Having visited Fife on both Wednesday and Thursday, a day in Angus was planned for Friday with Nat. Unfortunately circumstances dictated a slightly later than normal start with 0920 being the arranged time, meaning slightly less daylight would be available to us. However, as always we would attempt to make the best of the situation and see what we could find. With Hen Harrier having been seen recently at Loch of Kinnordy we decided to try for it, as although Nat had seen one a month or so ago elsewhere, I still needed it for my yearlist.
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| Waxwing |
As arranged Nat picked me up at the appointed time and off we went. Herring Gull and Feral Pigeon were the birds which kick-started the day list and Collared Dove followed shortly after along with a Blackbird. Carrion Crow, Woodpigeon and some Pink Footed Geese in a stubble field were all seen from the car as we headed up the A90. A pair of Peregrines behind the Sidlaws were a pleasant surprise, though Pheasants further on were much less unexpected. House Sparrows were seen in Glamis and a Buzzard was added just to the north of the village. Chaffinch was seen near Auchindorie Farm.
Arriving at a very quiet Kinnordy car park we checked the bushes and trees as we headed into the gullery hide. Blue Tits, Long Tailed Tits and Siskins fed among the branches either side of the walkway. With cold temperatures overnight we found the majority of the Loch to be frozen, with a patch of open water to the north east just beyond the bogbean islands. This meant most of the birds were distant but it also meant we had the hide to ourselves. Mallards, Goldeneye, Shoveler, Wigeon, Teal, Tufted Ducks, Greylags and Mute Swans were on the ice around the pool and on the water. Herring Gulls and Common Gulls were a bit further away on the ice. A Grey Heron flew past.
There were Fieldfares moving through beyond the Loch, and a few Jays commuted back and forwards above the trees to the north also. There was a lot of activity from the Rooks along at the rookery trees. Nat spotted a pair of Snipe high above the pines and I found another 3 above those. There were also a few Lapwings in one of the fields to the northwest. I spotted movement just above the reeds directly to the north of us. The male
Hen Harrier, only partially visible but unmistakable. A nice year-tick, but disappointingly no photos.
A strange noise outside the hide had me trying to discover the source, but there was nothing obvious to be seen. A small flock of Bullfinches were around the hide, mostly in the tree next to the east end of the building. A pair of Wrens chased each other into the reeds. We were joined in the hide by Graham Smith who told us he had just flushed a Woodcock by the fork in the paths down from the car park. I waited for a while to see if the Hen Harrier would re-appear but eventually I decided to see if I could find the Woodcock - another bird I'd yet to see in 2016.
There was plenty of activity along at the feeders with Tree Sparrows, Chaffinches, Blue Tits and Great Tits competing for space around the feeders. A tap-tap-tap sound turned out to be a Great Tit attempting to get into a peanut it was holding between its feet. Two male Pheasants were fighting in the trees and I ventured closer to attempt to get a photo or two, managing to get within a few metres before the birds noticed and stopped fighting and wandered off into deeper cover. Nat sent me a text message to say they'd had 2 good prolonged views of the Hen Harrier - just my luck!
I headed back to the hide, with no Woodcock seen on the way back either. Graham spotted a Bittern in flight and it settled on the reed stems which gradually lowered from about a 45 degree angle to horizontal before the bird disappeared into the reedbed and out of our sight. Unfortunately the Hen Harrier also seemed to have disappeared, with no further views. A Sparrowhawk low over the reeds was spotted by me, but missed by the others, Two male Pheasants high up in the Pines was an unusual sight. Cormorant and Goosander were both added to the list, and a sleeping drake Pintail was another nice addition.
I'd heard Pied Wagtail a few times but hadn't been able to see it, but I eventually spotted a pair of the birds flying out over the ice away from us. Graham had found a Little Grebe on the water and this gave us another new bird for the day. Nat headed to the car at around 1140 to grab some lunch and warm her fingers and toes while I waited a little longer in the vain hope that the Hen Harrier would give me a nice fly-by, but it wasn't to be.
