Despite strong westerly winds being forecast for Wednesday, the focus was once again intended to be on passage waders, with the continuing hope of finally chancing upon a Wood Sandpiper or a Little Stint. However, with both Roseate and Black Tern having been seen along the Angus coast we decided to target those as the main priority and if we managed to get the waders, then great. With high tide not until mid-afternoon, we decided to head in the direction of Montrose Basin for starters, then work our way down the coast. Hopefully the strategy would give us a good chance of both terns and waders.
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| Common Tern |
Nat was running slightly late so it was 0810 before we set off. Woodpigeon was the only local sighting, with Black Headed Gull and Carrion Crow seen near Claypotts. Rook was added as we neared Arbroath, but things were overall rather quiet. We chose to pop into Arbroath despite the strong sun just in case either tern was around. There were a few birds around on the exposed rocks to the west of the harbour - Curlew, Oystercatcher, Linnet, Great Black Backed Gull, Herring Gull, Cormorant and a few Starlings. Pied Wagtails were numerous by the road and on the grass. A few Meadow Pipits passed overhead. Sandwich Terns fished offshore.
Moving along closer to the harbour we added Herring Gull and Eider, as well as Starlings, Redshanks, Common Terns and Arctic Terns. Swallows zipped westwards following the coast, while a Grey Heron dropped in out by the edge of the water. A Grey Wagtail moved through going west while down in the harbour a few Dunlin could be seen with Redshanks on the mud. House Martin and Rock Pipit were both added before we moved on, heading for The Lurgies at Montrose Basin. Jackdaw and Feral Pigeon were both seen before we left the town.
Stopping at The Lurgies, we spooked a pair of Common Sandpipers in the burn. A flock of Lapwings arrived from the north settling down onto the mud to the east. A Blackbird was in the bushes. There were more Greenshanks than Redshanks around. There were Canada Geese and Greylag Geese around but in far lower numbers than our previous visit. More distantly we managed to pick out a few Eiders, Mallards, Teal and Goosander. Mute Swans stood out well against the mud. As we walked along the track a Kingfisher flew off ahead of us. There were Goldfinches and Linnets in the trees by the path and a few Common Gulls with the Herrings and Black Headeds mingling with the Canada Geese. A pair of Dunlin and Common Sandpipers were at The Slunks briefly, before we headed back to the car. A Sparrowhawk was a late addition before we bumped into Jon Cook.
Fishtown of Usan was once again found via a rather circuitous route. The strong sunlight on the water made sea-watching rather tricky, though we did add a few more species here. Gannets offshore with a few Kittiwakes and Fulmars flying by. One or two Guillemots were also seen, while out on the rocks I found a Turnstone among the Great Black Backed Gulls. A Black Tailed Godwit and a small group of Redshanks headed south. As we were struggling with the lighting conditions we headed south too. To Lunan Bay and the ADBC hide.
Among the gulls and Common Terns on the beach Nat found a juvenile Little Gull which was soon joined by a second bird. Unfortunately the whole roost relocated out of our line of sight having been flushed by dog walkers on the beach. A flock of Velvet Scoters way out in the bay was checked for Surf Scoter but we drew a blank. A single Common Scoter flew in and landed much closer to the hide. Another Sparrowhawk was seen on the walk back to the car, as were a few House Sparrows around the gardens. As things were still rather quiet and time was approaching high tide we headed down the road towards Arbroath again.
When we arrived we found the tide had covered most of the rocks which meant we would have to wait for the tide to go back out before we could scan through the birds resting on the exposed rocks. There wasn't too much activity offshore so we headed along to beside the harbour where I spent some time photographing the Terns in the hope that one of them might be something a bit more unusual. Unfortunately they weren't. A Knot flew past low before we headed back towards the cliffs to once again check the rocks. Thankfully there were a few more birds around this time and among the gulls we did find a few more Little Gulls before a Peregrine hunting over the clifftop field put everything to flight. We stopped to speak to Stevie and Jim Smith from the Dundee Nats, and watched a juvenile Herring Gull with a dog's ball before we eventually called a halt to what had proved to be a slightly disappointing day though that was only because of high expectations given the time of year.
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| Herring Gull |
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| Common Tern |
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| Sandwich Tern |
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| Common Tern |
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| Kittiwake |
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| Pied Wagtail |
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| Common Tern |
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| Common Tern |
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| Cormorant |
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| Redshank |
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| Common Tern |
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| Curlew |
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| Common Tern |
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| Redshank |
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| Sandwich Tern |
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| Black Headed Gull, Little Gull & Herring Gull |
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| Sandwich Tern |
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| Kittiwake, Black Headed Gull & Sandwich Terns |
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| Curlew |
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| Peregrine |
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| Herring Gull |
We still managed to see 52 species - Arctic Tern, Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Black Tailed Godwit, Canada Goose, Carrion Crow, Common Gull, Common Sandpiper, Common Scoter, Common Tern, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunlin, Eider, Fulmar, Gannet, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Black Backed Gull, Greenshank, Grey Heron, Grey Wagtail, Greylag Goose, Guillemot, Herring Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Kingfisher, Kittiwake, Knot, Lapwing, Linnet, Little Gull, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Peregrine, Pied Wagtail, Redshank, Feral Pigeon, Rock Pipit, Rook, Sandwich Tern, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Swallow, Teal, Turnstone, Velvet Scoter, Woodpigeon.
