoveler & Redshank |
 |
| Grey Partridge |
 |
| Reed Bunting |
 |
| Yellowhammer |
 |
| Woodpigeon |
 |
| Golden Plover |
 |
| Golden Plover |
 |
| Herring Gull |
 |
| Red Throated Diver |
 |
| Great Black Backed Gull |
 |
| Herring Gull |
Species seen -
Black Grouse, Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Black Tailed Godwit, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Common Gull, Cormorant, Curlew, Dipper, Eider, Fieldfare, Goldcrest,
Golden Plover, Goldeneye, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Greenshank, Grey Heron,
Grey Partridge, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Kestrel, Lapwing, Little Grebe, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Mistle Thrush, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Pink Footed Goose,
Raven, Red Grouse, Red Kite, Red Breasted Mergansers, Redshank, Red Throated Diver, Reed Bunting, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rock Pipit, Rook,
Shag, Shelduck,
Shoveler, Starling, Stock Dove, Teal, Tree Sparrow, Treecreeper, Tufted Duck, Turnstone,
Twite, Wigeon, Woodpigeon, Yellowhammer.
