STONEFACTION BIRDING: 0222 : Angus Exploration (14/10/15)

0222 : Angus Exploration (14/10/15)

Having drawn a blank the previous day on anything new for the year-list, and with nothing particularly interesting around that we hadn't already seen, except for the elusive Firecrest at Boarhills, myself and Nat decided that we would just 'play it by ear' and see what we could find. However, thick fog first thing in the morning wasn't what we were hoping for. Nevertheless, we got under way at our normal 0800 kick-off time with a leisurely outing along the Angus coast, the rather vague plan for the day.

Coal Tit

With the fog limiting visibility it took a few minutes to even see a bird, with a Herring Gull first for the day. Carrion Crow and Black Headed Gull were next as we headed for Arbroath through patches of fog and then a few hundred metres of clear sky and visibility. As the sun rose the fog seemed to burn off a bit, so we decided to pop into Elliot reedbeds first as neither of us had visited recently. Unfortunately from a birding point of view, the fencing off of the area means that the previous Snipe and Jack Snipe sightings were likely to be severely limited and this turned out to be the case. However, there were still birds to be seen.

A Pied Wagtail was in the car park next to the railway line and golf course. The first skein of Pink Footed Geese of the morning passed over westwards. A Meadow Pipit passed over heading the same way. A Robin sang from a fencepost. Down on the shore were a mixture of birds - Black Headed, Herring, Great Black Backed and Common Gulls, Curlew, Oystercatcher and out over the water a Red Throated Diver while a second bird was seen on the water closer in to shore a little later. A Cormorant flew past before we spotted a few Reed Buntings in a bush.

Linnets milled around and a few Skylarks were seen heading over against the blue sky. Another bush with Reed Buntings in also had a pair of Blue Tits and a single Dunnock. Another bush held 3 Stonechats and a flock of Goldfinches. A Wren flew across the railway line. A Yellowhammer called from a bush and a group of Starlings passed over. Throughout the walk we encountered lots of dogs and their owners, most ignoring us, a few friendly ones trotting over to see us tails wagging, a few barking at us and 1 particular Alsation jumping up on me half growling/half barking completely out of the blue as we walked past. Needless to say, I wasn't impressed and I made sure I got my point across to the female owner who seemed more concerned that I'd labelled her uncontrolled dog as 'aggressive' which its behaviour most certainly was than with apologising for her lack of control of the animal or that a similar reaction towards a child could've resulted in a much worse outcome. I don't dislike dogs but I have no time for owners like that, and sadly it appears that their numbers are increasing.

We headed along to the cliffs next to check out Cliffburn Gulley as there was little to be seen offshore. A pair of Rock Pipits chased each other around by the car park, and a flock of around 20 or so Ringed Plovers landed among the seaweed further along the beach. Nat stopped to chat to someone she knew and as she did so, movement over the stubble field caught my eye. A raptor was in pursuit of a smaller bird, both acrobatically twisting and turning through the air. The smaller bird escaped and the larger bird, which I had thought was a Sparrowhawk turned out to actually be a Merlin and it flew off towards the town. A nice surprise.

Things were rather quiet around the bushes and trees at the Gulley as the fog started to drift in again. A Goldcrest foraged among the leaves and branches at eye level as we passed. Coal Tit, Blue Tit and Woodpigeon plus a flock of Goldfinches and a pair of flyover Jackdaws were added before we walked back down to the car. We then headed a few miles up the road to Auchmithie. Around the car park at the football pitch we were greeted by a flock of House Sparrows in the bushes and a few Tree Sparrows and Greenfinches among the rose bushes. A handful of Goldcrests were in a conifer in a back garden.

We walked down the track to scan out across the bay. A Kestrel perched atop a telegraph pole in the stubble field. A Grey Heron cruised by but there wasn't much to be seen out on the water except a few Eiders. A Small Tortoiseshell butterfly sunned itself on the gravel and Chaffinch and Blackbird were added at the car park. Lunan Bay was to be our next destination, but rather than visit the hide, we would try the trees across the river behind the dunes. A Firecrest had been reported somewhere at Lunan Bay earlier in the week but details were very scant.

