Being off on holiday with the intention of finding some good migrants birds myself meant that I was going to have to get up and out, and maybe try places that were under-watched. I had realised some time ago that there is a lot of habitat which doesn't get checked unless someone happens to glimpse movement as they are driving past. I had discovered that it was possible to walk to Lunan Bay from Inverkeillor (which is on the route for the X7 bus). Lunan Bay has a variety of habitat nearby. There are also a few other areas between there and Montrose which turn up birds when conditions are favourable. If they can, then surely the fields in between might turn up a Bunting or a Plover and the hedges and trees surrounding them could hold almost anything. Although I'd never done it before I decided that I should be able to walk from Inverkeiller to Ferryden via the two Usans if I took my time, and maybe stopped a few times to rest.
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| Kittiwakes and Sabine's Gull |
The weather wasn't quite ideal but with early morning fog meant to burn off later in the morning there was a decent chance that any overnight arrivals should pop out into view during the times I would be out. Yellow Browed Warblers had already began to be seen at a few spots so at the very least I could expect to see one of these small Autumn arrivals. It was an early start with a bus to catch at 0705 I was out for 0645. There wasn't much to be seen as the sun was still below the horizon though Blackbird and Herring Gull were seen before I got to the bus station. From the bus to Arbroath I added Carrion Crow, Black Headed Gull and Woodpigeon though the rather hazy conditions weren't overly helpful.
Between Arbroath an Inverkeillor I added Jackdaw and Oystercatcher. By the time I reached Inverkeillor the visibility seemed to have worsened slightly with maybe 50 metres to either side being as far as I could see at times. This meant there was a lot I could hear but not see at times. Collared Doves and Robin were easy to see in Inverkeillor while a few Linnets were seen perched on wires. House Sparrows were in the hedges on the outskirts of the village. Meadow Pipit was seen further down the road and a Curlew which looked a bit Whimbrel like was seen, but not heard by one of the farms. The hedge by the road was alive with Tree Sparrows at one point and a few Pied Wagtails were feeding in another field.
I reached the end of the road around 30 minutes after having got off the bus and it was another 10 minutes walk to reach the ADBC hide. Although the mist made it unlikely I would see much out on the sea, I decided that I should pop into the hide as I was passing. It would give me the chance to have a wee rest, if nothing else. I added Yellowhammer, Chaffinch and Wren as I walked along the track to the houses on the way to the hide. My first view of the beach let me see that there were actually a lot of birds on the beach. Well over a thousand Kittiwakes and various other gulls as well as one hundred or so Terns. This looked good, though grey and white birds mostly asleep, in mist are never going to be the easiest to sift through from a distance.
Undaunted I got organised in the hide and using my small portable scope I started scanning. Mostly Kittiwakes, but also Common Gulls, Black Headed Gulls, Great Black Backed Gulls, Common Terns and Arctic Terns. There were also a few Cormorants stood on the beach as well as a few Feral Pigeons. The visibility was ever changing, sometimes reasonably good to the water's edge, other times almost hiding the birds entirely. Given the numbers of Kittiwakes especiallY I mused that if I was ever going to see a Sabine's Gull then it would likely be in with a flock of kittiwakes like this one. I knew what to look for in flight, but a bird on the ground I wasn't certain, especially the variations that come with age in gull plumages. I had a quick check of the Collins Bird Guide app on my phone. Adult Winter birds have a dark back to the head and a partial collar below it. With that I looked again at the tightly grouped Kittiwakes and realised that the chances of me being able to pick one about in their midst was minimal, on the very small chance that there might even be one there in the first place.
A better bet would be Mediterranean Gull but I really needed a better scope to let more light in, not to mention a tripod to keep it steady, rather than the small one I was staring through balanced on top of my camera bag. I had another look at the birds bathing in the water near the mouth of the river, they weren't so tightly packed. There was one bird that looked out of place among them. It was smaller than the surrounding birds but much darker on the back, head and neck with very little white visible at all, a little on the face, and some just visible down the front of the neck and along the waterline. Although I hadn't even looked at the plumage for juvenile
Sabine's Gull I knew almost straight away that I was looking at one. Quickly I took some photos in case the bird flew off. I then messaged Chris McGuigan who was also on holiday and lived within relatively quick travelling distance of Lunan Bay, before putting word out on the ADBC grapevine and my own twitter feed. I then took a few video clips as the bird bathed and swam around among the other gulls.
