I was pretty tired when the alarm went off on Friday morning but after a few extra 'snoozes' I made it out of my bed to get organised for another day out with Nat. We had not had a chance to discuss an actual plan for where to go, so it was more or less a case of let's just head off somewhere and see what we can see. So when Nat arrived to pick me up at around 0830 having somehow forgotten to bring her binoculars and camera, I loaned her my old binoculars and the P900. We decided to head up the coast to Kinnaber, as we had not properly explored the place on our one previous visit.
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| Twite |
Herring Gull and Feral Pigeon kick-started the list for the day, but we were a few miles up the A90 before we added anything else - a Buzzard on a fencepost. followed soon after by Woodpigeon. A few Starlings were seen as we passed through Brechin but the list was slow in getting going. We decided to follow the path north from where we parked the car at Kinnaber, heading towards the river. A flyover Skylark was our first bird at the site followed soon after by a Meadow Pipit. A few Curlews overflew from the direction of the coast, heading inland.
I spotted a bird in flight ahead of us and immediately got the camera onto it, though the resultant photos were very poor (the camera deciding not to cooperate as it tends to do on colder days). But it was my first Sparrowhawk of the year, probably my most surprising omission thus far. Coal Tits and Goldcrests were seen foraging in the conifers and a few Carrion Crows and Woodpigeons passed over. As we rounded the end of a stand of conifers to walk along the track at the edge, a pair of Jays lifted from the ground and flew up into the trees. A new bird for Nat's list.
A Robin was next for us followed by a Rook in flight. Finally we made it to the coast where we scanned from atop the dunes. Along by the mouth of the river were a few hundred gulls. With the chance of something good roosting among them we decided to walk closer, but not without first adding Red Throated Diver and a pair of Guillemots (another year-tick for me) to the day list. Also out on the water were a large flotilla of Wigeon and a single Common Scoter.
The gull roost was found to be mostly Common Gulls, though there were a few Herring Gulls and Black Headed Gulls also, and a single adult Great Black Backed Gull. Around on the river behind us were more gulls as well as Mute Swan, Curlews, Oystercatcher, Redshank, Goldeneye and Teal. A Wren was spotted near a fence. A Pheasant which burst out from the long grass by the path we were on almost gave Nat a heart attack. A second Sparrowhawk skimmed low over the dunes but I lost sight of it behind a gorse bush.
More scanning out over the water gave us more Red Throated Divers, well into double figures as well as a pair of Red Breasted Mergansers and a Cormorant or two. Looking over towards St Cyrus we could see Greylags in a field. As we had been scanning for a while, we found our feet and fingers getting colder, so we decided it was probably time to wander back to the car. The only additions on the way back were aStonechat and a Dunnock, though a possible Reed Bunting somehow managed to vanish into the long grasses even though we saw exactly where it had landed.
We had something to eat at the car before deciding to have another attempt at getting Twite on to Nat's year-list. At the car park for the Shelduck and Wigeon hides we added a few species with Blue Tit and Great Tit both flitting around in the trees as well as a Robin, and possibly a Goldcrest. A Coal Tit was another addition as we left the car park. A Blackbird flew across the road. The bushes and trees by the track seemed to be full of more Tits, but not much else. As we neared the feeding station, 2 flocks of birds took off, some going north and some going south. The calls seemed to be mostly Chaffinch but I thought I heard Twite as well. Unfortunately neither of us had had decent enough views to confirm a new bird for Nat.
We decided to wait and see if they would come back. Nat spotted some birds in the tops of the deciduous trees by the reedbeds on the way to the Wigeon hide. eventually a small group of 8 birds flew towards us and dropped in to land in the small trees by the track. I heard them call as they descended and said "Twite". Thankfully, I was correct and Nat got them on her list for the day. A birder coming along the path caused the birds to fly off. He stopped to chat and told us he'd been talking to someone earlier who had ringed around 30 birds earlier in the day.
When he headed off again, the Twite returned, and within a few minutes were joined by even more taking the total to around 30 initially. A flock of Chaffinches also dropped in, onto the seed pile. Even more Twite eventually showed up, taking the total to around 40 of the birds and allowing us the chance to get some decent photos. As Nat had things planned we had to round things off and headed for home earlier than we would usually.
A shorter list than usual with only 38 species seen, though 2 year-ticks among them were a nice surprise taking my total to 7 for my 3 days off work. Not a bad return given how advanced my year-list is already this year.
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| Sparrowhawk |
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| Carrion Crow |
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| Red Throated Divers |
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| Wigeon |
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| Teal |
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| Stonechat |
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| Red Throated Diver |
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| Chaffinch |
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| Twite |
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| Twite |
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| Twite |
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| Twite |
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| Twite |
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| Twite |
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| Mute Swan |
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| Twite |
Species seen (year-ticks in bold) - Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Coal Tit, Common Gull, Common Scoter, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunnock, Goldcrest, Goldeneye, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Tit, Greylag Goose,
Guillemot, Herring Gull, Jay, Meadow Pipit, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pheasant, Red Breasted Merganser, Redshank, Red Throated Diver, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rook, Skylark,
Sparrowhawk, Starling, Stonechat, Teal, Twite, Wigeon, Woodpigeon, Wren.
