STONEFACTION BIRDING: 04/15/15

0139 : From Glen To Glen (6/4/15)

With this blog taking more and more of my spare time to put together, between editing photos and sorting out the timeline then actually putting together the story of the day and typing up usually over 2000 words at a time, I have decided to try a slightly less involved take on my day's birding in this and future posts.

I hope that the blog will still have the same mix of photos and sightings, but will be a bit less involved. There will still be a full list of species seen but I will no longer list every single bird sighting, probably just the first sighting of a species and any other interesting/significant sighting. I will start as usual with a paragraph or so about the plans for the outing and then the rest will be a more mixed approach.

I'm not sure if this approach will be to everyone's liking but I would appreciate any feedback, as before, as this will help shape the output featured in this blog. Anyway, on with the show......

Meadow Pipit

With Monday 6th April being a public holiday it meant I had the day off and my pal, Rhona was also off for the day so we made provisional plans to head off out somewhere. Right up until we were in the car we had no real idea where we might go. After a bit of discussion we settled on the Angus glens where there was a chance of some of the early summer migrants having returned.

We headed north around 0830 with the usual mixture of birds starting the list off - House Sparrow, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Herring Gull and Carrion Crow close to home then Blackbird and Woodpigeon added before we left the city boundaries. Once headed up the dual carriageway we added Buzzard and a Skylark rising from a roadside field. Jackdaws and Rooks and a handful of Pheasants rounded off the list before we headed into our first glen of the day.

As is the case when we bird in the glens most of the actual birding is done from the car, with walks of varying lengths thrown into the mix from time to time. It didn't take long to add a few species - Chaffinches rising up from the road, a Song Thrush in a field instead of the more expected Mistle Thrush. We then were lucky enough to chance upon a pair of Kestrels together, though they flew off to land on a telegraph pole together as the car stopped.

Lapwings and Oystercatchers wandered around in the fields or displayed above them. Pied Wagtails and Meadow Pipits were seemingly everywhere. We stopped to watch a large skein of northward bound Pink Footed Geese pass over. A few Common Gulls and Black Headed Gulls were dotted around in one or two fields. Robin and Blue Tits were seen as we passed along a wooded section of the road.

The first Mistle Thrushes of the day appeared, with more at various times and places throughout the day. Arriving at the road end we managed to find somewhere to park and checked around near the car for anything of interest. A Great Tit was first, with a small group of Curlews a bit further away. A Stock Dove flew over, and a Coal Tit foraged in a small conifer near the car.

We went exploring along the path, being a bit surprised to find a Redwing on its own feeding in the grass. A distant Buzzard circled up above a hill to the north. A Dipper shot upstream and a Goldcrest was heard and then seen in a tall tree foraging around. Another Song Thrush was among the trees along with some of the other small birds we'd already seen - tits, finches and Meadow Pipits.

As we walked down through another wooded section I spotted a pair of Lesser Redpolls chasing each other around the treetops. Once out into the open again I spotted a couple of raptors above a hill-top. A male Kestrel was taking exception to the presence of a Buzzard. After a few passes they disappeared out of sight behind the hill and we moved on.

As is the case at this time of year in the glens, Meadow Pipits were the most often seen birds. Rhona found the first Toads of the day, and there was plenty of spawn in the pathside pools. A Small Tortoiseshell butterfly was a surprise, flitting around and sunning itself from time to time on the path. I heard a singing bird which I suspected was a Ring Ouzel but I couldn't locate it among the rocks. One that got away....for now, at least.

Rhona hoped to find an Adder among the rocks so she went clambering around among the rockier areas off the path while I scanned the ridge-lines for birds. I was rewarded with the sight of not one, but two Peregrines. These were obviously a pair and I watched them for a while. There was a bit of co-operative hunting behaviour with both birds swooping at a bird on the ground which took flight and found itself being pursued downhill at speed. Somehow it managed to escape and the Peregrines went hungry this time. Interesting to watch what is apparently fairly typical 'pair' behaviour.

The first Red Grouse of the day was seen and another butterfly crossed our path. A Peacock this time, the first of the year of this species for me. More Meadow Pipits were seen, as we wandered back to the car for a slow drive back down the glen. More Oystercatchers, Lapwings, Pied Wagtails, as well as Wren, a pair of Long Tailed Tits and a Treecreeper were all added.

We decided to try a second glen in the hope of a few different species after we had something to eat. A few more Buzzards were seen above the hills on our way, with more Pheasants and Jackdaws also seen before we reached glen number 2.

We had spent much longer than intended at our first glen but with the sun shining we were still hopeful of seeing plenty. We found a small group of Stock Doves in a field along with Woodpigeons, a few Common Gulls and a mixed group of corvids. A few Goldfinches overflew us here and a handful of Linnets were seen further along the road.

The second glen seemed to be a bit quieter bird-wise with no Buzzards above the ridges. We did find Red Grouse much easier to find though with a few quite close to the road. When we did eventually spot a Buzzard we were in the right place at exactly the right time to see a Grouse flying towards us. It swerved away from the car slightly and promptly landed in a tree opposite us. A female Black Grouse. We got a few photos before it flew off again.

More Red Grouse and Meadow Pipits were encountered before our next good bird was seen ahead of us. A Red Kite was not too far ahead of us, though unfortunately it chose to fly away from us rather than continue towards us. Still, always a good bird to get, though being a scavenger it is susceptible to deliberate poisoning, and being the Angus glens there is a strong chance it may encounter poisoned 'bait' at some point in its wanderings. Hopefully not, but I'm not overly optimistic.

I have been lucky enough to see Black Grouse lekking in this particular glen and we were in luck this time again, with 15 males together at their usual site. We had good views from a distance, and I even managed a few video clips on the P900. The fields a bit further down the glen seemed to hold good numbers of Lapwings. Rhona spotted a pair of Wheatears at the end of the glen just as we had started on our way back down the road. Unfortunately they flew off together, but it was good to see them back.

A few more Pied Wagtails and a Great Spotted Woodpecker along with Chaffinches were in the grounds of an estate building. A raven overflew further on. A second stop to watch the lek again though from a different angle and further away was made. A mile or two further back down the glen we decided to go exploring a bit and wandered up a track. This turned out to be very productive with Lapwings, Oystercatchers and Curlews around, in addition to Meadow Pipits, Woodpigeon, a flypast by a male Black Grouse and a pair of Fieldfares and a handful of Starlings. We also had good views of a pair of displaying Snipe above us, their 'drumming' sounds carrying in the evening air.

It was now well after 6pm and the sun was getting blocked out in places by the higher ridges so we reluctantly headed slowly back down thr oad. A few more Red Grouse gave good views including a couple of pairs, and we had another flyover Raven. A couple of Black rabbits rounded off the wildlife sightings in glen 2, though we did add Roe Deer a bit further on as we headed back to the dual carriageway and back to Dundee.

We had seen 47 species (1 new in bold) in the spring sunshine -
Black Grouse, Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Common Gull, Curlew, Dipper, Fieldfare, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great Tit, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Kestrel, Lapwing, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Lesser Redpoll, Linnet, Long Tailed Tit, Meadow Pipit, Mistle Thrush, Oystercatcher, Peregrine, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Pink Footed Goose, Raven, Red Grouse, Red Kite, Redwing, Robin, Rook, Skylark, Snipe, Song Thrush, Starling, Stock Dove, Treecreeper, Wheatear, Woodpigeon, Wren.