STONEFACTION BIRDING: 0433 : Whirly Birding? (2/9/17)

0433 : Whirly Birding? (2/9/17)

My original plan for Saturday was to get up early and catch a bus to Arbroath to try to see a juvenile Black Tern which had been reported. However, when there was no report of the bird having been seen on Friday I decided that it must have moved on and decided to try somewhere else instead. After some thought I decided to head for Guardbridge and the Eden Estuary in the hope of finding a Curlew Sandpiper as the tide came in. Anything else of a less common wader flavour would be equally welcome.

Avocet, Redshank & Common Gull

It was around 1020 when I headed out. With high tide sometime around 1300, though not a particularly large tide, I wanted to have the opportunity to scan through the wader flocks properly. I contemplated heading first to Balgove Bay, then walking along to the Fife Bird Club hide at high tide, and then finishing up at the Eden Estuary Hide, and was still quite undecided on the bus journey acrss to Fife. While standing at the bus stop waiting for the bus into town I heard a Tree Pipit calling high overhead but failed to pick it out against the blue sky. I have heard them migrating over before - my suspicion is that they use Dundee Law as a 'waypoint' and are flying towards it (to check this theory I should probably venture up there early in the morning sometime relatively soon).

Feral Pigeon, Woodpigeon and Herring Gull were the sum total on the way to the bus station. Buzzard and Kestrel were perched on telegraph pole and wires up the road from Drumoig. There were still a couple of House Martins at St Michaels and Jackdaw and Blackbird were seen in Leuchars village. I decided that even if I was going to head for Balgove Bay I should probably head to the eden Estuary Centre hide first, just in case. Collared Dove and Robin were both added as I walked in towards the hide. When I got there it was locked. The keypad seemed to be working OK, but the lock was still on. Undeterred I set up at the side instead to scan out across the wider estuary.

There were a few Carrion Crows over on the mud along with numerous Redshanks. A few Goosander were seen and a Cormorant and Grey Heron were also added to the list. In addition to the Redshanks there were Lapwings and a few Black Tailed Godwits around. Numbers of Canada Geese were down but there was no sign of any Little Egrets around. A few Swallows zipped low over the river and I found a party of Mallards further downriver. An Osprey was stood on a rock silhouetted against the pale water, with 2 anglers beyond. Beyond them atop the wooden poles well out in the estuary were a pair of White Tailed Eagles though heat haze was distorting them a lot, but their bulk and upright posture makes them identifiable even at long range.

In addition to the Herring Gulls spread out on the mud were a number of Black Headed Gulls. A family group of Mute Swans were seen rather distantly. A few Curlews flew in to join a much larger group across the mud. I eventually found the lingering Avocet and a few Dunlin. The birds at the feeders to my left were feeling brave enough to visit despite my presence with Blue Tits and Chaffinch popping in for a quick feed. A Wren showed very close to the nearest feeder before disappearing back into cover after a few seconds. A Lesser Black Backed Gull was found among the gulls, and a Willow Warbler flitted around in the higher branches of the trees to my right. I was joined by a chatty couple who I pointed out the White Tailed Eagles and the Avocet to, and let them see them through my scope.

I found a drake Wigeon in eclipse plumage and then a pair of juvenile Shoveler and a pair of Pintail (neither particularly common visitors) among the Mallards. A Coal Tit showed at the nearest feeder with a Dunnock further back. A Common Gull flew past and with the chatty couple having left their place was taken by Eric and Elsie Peebles, 2 regularly visiting photographers from Fife. I popped round to the other side of the hide to chat to a guy from Inverness with a scope to see if he'd had any luck finding anything. He'd found a few Greenshank and he confirmed a couple of Knot that I spotted. A Grey Wagtail flew past but the tide had stalled with quite a large area of mud uncovered. A pair of Stock Doves landed briefly before flying off again. As I was getting ready to head for the Fife Bird Club hide the Kingfisher was spotted low over the water.

A Sparrowhawk circled at the eastern end of the village above the car park as I walked out toward the hide. An RAF Hercules could be seen taxiing out at the Army base. There was another one parked and I could also see 3 Army Apache helicopters. Overhead a Pilatus PC-6 Turbo Porter was carrying out a survey flight (not a common aircraft around here either). Arriving at the hide, there wasn't too much of interest on show, with a large group of Curlews out in front and a few Lapwings off to the right. A single Black Tailed Godwit was among the Curlews. I found a trio of RAF Chinooks parked on the base. The Hercules took off, but the birds were mostly unmoved. A small group of Teal flew past and well out in the estuary I could see the eclipse Eider flock. I watched the Hercules dropping parachutes out over the sea.

A Lynx helicopter appeared and small groups of soldiers abseiled from the open doors repeatedly for a while. With nothing much happening bird-wise this was a welcome distraction. A charm of Goldfinches flew over the saltmarsh and an Oystercatcher dropped in among the Curlews. Two Puma helicopters arrived noisily. flying over the farm behind me before landing. The second Hercules departed and an Apache took to the air. It spent the next two hours doing circuits mostly to the north of the base. I found 2 Little Egrets over towards the Oystercatcher roost, and a pair of ospreys were eventually seen over the estuary, though neither did any fishing.

At around 1550 I decided to head back round to the Guardbridge hide adding Starlings to the list near Eden Croft. At the hide, Neil Redpath was the only person around, so I chatted for a while and watched the Apache as it flew over the hide and out over the estuary. The Lapwings were unimpressed and took flight. A Meadow Pipit was heard flying over but with nothing much happening I decided to wander up towards the base in the hope of getting closer photos of the Apache. As expected this was the cue for the flying to cease, though it did circle out over the river while the Hercules landed before landing. I caught the bus home at around 1720.

On any other day, 2 x White Tailed Eagle, 2 x Osprey, Avocet, 2 x Shoveler and 2 x Pintail would be a rather good day's birding. However, it felt slightly disappointing with the aircraft ending up as the main source of interest. I still ended up with 50 species of bird seen (and 2 heard only - Tree Pipit & Meadow Pipit).

Willow Warbler

Common Gull, Avocet & Redshank

Black Tailed Godwit, Redshank & Common Gull

Shoveler

Canada Goose, Pintail & Mallard

Avocet, Shoveler & Common Gull

Shoveler & Pintail

White Tailed Eagle

Greenshank

Redshank, Avocet, Black Tailed Godwit & Lapwing

Sparrowhawk

Lapwing

White Tailed Eagle

Species seen - Avocet, Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Black Tailed Godwit, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Canada Goose, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunlin, Dunnock, Eider, Goldfinch, Goosander, Greenshank, Grey Heron, Grey Wagtail, Herring Gull, House Martin, Jackdaw, Kestrel, Kingfisher, Knot, Lapwing, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Little Egret, Mallard, Mute Swan, Osprey, Oystercatcher, Pintail, Redshank, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Shoveler, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Stock Dove, Swallow, Teal, White Tailed Eagle, Wigeon, Willow Warbler, Woodpigeon, Wren.

And a few bonus aircraft photos......