Having chosen not to go on the ADBC outing on Sunday, I was rather disappointed to find that an Avocet had been found at Lunan Bay, near Lunan Water and Red Castle in a flooded field. Having never seen one before it was a bit of a missed opportunity for me. However, the bird was also seen on Monday. I had to hope that it would linger longer and that despite possible frosty weather and thus icy road conditions, Nat would also want to see the bird and we would try for it on our weekly outing. Thankfully, Nat had had similar thoughts so plans were made to head for Lunan Bay in the hope that the bird was still around.
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| Bittern |
Nat arrived a few minutes after 0900 owing to traffic at that time of morning but I had made the most of the wait having seen a number of species in the early morning sunshine. A pair of Collared Doves had kicked off the list for the day dropping down to land on a small piece of grass in front of a block of flats. A few Herring Gulls had glided over, with a younger bird mewing loudly from a rooftop. A small flock of House Sparrows chirped noisily from a small bush. A Blackbird rocketed past alarm call ringing out. A Woodpigeon flew over. A Starling landed on another roof, a Carrion Crow was perched beside a chimney on another roof and a flock of Feral Pigeons circled round before settling back down again. A small group of Jackdaws 'chacked' to each other as they too flew overhead just as Nat arrived. Not a bad start.
With such a decent start there was nothing added on our way out of Dundee. It didn't take long to see our first roadside Buzzard of the day, followed shortly after by a Rook being chased off by a pair of Carrion Crows from its spot in a field. A Kestrel was perched in the top of a tree between fields a few miles further on, near Arbroath. We decided to pop into Elliot in the hope that if there were still any Short Eared Owls around they might be hunting in the early morning sunshine.
A Cormorant flew over as we got out of the car. We crossed the railway line and walked across the wooden bridge/walkway to the small wooden viewing platform overlooking the beach. Herring Gulls and Black Headed Gulls were dotted around on the sand, along with at least 1 Great Black Backed Gull and a few Oystercatchers. A
Reed Bunting was perched in a small bush but flew off as we were watching. Well out on the water we found a smallish flotilla of Eiders. I heard a small wader call from the beach and we soon found the culprit - a Ringed Plover relatively close to us.
We had seen a few skeins of geese, one far to the south over the sea and heading east into the Tay, and another further to the north again heading east. We suspected Pink Footed Geese but they were tiny dots in the distance. Another much smaller skein however chose to overfly us, giving us confirmation of the species. As we started a slow walk back to the car, I spotted a distant female
Stonechat perched on a fencepost at the railway line. My first for the year. A Common Gull and a few Black Headed Gulls headed inland to join a much larger flock of gulls milling around to the north. A
Snipe flew up and away from the reeds. Another first for the year for me.
Nat spotted a Dunnock picking around on the opposite side of the railway line as we waited for a train to pass. A flock of Linnets swarmed around on the north side of the railway line too, landing on the weeds. A
Song Thrush flew into a small bush on our side of the railway line, yet another first for the year. A lone Goldfinch was perched in a clump of bushes among the fenced off area of the reeds. No owls seen but plenty of variety and a few year ticks made our slight detour worthwhile. We headed up the main road to Inverkeillor, a few more Buzzards noted along the way.
Once we reached the village we cut off along the minor roads to head to Lunan Bay and hopefully an Avocet. A few smaller birds flew up from the fields and may have been Corn Buntings but the views were brief and inconclusive. A little further on Nat spotted a few Fieldfares in another field with some cattle. We crossed the bridge at Lunan Bay passing two flooded areas in the fields where I suspected the bird had been but there was no sign. A small party of Pheasants were in the churchyard just across the river. A group of 5 Snipe were foraging along the edge of the large pool in the field by the bridge. We watched them for a few minutes before heading back to park the car to walk to the hide. First we ventured into the stubble field to check another pool just in case, but there was no Avocet to be seen there either.
A female
Sparrowhawk glided in the direction of the trees near Red Castle, another first for the year. A Grey Heron flew up from the field and flew off towards the river. We heard a Great Spotted Woodpecker calling but didn't see it. A pair of
Stock Doves flew up and landed on the castle as we walked along the track. The tide was quite far out but a mixed flock of gulls were near the mouth of the river - Great Black Backeds, Herring, Common and Black Headed. However, birds out in the bay were in very short supply. A couple of
Long Tailed Ducks gave me another new species for 2016, but despite scanning with the scope there seemed to be no Scoters of any species around that I could see. I watched a small group of birds in flight that turned out to be Cormorants.