After a spot of discussion we decided to head for Montrose to see if we could see the Waxwing flock which had been reported in Lower Craigo Street. A Sparrowhawk was seen as we headed towards Kirriemuir. Starlings, Jackdaws and Oystercatchers were all seen on the way from Kirrie to Montrose and as we turned into the narrow street in Montrose just to the north of the river, we could see a group of Waxwings in the top of a small Rowan tree ahead of us. Parking the car we wandered back to take some photos - which unsurprisingly drew some attention from the locals. I explained what the birds were and where they came from to a couple of folk who appeared quite interested in why we were taking photos in their street.The birds were fly-catching around the tree and flying further away to somewhere near the school.
With the light not being too great (grey skies rather than the more ideal blue skies for the photo background) we decided to move on again - this time to Lunan Bay in the hope of finding Surf Scoter, a bird that had eluded me in Fife two days before. An Eider and a Cormorant were on the river and Linnet was seen as we neared Lunan Bay. A few Black Headed Gulls were in the air as we walked along the track towards the houses and onwards to the ADBC hide among the dunes.
There were plenty of gulls out on the sand and once I had set the scope up I set about scanning through them all to see if there was anything unusual among them. The majority were Common Gulls, with a smaller number of Black Headed and Herring Gulls. There were also a small group of Great Black Backed Gulls and a few Cormorants and Carrion Crows. A few Sanderling scurried around towards the water's edge. A single gull caught my eye. It appeared to be a Lesser Black Backed Gull, but the mantle and wings was very dark grey, almost black. It wasn't in full adult plumage but was probably either a 2nd or 3rd winter bird (probably the latter). I took plenty of photos and when it took a few short flights I tried to get shots showing the open wings.
I hoped that it might be Larus fuscus fuscus (sometimes known as Baltic Gull), but as there was a bit of contrast between the black wingtip and the wing colour it appeared to be the slightly less dark, and slightly less rare, Larus fuscus intermedius. "Our" Lesser Black Backed Gulls are Larus fuscus graellsii, so although nothing too unusual it was still a new subspecies for me. There weren't too many Scoters out on the water, but checking through those that were, both Common and Velvet were seen. There were good numbers of Long Tailed Ducks as well as a few RedThroated Divers and Shags. Returning to the gulls again, I found a rather dark young winter plumaged Herring Gull which looked a bit different but I can't see what else it can be other than just a Herring Gull.
Nat headed back to the car for a cup of tea and I spent 20 minutes re-checking the gulls before joining her again. One Common Gull appeared rather light on the mantle and wings compared to the others of the species and this was also photographed quite a lot. Nothing spectacular but good practice at going through a lot of gulls slowly. Maybe next time the rewards will be greater. Robin, Goldcrest and Coal Tit were seen near the houses as I wandered back to the car laden down with optics and camera gear.
We decided on one last stop in the hope of adding a few extras to our list for the day - Arbroath waterfront, near the cliffs. Waders were our target here, but we only succeeded in finding a Curlew and a Turnstone. There was no sign of any Oystercatchers, Redshanks, Ringed Plover or Dunlin and with the light levels getting lower by the minute we headed for home having seen 62 species in total, including a year-tick (in bold),and taking my total for Wednesday-Friday to 100 species.
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| Lapwing |
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| Bullfinch |
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| Pheasant |
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| Bittern |
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| Bittern |
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| Teal |
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| Pintail & Mallard |
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| Waxwing |
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| Waxwing |
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| Waxwing |
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| Waxwing |
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| Sanderling, Common Gull & Lesser Black Backed Gull |
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| Lesser Black Backed Gull |
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| Sanderling |
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| Herring Gull & Common Gull |
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| Common Gull |
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| Common Gull |
Species seen - Bittern, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Common Scoter, Cormorant, Curlew, Eider, Fieldfare, Goldcrest, Goldeneye, Goosander, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Tit, Grey Heron, Greylag Goose,
Hen Harrier, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Jay, Lapwing, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Linnet, Little Grebe, Long Tailed Duck, Long Tailed Tit, Mallard, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Peregrine, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Pink Footed Goose, Pintail, Red Throated Diver, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rook, Sanderling, Shag, Shoveler, Siskin, Snipe, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Teal, Tree Sparrow, Tufted Duck, Turnstone, Velvet Scoter, Waxwing, Wigeon, Woodpigeon, Wren.
