There was a bit of discussion on where to go for last Wednesday's outing with Nat as she had already seen elsewhere most of the possible 'target species' which had been seen around Angus in the previous few days. However, given the weather conditions (westerly winds) the other options were rather more 'hit and hope' or a race against the clock. So, we decided to head inland after all.
 |
| Gadwall |
Nat picked me up at 0810 and off we went. Birds were in rather short supply and it did take a wee while before we saw any birds at all - Carrion Crow and Herring Gull starting off the list. Out in the countryside we slowly added a few others - Rooks, Woodpigeons, Collared Doves and Jackdaws. We headed first to an upland site to look for raptors, but had to settle for just a single Buzzard. We did manage to see a few other birds though with Pheasant, Chaffinch, Starling and an unexpected Stonechat giving us at least a few birds. In addition we watched a Raven flipping over onto its back as it dived down over a conifer plantation.
As we headed on to our next destination we picked up a few Fieldfares overflying and a few House Sparrows near a farm. Backwater Dam was our next stop and as is often the case here it was rather quiet though we did manage to see a Kestrel, a Grey Heron, a Cormorant and a small group of Wigeon. There were also a trio of Teal and a Little Grebe on the water down from the car park but the light was very poor making photography rather pointless.
Next stop was Loch of Lintrathen which proved to be rather more productive with flocks of thrushes moving through - Redwings, Fieldfares and a few Mistle Thrushes settled periodically in the tall trees to the south of the track to the hide. A Brambling was almost missed among the larger thrushes. A Jay flew out from the trees and our first Pink Footed Geese of the day overflew. A few Redpolls dropped into the trees as we walked to the hide from where we scanned through the numerous waterbirds on the Loch. There were a few Mallards and Mute Swans, as well as plenty of Wigeon and Coots. There were fewer Goldeneye and Pochard and among the Tufted Ducks were a couple of Scaup. A Little Grebe and a Great Crested Grebe were also found and some Greylag Geese dropped in.
A shower of rain delayed our departure from the hide but on our way back to the car we added yet more birds to the list - Robin, a flyover Grey Wagtail, Blackbird, Goldcrests and Coal Tits as well as Treecreeper and Siskin. Not a bad wee haul, though there was no sign of any returning Great Grey Shrike, which was one of our potential targets, though as of yet there had only been a bird in Glen Esk seen locally. Around at the other hide we added Blue Tit and Wren on our way in and a calling Great Spotted Woodpecker was easily found high in a conifer. We headed next to Loch of Kinnordy where Nat decided to have her lunch in the car while I headed in to the empty Gullery hide to see if I could add anything new.
A drake Shoveler was the first addition and a Reed Bunting flew past before a couple of Goosander swam out into the open. I found a single Lapwing sleeping on one of the small bogbean islands before Nat joined me. There were also the usual waterbirds here but there was no sign of any Hen Harrier, 2 of which had been seen recently, nor any interesting geese. Smew was also an outside chance, but again we drew a blank. A few other birders joined us in the hide, and a party of Snipe took flight and headed west. I spotted a Peregrine over the rear side of the Loch and a few minutes later we had a Sparrowhawk low over the reeds, A Buzzard was perched in a tree over the far side and a pair of male Pheasants perched on a gate behind the Loch.
Forfar Loch was our next stop and we decided to do a full circuit. Our target species here was Ring Necked Parakeet - apparently there have been a couple of birds around, unreported via AGV, since at least the Summer. Having added Feral Pigeon on our way to the Loch we added Gadwall, Common Gull, Moorhen and Black Headed Gull before we set off on our circuit of the Loch. A family group of Long Tailed Tits announced their presence before we saw them. Despite lots of scanning and searching it was quite some time before we found anything else new - a Magpie pair. However, within a few minutes we had added another couple of species - Goldfinches and a rather untypical group of Bullfinches - of around half a dozen birds, one was still in partial juvenile plumage, there was a young male moulting into adult plumage and the rest were females/youngsters. A Lesser Redpoll was with the flock. A Buzzard was seen here too, but there was no sign of any Parakeets.
We had good views of the ducks, Moorhens and Coots around the eastern end before we headed for home having managed to see a decent 62 species, though none of the hoped for species were spotted.
 |
| Stonechat |
 |
| Mistle Thrush |
 |
| Redwing |
 |
| Redwing & Brambling |
 |
| Pink Footed Goose |
 |
| Scaup |
 |
| Wigeon, Mute Swan & Goldeneye |
 |
| Coot |
 |
| Pochard |
 |
| Wigeon |
 |
| Pochard |
 |
| Greylag Geese |
 |
| Great Crested Grebe |
 |
| Siskin |
 |
| Shoveler |
 |
| Goosander |
 |
| Shoveler |
 |
| Shoveler & Mallard |
 |
| Goosander |
 |
| Peregrine |
 |
| Buzzard |
 |
| Gadwall |
 |
| Wigeon & Black Headed Gull |
 |
| Bullfinch |
 |
| Moorhen |
 |
| Gadwall |
 |
| Wigeon |
Species seen - Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Brambling, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Coot, Cormorant, Fieldfare, Gadwall, Goldcrest, Goldeneye, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Crested Grebe, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great Tit, Grey Heron, Grey Wagtail, Greylag Goose, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Jay, Kestrel, Lapwing, Lesser Redpoll, Little Grebe, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Mistle Thrush, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Peregrine, Pheasant, Pink Footed Goose, Pochard, Raven, Redwing, Reed Bunting, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rook, Scaup, Shoveler, Siskin, Snipe, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Stonechat, Teal, Treecreeper, Tufted Duck, Wigeon, Woodpigeon, Wren.