Eventually I found a single Diver just beyond the waves. It showed a quite noticeable white 'thigh' patch but the views were always extremely short so I couldn't get confirmation on the species, though Black Throated did look to be a possibility. We both scanned for the bird as it worked its way south along the line of the shore, diving regularly and hardly spending any time on the surface. It was frustrating not getting enough to clinch an ID. I eventually caught it on the surface long enough to fire off a few photos. These muddied the waters even more, making it appear a bit more Red Throated-like. It was only later at home with the photos on a computer screen that the ID was finally decided on. Unfortunately, it was the more regular Red Throated Diver.
We headed back to the car to have something to eat, adding Blue Tit, Great Tit, Chaffinch and Robin as we passed the gardens as well as a House Sparrow and another few Blackbirds and Song Thrushes. As we ate lunch a text message came in from the ADBC grapevine which helped make up our mind as to where to spend at least part of the afternoon. Rather surprisingly, a Bittern had been seen a few miles up the road at the Montrose Basin wildlife centre, out in front of the Bank of Scotland hide. Having only seen the species twice previously and knowing that the bird should, in theory, be quite close to the hide (compared to Kinnordy) we finished lunch and headed to the Basin.
When we arrived at the hide, the finder, Ron Mitchell, was thankfully still there and explained where he had seen the bird and showed us his photo of the bird out in the open, moving between 2 of the small pools. A rather nice photo it was too. A bit of searching soon found the
Bittern stretching its neck out from the base of the reeds and catching a small fish. The neck was then pulled back into the reeds and the bird seemed to vanish before our eyes. Amazing camouflage. A flock of Mallard and Teal swam past just offshore while a few small groups of Redshanks whizzed by in the opposite direction. A pair of Red Breasted Mergansers appeared a little further out.
Most of the time was spent watching the Bittern even though it wasn't doing much and was staying well hidden among the reeds. A single
Greenshank flew in to land just out of sight beyond the fenceline. A group of 4 Wigeon were the next addition to the day-list as a group flew by eastwards. A Grey Heron landed at the pool next to the one where the Bittern was. A few more birders arrived, mostly to see the Bittern though there were others unaware of its presence. One of these spotted a flock of
Pintail along to our left in front of the visitor centre, and I was able to add yet another species to my year-list. The same birder spotted the Kingfisher flying by as we watched the Bittern doing nothing much. Thankfully it perched on a branch near the visitor centre.
A pair of Shelduck flew by next. The Heron wandered from the pool it had been in and to the edge of the Bittern's pool. Would we get a confrontation between the birds? We waited but the birds seemed unaware of the other. Eventually the Heron flew from the pool and the chance of a confrontation had gone. The temperature had dropped from the time we had arrived and the light was beginning to go, so we decided to call it a day and head for home. Near Inverkeillor we had a flock of Curlews in a field with some gulls. There were plenty of Buzzards perched along the roadside in trees and on posts on the way back to Dundee.
49 species seen during another enjoyable day out. No sign of the target bird but 10 new for the year (in bold) including the very nice surprise in the shape of the Bittern.
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| Pink Footed Goose |
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| Pink Footed Goose |
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| Linnet |
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| Fieldfare |
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| Snipe |
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| Red Throated Diver |
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| Red Throated Diver |
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| Herring Gull, Great Black Backed Gull & Common Gull |
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| Buzzard |
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| Buzzard |
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| Carrion Crow & Buzzard |
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| Carrion Crow & Buzzard |
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| Bittern |
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| Grey Heron |
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| Greenshank |
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| Wigeon |
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| Pintail |
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| Bittern |
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| Pintail |
Species seen -
Bittern, Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunnock, Eider, Fieldfare, Goldfinch, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Tit,
Greenshank, Grey Heron, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Kestrel, Kingfisher, Linnet,
Long Tailed Duck, Mallard, Oystercatcher, Pheasant, Pink Footed Goose,
Pintail, Red Breasted Merganser, Redshank, Red Throated Diver,
Reed Bunting, Ringed Plover, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rook, Shelduck,
Snipe,
Song Thrush,
Sparrowhawk, Starling,
Stock Dove,
Stonechat, Teal, Wigeon, Woodpigeon.