Unfortunately as I was filming a short clip the bird took flight with some of the nearby birds though I couldn't see what had caused it. Unfortunately I lost the bird among the melee and despite much scanning I failed to find it. A short while later, Chris arrived armed with a better scope and a tripod. He scanned through all the birds and drew a blank on the Sabine's Gull. Undaunted he tried again and again, but there was no sign of it. A small flock of Ringed Plover, Dunlin and Sanderling flew in to feed on the beach and a Rock Pipit flew past before we had to reluctantly accept the bird had gone. Still, I had seen my 200th species for the year, and had a new lifer for my life-list, as well as having both photos and videos of the bird. I added Red Breasted Merganser before we left the hide. Chris to head back home for breakfast and me to see what else I could find.
I headed up the slightly overgrown path to Red Castle stopping to watch Blue Tits and Long Tailed Tits in the bushes and trees surrounding the gardens. From the higher viewpoint I spotted a flock of Wigeon and a few Teal fly in to join the gulls and terns. Further out I managed to see a few Common Scoters and Velvet Scoters. A pair of Great Tits were in the bushes at the ruins. I checked out the rabbit warren area in the field by the castle to have a look at the back of the hedges and bushes but added only a flyover Stock Dove to the list and a more distant Kestrel.
Walking round the road to the other side of the river and the main car park behind the dunes the visibility seemed to be getting worse rather than better. A Buzzard flew out of a tree near the river and a couple of Swallows passed overhead. A Mistle Thrush was added as I walked down through the farm. The usual Greenfinches and Goldfinches were around at the car park. Scanning from the wooden platform at the top of the dunes I saw a few Shags among the waves, but no Divers. I wandered south to check out the trees between here and the river. Coal Tits and Goldcrests were in the trees and a Grey Wagtail and a Pied Wagtail were by the edge of the water.
I wandered northwards along the back of the dunes but there was nothing new seen and very little even heard except a few Goldcrests. The fog seemed to be getting worse which wasn't going to make finding and identifying small birds any easier. I spotted a place where it looked like I should be able to scramble up the steep slope to the field below the railway line that bordered the steep gulley down from Braehead of Lunan. I made it about two thirds of the way up before the slippery wet grass and steepness of the slope required the use of grass clumps as handholds to negotiate a small section. Once passed that I made it to the top without any further concern and thankfully there was a gap between the gorse bushes at the top. Having reached the field the visibility was abysmal with less than 10 feet visible in any direction. I scared off a few Song Thrushes, quite probably recent migrant arrivals, that I didn't see until they flew off and then a Dunnock in the bushes just past the railway bridge.
I debated heading back to Inverkeillor to catch the bus home instead of continuing on, but with word of Yellow Browed Warblers at Ferryden having been seen again for the second day coming through via the ADBC grapevine text messages, I decided I should probably continue on despite the fog. There might still be a year-tick at the end of the walk. I changed my original plan to walk to the two Usans, instead choosing to take the more direct, and slightly shorter route to Ferryden along the western side of Dunninald Castle. I did hear a Yellow Browed Warbler calling in the trees opposite a house on a bend in the road, but the birds I did see where just grey shapes in the mist. There was certainly the bird I wanted to see somewhere there, but I couldn't put it on the list.
As I headed downhill towards Ferryden the visibility seemed to be improving to quite a substantial degree. I could hear Pink Footed Geese and although my legs were beginning to ache I decided I would detour along to the Usan Road where I suspected I was hearing the birds calling from the fields that back onto the road and then down to the village from there and out to where the Yellow Browed Warblers had been seen, before walking back to catch the bus for home. With better visibility I even added Skylark to the list for the day as well as Rook. As expected there were some Pink Footed Geese visible in the stubble fields from the end of the road.
