Having failed to get out on the Sunday for our tour of the Angus Lochs, myself and Nat decided we would follow our planned route for our Wednesday outing instead. Despite a strange lack of information via the Angus & Dundee Bird Club grapevine it appeared that Common Sandpiper and Little Ringed Plover had already both put in an appearance in the region. These would be our main target species but at this time of year almost anything can turn up as birds overshoot their planned destination or are blown off course or just get a bit lost.
 |
| Marsh Harrier |
Nat picked me up at our usual departure time of 0800 and off we went. Pigeons and Gulls kick started our list with Feral and Woodpigeons plus Herring Gulls perched around on various high points. A small flock of Starlings flew over as we headed along the road. Carrion Crow was next, followed by a Lesser Black Backed Gull perched on a lamp post and a flyover Blue Tit. We headed out into the countryside spotting a roadside Collared Dove before we left the city. Rooks were in a field a few miles on. Our first port of call was to be a local glen where we've had some success in the past with some good birds.
Wednesday was to be no exception with a nice mixed bag beginning with a Blackbird by a small cottage. A few Swallows swooped around above a farmyard. Chaffinches, a Dunnock and a Pied Wagtail were next to be seen by the roadside. A few Jackdaws overflew the road in front of the car. A
House Martin, my first of the year, was spotted over some disused buildings, as it hunted for insects with a few Swallows. We heard Chiffchaff calling from trees in a short wooded section but we failed to see the bird though a singing Willow Warbler proved altogether more showy. We were to hear lots of Willow Warblers (and only slightly fewer Chiffchaffs) throughout the day at various places.
A few Coal Tits were feeding in a small stand of conifers by the road and a little further on we found our first Meadow Pipits of the day as they perched on the fences and flew into the heather behind. A bird flew ahead of the car showing a mostly white tail. A male Wheatear. It landed on a fence post near a second bird, another Wheatear, this time a female. We could hear a few Skylarks but were struggling to pick them out against the sky. Nat eventually spotted one high in the sky, just as another much closer to the car took to the air. A Mistle Thrush could be heard singing, and I spotted it perched atop a tall conifer. A flock of birds circled round, initially I though pigeons but that didn't make sense given the location. Instead of pigeons they proved to be a flock of around 100 Golden Plovers mostly in their very smart summer plumage. They circled round a few times, their calls ringing out in the relatively still morning air.
A Lapwing wandered around on the ground, a Skylark and a Wheatear not too far away. A head of a female Pheasant appeared above the heather looking much paler than the grouse species that would have seemed far more likely. A female Kestrel was perched halfway up the corner tree of another stand of conifers and it eyed us warily as we drove slowly past. I grabbed a few shots as we did so. A Curlew stood atop a small mound in a field a little further on before we turned around at the end of the road to retrace our journey back down the road. A pair of Linnets added another species to our list on the way back and we succeeded in spying the singing Chiffchaff that we'd failed to see earlier. A Buzzard circled around over a field that sloped away from the road but needless to say the bird got further away from the road the closer the car got. A Goldfinch was another addition in a small cottage garden.
We found a single track road leading off in the general direction we were headed and decided to see where it took us. This gave us a few extra birds for the list - a few Common Gulls in another field, a Robin perched on a fencepost at the end of a farm track and a couple of Red Legged Partridges. We arrived at a junction that looked vaguely familiar. We had a choice of directions now, so we headed in the direction I thought would take us to Reekie Linn in the hope of seeing a Dipper and maybe a Grey Wagtail. A pair of Mallards flew upriver from under the bridge as I walked down to the water to scan along the edge for Dipper. There was no sign of one anywhere, nor of any Grey Wagtails. We walked along to the end of the car park to scan downstream. On a distant rock I could just make out the rounded shape of a Dipper. I eventually managed to direct Nat onto the bird and we had our bird.
We headed next for Backwater Reservoir in the hope of a possible Crossbill or two. As it was still a little early in the year for Cuckoo expectations were on the low side. Oystercatchers were seen in the fields on the way. A pair of Cormorants stood on the hydro-electric structure in the reservoir, along with a few gulls. As we drove over the dam we heard a
Common Sandpiper calling and spotted it low over the water. Another first for the year. We stopped at the far end to scan back along the dam. A Redshank, a Pied wagtail, a Meadow Pipit and 3 Common Sandpipers were walking along the edge of the water, picking around on the mossy slope. One of the Common Sandpipers was coming closer when Nat realised she didn't have a memory card in her camera and hurried back to the car to get one. When the bird reached the corner just below where I stood the sound of the camera was enough to spook the bird and it flew back along the edge.
