Paul was available for a spot of birding on Thursday and as I was off work we tried to come up with a workable plan for the day that added to both our year-lists. With the Ring Billed Gull at Strathclyde Country Park seemingly a 2-day wonder (for now at least) there was no real point in attempting that one. Ptarmigan and Bittern were both a possibility (at Glenshee & Kinnordy respectively) but as neither was anywhere near guaranteed we settled on attempting to fill a few gaps in Paul's year-list instead. I came up with a plan for 5 relatively local birds still needed by Paul. We arranged to meet up at 0830.
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| Shorelark |
I headed out at around 0810 knowing Paul was likely to be early. Herring Gull and Feral Pigeon were the first birds seen in the gloaming. A Blackbird and a Blue Tit shared a tree near where I was meeting Paul. A Carrion Crow was added on the way to our first stop at Riverside Nature Park. The sun hadn't yet crept over the horizon so we decided to try the marshy area first for Snipe and maybe a Jack Snipe as we needed reasonable light for trying to get our first target bird. There were a few Magpies around, all very active. Starling and Redwing were seen flying over before a single Snipe flushed from the drier than usual marshy area.
A Song Thrush and a Blackbird were next onto the list before a pair of Siskin flew over. A Herring Gull glided over as we wandered round towards the bay. A Goldfinch and a Linnet were both seen flying over. The tide state wasn't quite ideal for what we were looking for but as we were trying to squeeze in quite a lot of birding we would have to make do with what was on offer. Teal, Curlew, Redshank, Oystercatcher, a Grey Heron, a few Carrion Crows, a few Black Headed Gulls, a Cormorant, and a few Mallard were all noted. A few Black Tailed Godwits, a single Dunlin and a Common Gull were also spotted before we tried a different spot but the light proved more difficult to work with from there so we headed back to the original viewpoint.
I had a try with Paul's scope and quickly found what we were looking for - the wintering Spotted Redshank. A quick photo or two confirmed the identification and target species number 1 was 'in the bag'. A Robin showed nicely perched in a small tree as we walked past. A few Skylarks headed west over the bay and a flock of Feral Pigeons went the opposite way. A Goldeneye was still at the Lochan along with a few Teal and a pair of Yellowhammers were seen perched in the top of the hedge above the hide. Woodpigeon, Jackdaw, Greenfinch, Blue Tit and a small party of Bullfinch near the car park were all added before we set off for our second target bird.
Black Headed Gulls and Oystercatchers were on the football pitches along Riverside and a small flock of Starlings were seen nearby. We decided on a short detour to the Kingsway to see if the Waxwing flock was still around. They were, though we saw fewer than the 100 from the day before, opposite DC Thomson's. A Mistle Thrush was also seen in a different tree. We headed out along the dual carriageway adding Magpie and some rather distant Pink Footed Geese. We arrived in Arbroath just before 1030, a little behind my provisional schedule for the day.
Thankfully target bird number 2 was a lot easier than the Spotted Redshank. From the top of the ramp down into the harbour's west side the Black Redstart was spotted almost immediately. We spent about 15 minutes trying for better views and a few record shots but the bird was being camera shy again, though both of us did manage a few photos. In addition Rock Pipits, Grey Wagtail, Pied Wagtail, Cormorant, Great Black Backed Gull, Dunlin, Curlew, Turnstone and Redshank were all noted.
We had made up a few minutes but were still about 10 minutes behind as we headed for our next bird. We decided not to try for views of the Short Eared Owls at Elliot so we continued on westwards. I spotted a Buzzard perched on the wire frames of the polytunnels north of the golf course. A few Woodpigeons were seen but nothing else before we arrived in Carnoustie. The Ring Necked Parakeet had been seen again the day before but there was no sign of it when we arrived. There were plenty of Blue Tits and Great Tits around the park entrance. A Robin, Stock Dove, Treecreeper, Buzzard and Grey Squirrel near its drey in a pine tree were all seen before we had to admit defeat on target number 3 to move on for our next target bird which was likely to be our most labour intensive of the day.
We had a 2 mile walk out at Barry Buddon followed by however far along the beach we would have to search and then the same in reverse to get bird number 4 - the rather elusive Shorelark. Dunnock, Lesser Redpoll, Chaffinch, Siskin, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Great Spotted Woodpecker and a Kestrel were sighted along the road on our walk out. Long Tailed Tits were heard but not seen, as was a Little Grebe from the golf course ponds. Reaching the beach we had a quick scan noting Eider offshore in good numbers and a few Red Breasted Mergansers. A pair of Linnets flew past before we set off along the beach eastwards. A Goldfinch flew over as we walked along the sand.
A small flock of Sanderling were seen by the water's edge and an Oystercatcher flew past. A Shag flew upriver but things were very quiet. We were within sight of the anti-erosion rocks and debating if there was any point in continuing along the remaining beach given the lack of strandline here when Paul quietly managed to get my attention. He had turned around and seen a small bird run down from the last patch of debris at the top edge of the beach and out into the open. One Shorelark. Knowing how flighty the bird is, we got some photos rather than attempting to move. Only then did I head down to near the water's edge to skirt round past the bird which had run back to where it had came from. I made it round without the bird flying off and Paul soon joined me. Of 4 targets we'd already managed to find 3 with only the Parakeet letting us down so far.
