This year my mid-week outings will not be restricted to days out with Nat or birding by myself, as happened last year, but a mix of the two with the addition of roughly 2 weeks out of every 6 when I will be birding with Paul Williams. Paul is a Kirkcaldy based birder, who I spent a very productive day birding in the Angus glens with last May. This mid-week was to be the first outing of 2018 with Paul and it looked as if the weather was going to curtail things before we even got started with strong winds and heavy snow forecast for early morning down Paul's way.
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| Little Gull & Sanderling |
Thankfully, the weather forecast was half-wrong with only the winds causing prospective problems. It was an earlier start with Paul, a 0745 pick-up, around 20 minutes before sunrise, so as Paul had no time he needed to be home for we had the whole day's worth of light available for birding. We contemplated a start in the gloom at Riverside Nature Park to try for Jack Snipe for Paul's year-list, then a hunt for the Waxwings. After weighing up the pros and cons we decided instead to head for Loch of Kinnordy where I hoped to maybe get Bittern or Green Woodpecker, and where Paul could gain a few more species also for his year-list.
On my way to meet Paul, I'd only managed to see a few Herring Gulls and a Carrion Crow, but once we got underway and the sky lightened we added a few more - Buzzard by the roadside, Rooks in a field, Woodpigeons in trees by the road and Starlings in Kirriemuir. Arriving at Loch of Kinnordy around 0820 we found that the Loch was mostly unfrozen, which was a plus. A few Blue Tits were seen in the trees at the car park. Out on the water and bogbean islands we immediately started racking up birds for the day list - Mallard, Wigeon, Mute Swan, Goldeneye, Goosander, Lapwing, Oystercatcher,
Greylags, Tufted Duck and Coot. I spotted a Sparrowhawk low over the reeds but my directions weren't precise enough to get Paul onto the bird.
A male Pheasant was in the fields to the north. A Whooper Swan flew in and landed and a Great Tit was seen outside the hide. A Grey Heron flew by and a Great Black Backed gull drifted west. Common Gulls and Herring Gulls were on the water for a short while. We could see some white showing at the owl box hole which suggested the Barn Owl was 'at home'. We decided to try the other two hides and added Siskin, Redwing and some Pink Footed Geese as well as a Blackbird on our way to the Swamp Hide. We added Gadwall out on the water and an ermine Stoat was glimpsed cutting through the vegetation between the hide and the water.
A Robin was seen on the way to the East Hide as well as more Redwings and a Red Squirrel. Better views from this hide showed that it was the
Barn Owl showing in the box on the solitary Pine tree. A year-tick for me, as was the Greylag. Not a bad way to start the day. Goldfinch was seen on our way back to the car and Paul also managed to see a Bullfinch that I missed. With the time now just after 1000 we decided to miss out Forfar Loch and a detour up Glen Moy, choosing instead to head for Murton Nature Reserve.
Jackdaws and Feral Pigeons were seen passing through Forfar. We arrived at Murton around 1035 and headed into the car park hide where there were a couple of Carrion Crows and nothing else to be seen. We headed down the track to the hide overlooking the lower pool. Chaffinch and a flock of Bullfinches were added with some really good views of the latter in the sunshine as they fed on some weed seeds. Wigeon, Greylag, Teal, Mallard and Tufted Duck were seen out front of the hide along with a few domestic geese. A Black Headed Gull flew over. With nothing else obvious we decided to head further along the track to check the small pool near the airfield-keep out sign.
As we stopped to look for the expected Little Grebe, two small-ish waders took flight calling as they went. Although the call was unfamiliar, I had a good idea what they were and as they chose to land back where we could see one of them, I was able to confirm my identification. Green Sandpipers. They then flew off again towards the further reaches of the same pool, so we headed back to the car to move on to our next stop at Balgavies Loch. This proved mildly disappointing with not many birds visiting the feeders and most of the birds on the water being ones we'd already seen elsewhere - Mallard, Wigeon, Greylag, Mute Swan, Coot etc. The one addition here was Cormorant and after 10 minutes or so we decided to head on again, this time to Montreathmont Forest.
Green Woodpecker and Crossbill were my main targets here, and Paul also needed Redpoll and Great Spotted Woodpecker. Thankfully, despite things appearing quiet as we set off down the track, things soon perked up. More Bullfinches were seen as well as Chaffinches. We headed up the track to where we could see as much of the surrounding area as possible. Great Tits, Blue Tits and Coal Tits were seen. I was sure I could hear
Crossbills calling and a quick check of the trees further on showed that I had indeed heard them with a male perched atop one, and a female lower down. They soon flew past us so we headed further up the track. I caught a glimpse of a Great Spotted Woodpecker flying in to land in one of the trees but Paul missed it, so we were alert to where I'd seen it go in.