Nat decided to try to get closer, having missed out on a photo. She walked across the dam on the opposite side of the road to avoid spooking the bird. As she did so, I heard a Great Spotted Woodpecker drumming. I saw a bird approaching the dam behind Nat. Osprey! I shouted to Nat who turned around to see the bird as it passed over and kept heading north up the length of the reservoir. A nice bonus. A pair of Siskins overflew as Nat gave up on trying to get a photo of the rather flighty Sandpipers and headed back to the car. We drove slowly along the road, stopping to photograph a nice male Stonechat before noticing a female nearby. A pair of Wigeon were on the water around the half-way mark. As we neared the car park we saw the Osprey circling round above the water before diving in for a fish but we lost sight of the bird as it flew off again against the trees on the far side. Down below on the water we could see a pair of Mallard, a flock of Tufted Ducks, a few more Wigeon and what turned out to be a sleeping female Goosander. A few Sand Martins could be seen flying low over the water.
We had at least 3 skeins of Pink Footed Geese pass over heading northwards. A pair of Grey Wagtails flew in and landed around the picnic tables. A few Chaffinches picked around nearby in the trees behind us we could hear Goldcrests singing but failed to see any. A Song Thrush was seen near the dam as we were on our way back out again. We were headed next for Loch of Kinnordy but as we were getting a bit hungry we decided to stop for some lunch at a quiet spot on the way. As we were just finishing up I looked up and spotted a raptor not too far above. I only glanced at it before grabbing my camera to try and find the bird for a photo and said "Peregrine". Nat disagreed and said "Kestrel". The resultant photos were blurred and out of focus but it turned out we were both wrong. It was in fact a male
Merlin. Another addition to the year-list and an unexpected bonus at that.
Arriving at Kinnordy we found that the sunshine seemed to have brought the crowds out and indeed we were 'welcomed' to the Gullery hide by a rather less than welcoming barking dog which didn't want to listen to the owner. As is almost always the case there was no apology from the owner for the dog's behaviour. We managed to find space in the hide at the far end and settled down for a look around. Mallards, Tufted Ducks, Gadwall, Greylags, Moorhen, Mute Swan and Teal were out on the water with a few Lapwings and Oystercatchers on the bogbean as well as a few Black Headed Gulls, but nowhere near the expected numbers for this time of year. A Grey Heron flew in and a Reed Bunting flew past. The dog owners left followed shortly after by another couple. One of the photographers popped outside to take a phone call, leaving just us and another photographer who I later found out was a flickr contact from Lothian - Phil Johnston). A Treecreeper foraged around on a mossy rock just down below the hide but it proved impossible to manoeuvre the lens into a shooting position.
I spotted the male Marsh Harrier low above the reeds and tracked it through the camera as it quartered around before flying out low across the loch. This meant we got far better views than normal and we hoped the bird would swing back round and maybe even fly past the front of the hide but instead it soon returned back to the far side. Still, the photos were pretty good, though there were plenty that were not quite in focus. We decided to take a walk along to the Swamp hide next. The hide wasn't crowded but it seemed to be one person to a window and no-one was particularly keen on moving up slightly to make space for two more folk. We managed to squeeze onto the end of a bench though it was far from ideal with 3 folk on one bench. A
Sedge Warbler sang from one of the trees in the reeds to the right of the hide and we managed a brief look at it before a Reed Bunting male landing spooked it back into cover.
I spotted an Osprey flying in from the north side of the Loch to hover in front of the Gullery hide. Unfortunately this meant that to see it everyone had to lean forward. The woman next to me had to lean a little further to see past her neighbour who she was with. This meant I couldn't see anything but the back of the woman's head and a photo was definitely not on the cards. We decided we were wasting our time and headed for the East hide instead. There were Tree Sparrows around near the feeders as well as a lot of Chaffinches and a few Blue Tits. From the thankfully empty hide Nat spotted a Snipe feeding among the reeds not too far away but it soon vanished behind a small clump, however this wasn't a big deal as we watched the male Marsh Harrier once again cross to our side of the loch before circling up right in front of the hide. As it did so we were joined by another photographer whose name I knew from Facebook. The female Marsh Harrier flew along the back of the loch before we decided to move on again. Nat spotted a Bullfinch in the bushes aswe headed back along the track to the car park.
