With the rain playing a disappointingly large part at the weekends lately (and a wee bout of illness on Sunday putting paid to provisional plans for the day) I really wanted to ensure I got out somewhere on Wednesday this week. With sunshine forecast for most of the day things looked rather promising. As luck would have it, a couple of Roseate Terns were found at Westhaven on Tuesday by Stuart Green of Angus Birdtours with a third individual discovered by Stuart along the coast at Elliot on Tuesday evening. That settled the question of where I was going, as well as what I was looking for.
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| Sandwich Tern |
I headed out shortly before 0745 to walk to the Arbroath Road to hopefully catch the 0755 bus to Carnoustie. A single Starling was slightly unusually the first bird onto the list for the day. More typical were the ones that followed - Herring Gull, Feral Pigeon and Lesser Black Backed Gull. The bus journey to Carnoustie was relatively productive with Carrion Crow and Woodpigeon along the Arbroath Road first then House Sparrow and Oystercatcher in Broughty Ferry. A single Mute Swan was glimpsed on the Dighty Burn near Balmossie. A Blue Tit flew into a tree on the outskirts of Monifieth and a Siskin was perched on wires opposite the caravan park between Monifieth and Barry. Rooks were also seen here and a Swallow swooped low over the fields. Collared Dove was seen in Barry and Carnoustie.
I walked down a narrowing street and through an underpass below the railway line which took me out near the Leisure Centre. I wandered down to the wall to check the end of the beach and out across the bay. A Black Headed Gull glided by. A small group of Linnets were in the weeds by the path and Pied wagtails scurried around on the grass. Sandwich Terns provided a soundtrack to my scanning with a few from a group resting further along the beach flying past where I was searching from. There was a group of Eiders offshore. I took my time scanning the rocks on the beach near the terns, adjusting my position regularly to counter both the dips between the rocks and the position of the sun which was still more to the east.
Among the rocks on the beach were a few Curlews, Redshanks and Turnstones. The tern flock also contained a few Common Terns as well as outlying Common Gulls and Kittiwakes. A few Gannets were fishing off towards Barry Buddon. A pair of distant Shags were spotted offshore. As I wandered along towards Westhaven I added Cormorant to the list. I heard Common Sandpiper and spotted a single bird low along the shore. A Grey Heron was partially hidden among the rocks. Arctic Tern was another addition before I wandered along the beach to Westhaven.
On the sandy beach ahead I could see a couple of figures sat with scopes pointing towards the rocks, and a couple of dogs. The two figures were Roddy McKenzie who sat a little further along the becah from the first figure. This was Stuart Green who had found the Roseate Terns the previous day. I enquired as to whether he'd had any luck so far today. Not yet. I sat down and scaned through the numerous groups of Terns on the rocks. A few Dunlin flew in onto the beach and Stuart found a Teal that I managed to miss, though he did manage to get me onto a single Knot among the rocks. After a while he had to head off but said he might be sea-watching later at Usan if I fancied it. It wasn't definite but if he was going he would give me a text and pick me up somewhere.
With no luck among the tern flocks nearby I decided to wander along towards the Craigmill Burn in case the Roseate Terns were there, Roddy decided to join me and we wandered along the beach at first before heading up to the edge of the field and much easier terrain underfoot. A number of Mallards were spotted and there were gulls roosting in the burn ahead of us. I succeeded in picking out a Little Gull duo which I managed to get Roddy onto. There were also plenty of Great Black Backed Gulls. There were still more flocks of terns on the rocks as the tide rose. These were generally a mix of Commons and Arctics which meant careful scrutiny of the bills and the shade of grey on the backs and wings. Still no Roseates.
I had close views of 3 Dunlin by the burn and found a very narrow channel meant I was able to jump across the burn keeping my feet dry. There were more Starlings and Pied Wagtails on the beach and hundreds of more terns to scan through. A few more Little Gulls were seen but frustratingly still nothing resembling a Roseate Tern though there were a number of 'false alarms' but these were mostly due to the angle of the birds and the strength of the sunlight. With the time approaching 1140, I was nearing Easthaven. I had considered continuing along the coast here to Arbroath, but knowing there was a bus due before noon, I decided to hurry to the bus stop and to jump ahead to Elliot. There was a possibility that there would be more terns on rocks between Easthaven and Elliot but having a plan to continue on as far as the cliffs at Arbroath, I decided it made sense to cut a few miles from the journey.
A Tree Sparrow flew past as I waited for the bus though there were no new additions from the bus, though I was distracted from looking out of the windows by Jacqui messaging me to ask if I'd had any luck yet. At Elliot I headed for the end of the burn where it met the beach. There were a number of gulls, mostly Herring but also a single Kittiwake. No terns though. A few Sandwich Terns could be seen further out to sea and there was the odd Gannet too. Walking down to the shore I added a pair of Sedge Warblers and a Reed Bunting. Among the pebbles on the beach was a small mixed flock of small waders - Dunlin, Ringed Plover and a pair of summer plumaged Sanderling. With still no sign of any prospective Roseate Terns I continued my walk towards Arbroath harbour first.
I checked for Mediterranean Gull on the shore where an adult bird had been seen recently but drew a blank with very few birds around here, only a couple of Black Headed Gulls and a Dunlin. Round behind Pleasureland and the back of Gayfield football ground I spotted a couple of gulls. One was clearly a Black Headed Gull and the other I thought might be a Mediterranean Gull, though not the black hooded adult which had been around previously. There was some black on the wings and just a smudge behind the eye. The back-lighting made it tricky to pick out much detail on the bill and I chose to zoom in on a less than ideal photo which made me think I was looking at a slightly odd Black Headed Gull. Only later at home did I confirm my original identity - it was a Mediterranean Gull, a 2nd year bird.
