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| Pink Footed Geese |
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| Mute Swan |
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| Pink Footed Geese |
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| Teal |
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| Curlew |
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| Black Tailed Godwit |
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| Peregrine |
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| Grey Heron |
My final day's holiday of the year (new one starts next month) had me wondering where to go. Should I try again for the Caird Park Kingfisher? Or maybe try Morton Lochs in the hope of Kingfisher and Shoveler? In the end I decided on the relative comfort of the hide at Guardbridge, overlooking the Eden Estuary. A much later start than usual, leaving the house around 1050.
First sighting was the customary Herring Gull, of which there always seems to be at least one overhead my street. Next up was Feral Pigeon and then Woodpigeon as I headed down to the bus station. The strong winds meant that birds were quite noticeably absent on most of the journey to Guardbridge with only a single Carrion Crow, a few Rooks and a couple of Jackdaws seen en route.
Once at the hide, which was busier than I expected, I checked the feeders at the side window as I sat down. A Greenfinch and a House Sparrow were on one of the peanut feeders. Looking out the front windows, 3 Goldeneyes were in the water out front. A male Chaffinch flew in to the feeders, the white on the wings showing well as it flew by. I scanned through the birds out on the large area of mud opposite. Redshanks were much in evidence with Black Tailed Godwits in small groups dotted around.
At the corner where the Motray meets the Eden a mixed roost of gulls were in their usual place. Black Headed, Herring, Great Black Backed and Lesser Black Backed but no Common Gulls. A pair of Oystercatchers wandered around among them. Scanning with the binoculars further out I added Curlew and Shelduck to the day list. Siskins flew in to the feeders, with one particularly feisty male seeing off a larger Greenfinch from the feeder he was eating from. A Great Tit fed on another feeder.
I spotted a couple of, probably injured, Pink Footed Geese over on the fields by the farm. I heard and then spotted a Wren foraging around in the rocks out in front of the hide. A raptor put in an appearance crossing the river and then swooping low over the pools. One of the other birders in the hide called it as a Merlin, but my initial thought was the much more likely Sparrowhawk. I had managed a couple of rather poor photos which seemed to show that I was correct, and looking at the photos later on the PC, confirmed my initial ID.
Searching through the waders along the shore opposite, I found one Dunlin in among the Redshanks, but as I was trying to get a photo, the whole flock spooked and flew around a bit, though there was no obvious cause for their alarm. Tree Sparrows seem to have had a good year in 2013 and are once again a relatively common sight at the Guardbridge feeders. I was checking the feeders regularly in the hope of adding some more species to the day list and finally found my Tree Sparrow feeding on the bird table out of the left side window. A Woodpigeon was dropping in at the feeders from time to time, but there was no sign of the Great Spotted Woodpecker. Ducks were in very short supply with only a handful of Goldeneye around, but I did finally find a small group of around half a dozen Teal close in to the northern bank of the Eden near the Motray mouth.
Checking through the gull flock again I managed to pick up a Common Gull, the first of the day surprisingly. Overall it was quite quiet with not too much happening. I did briefly see a pair of birds low over the water, but they disappeared out of my line of sight behind the trees. My initial thought was that they were maybe early returning Sand Martins but as one pulled up the fleeting view of the topside seemed very dark and more like a Swallow. Unfortunately, I couldn't be sure one way or the other, so unidentified hirundine species was as near to an ID as I could get.
There was a bit of a flurry of activity at the feeders, allowing me to add Blackbird, Dunnock and Blue Tit to my list. A pair of Mute Swans flew in from the direction of Balgove Bay and headed upriver. Checking the feeders again gave me a Robin. Next find was a Cormorant hunting close in to shore towards the airfield. I kept checking the fields by the farm in the hope of finding an early Wheatear, but a small flock of Starlings were minor consolation. Two Pink Footed Geese flew in and past the hide without landing. However a short while later a stream of Pinkies flew in and landed. Somewhere between 250-300 birds were involved but they only hung around for around 20 minutes before moving on again, heading south into the wind, possibly to gain height before continuing northwards with the wind behind them.
There were a few species that are almost always seen at the hide that hadn't put in an appearance at all. Buzzard and Mallard being the most common of these. A single drake Mallard sneaked in un-noticed opposite the hide with one of the other birders spotting it and pointing it out. With closing time approaching I decided to check out the small nature reserve to the north of the paper mill.
A Grey Heron was close in to the bank by the mill but it decided it wasn't hanging about and flew off, briefly touching down on a wall, before continuing west upriver. A small group of Teal and some Black Tailed Godwits were along the water's edge allowing me to get a few photos of both species. A Curlew gave me equally good photo opportunities next. On the mud opposite were the same gull flock I had seen from the hide with more Godwits and Redshanks further along the water's edge. Three geese which turned out to be Pink Feet didn't stay long, moving on while they were hidden from my sight by the bushes.
Turning back towards the road, I spotted a dark bird perched on one of the upper window ledges of the paper mill. A nice male Peregrine, and species number 37 for the day. The Grey Heron had returned to its pot by the wall and a small flock of Black Headed Gulls were in the sewage farm picking something from the 'water'. Not a great total but not the worst day out.
Species seen - Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Black tailed Godwit, Blue Tit, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Common Gull, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunlin, Dunnock, Goldeneye, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Mallard, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Peregrine, Pink Footed Goose, Redshank, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rook, Shelduck, Siskin, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Teal, Tree Sparrow, Woodpigeon, Wren.