When I woke up this morning I could hear the wind and rain and considered sending a text message to Ian Ford, who I had made arrangements to get out with to look for Little Auks along the coast, to cancel so that I could stay warm and dry in my bed rather than get cold and wet along the coast. It was tempting having had close views of the species the day before. Thankfully, after a couple of presses of the snooze button I dragged myself out of bed and got organised. And as is usually the case, I'm glad I made the effort.
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| Little Auk |
While waiting on Ian arriving to pick me up I head cooing coming from outside my bedroom window. Pulling back my curtains I saw a Feral Pigeon perched on my window sill staring back through the glass at me. Bird number one for the list. Herring Gull and Starling were seen from my living room window before Ian arrived. We headed for Broughty Castle first taking the route up past Swannie Ponds where we were able to see Black Headed Gull, Mallard and Carrion Crow from the car. We added Oystercatchers on the football pitches near Claypotts junction before heading down into Broughty Ferry.
We had a quick scan of the Castle harbour area from the parking area on
the western side. A small flock of Redshanks flew in and landed on the
jetty. We then checked out the pebble beach in front of Beach Crescent. As well as Black Headed and Herring Gulls there was a single Great Black Backed Gull among them. Mute Swans were in their usual place. Further out in the river were Red Breasted Mergansers. A flock of
Kittiwakes flew by quite close in and a mix of adult and 1st winter birds. We headed round to park nearer the castle.
While Ian got organised I walked to the relative shelter of the castle. A
Grey Wagtail flew up onto the castle, my first of the year. It didn't take us too long to pick out a Little Auk out on the water, drifting downriver. I also spotted a very distant Diver near Tayport harbour but lost sight of it, though it was too far away to be able to confidently identify anyway. We moved round to beside the barracks building for a better view downriver. Probably the same Little Auk as earlier was seen a bit closer in from here. A Magpie circled over the castle which was a bit of a surprise addition at this particular spot.
Next up was a stop at the small car park at the eastern end of the Esplanade. We did see more Little Auks out in the river from here though not too much else before setting off to Monifieth to scan from the road running parallel to the beach. Thankfully the bad weather was keeping dog walkers off the beach and we were able to see a flock of Ringed Plovers roosting on the sand just below where we were parked. Among them was a single Sanderling, 3 or 4 Dunlin and a Turnstone. A single Bar Tailed Godwit stood behind them. Arbroath was to be our next destination so off we went again. A mixed flock on the Monifieth golf course practice grounds contained gulls, Oystercatchers and some Curlews.
When we arrived in Arbroath we debated on whether to check Keptie Pond for any 'wrecked' Little Auks first or not. Instead we decided to check the area behind Pleasureland first. The rain seemed quite heavy though the wind blowing straight at us possibly distorted our perception of just how heavy it was. As we pulled up at a barrier we noticed something on the ground ahead of us. A bird. Not just any bird, but a Little Auk. Ian had brought a few boxes with him in case we found any birds in need of being taken into temporary 'care' and we thought we had one. However, as I got out of the car to get a few photos it took off quickly and flew away from us. It didn't go too far though, choosing to land on top of the seawall instead.
Staying as far back as I could against the wall of Pleasureland I walked slowly along towards the bird until I was parallel with it. I took a few photos from here and the bird stayed put (thankfully). I continued past the bird so I could get a better angle, from the front. I kept my distance and got a few photos looking along the top of the wall before waking back to the car. As I got back to the car the bird flew down to the water. We scanned from here and were rewarded with a lot of Little Auks moving through. Singles, pairs and small groups, some far out and others quite close in. A Turnstone did a very passable impression of a Little Auk as it flew towards us.
After getting rather wet watching the passage of Little Auks along the coast in front of us we decided to move further along towards the harbour and watch from the car for a while. This would give us a different perspective also with the chance of adding a few species around the harbour too. As things were to work out however we saw lots of Little Auks and various gulls, though we did add
Guillemot to the list with at least one low and fast over the water beyond the breakers. A second pair of larger auks went unidentified. A quick trip to Keptie Pond to check for any 'wrecked' Little Auks drew a blank though we did succeed in adding four more species to the day list - Tufted Duck, Moorhen, Coot and Jackdaw.
We decided to head back to our previous spot by the harbour to have lunch while also watching the birds. As before Little Auks made up the majority of movements though we did see a few Gannets further out to sea, the first of the year for me. Victoria Park and the cliffs was our next stop after lunch. Common Gull and Rock Pipit were added here but Little Auks weren't quite so evident, though our stop here was rather brief. We stopped off beside the harbour next. We split up so Ian could check the harbour, while I checked offshore from the end of the harbour wall.
I struggled to stay upright in the wind and had to beware of waves breaking against the wall. I had great views of a bunch of Great Black Backed Gull youngsters fighting over a large dead Cod. One managed to lift it into the air a few times but couldn't keep a grip of it in its beak for any length of time. I struggled to keep the bird and fish in the viewfinder, and in focus, but got some reasonable shots. watched a Little Auk zip over me and head towards the houses where we were parked but I lost sight of it. Ian drew a blank at the harbour and came to join me. As we walked back to the car, we discovered where 'my' Little Auk had ended up. On the grass just up from the burn, but it spotted us first and fluttered upwards and side-slipped down towards the Brothock Burn and landed with a splash before being swept under the bridge and out to sea again.
We decided to head back to Broughty Castle to round off our outing. There was already a birder there when we arrived and I thought I possibly recognised her from a post on Facebook from the previous evening. It turned out it was the lady in question, Fiona Hall. She had just had a Little Auk close in which was why she had traveled to Broughty Ferry rather than looking for them in Arbroath. Unfortunately it had gone when we arrived, unlike the rain.
There was a Shag rather close in however, and a Common/Harbour Seal put in an appearance a few times. There were once again plenty of Red Breasted Mergansers in the river. We did see a few Little Auks with a flock of around eight or so hurtling low up the middle of the Tay and last seen heading for the bridges. Having seen that prompted us to make one final, final stop on our way home - City Quay. Although it would be a perfectly sensible sheltered spot for any exhausted Little Auks we drew a blank, though Dave the Red Throated Diver did show along with a handful of Cormorants.
A really good day out with Ian despite the wild, wet and windy conditions with some quite possibly unique photo opportunities (Little Auk on the wall). Only 32 species seen, including 4 new for 2016 (in bold), but good quality.
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| Bar Tailed Godwit & Ringed Plover |
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| Ringed Plover, Sanderling & Dunlin |
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| Little Auk |
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| Little Auk |
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| Little Auk |
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| Little Auk |
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| Little Auk |
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| Little Auk |
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| Kittiwake |
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| Little Auk |
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| Little Auk |
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| Great Black Backed Gull |
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| Great Black Backed Gull |
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| Great Black Backed Gull |
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| Great Black Backed Gull |
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| Great Black Backed Gull |
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| Gannet & Little Auk |
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| Shag |
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| Red Breasted Merganser |
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| Common/Harbour Seal |
Species seen - Bar Tailed Godwit, Black Headed Gull, Carrion Crow, Common Gull, Coot, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunlin,
Gannet, Great Black Backed Gull,
Grey Wagtail,
Guillemot, Herring Gull, Jackdaw,
Kittiwake, Little Auk, Magpie, Mallard, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Red Breasted Merganser, Redshank, Red Throated Diver, Ringed Plover, Feral Pigeon, Rock Pipit, Sanderling, Shag, Starling, Tufted Duck, Turnstone.