At the harbour I spotted Alex Shepherd photographing Sandwich Terns from the sandy beach within, so I wandered down for a quick chat. He'd had no luck with Roseate Tern or the Mediterranean gull adult. I mentioned my odd gull in the passing before I headed on towards the cliffs. Jackdaw and Rock Pipit were seen as I walked along the mile or so to the foot of the cliff path. There were a few more tern flocks which needed sifting through. Still no luck. There were lots of Green Veined White butterflies by the path up to the cliffs and I wandered up to scan out over the sea. There was a single fluffy Fulmar chick still on the cliffs and an adult came in to feed it after a few minutes. I picked up a lone Guillemot out on the water and a few Gannets passed by.
A solitary Sand Martin zipped around me briefly before I headed back down the hill to head back towards the harbour area. It was now after 1400. Stuart had said it would probably be around 1400 if he was going sea-watching that he'd be in touch. I was in the process of scanning through another tern flock when an elderly couple stopped to chat about birds. As I was talking to them Stuart phoned. I managed to cut him off as I attempted to answer but I managed to call him back and a pick-up was arranged back at the far side of the harbour. This was actually a bit further than I thought it was and my legs were already feeling the strain but I made it just as Stuart arrived and we headed for Fishtown of Usan to meet up with Chris McGuigan.
On the way we added House Martin, Yellowhammer, Goldfinch and Kestrel and a Great Tit and another Yellowhammer were seen before Chris arrived. The sky had grown ever greyer as the afternoon had progressed and rain was forecast for late afternoon. As I hadn't actually been planning on being out in the rain, my denim jacket wasn't ideal but as long as my camera was kept dry I wasn't too fussed. We settled down to scan out over the sea. There wasn't a great deal of movement close in, and my scope struggled to pick up the more distant birds that Stuart and Chris were seeing soo I missed a couple of probable Bonxies and a couple of Manx Shearwaters though I did eventually manage to pick up one heading north.
A Razorbill was just offshore and a Whimbrel flew over. Things were disappointingly quiet so we decided to give up not too long after the rain began. I did manage to contribute a single southbound Common Scoter before we did so. Stuart suggested we head back to Arbroath and Westhaven to check the terns with the possibility of a check at Elliot if the rain allowed. We had no luck near the cliffs so continued along to the other side of the harbour. No luck there either, so we moved round to behind Pleasureland. A few Little Gulls were seen among the Sandwich Terms before Stuart found an adult
Roseate Tern which appeared to be the same bird he'd found the night before a mile further west at Elliot. Result. After taking a few photos, I headed back into the car. Stuart was struggling to keep his umbrella steady as he tried to digiscope the bird so he asked me to hold the umbrella while he did so.
As I held the umbrella to shelter more from the wind than the rain Stuart realised that the juvenile tern just in front of the adult bird was in fact a juvenile Roseate Tern. Two for the price of one, and taking the total number of Roseate Terns on the Angus coastline to 4 in 2 days! I put word out on the ADBC grapevine crediting Stuart with the find, rather than having my name against it. Although I hadn't found the birds myself it did feel like all the effort scanning through the hundreds, possibly thousands of terns earlier hadn't been a waste of effort. I realised later that I probably should have taken the opportunity to shoot a bit of video of a species that I don't yet have video of, this being only my second ever Roseate Terns. With the rain showing no sign of abating, and my target in the bag, Stuart dropped me ahead of a bus back to Dundee, so he could head for home too, and I made it home rather wet after the half mile walk home in the rain from the bus stop.
A worthwhile day out with lots of practice at trying to identify terns, and a bonus self-found Mediterranean Gull, though I clearly need to do a bit more studying of the younger birds. The strong sun in the morning had made it rather a tiring walk, especially on the soft sand between Craigmill Burn and Easthaven and I discovered via Google Earth that I had actually walked just short of 9 miles carrying slightly more weight (the small scope) than I usually do. A total of 57 species including a year-tick (in bold). Eight species of gull and four of terns too.
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| Common Tern |
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| Sandwich Tern & Arctic Tern |
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| Dunlin |
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| Dunlin |
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| Great Black Backed Gulls, Herring Gulls, Black Headed Gulls & Little Gulls |
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| Little Gull & Arctic Tern |
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| Carrion Crow & Ringed Plover |
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| Sanderling |
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| Kittiwake |
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| Mediterranean Gull & Black Headed Gull |
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| Sandwich Tern |
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| Curlew |
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| Fulmar |
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| Kittiwake |
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| Gannet |
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| Cormorant |
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| Great Tit |
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| Yellowhammer |
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| Roseate Tern, Common Tern & Sandwich Tern |
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| Roseate Tern |
Species seen - Arctic Tern, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Carrion Crow, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Common Sandpiper, Common Scoter, Common Tern, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunlin, Eider, Fulmar, Gannet, Goldfinch, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Tit, Grey Heron, Guillemot, Herring Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Kestrel, Kittiwake, Knot, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Linnet, Little Gull, Mallard, Manx Shearwater, Mediterranean Gull, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Razorbill, Redshank, Reed Bunting, Ringed Plover, Feral Pigeon, Rock Pipit, Rook,
Roseate Tern, Sand Martin, Sanderling, Sandwich Tern, Sedge Warbler, Shag, Siskin, Starling, Swallow, Tree Sparrow, Turnstone, Whimbrel, Woodpigeon, Yellowhammer.
