The weather of late has not been great for getting out and about for some birding. On the plus side, we are still in the relatively quiet 'lull' before Autumn migration kicks in properly, though the trickle of waders moving through is beginning to increase its rate of flow. The weekend just past was looking like being another write-off but as the weather started to improve around 1530 on Sunday I received a Facebook message from Jacqui, asking if I fancied a trip down to Westhaven in the hope of getting some photos of Little Gulls still in breeding plumage with their black heads. We arranged to meet at 1600 for a couple of hours worth of birding.
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| Little Gull |
With a football match on there weren't many places for Jacqui to be able to stop without blocking a road, so we arranged to meet at one of the regular pick-up points a bit further away. I headed out just after 1545 for the 10 minute walk. Not unexpectedly there weren't too many birds showing at this time in the afternoon, the exceptions being the ubiquitous Herring Gulls, with the only slightly less commonly seen Woodpigeons and Feral Pigeons. There were still a few Swifts high overhead. Once we got underway I added Carrion Crow, Starling, House Martin, Blackbird, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Swallow and Rook to the list between Dundee and Carnoustie. House Sparrow was seen in Westhaven.
We scanned from the small car park first. There was a Cormorant atop one of the poles offshore, while further out a raft of Eiders in eclipse plumage could be seen. Black Headed Gulls and a single Common Gull were squabbling over something by the water's edge. Turnstones picked around among the seaweed. A young Common Tern was perched on another pole, and a Mallard bobbed around near the beach. Further out a few Gannets passed by, as did a number of Kittiwakes. There were a few Pied Wagtails picking around on the beach. We wandered along what little of the beach was still above water before moving up to the edge of the field. This had two benefits - less chance of disturbing the birds roosting further along the beach and a lot easier to walk on than sand.
A trio of Whimbrels flew past westwards. I stopped to scan out to sea again and added a Fulmar this time. A Stock Dove was seen north of the railway line as a train passed. Curlew and Oystercatcher were seen on the beach ahead of us, along with a large group of Mallards, Redshanks and Goosanders. Unfortunately, some of the birds decided that we were a threat and the more wary of their number either took flight or took to the water, though the more relaxed birds merely kept an eye on us as we passed by along the edge of the field. Among the birds that flew off were four Common Sandpipers. A Linnet lifted from among the Ragwort and assorted vegetation as we headed for the mouth of the Craigmill Burn. There were a large number of Gulls roosting there and we had to be wary of flushing them all.
A pair of Sandwich Terns called loudly as they passed east along the line of the beach. A Skylark flew away from us from among the vegetation as we neared the burn. Some of the gulls lifted briefly but quickly settled again as they spotted us. We were however able to get down to near the top edge of the beach where we could sit and scan through the gulls and other birds without flushing them again. I found a few Dunlin and a Common Sandpiper relatively close to where we were and a Herring Gull with a yellow leg ring (T:86H) perched on a rock (this was ringed as a chick in July 2015 near Montrose Harbour).
There were also a few Great Black Backed Gulls, as well as Kittiwakes and Black Headed Gulls. A single Lesser Black Backed Gull was also among the throng. It didn't take too long to find a Little Gull, and within a few minutes I had 3 black hooded adult birds and a 1st Summer all close together. A juvenile Sandwich Tern stood next to them showed just how little these gulls really are. More scanning around found a few Sanderling feeding along the shoreline. There were a handful of Jackdaws around and a Rook was chased off by a Common Tern adult. Among the Eiders and Mallards just off the rocks I found a single drake Wigeon. A Whimbrel showed for a few seconds in a gap between rocks. Well offshore I picked up a trio of Red Throated Divers flying in towards the coast.
After just over an hour or so we decided that we were unlikely to add anything else (though as it turned out, Stuart Green added a young Great Northern Diver later in the evening) and headed back to the car, stopping for a short while to photograph Dunlin feeding just a few feet away from us. Collared Dove was one final addition as we drove off taking our total for around 2 hours birding to 41 species. Some decent photos and the chance to just sit and watch the birds had made it a worthwhile exercise.
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| Kittiwake |
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| Whimbrel |
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| Common Tern |
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| Common Tern |
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| Common Sandpiper |
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| Kittiwake & Little Gull |
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| Dunlin, Herring Gull, Redshank & Black Headed Gull |
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| Herring Gull, Great Black Backed Gull & Black Headed Gull |
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| Black Headed Gull, Sandwich Tern, Little Gull & Kittiwake |
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| Sanderling |
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| Kittiwake, Black Headed Gull, Little Gull & Herring Gull |
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| Kittiwake, Whimbrel & Black Headed Gull |
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| Little Gull & Kittiwake |
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| Black Headed Gull, Kittiwake & Herring Gull |
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| Common Tern & Rook |
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| Black Headed Gull & Little Gull |
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| Little Gull & Kittiwake |
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| Kittiwake, Little Gull, Great Black Backed Gull, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Jackdaw & Herring Gull |
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| Red Throated Diver |
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| Black Headed Gull |
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| Dunlin & Turnstone |
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| Dunlin |
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| Dunlin |
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| Dunlin |
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| Dunlin |
Species seen - Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Carrion Crow, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Common Sandpiper, Common Tern, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunlin, Eider, Fulmar, Gannet, Goosander, Great Black Backed Gull, Herring Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Kittiwake, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Linnet, Little Gull, Mallard, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Redshank, Red Throated Diver, Feral Pigeon, Rook, Sanderling, Sandwich Tern, Skylark, Starling, Stock Dove, Swallow, Swift, Turnstone, Whimbrel, Wigeon, Woodpigeon.
