STONEFACTION BIRDING: 0220 : Wild Goose Chase? (12/10/15)

0220 : Wild Goose Chase? (12/10/15)

With a wee trip to Crail planned for the following day and having been in that area of Fife the previous day I needed somewhere else to visit on Monday. I contemplated a trip along the Angus coast but possibilities for picking up new species for the year-list were limited. I considered a walk from Guardbridge to St Andrews in the hope of seeing the Barnacle Geese flock in the fields, but lack of energy put paid to that one. Eventually I settled on a trip to Guardbridge. With Nat intending on joining me for the afternoon, options would be increased and if anything turned up somewhere within a certain radius we could attempt to see it.

Kingfisher

I left the house a bit later than ideally I would have liked, owing to having spent much longer in bed than I should have, but needs must. Herring Gull, Woodpigeon and Blackbird were seen on the way to the bus stop, with Feral Pigeon and Jackdaw added as I waited for the bus into town to arrive. From the bus to Guardbridge I added Cormorant as we crossed the bridge, with Rook and a slightly unexpected Pheasant seen as we neared Leuchars. Great Tit was seen as I walked through the park to get to the hide which was empty when I arrived.

As I was getting organised I was joined by a birder from Cupar called Marion (I think - apologies if I've got that wrong) who had a scope which increased our chances of seeing things at a distance. Once I was organised I started scanning around. The usual suspects were in more or less their usual places - Black Headed Gulls, Herring Gulls, Redshanks, Carrion Crows, Grey Herons, Curlew, Mallard. Marion spotted White Tailed Eagles out on the posts in the estuary, one on each and a third bird nearby on the ground. Not a bad way to start.

With the windows open it is possible to pick up more birds by call, and hearing Skylarks as they approached from the east before passing over westwards allowed me to find the pair as they flew by. A Great Black Backed Gull lounged among the smaller gulls. We had our first visit from the Kingfisher as it stopped for a second or two on the post out front. We were treated to a few hovers and a few successful fishing dives as the morning progressed. A small party of Teal were seen further downstream and while chatting about the benefits of recognising bird calls I heard a Great Spotted Woodpecker calling and a quick check found it perched in the tops of the conifers opposite. Lapwings were out on the mud.

Chaffinches visited the feeders and a Grey Wagtail stopped on the nearer of the two posts as we watched the Kingfisher on the other. Not a particularly common bird here but always nice to see. Our first views of the Buzzard came soon after, the mewing calls of a youngster alerting us to its presence. A flock of Dunlin swarmed around down near the bend in the river before finally dropping in to land along the water's edge. The Wren that feeds among the rocks in front of the hide showed briefly. Greenfinches, Tree Sparrows and Blue Tits came to the feeders which we had largely been ignoring.

A duck out on the water which spent ages preening made it difficult to be 100% certain whether it was a Goosander or a Red Breasted Merganser. I favoured the former but couldn't completely rule out the latter. Eventually we got a good enough view and it was indeed a Goosander. Marion spotted a Little Egret in flight to the north which we hadn't seen previously so it must have been tucked in out of our line of sight. Possibility of it over-wintering in the area, perhaps? A Common Gull drifted by, and a pair of Starlings overflew. A skein of Pink Footed Geese passed over heading inland. A small group of Godwits eventually showed well enough to be confirmed as Black tailed Godwits. The first Coal Tit of the day showed at the feeders just before Nat arrived.

The waders and the gulls out on the mud all took flight en masse which meant there was very probably a raptor about. Below the Lapwing flock I found it. A Peregrine Falcon. It wheeled round before launching into a stoop which took it right past the front of the hide where a Redshank dived into the water to escape. The Peregrine gained height and wheeled round to find another prospective target. Another brief chase proved fruitless and the bird gained height. As we watched it another bird flew in and there was a brief tussle. The second bird was also a Peregrine and one of them flew past to land on the old paper mill building while the other was lost to our sight.

I discussed the possibilities for the afternoon with Nat. An ADBC grapevine text had come in with news of a blue phase Snow Goose near Usan. It would be a year-tick for me and a lifer for Nat, her second in two days if we saw it. We decided to wait a short while until the tide had pushed the waders closer in before heading northwards to the Montrose area in what we hoped wouldn't be the proverbial 'wild goose chase'. I spotted a pair of Great Crested Grebes out on the water and managed to get the others onto them eventually, the birds diving constantly made that more difficult than it should have been. Marion found a female Shoveler in roughly the same area. Neither species is particularly common here so both were welcome additions for the day list. A Greenshank was found among the Redshanks before we headed off around 1400.

Collared Dove was added as we headed out past Broughty Ferry and just north of Barry a large flock of birds passed over the road. At least 100 Lapwings and twice the number of Golden Plovers. All looking like they had lifted from fields on the south side of the road and were heading north to somewhere a bit quieter. When we arrived in the Usan area we found a field to the east with Pink Footed Geese in it but there was certainly no Snow Goose among them. Nat spotted more geese ahead of us and so we travelled round onto the slightly wider road for a better look. Again there was no Snow Goose, but there were even more geese in two other fields on the other side of the railway line. We would have to scan through them all. If teh bird was feeding or hidden behind another goose it could be tricky to see.

With geese being rather wary we would have to be careful not to spook the birds, as if one lifted they could easily all do likewise which might mean our only view of the bird would be of it disappearing off into the sky with hundreds of others. I suggested we park the car and scan from the road, but staying back so that we would be mostly hidden from view owing to the slope of the road. A few birds lifted into the air when two trains passed at the same time, but thankfully not all. I found a pair of Barnacle Geese in the furthest away field though they were partially hidden by their position near the field edge. Maybe the Snow Goose was in a similar position. We headed back to the car to retrieve the scope.

We edged closer to the railway bridge, keeping low, before leaning the scope atop the wall and scanning through the gaggles in the fields. Eventually I found the white neck of the Snow Goose, stretched upwards and peering around. It then promptly went back to sleep. I took a few photos while Nat had a better look through the scope. Mission accomplished. We decided to head for Lunan Bay next, to see if we could find any Divers other than Red Throated. A Robin greeted us on the path as we walked to the ADBC hide among the dunes.

The bay was relatively calm so it was quite easy to pick out the birds on the water. Velvet Scoters, Common Scoters, newly returned Long tailed Ducks and eventually the Surf Scoter were all seen. Unfortunately the only Divers were Red Throateds but there were easily double figures of these. The gull roost held Herring Gulls, Great Black Backed Gulls, Common Gulls, Black Headed Gulls and still a few Kittiwakes. A stop at Auchmithie failed to add anything new so we headed for final stop at Arbroath cliffs. Ringed Plovers were found among the rocks on the shore, while offshore a few Shags flew by. Turnstones feeding among the seaweed were our final bird of the day before we headed for home after a very productive Monday.

57 species seen, though the quality was high with some 'good' birds in the mix, including 1 year tick (in bold) - Barnacle Goose, Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Black Tailed Godwit, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Common Scoter, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunlin, Golden Plover, Goosander, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Crested Grebe, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Greenshank, Grey Heron, Grey Wagtail, Herring Gull, Jackdaw, Kingfisher, Kittiwake, Lapwing, Little Egret, Long Tailed Duck, Mallard, Oystercatcher, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Pink Footed Goose, Redshank, Red Throated Diver, Ringed Plover, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rook, Shag, Shoveler, Skylark, Snow Goose, Starling, Surf Scoter, Teal, Tree Sparrow, Turnstone, Velvet Scoter, White Tailed Eagle, Woodpigeon, Wren, Yellowhammer.