A Magpie was seen as we approached the Red castle area. Offshore from the viewing platform we could see Common Scoter, Red Throated Diver and Shag, though had we used the scope we may have found other species including a Red Necked Grebe which was reported from the same place a short while after we left. There were also a few Long Tailed Ducks out on the water. After almost falling over a small fence we discovered a party of Long Tailed Tits feeding in the trees. A few Rooks flew over but except for a few Goldcrests high in the trees there was little to see. Walking back we found a Great Spotted Woodpecker feeding among the trees and were surprised by how close we were able to observe it from.

We moved on again, stopping among the dunes to look at various fungi and searching for Grasshoppers which we could hear singing. Having successfully found a few I turned around and noticed a lot of insects on the wing around a hollow in the dunes. One or two were around Nat's head as she photographed the fungi. Rather surprisingly for mid-October we had found a relatively active Wasp's bike. Nat took a few photographs before we hurried on away from the insects. Having only been stung once before I was in no hurry to add to that total. We had something to eat before heading a little further up the road with the intention of investigating what looked like it might be a productive area for incoming migrants when conditions were right.

We parked in the little cul-de-sac at Braehead of Lunan and walked the short distance along the road to the edge of a stubble field where a track of sorts ran down the side bordered by a line of trees. A trio of Buzzards circled up on a thermal. From the road it was difficult to see what lay further on down the hill, but a bridge carried the railway line over a gulley of sorts. When the trees gave way to a more open vista we could see that the gulley was almost totally covered with bushes and small trees. A waterfall of sorts could be seen across the far side, so there was obviously water flowing down below. The v-shaped sides grew deeper as we walked down towards the railway line and bridge. A Kestrel was harassed overhead by a pair of Carrion Crows.

A Goldcrest was in the Hawthorns as we walked down and a Goldfinch was seen in a bush across the other side. The area would probably require a scope to search properly with the amount of cover but in the right conditions, perseverance would surely be rewarded. We walked below the bridge and looking down from the other side I spotted a Red Fox hunting across the other side totally unaware that we were watching from above. The water flowing down through the gulley reached the sea at the northern end of the beach at Lunan Bay and a few folk had walked along the dunes to reach the area. There was no way down to the beach from above but we had a quick scan of the birds out on the water, finding a few Velvet Scoters.

Despite the relative lack of birds around in the mid-afternoon sunshine the area seemed to show a fair amount of promise though the lack of access may explain its apparent lack of investigation/sightings. As we reached the top of the hill again a small group of 4 Swallows unexpectedly flew by southwards. A skein of Pink Footed Geese followed a minute or two later. Summer leaving and Winter arriving. We decided to head back to Dundee by a circuitous route seeing if we could add anything new for the day on the way. Although we were passing Lunan Bay when the text message came in about the Red Necked Grebe we decided not to bother going for a look having seen the species in Lothian not too long ago.

We added a handful of species on our way along the back roads towards Monikie. Feral Pigeon, Pheasant and Stock Dove being the new additions. Things were rather quiet on the Denfind Pond at Monikie with a few Teal, a pair of Mute Swans and a single Coot all there was to see. Collared Dove was added as we drove through Monifieth rounding off our list for the day at 55 species.

Species seen - Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Common Scoter, Coot, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunnock, Eider, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Kestrel, Linnet, Long Tailed Duck, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Meadow Pipit, Merlin, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Pink Footed Goose, Red Throated Diver, Reed Bunting, Ringed Plover, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rock Pipit, Rook, Shag, Skylark, Starling, Stock Dove, Stonechat, Swallow, Teal, Tree Sparrow, Velvet Scoter, Woodpigeon, Wren, Yellowhammer.