STONEFACTION BIRDING: 0187 : Coasting Along Nicely (29/7/15)

0187 : Coasting Along Nicely (29/7/15)

With waders and seabirds once again on the move after their breeding season further north has ended, I look forward to squeezing in as much sea-watching as possible in July and August especially, before the main Autumn passage gets underway, and looking among the bushes and trees along the coast takes precedence. With this in mind, myself and Nat decided to focus on the coast for our latest Wednesday outing. Anything is possible, but if you aren't looking then you aren't going to see it...

Linnet

I got the day list off to an early start with a quick visit to the shops before 7am. It was very quiet with no birdsong at all, and only 3 birds seen. A single Carrion Crow, a Herring Gull and a Woodpigeon. No Swifts overhead, no Blackbirds or House Sparrows. Not a great omen. Nat picked me up at our usual time of 8am and off we went for Arbroath, our first stop.House Martins were seen over Clepington Road, with Lesser Black Backed Gull seen during a rather lengthy detour due to roadworks via lower Whitfield. Swallow and Starling were seen near Monifieth and a bird perched on a fence by the road wasn't the hoped for Buzzard, but a Rook. A male Yellowhammer was a bonus bird perched alongside.

Nat had things she had to do in Arbroath, so she dropped me off at the cliffs while she headed into the town. A Grey Heron was out by the water's edge. Pied Wagtail and House Sparrows were next onto the list. Scanning along the water's edge added Eider, Sandwich Tern, more Herring Gulls and Oystercatcher. A Cormorant flew by as I walked along to the path up to the clifftops. Black Headed Gulls drifted by, and a pair of Linnets flew over while a Rock Pipit foraged around among the pebbles and pools on the beach. Scanning out over the water gave me the first Gannet of the morning, while a Curlew and Redshank flew off towards the water's edge after deciding that I was a bit too close to where they were feeding as I walked along the path. A Swift was an unexpected addition here as it headed westwards.

Among the House Sparrow flock drinking from the trickle of water by the hill was at least one Goldfinch. As I reached the top of the slope a Sand Martin skimmed past low in front of me, before scooting back along the cliff edge for a second pass. It was a bit colder than it should be in late July, feeling more like October or March than mid-summer. Despite this I found myself a seat to scan out over the water and to wait for Nat to finish her errands. It was fairly standard fayre out over the water. Herring Gulls, Kittiwakes, Sandwich Terns, Great Black Backed Gulls and Gannets aplenty. A few Feral Pigeons flew by, as well as more Sand Martins and a single House Martin. I found a Razorbill not too far offshore bobbing around among the waves. A Fulmar glided by, and a Guillemot scuttled by, wings whirring, low across the water.

The first Common Tern of the day showed not long after Nat rejoined me. We had great close views of a pair of Linnets, first behind us, then in front, allowing us both to get some nice photos. A nice bonus was a small passing pod of Dolphins that I spotted quite far out but which cruised along more or less on the surface. I got distracted by a Red Throated Diver going in the opposite direction. Having spent just short of 2 hours here we decided to head for Auchmithie to see if we could add Puffin to our day list. We did add Jackdaw and Blackbird as we headed out of Arbroath.

At Auchmithie we headed for the north end of the village to look down into the bay. There was a solitary Puffin on the water below, but it was generally rather quiet with only a single Fulmar on the cliffs further over. I had spotted a flock of birds in the fields behind the village on the way in, so we decided to check them out from the car park. The view of the field was blocked by the bushes surrounding the football pitch, so we scanned around. carrion Crow and Feral Pigeon were seen , as well as a distant Yellowhammer. I spotted a low flying long, thin-winged, long tailed Falcon-like bird. It had to be a Hobby, but my SLR was still in the bag and I failed to even find it with the P900. One that got away.

A quick stop at Boghead Farm drew a blank on finches and buntings etc though the pool held 5 Little Grebes, some Tufted Ducks and some Mallards. A Sparrowhawk was seen circling above the trees when we reached the junction for Inverkeillor. A male Chaffinch flew across the road in front of us a bit further on. Lunan Bay was to be our next stop. A drake Surf Scoter had been seen at times in the bay lately so it was on the hoped for list, but as the Scoter flocks are usually rather distant here I wasn't too optimistic about our chances. A Yellowhammer sang from the wires by the road. A mixed flock of gulls and a few Sandwich Terns were at the mouth of the river. A Dunnock perched briefly on the chicken coops.

From the hide we scanned through the gulls, picking out numerous Kittiwakes among the Black Headed and Herring Gulls. Sandwich Terns cruised along above the breaking waves. There were plenty of Gannets in the bay, with birds diving off to the north. A group of Scoters could be seen bobbing around among the waves beyond the breaking waves, but closer in than usual. Without a scope it was possible to see that they were Velvet Scoters, the white around the eye surprisingly easy to catch glimpses off. From time to time, through the binoculars, I thought I could see a bit more white on one of the birds, but it would then disappear behind the next wave. Frustrating though this was, the group was tanatalisingly close enough to attempt to use the P900 as a makeshift scope and to grab some video in an attempt to confirm the presence of the Surf Scoter among this group.

Thankfully, this plan worked and I managed to confirm that we could indeed see the drake Surf Scoter. I then switched my focus to attempting to get a relatively decent, albeit distant, photo of the bird, a species that I don't have a particularly usable photo of. This I succeeded in doing, eventually, though the photos are basically record shot quality only. We spent more time watching the group and when the sun came out it was possible to pick the bird out through binoculars without too much difficulty. Having had a successful stint here we headed back to the car to move further on. I spotted a Buzzard over the Redcastle, surprisingly the first of the day.

We headed for Fishtown of Usan next where we found a Ringed Plover feeding on the beach, and a mix of birds offshore, though it was a similar mix to those seen earlier, with a few more Common Terns than elsewhere. With the time now being after 1pm we weighed up our options, and decided to head for Ferryden and walk out to Scurdie Ness lighthouse in the hope that we might yet see a Skua, or two. We did succeed in seeing a hovering Kestrel, and a Common Gull, but the river mouth was very quiet with almost no terns to be seen. Gannets, Kittiwakes and Sandwich Terns, plus a single Red Throated Diver and a few Guillemots kept us occupied for a wee while before the sky darkened and we headed off to avoid the incoming rain shower.

We popped into Arbroath briefly on the way back down the road to look for Mediterranean Gull but drew a blank, though we did add Turnstone here. An attempt to get Little Gull at Monifieth was also unsuccessful, though a pair of Goosanders did give us another day-tick. We ended the day with a nice round figure of 50 species, as well as video and photos of drake Surf Scoter, just a pity about the possible Hobby....

Species seen - Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Common Gull, Common Tern, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunnock, Eider, Fulmar, Gannet, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Black Backed Gull, Grey Heron, Guillemot, Herring Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Kestrel, Kittiwake, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Linnet, Little Grebe, Mallard, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Puffin, Razorbill, Redshank, Red Throated Diver, Ringed Plover, Feral Pigeon, Rock Pipit, Rook, Sand Martin, Sandwich Tern, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Surf Scoter, Swallow, Swift, Tufted Duck, Turnstone, Velvet Scoter, Woodpigeon, Yellowhammer.