We hurried back to the car adding a Great Crested Grebe low over the water and a pair of Stonechats in the dunes, though we were now going to be racing against time to get enough useable light for our 5th target bird(s), though hopefully it should still be possible to pick out after sunset given the relatively bright ambient light from the relatively clear sky. Coal Tit, House Sparrow, Rook and Jackdaw were all seen as we headed back to Dundee. St Andrews was our final destination and it looked like we would win our race against the setting sun. A band of cloud above the western horizon put paid to that however though there was still a decent amount of light coming from breaks in the clouds to be able to see the large flock of birds out in the bay that we were going to have to look through for our final target for the day.
There were a few thousand sea-ducks on the reasonably calm water. Mostly Common Scoter but also numbers of Eider around too. Long Tailed Duck numbers were also rather good. A single Great Crested Grebe was found among the flock plus a smattering of Scaup and even a few Velvet Scoters plus at least 1 Red Breasted Merganser. There were also a few Fulmars on the water with the ducks and numerous Herring Gulls further inshore and on the rocks nearby. There was lots of activity with birds diving and resurfacing making it difficult to work through the long strung out flock on the water. Paul spent a good while scanning through the flock with the scope before I had a go. By now the light was dimming and our hope seemed to be heading the same way.
Paul had another attempt at scanning the flock looking for a rather obvious sign but to no avail. I had a final try but it was tough going and Paul was resigned to not getting the last bird. I said "10 seconds more", which I managed to string out to nearer 20. Just as I was also about to give up I caught a glimpse of some white in the scope. A quick double-check was rapidly followed by "got 1 - middle of the scope!" and I quickly moved to let Paul look. He got on the bird quickly and confirmed that the second one which had been reported was also alongside the first. A welcome pair of drake Surf Scoters. There was a bit of an influx of birds around the time that I found them from elsewhere in the bay and given our failure up to that point to find them, I suspect they had just landed. Very fortunate timing for us and a rather nice way to round off a good day out. With 4 out of 5 of the day's target birds successfully twitched plus bonus Waxwings we headed for home, Paul dropping me off in Guardbridge to catch the bus back to Dundee.
When I'd come up with the plan for the day I had thought we had a good chance of getting all of the birds with enough time but were unlikely to manage more than 3 given the limited amount of time available to spend on each bird. To manage 4 exceeded expectations and took Paul's year-list to 192 which is pretty decent given he'd been offshore half of the time and it had been a poor year both in Spring and Autumn for movements out in the North Sea (not that it had been a classic year onshore either). We managed a total of 67 species for the day (34 at Riverside Nature Park - in bold - and 53 outside the park - those seen in and outside the park in bold italics).
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| Snipe |
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| Redshank, Dunlin, Herring Gull, Black Tailed Godwit |
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| Robin |
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| Black Headed Gull, Spotted Redshank, Redshank |
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| Spotted Redshank |
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| Yellowhammer |
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| Bullfinch |
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| Grey Wagtail |
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| Rock Pipit |
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| Rock Pipit |
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| Black Redstart |
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| Black Redstart |
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| Buzzard |
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| Blue Tit & Goldfinch |
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| Siskin |
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| Goldfinch |
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| Sanderling |
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| Shorelark |
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| Shorelark |
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| Shorelark |
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| Shorelark |
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| Shorelark |
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| Great Crested Grebe |
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| Common Scoter, Eider, Long Tailed Duck, Herring Gull |
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| Common Scoter, Eider, Long Tailed Duck, Fulmar, Herring Gull |
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| Common Scoter & Velvet Scoter |
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| Common Scoter & Scaup |
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| Common Scoter & Scaup |
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| Common Scoter, Scaup & Fulmar |
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| Common Scoter, Velvet Scoter, Fulmar, Scaup |
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| Surf Scoter, Common Scoter, Long Tailed Duck |
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| Surf Scoter, Common Scoter & Long Tailed Duck |
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| Common Scoter, Long Tailed Duck, Surf Scoter |
Species seen - Black Redstart,
Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Black Tailed Godwit, Blue Tit,
Bullfinch, Buzzard,
Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit,
Common Gull, Common Scoter,
Cormorant, Curlew, Dunlin, Dunnock, Eider, Fulmar,
Goldeneye, Goldfinch, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Crested Grebe, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great Tit,
Greenfinch,
Grey Heron, Grey Wagtail,
Herring Gull, House Sparrow,
Jackdaw, Kestrel, Lesser Redpoll,
Linnet, Long Tailed Duck,
Magpie,
Mallard, Mistle Thrush,
Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Pink Footed Goose, Red Breasted Merganser,
Redshank, Redwing, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rock Pipit, Rook, Sanderling, Scaup, Shag, Shorelark,
Siskin, Skylark, Snipe, Song Thrush, Spotted Redshank, Starling, Stock Dove, Stonechat, Surf Scoter,
Teal, Treecreeper, Turnstone, Velvet Scoter, Waxwing,
Woodpigeon,
Yellowhammer.
Mammals seen - Grey Squirrel.