Reaching the main road through the village at the end of the harbour I checked the river for birds. there were plenty of Eiders and three Goosanders on the water while a Grey Heron did a passable impression of a game-show contestant by balancing atop a large pink buoy which was rocking back and forwards owing to the Heron and the movement of the water. The Heron managed to stay on, though it was rather comical to watch. I wasn't entirely sure where the Yellow Browed Warblers had been seen but as I neared a patch of Willows in a dip not far from the steps and picnic table I heard the distinctive call. A few seconds later I spotted a small bird zipping round at the edge of the trees. A
Yellow Browed Warbler. No extra effort required. Thankfully.
A couple of passing ladies stopped to ask what I was looking for and as I showed them a picture another birder arrived. It took a bit more waiting before the bird showed again but he went away happy. A small group of Turnstones flew over to the rocks at the river mouth. I decided to see whether the bird would be easier to see from the beach. There seemed to be even more to the trees from ground level than was visible from above. This meant that it would be even harder to see the bird. However, two of them chased each other around for twenty seconds or so doubling the amount of Yellow Browed Warblers I've seen in 2017. I saw a bird fly up to land in the tops of the tree, but I couldn't get a clear enough view to identify it but it looked to be rather dark and sharp billed.
I took a video clip as I was set up to try and get video of the Yellow Browed Warblers but I couldn't make out much detail from the clip. However, on the bus home later I decided to take a few promising looking frames of the video and convert them to photos which I could then zoom in on. This was a big help and Whinchat was added to the list for the day. I headed back to the path above the trees for the last five minutes before I needed to head for the bus home to try and get some video and was surprised to actually manage more than a few seconds as the bird showed relatively well once again at the fringes of the trees. Mission accomplished. My legs felt ready to seize up as I walked along through the village to catch the bus, but I managed to add one final species, as a number of House Martins circled above the western end of the road.
As the goal of the walk was to add a few migrant birds to the year-list and to see if it was actually do-able it was a definite success despite the complete lack of visibility for a large chunk of the day. Any day with a lifer to add, especially a totally unexpected self-found one, is a very good day's birding. In spite of the conditions I had also somehow managed to see 62 species including the two new additions (in bold). It also showed that there were very few places along the Angus coast that weren't within walking distance of a bus stop.
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| Linnets & Woodpigeon |
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| Curlew |
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| Curlew |
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| Mixed gull & tern flock (majority Kittiwakes) |
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| Kittiwakes (& a few Terns) |
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| Common Gull & Kittiwake |
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| Mixed gull flock |
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| Sabine's Gull (& other gulls/terns) |
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| Sabine's Gull (& other gulls) |
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| Sabine's Gull & Kittiwakes |
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| Sabine's Gull & Kittiwakes |
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| Sabine's Gull & Kittiwakes |
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| Sabine's Gull |
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| Sabine's Gull |
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| Sabine's Gull (& other gulls) |
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| Ringed Plover & Sanderling |
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| Common Terns & Arctic Terns & Herring Gull |
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| Wigeon & Teal |
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| Kestrel |
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| Greenfinch & Goldfinch & Linnet |
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| Grey Wagtail |
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| Common Scoters |
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| Pink Footed Geese |
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| Goosander |
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| Grey Heron |
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| Yellow Browed Warbler |
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| Yellow Browed Warbler |
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| Yellow Browed Warbler |
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| Yellow Browed Warbler |
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| Eider |
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| Eider |
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| Eider |
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| Whinchat |
Species seen - Arctic Tern, Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Common Scoter, Common Tern, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunlin, Dunnock, Eider, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Grey Wagtail, Herring Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Kestrel, Kittiwake, Linnet, Long Tailed Tit, Meadow Pipit, Mistle Thrush, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Pink Footed Goose, Red Breasted Merganser, Ringed Plover, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rock Pipit, Rook,
Sabine's Gull, Sanderling, Shag, Skylark, Song thrush, Starling, Stock Dove, Swallow, Teal, Tree Sparrow, Turnstone, Velvet Scoter, Whinchat, Wigeon, Woodpigeon, Wren,
Yellow Browed Warbler, Yellowhammer.