Before we reached that tree we found a decent sized flock of Siskins, with a few Lesser Redpolls mixed in, while a Goldcrest foraged in a small fir tree a few feet from us. We soon found the Great Spotted Woodpecker and unusually it ignored us as it picked at the small cones on the tree. Heading back down the track we added another pair of Great Spotted Woodpeckers and more views of Siskin and Lesser Redpoll. By now it was after 1230 but we were still roughly on schedule for the very rough plan I had. Next stop was Montrose Basin with the height of the tide determining whether or not we would stop at The Lurgies or not. I spotted a Long Tailed Tit fly across the road at the junction onto the Montrose road, but as Paul had to concentrate on the road he missed it.
The tide was already rather high so we headed for the car park for the Shelduck & Wigeon Hides. We were hoping to get a lifer for Paul, in the shape of Twite. A Buzzard flew in and landed on a telegraph pole next to the car park as we turned in, but it flew off as we got out of the car. Things were quiet in the bushes and trees by the track as they were also along the old railway line route. A small group of Yellowhammers landed on the wires running across the fields and a Mistle Thrush was perched on the wires off to our right, but flew off into a tree. Things were very quiet at the scrubby patch where the Twite are usually found.
I hoped that a bit of patience would pay off for us, but as it turned out, there was a small group of Twite and a single Goldfinch feeding on the track which runs off to the east. We had good views and were able to get relatively close for photos. A few Meadow Pipits flew up from the field behind us. I spotted a Kestrel hovering further along the track and there was large flock of Woodpigeons in the same general direction. With Paul's first lifer of the day safely on the list we headed back to the car with the Bank of Scotland Hide round by the Visitor Centre our next brief stop.
We added a further few species around the car park with House Sparrow, Tree Sparrow and Greenfinch all seen, as well as Great Tit, Blue Tit and Chaffinch. Heading down the steps to the hide I could see lots of Oystercatchers along towards Rossie Spit with a large flock of Dunlin wheeling around behind them. There were a number of Curlew roosting in front of them and a few Redshanks could just be seen in gaps between the Oystercatchers. There were a few folk in the hide already, with regular visitor Ron Mitchell one of them. The tide had flooded the pools out in front but thankfully there was still a
Little Egret out front alongside a Grey Heron. Mallard, Wigeon and Teal were on the water. The Basin was severely lacking in birds with only a few Eider to be seen.
We had a nice view of a dog Fox which trotted along in front of the hide but everyone was so surprised that no-one took any photos. I picked Ron's brains for some of the birds we were missing, but most of them had either been seen earlier or hadn't been seen at all. With the time now after 1400 we moved on again. Paul found a single Black Tailed Godwit (found another one in photos at home) in the Oystercatcher roost before we headed off for Lunan Bay. The low sun wasn't particularly helpful for driving but we made it to the car park at Lunan Bay in one piece. The Muscovy Ducks by the roadside at the farm didn't go onto our list however.
Paul had his scope with him for checking through the Scoter flock here and we headed up onto the wooden platform to scan over what was relatively calm bay. Unfortunately the birds were very distant. That didn't stop us from adding a few new ones for the day - Common Scoter, Red Throated Diver, Long Tailed Duck and Razorbill as well as Red Breasted Merganser and Kittiwake. Despite much scanning we couldn't find anything less common so we moved on again, this time for Boghead Farm in the hope of Corn Buntings.
Things seemed quiet at the farm with no birds visible in any of the trees when we arrived. A couple of Tufted Ducks and a Little Grebe were seen on the farm pool before we found some of the smaller birds. Yellowhammers, Linnets, Chaffinches and a Wren were seen, but no Corn Bunting. I did manage to catch sight of a male Reed Bunting flying off and we had close views of a male Pheasant in the field. Time was now beginning to get the better of us and I wondered if we'd have enough time to stop at both Arbroath for Iceland Gull and Westhaven in the hope of getting Little Gull for Paul's life-list. A quick check of the time of sunset informed me that we had more time than I thought.
We failed to add any birds on wires that might have been Corn Buntings as we headed for Arbroath cliffs. There were lots of Oystercatchers on both sides of the road as we reached Victoria Park. There were gulls milling around over towards the cliffs so we headed in that direction. We had just stopped and remarked that the birds all seemed to be Herring Gulls when I caught sight of one that wasn't - our Iceland Gull. We decided to have a quick check of the stubble patch along the field edge up by the cliffs where Snow Buntings have been seen recently. A Shag flew past offshore. A few Rock Pipits were seen as we headed up to the cliffs. A Great Black Backed Gull was out on the rocks and a few flocks of Oystercatchers flew in.
