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| Iceland Gull |
Nat picked me up at 1730 from our usual spot. Woodpigeon, Carrion Crow and Herring Gull were seen locally then Blue Tit and Starling were added as we headed for the Arbroath Road. Along the dual carriageway as we chatted we added Oystercatcher and Rook in the fields as well as a showy Great Tit in a roadside tree near a junction. Surprisingly for this stretch of road we saw no Buzzards at all.
With the Iceland Gull having been seen earlier in the day just to the west of the harbour we headed there first to search. There were a few cars parked but only a few Herring Gulls out among the rocks exposed by the outgoing tide. More scanning found a few Eiders, a couple of Great Black Backed Gulls and unusually for Arbroath (as far as I'm aware), a small flock of Knot on the sea side of the breakwater wall. No Iceland Gull though.
More gulls could be seen milling around over the harbour but again these were all Herring Gulls. A Cormorant flew by offshore with a smaller Shag passing in the opposite direction. I spotted a pair of Mallards by the lifeboat ramp. I suggested we walk down to the breakwater across the exposed mud and rocks. If nothing else we should get closer views of the Knot flock. A few Feral Pigeons landed on the harbour buildings.
As we wandered across the mud, gulls seemed to appear from nowhere above the cars. This suggested that someone was feeding the birds. We hurried back up to see if the Iceland Gull had been tempted in with the flock. There was no sign of it among the Herring Gulls. I had said to Nat that I would let her find the bird (having described what she was looking for) but circumstances meant that when I spotted the Iceland Gull on the ground behind one of the parked cars I immediately pointed it out in case it flew off.
I skirted round to get the sun in a better position for photos, giving the bird plenty of room so it wouldn't fly off. However like the Swannie Ponds bird last year this one also seemed rather wary and it flew up onto the apex of the roof of the closed-down building. I managed a few photos before the bird was attacked by one the local Herring Gulls and it disappeared off the roof and out of sight. I suspected it maybe hadn't gone too far so hurried round to the other end of the building to look. Success, the bird was on the roof at this end. Once again though, the local gulls caused it to flee, and it flew off across the main road to settle in front of the houses.
It didn't stay there for too long and within minutes was winging its way back towards us. A Pied Wagtail dropped in nearby and having had decent views we decided to move on to check the area towards the cliffs. Driving through the town we found our first Jackdaws of the evening. Out on the rocks when we stopped we could see some distant gulls and heard a calling Curlew which we eventually found. Something caused the birds we were watching to flush and they took to the air en masse.
Among the gulls and Curlews a dark bird stood out. I realised quite quickly that this was actually a Brent Goose and I made sure Nat managed to get on to the bird as it flew westward along the seaward edge of the rocky shore. An unexpected bonus bird. As it passed I had spotted a Grey Heron stood out by the water and Nat managed to find this bird without any difficulty.
We wandered up to the clifftop path to do a small seawatch, and to check for any Wheatears on the path or in the fields. A pair of Linnets flew over us and we could hear Skylarks singing high above the field, but it took some time to locate one. It was quite distant near the top of the field among the growing crop, but soon disappeared out of sight over the skyline. A Rock Pipit flew by, calling loudly as it went, but there was no sign of any Wheatears.
Out above the sea we picked up a few more species including my first Gannet and Kittiwake of the year. Black Headed Gull and Fulmar with a few more Cormorants completed the list here and we headed back down to the car at around 1910 to head further up the road to Auchmithie in search of the Puffins we had missed out on a few weeks previously.
Arriving in the village car park we found a few birds nearby, Goldfinches and Yellowhammers singing from their perches and a Blackbird or two as we wandered downhill to check for Puffins. A Linnet posed really well in the trees in the gully. It didn't take too long to pick out the Puffins, resting in small groups on the water. There were at least 20 of them with a lot of coming and going as well, so it was quite tricky to estimate just how many of these birds we saw.
Also out on the water were Herring Gulls and Eiders. Fulmars flew around from the cliffs and there was a pair of Cormorants on the rocks by the harbour. More surprising though were the large number of Cormorants on the cliff face themselves, high up, not too far from the top. Whether this was something I had overlooked on previous visits or just something I hadn't been there at the right time to see before, I don't know, but it was a scene that was new for me.
With the light starting to fade and the temperature dropping considerably we decided to head for Westhaven for a very quick look and then home. We passed a Pheasant in the fields on our way, but except for Woodpigeons and crows there was little to see. At Westhaven our plans were thwarted by the walkers down on the beach ensuring that any waders close to the car park had moved on. We headed back for home instead.
Although not quite as memorable as the previous week, we had managed 33 species of which 3 were new for my year-list (in bold).
Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Brent Goose, Carrion Crow, Cormorant, Curlew, Eider, Fulmar, Gannet, Goldfinch, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Tit, Grey Heron, Herring Gull, Iceland Gull, Jackdaw, Kittiwake, Knot, Linnet, Mallard, Oystercatcher, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Puffin, Feral Pigeon, Rock Pipit, Rook, Shag, Skylark, Starling, Woodpigeon, Yellowhammer.
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| Iceland Gull |
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| Iceland Gull |
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| Iceland Gull |
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| Iceland Gull |
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| Iceland Gull |
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| Knot |
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| Brent Goose |
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| Linnet |
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| Cormorant |
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| Puffin |
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| Woodpigeon |
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| Cormorant |