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| Dunnock |
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| Dunnock |
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| Hawfinch |
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| Hawfinch |
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| Hawfinch |
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| Wren |
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| Hawfinch |
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| Hawfinch |
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| Hawfinch |
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| Buzzard |
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| Pink Footed Geese |
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| Caterpillar |
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| Pintail |
A wee trip to Scone Palace to try and see Hawfinch is now an annual occurence, most usually via the Angus & Dundee Bird Club's February outing. Although the weather forecast wasn't looking brilliant I decided that it would likely be worthwhile going along on the outing. In the past, the afternoon part of the outing was to head further afield to Argaty to watch the Red Kites at the feeding station there, however this year the second half was a trip to RSPB Loch Leven (formerly known as Vane Farm). Sometimes in Winter there can be a good selection of birds here, but it has been quite quiet this year. Still, there is always a possibility of finding something decent.
Surprisingly, the weather looked a lot better than forecast when I got up and I headed out at around 0830 to walk into town. Carrion Crow, Woodpigeon, House Sparrow and Feral Pigeon were the initial selection of entries onto the day list, with Blue Tit added on Dens Road. Further on, Blackbird and a singing male Chaffinch were added. Unusually, Herring Gull was only added as I reached the bottom of Dens Road, that species normally being one of the very first birds seen when I leave the house. More Feral Pigeons were seen by the Wellgate Centre and a singing Robin was at McManus Galleries.
I met up with some of the others going to the outing in Crichton Street and ended up in Mickey Mellon's car to head for Perth, more or less by default when Bob McCurley jumped in the other car without anybody bothering to sort out which car of the two present I was going in. (Thanks, Mickey). Black Headed Gull and Mallard were seen as we headed along Riverside Drive. Near Inchture a Sparrowhawk flew in front of the car, and a minute or so later we added Buzzard to the list. Oystercatchers in a roadside field and some Rooks in another joined the growing list. Mute Swans were on the water at the fishery by the Friarton Bridge and as we passed through Perth we added Starling and a flyover skein of Pink Footed Geese.
There were already a few folk in the car park at Quarry Mill where a walk up the burn was the initial plan before we were to move on to Scone Palace and the Hawfinch hunt. An Oystercatcher was on a rooftop across the road, with another flying in. A few Woodpigeons overflew as did a Common Gull. The feeders were visited by Great Tits and Blue Tits as we waited. I wandered down to check the burn for Dippers but drew a blank. As the walk wasn't due to begin until around 10am, a group of us wandered off on our own. A few Long tailed Tits flitted through the trees. The pond held only Mallards and a Treecreeper was spotted by one of the other birders as we headed back towards the car park. A Grey Squirrel put in an appearance but there was a dearth of wildlife.
Back at the car park we waited for the 'official' walk to return. I photographed a Dunnock by the car park which posed nicely for me as it sung quietly. In addition, Robin, Chaffinches, Blackbird and Blue and Great Tits were at the feeders, but still no sign of any Dippers by the burn. We found out that the other group had managed to find a pair of Dippers a little upstream. Talking to my birding pal, Joan, I mooched an alternative lift for the rest of the day. With everyone assembled we headed for the main car park at Scone Palace.
Jackdaws were much in evidence as we drove down the driveway. A few Woodpigeons and Feral Pigeons flew around as we got out of the cars and scanned round the tree tops in the hope we would find a Hawfinch without needing to walk far. Once again it was rather quiet, though a Blue Tit just off the main drive and a flyover Stock Dove lifted things slightly. I did see a couple of Fieldfares fly over, their calls alerting me to them, but the Redwings I also heard call went unseen. A Mistle Thrush flew away from our group and high into the trees nearby. A Pheasant male flew in and landed by the pens across the open grass area. A shout that someone had Hawfinches in the trees went up and everyone moved in for a look. Much pointing and describing just where to look finally resulted in my first
Hawfinch of the year.
We watched for around 20 minutes or so as a group of maybe a dozen of the birds flitted around in the trees, with some coming much lower down than in previous years, allowing better photo opportunities, and in better light than previous visits. A Great Spotted Woodpecker flew through and landed in a tree off to our right, and a Goldcrest fed close to a couple of members of our group before we headed back to the cars to head for Vane Farm/Loch Leven. Most of the group seemed to be missing out the afternoon section of the day but with the sun shining and it not feeling particularly like February there was no reason to not go. There weren't too many birds seen on the way though a geese flock close to the visitor centre that we didn't stop to check out apparently held a Barnacle Goose in addition to the Pink Footed Geese.
On arrival at Vane Farm we wandered through to the far side of the visitor centre being accosted en route by an RSPB volunteer asking if we were members to ensure we paid before we could visit the hides. Considering that it is possible to visit the hides from the path around the loch, this sounds like yet another of the type of thing that will discourage birders from visiting. Have had a few other grumbles with the organisation of late, but on balance I will probably renew my membership once more when it is up, though as I don't visit many RSPB sites (except Kinnordy which seems to be allowed to go to rack and ruin of late) it isn't particularly good value for money on a personal level. Maybe they are getting too big, and birds/birders are slipping down their list of priorities.
As all three of us were members we collected our blue bands from the reception desk in the visitor centre and scanned down to the loch through some demonstration scopes outside the shop. A flock of ducks close in to shore held good numbers of
Pochard along with Tufted Ducks, Mallards and a Goldeneye or two. A Buzzard perched atop a fence post out on the reserve. We wandered down to the first hide for a look. Pink Footed Geese were well off to the west, taking flight in their hundreds and milling around before settling again. A Cormorant flew past out on the loch. A Grey Heron was surprisingly difficult to spot among the reeds on the pool in front of the hide. A Robin, two Magpies and a few finches were near the feeders off to our right. Way across the water we could make out a flock of Wigeon feeding halfway up the grass banking along with a few Mute Swans and Oystercatchers down by the water's edge and a few Common Gulls dotted around.
There was next to nothing to see at the next hide, although it looked decent for Snipe, with only a few Teal and a small number of Curlews seen before we moved onto the third hide which proved slightly better. Goosander, Gadwall and a nice male
Pintail along with Mallards were seen here but most of the birds were a bit too far away. We wandered back to the car park to head for home seeing a few Goldfinches in the trees on our way. I did briefly pop upstairs to the cafe to purchase a few secondhand bird books. We found a few
Whooper Swans in a field near the junction towards the eastern end of the loch but it was fairly standard pigeon/crow/gull fare on the way back to Dundee.
I added 4 to my year-list and managed to see 48 species in total. A decent day out with Dunnock and Hawfinch photos to show for it, along with getting to spend some time with Joan and Alice which is always a good day out.
Species seen (new in black) - Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Common Gull, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunnock, Fieldfare, Gadwall, Goldcrest, Goldeneye, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Heron,
Hawfinch, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Lapwing, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Mistle Thrush, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pheasant, Pink Footed Goose,
Pintail,
Pochard, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rook, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Stock Dove, Teal, Treecreeper, Tufted Duck,
Whooper Swan, Wigeon, Woodpigeon, Wren.