Back at the car having drawn a blank on Snow Bunting we spotted the Iceland Gull now resting out on the rocks. I took a few photos and then we headed off for what would be our last stop for the day. There was still a bit of daylight left when we arrived at Westhaven. From the car we could see that the water's edge was alive with birds. There were at least 200 Sanderling strung out along the edge, with a few Turnstones, Redshanks and Black Headed Gulls with them. Also just a few inches offshore was a 1st-winter Little Gull, another lifer for Paul. We got out of the car to get a few photos before we set off towards the mouth of the Craigmill Burn.
With so many waders around and not a huge amount of beach to walk along I had to hope that the birds would just ignore us, rather than any 1 of them panicking and taking the whole lot with them. We stopped at the edge of the beach to take a few more photos of the Little Gull before slowly walking along the very top edge of the beach. Somehow we managed to get past the whole lot without any panic and we headed off for the Craigmill Burn along the edge of the field. There were more waders and gulls on the way, Curlews and Oystercatchers as well as more Redshanks. Paul spotted what was our first Pied Wagtail of the day on the beach, a Mistle Thrush landed on the fence by the railway line and a Grey Plover was added off the mouth of the burn. Another 3 Grey Plover were found by Paul on our way back to the car and there were a few Dunlin further east on the shore. Despite our efforts we failed to find any other rare gulls among the roosting birds. With the sun having set we headed for home.
A very productive day with 78 species seen (plus Jay seen by Paul at Kinnordy), and 3 species of mammal. 4 year-ticks (in bold) for me was a good haul and I thought I could get Paul between 20 and 30 for his. By my reckoning I think he got around 25 or 26. It was also good to make use of the whole day, which is something I tend to do when I'm out on my own but rarely get the opportunity to do when birding with others owing to their commitments. There were quite a few birds that were surprising 'misses' on the day and with slightly tighter rein on on time spent on a few of our stops we could easily have hit 90 and potentially even been pushing on towards 100. Maybe on another day we'll manage something like that.
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| Tufted Duck & Wigeon |
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| Pheasant |
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| Whooper Swan |
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| Great Black Backed Gull |
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| Redwing |
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| Greylag Goose |
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| Chaffinch |
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| Bullfinch |
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| Bullfinch |
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| Bullfinch |
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| Green Sandpiper |
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| Green Sandpiper |
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| Crossbill |
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| Crossbill |
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| Great Spotted Woodpecker |
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| Lesser Redpoll |
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| Great Spotted Woodpecker |
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| Twite |
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| Twite |
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| Dunlin |
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| Grey Heron & Little Egret |
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| Little Egret |
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| Little Egret |
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| Oystercatcher, Redshank & Curlew |
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| Oystercatcher, Black Tailed Godwit & Redshank |
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| Eider |
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| Razorbill |
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| Red Throated Diver |
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| Common Scoter & Red Throated Diver |
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| Kittiwake |
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| Common Scoter & Red Throated Diver |
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| Yellowhammer |
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| Linnet & Goldfinch |
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| Iceland Gull |
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| Common Gull |
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| Iceland Gull |
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| Black Headed Gull & Sanderling |
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| Redshank, Sanderling, Turnstone & Little Gull |
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| Black Headed Gull & Little Gull |
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| Turnstone, Sanderling & Little Gull |
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| Mistle Thrush |
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| Herring Gull & Great Black Backed Gull |
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| Grey Plover |
Species seen -
Barn Owl, Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Black Tailed Godwit, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Common Gull, Common Scoter, Coot, Cormorant,
Crossbill, Curlew, Dunlin, Eider, Gadwall, Goldcrest, Goldeneye, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great Tit, Green Sandpiper, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Grey Plover,
Greylag Goose, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Iceland Gull, Jackdaw, Kestrel, Kittiwake, Lapwing, Lesser Redpoll, Linnet,
Little Egret, Little Grebe, Little Gull, Long Tailed Duck, Long Tailed Tit, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Mistle Thrush, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Pink Footed Goose, Razorbill, Red Breasted Merganser, Redshank, Red Throated Diver, Redwing, Reed Bunting, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rock Pipit, Rook, Sanderling, Shag, Siskin, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Teal, Tree Sparrow, Tufted Duck, Turnstone, Twite, Whooper Swan, Wigeon, Woodpigeon, Wren, Yellowhammer.
Mammals seen - Fox, Red Squirrel, Stoat (Ermine).