A pair of Stock Doves were in the fields by the road before we reached Kirriemuir. House Sparrows was added as we traveled through the town when a female flew down onto the pavement as we pulled in to let a car pass in the opposite direction. As it was now after 1400 we chose to head to Murton nature reserve next as it closes at 1600. As Little Ringed Plover had been seen here we were hoping that the bird might still be around. We popped into the hide by the car park and found Coots and Black Headed Gulls out front. A very showy Willow Warbler flitted around just a few feet in front of the hide allowing me to get a few rather nice photos. A summer plumaged Black Tailed Godwit could be seen distantly at the edge of the other pool. Nearby was a smaller bird but through binoculars it was difficult to be sure if it was definitely a Little Ringed Plover.
We walked down towards the other hide which we discovered had been re-opened - it had suffered quite badly from flooding previously. We were able to see the bird from here a little better, enough to confirm that it was indeed a
Little Ringed Plover. There were also a couple of Goldeneye among the ducks on the water. We decided to walk down to the wooden screen for a more open view along the shoreline. There were a few Lapwings as well as a couple of Redshanks among the ducks and Greylags. Unfortunately the Plover was going away from us, so the photos were very distant record shots only. Our third Osprey of the day drifted over high above, heading west, being harassed briefly by a pair of Buzzards.
Rather than walk right round the reserve we settled on checking the pool around the corner for Little Grebe and then to head for Forfar Loch to hopefully add a few extras before having to head for home. The pool appeared empty though a pair of Lesser Redpolls flew into the trees by the side but moved around too quickly before either of us managed a photo and then they flew off again. A Little Grebe put in an appearance on the water and we wandered back to the car park. A Shelduck flew in to the lower pool and a Long Tailed Tit was in a small tree just down from the car park.
Off we went to Forfar Loch where there was a mixed flock of gulls out on the water as well as a few duck species, all of which we'd already seen earlier in the day. A bit of quick scanning found us the hoped for Great Crested Grebes. As we only really had enough time for a maximum of 15 minutes walking before we'd have to double back on ourselves we only made it to just beyond the wooden viewing platform. We tried again in vain for Goldcrest. I caught sight of a raptor circling above the fields but lost sight of it behind a tree and couldn't refind it when we were able to get a clearer position to scan from, 20 seconds later. Having checked this one with binoculars it was a Peregrine - a species I can't remember having seen previously at the Loch. I caught sight of a Magpie low over the path as we hurried back to the car park to head back down the road.
A very good day out, once again, with a total of 79 species seen, including 5 new year-ticks (in bold).
 |
| Wheatear |
 |
| Golden Plover |
 |
| Kestrel |
 |
| Meadow Pipit |
 |
| Common Sandpiper |
 |
| Stonechat |
 |
| Song Thrush |
 |
| Song Thrush |
 |
| Lapwing |
 |
| Lapwing |
 |
| Snipe |
 |
| Merlin |
 |
| Marsh Harrier |
 |
| Marsh Harrier |
 |
| Marsh Harrier |
 |
| Marsh Harrier |
 |
| Bullfinch |
 |
| Willow Warbler |
 |
| Osprey |
 |
| Little Ringed Plover, Black Tailed Godwit and Coot |
 |
| Bullfinch |
 |
| Carrion Crow |
Species seen - Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Black Tailed Godwit, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Coal Tit, Collared Dove, Common Gull,
Common Sandpiper, Coot, Cormorant, Curlew, Dipper, Dunnock, Gadwall, Golden Plover, Goldeneye, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Crested Grebe, Grey Heron, Grey Wagtail, Greylag Goose, Herring Gull,
House Martin, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Kestrel, Lapwing, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Lesser Redpoll, Linnet, Little Grebe,
Little Ringed Plover, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Marsh Harrier, Meadow Pipit,
Merlin, Mistle Thrush, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Osprey, Oystercatcher, Peregrine, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Pink Footed Goose, Red Legged Partridge, Redshank, Reed Bunting, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rook, Sand Martin,
Sedge Warbler, Shelduck, Siskin, Skylark, Snipe, Song Thrush, Starling, Stock Dove, Stonechat, Swallow, Teal, Tree Sparrow, Treecreeper, Tufted Duck, Wheatear, Wigeon, Willow Warbler, Woodpigeon, Wren.
