STONEFACTION BIRDING: 0160 : Back To The Glens (14/5/15)

0160 : Back To The Glens (14/5/15)

Day 4 of the week off work and the first of a double-header of trips out and about with Nat. A wee trip up the Angus glens to try once more for Cuckoo, and possibly Whinchat as well. At this time of year, the glens are one of the more productive areas for birds. Though the numbers are never particularly high, there is usually really good quality and a nice variety to be seen.

Swallow

An 8am start as usual saw me out the door a few minutes early to meet Nat. Lesser Black Backed Gull and Woodpigeon starting the list off with the trio of Starling, Collared Dove and Blackbird following over the next three minutes. Once on the A90 northwards, Common Gull, Oystercatcher and Carrion Crow were added. Taking the lesser roads towards the glens added a few more - Red Legged Partridge (spotted by Nat who seems to have a knack for picking out Partridges in fields), Swallow and Skylark.

Our first brief stop gave us Jackdaw, Song Thrush and Swift as well as House Sparrow, Rook and Pied Wagtail. A surprise here was a Linnet, though a Robin was a much more expected find. We headed on along the road seeing our first Pheasant of the day as we drove on. A second stop at a picnic spot proved to be very productive. A Grey Wagtail wandered around below trees. A Buzzard was perched up the hill on a fence-post. Sand Martins and Swallows swooped around beside us. A Whitethroat perched atop a gorse bush nearby giving the occasional song flight.

A few Goldfinches flew around. A Blackcap singing from up in the trees was very tricky to find but we did eventually manage decent enough views. Blue Tit and Great Tit also flitted around, and a very showy Treecreeper gave us good close views. A Grey Heron flew by further down the road, and a Chaffinch flew up from the road 5 minutes later. Turning into the main part of the glen we added Lapwing and an overflying Raven.

A Buzzard with a white breast and very dark belly perched on a fence post looked like a potential Rough Legged Buzzard and even in flight hinted at the possibility but I suspect it was within the plumage range of Common Buzzard. Won't be submitting it anyway. We parked the car and went for a short walk. A Meadow Pipit and a Reed Bunting were perched on the overhead wires but there was no sign of any Cuckoos. A Red Kite circled round giving us good, though distant, views.

Curlew and Stock Dove flew by and heading back towards the car I thought I could hear Spotted Flycatcher calling from within the trees, out of the wind. After a fair bit of effort I found the bird and even managed a photo before it moved position again after a fly-catching flight. Further along the road we stopped again by a small hedgerow where we found Wren, a few Willow Warblers and could hear a Cuckoo calling somewhere. We scanned around trying to check any potential perches for the bird but had no luck. Minutes later a bird flew towards us and past. I grabbed a couple of quick shots and was pleased to see that as I thought it was the Cuckoo. My first of the year. A Mistle Thrush looked rather odd with a beakful of wool giving it a rather Santa-like appearance. It dropped a fair bit of it as it flew off.

The next section of the glen is usually good for sightings of Red Grouse but they were few and far between with only 1 seen and it was very distant and seemed to be causing some concern to a Lapwing which obviously had a nest or youngster nearby. We watched some distant raptors circling up where they were joined over the next few minutes by more. They all appeared to be Buzzards and we had 10 together at one point. Such high raptor numbers isn't a regular sight, sadly, in the Angus glens with some estates having a higher number of 'suspicious deaths' than others, but with proof of 'who did what' hard to come by, the situation is unlikely to change anytime soon.

Nat spotted a bird on the heather by the side of the road and I was rather pleased to see it was a male Stonechat. I have seen the species at this part of the glen before along with Whinchat. A bird on the wire slightly further on was singing and I managed a bit of footage of a nice male Whinchat right on cue. A Wheatear rounded off the 'chat' spree and we pushed on a bit further. Another Cuckoo calling from the hillside took a bit of finding as it was perched atop a large rock among a lot of other rocks.

A Kestrel took flight from a roadside telegraph pole and flew across to the other side of the glen to hover. A Snipe lifted from the roadside flying away from us. rather surprisingly the next species added was a House Martin with a few of these birds hawking around in an area where houses were rather sparse, though there was one near where the birds actually were. We had something to eat while watching for any activity. A male Black Grouse flew along the top of the slope nearby before landing in some nearby conifers.

A Grey Wagtail was perched on overhead wires and a bird on the burn that we only had a fleeting glimpse of as it flew off upstream had us debating whether it had been a Dipper or a Common Sandpiper. There was no debate over the ID of the next bird seen which was a Common Sandpiper, one of a pair which headed downstream away from us. We had a short walk at the end of the glen but it was pretty quiet so we headed back to the car for a slightly quicker return back down the glen. A female Mallard shot by rather unexpectedly as we reached the car and kept on going following the burn.

We didn't add anything new to the list for the day as we headed back though we did have good views of 10 male Black Grouse in a field, though they were feeding rather than lekking with very few signs of any aggression. Still it is always good to see these birds. We debated where to stop off on the way down the road, looking for a decent number of new species by way of return. Eventually we settled on Forfar Loch which we hoped would add quite a few new species that we hadn't yet seen that day.

Herring Gull was added en route, though it was also one of the first species we saw at the Loch. On the water were Coot, Great Crested Grebe, Black Headed Gull, Moorhen, Mute Swan and Gadwall in addition to the Mallards. Scanning around the edges added Greylag. A Dunnock showed in the bushes along with Chaffinches, Blue Tits and Blackbirds as we walked along to the sailing club spit. Lesser Redpolls overflew. The water level was very low and a pair of Cormorants were stood among some distant gulls towards the western end of the loch. Swallows swooped around us and rested along the roof of the sailing club building.

A Yellowhammer sang briefly and we eventually managed to see one of a few Sedge Warblers singing nearby. Nat spotted a distant Little Grebe and I found a Goosander off the end of the spit. There were surprisingly no waders on the spit apart from a couple of Oystercatchers. Sand Martins were landing on the edge of the spit before flyng off again. Wandering back to the car park we stopped to try and find a drumming Great Spotted Woodpecker and I eventually managed a view of it from directly below.

A male Sparrowhawk was being harassed by a Rook further on and we stopped to photograph a Sedge Warbler singing by the side of the wooden viewing platform. As I was filming the bird a magpie flew by and Nat pointed it out, as I had missed an earlier fly-by by the bird that she had seen. Another species for the list. As we were just turning to go a bird flew in and landed in the top branches of a dead tree. A male Bullfinch which proceeded to give us a bit of song before we headed back to the car and homewards.

A really enjoyable and very productive day out with 73 species seen (2 new for year - in bold) and some nice video and photos to show for it.

Black Grouse, Blackbird, Blackcap, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Common Sandpiper, Coot, Cormorant, Cuckoo, Curlew, Dunnock, Gadwall, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Crested Grebe, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great Tit, Grey Heron, Grey Wagtail, Greylag Goose, Herring Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Kestrel, Lapwing, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Lesser Redpoll, Linnet, Little Grebe, Magpie, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Mistle Thrush, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Raven, Red Grouse, Red Kite, Red Legged Partridge, Reed Bunting, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rook, Sand Martin, Sedge Warbler, Skylark, Snipe, Song Thrush, Sparrowhawk, Spotted Flycatcher, Starling, Stock Dove, Stonechat, Swallow, Swift, Treecreeper, Wheatear, Whinchat, Whitethroat, Willow Warbler, Woodpigeon, Wren, Yellowhammer.