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| Sparrowhawk |
Having somehow managed to sleep in, I messaged Nat to ask if we could move back the pickup time 30 minutes, to which she agreed. So, 30 minutes later than intended off we went. Herring Gulls and Woodpigeon started off the list, followed by some fairly typical species on the way out of Dundee - Lesser Black Backed Gull, Feral Pigeon, Carrion Crow, Blackbird and Starling. Rooks were added as we headed along the dual carriageway to Arbroath.
When we arrived at Arbroath we found we weren't the first birders there - Graham Smith, Keith Edwards and Roddy McKenzie were already there, but the Mediterranean Gull wasn't. There were a few birds around though nothing too exciting. Pied Wagtails foraged on the road, Oystercatchers and Sandwich Terns flew by. A Grey Heron dropped in. A Great Black Backed Gull youngster glided past as we chatted. Bob McCurley was next to arrive, and Curlew, Eider, Cormorant and Shelduck extended the list a bit more. Mickey Mellon arrived just as we were all about to leave to move on to different points - The Lurgies, Lunan Bay and St Cyrus. As it transpired Mickey managed to see the bird around 20 minutes after we all left.
We headed on through Arbroath adding Black Headed Gulls, House Martins, House Sparrows and a surprise Kestrel. Swifts zipped over high above the houses towards the northern edge of town. As we neared St Cyrus, I checked Birdguides to see if anything else interesting had been seen. A White Winged Black Tern was at Cotehill Loch in Aberdeenshire. Nat asked if I wanted to try for it. I wasn't fussed, knowing that it was hit or miss as to whether the bird would linger or not. Neither was I particularly fussed about St Cyrus with the sky already rather grey meaning butterflies etc would be harder to see. Nat decided for us. Aberdeenshire it was...
As usual the A90 was poor from a birding point of view with only Swallows and Buzzards seen until we neared Stonehaven where a Magpie was new for the list. I suggested popping in to Rigifa Pool, just in case of migrant waders but although there was plenty of water there were hardly any birds - a single Mallard on the water, a pair of flypast Linnets and a low flying Sand Martin. Off we went again - Mute Swan and more Mallards were on Loirston Loch. A few Common Gulls were by the roadside as we headed into Aberdeen.
Nothing else new was seen as we continued up the A90. Having not planned on visiting Aberdeenshire we didn't have the usual helpful small street atlas for the area. This meant that we managed to miss the right turn off after crossing the Ythan so we took the next one instead, navigating by instinct. We added Yellowhammer on the back roads. Thankfully, this method of navigation worked and we soon found the Collieston crossroads and crossed to look at the Loch. No terns. There were a few Coots and Tufted Ducks on the water but only a Black Headed Gull flying by.
I suggested heading along to the Forvie Centre and checking out Sand Loch where we saw Red Backed Shrike and Whinchat last year. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. A long tailed, pointed winged bird flew across the road in front of us as we neared the driveway up to the centre. Thoughts of Hobby (and Kestrel) were quickly quelled when a look through binoculars identified it as a Cuckoo. A nice surprise. the walk down to Sand Loch gave us Meadow Pipit and Skylark with a Reed Bunting proving harder to see than it should've been, though we did eventually see it flying off.
With a quick stop to exchange pleasantries with Jimmy Mair before traffic interrupted us at Cotehill Loch again we moved on to check the Ythan for the bird. We stopped at the small roadside car park where the river bends along from the Waulkmill Hide. There were birds here. Lapwings, Oystercatchers, Redshanks, Herring Gulls, Mallards, Black Headed Gulls. A Goldfinch and a pair of Linnets plus a nice male Yellowhammer showed in the trees around the car park. We set up the scope for a bit more scanning. This helped and we soon added at least 3 Greenshanks, a few Dunlin and a Goldeneye, as well as a few Wigeon.
We had something to eat before moving on further into Newburgh. We stopped at the small pot-holed track off Inch Road where Eiders, Sandwich Terns, Herring Gulls, Redshanks and our first Common Terns of the day were added. Despite plenty scanning there was no sign of any exotic Terns. We did manage to find a juvenile Dunlin and a few Curlews. An almost invisible Whimbrel near the gulls was well camouflaged against the mud, but I somehow even managed to get a few poor record shots. A Wren showed briefly among the long grass and vegetation.
We moved on again to the car park near the golf course to see if there was any sign of 'Elvis' the local King Eider. The car park was very busy and the temperature had dropped a few degrees. Neither of us was particularly well prepared for these slightly chilly conditions. We took the scope with us and set up by the boat shed. The House Martins flew by just inches away from us. There were still a few Sand Martins visiting burrows in the sand dune to the north of the shed and we stopped for a video clip. Arctic Tern was added, and a surprise was a female Sparrowhawk crossing the river with a few hundred Common and Arctic Terns loudly mobbing it. It didn't hang around. Nat found Ringed Plovers on the mud and it turned out there were also a few Dunlin with them. No Elvis, and no White Winged Black Tern.
We decided against stopping to scan for the White Winged Scoter and Surf Scoters at Murcar given the drop in temperature and possibility of rain. We decided instead to head to Johnston Gardens in Aberdeen to see if there was any sign of the local Mandarin Duck (who heads to Norway to breed). Without the street atlas this proved a bit trickier though we did find it via the Google Earth app on my phone. Unfortunately, there were no ducks of any description and only a bathing Moorhen stopped it from being a wasted stop. Another place we'd heard of the Mandarin being seen was Walker Dam, so with the help again of Google Earth we made it to this site.
Again though it proved disappointing, with a Grey Heron, some Mallards and a Pied Wagtail the sum total initially, though another Moorhen was eventually seen before we headed back to the car to head back down the road. Jackdaw was added on the way out of Aberdeen. Another quick stop at Arbroath gave us one final species for the day - Rock Pipit, near the cliffs. Unfortunately, there was again no sign of Mediterranean Gull behind the kid's play area, so we headed home.
A lower total than normal, but a few decent species among the 53 seen, with the uckoo especially being a nice bonus.
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| Common Tern |
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| Common Tern |
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| Herring Gull & Whibrel |
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| Common Tern & Arctic Tern |
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| Sparrowhawk |
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| Sparrowhawk |
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| Grey Heron |
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| Grey Heron |
Species seen - Arctic Tern, Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Common Gull, Common Tern, Coot, Cormorant, Cuckoo, Curlew, Dunlin, Eider, Goldeneye, Goldfinch, Great Black Backed Gull, Greenshank, Grey Heron, Herring Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Kestrel, Lapwing, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Linnet, Magpie, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Redshank, Reed Bunting, Ringed Plover, Feral Pigeon, Rock Pipit, Rook, Sand Martin, Sandwich Tern, Shelduck, Skylark, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Swallow, Swift, Tufted Duck, Whimbrel, Wigeon, Woodpigeon, Wren, Yellowhammer.