The weather on Saturday wasn't suitable for heading out birding anywhere so I sat around doing not very much instead. With much improved weather on Sunday I decided I really should get out and about somewhere, though I really wasn't in the mood to do so, with distractions elsewhere preying on my mind somewhat. However, birding can be a good way to keep your mind occupied as the focus tends to be solely on the birds, so I chose to head out. With a few early migrants beginning to return for the breeding season I decided to maximise my chances of connecting with 2 or 3 of them by heading to Carnoustie for Sandwich Tern and then onto Barry Buddon for Chiffchaff and Wheatear. With a bit of luck I should manage to get all 3 species.
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| Kittiwake |
I headed out to catch the bus at around 1040. The sun was shining, the sky was blue and there was very little wind. It finally felt Spring-like. Birds however seemed to be in short supply, though this was probably down to the late start with much more activity usually to be seen with an earlier start. Feral Pigeons, Herring Gull, Carrion Crow, Woodpigeon and a couple of Goldfinches overflying were all I had to show by the time the bus arrived to take me to Carnoustie. I added a few more en route with Blue Tit, Blackbird, Starling and House Sparrow seen on the way to Broughty Ferry. Jackdaw, Buzzard, Curlew and Rook were seen before the bus reached Barry village where Collared Dove and the remnants of the winter Linnet flock were seen.
Arriving in Carnoustie I headed down towards the beach to see what I could see offshore and among the rocks. A few distant Eiders were all I could see offshore while on the rocks I managed to add a Cormorant and another Curlew. A Rock Pipit and a Pied Wagtail showed briefly on the sand while a Great Black Backed Gull glided over eastwards. With it being Easter Sunday the beach at Westhaven was busy with walkers so I decided not to try there for Wheatear. There was no sign of any Sandwich Terns either which was rather disappointing. I decided to walk along to Barry Buddon and out along the eastern edge in case there was any chance of the Terns being offshore.
The first Stonechat pair of the day were seen at the golf course near the burn mouth. A few minutes further on a Skylark lifted from the golf course rough and gave a short song flight. A Meadow Pipit was next onto the list. There was quite a large swell causing a lot of spray when the waves hit the rocks along the shore to prevent erosion. There was some evidence that the sheer power of the recent storms had moved some of these quite large rocks easily with one section in particular requiring some careful balancing atop the fallen rocks to get past them. There were some gulls moving along the coast. Kittiwakes, Common Gulls, Herring Gulls and a few Black Headed Gulls in particular.
I managed to spot a couple of distant Guillemots out on the water and also a small group of Common Scoters but there seemed to be no passage of seabirds further out. An area of the track was fenced off as it appears some munitions had overshot their mark and impacted near the previous path. It wasn't clear whether or not it was still possible to pass this area so I turned back. A singing Stonechat was seen on the way back and a few more gulls. A Dunlin was heard but not seen. Back near the golf course I headed west along the road into the main part of the range complex. A few Buzzards were seen but not too much else before I reached the first junction. Local birder Bob McCurley stopped his car to say he'd seen 2 Wheatears out near the lighthouse.
I decided to head back to search around the pools. The road to get there was tree-lined on both sides and a Little Grebe and a Coot were heard from a pool on the golf course but neither could be seen through the gaps in the vegetation from where I was. I found an area with plenty of activity going on. Blue Tit, Great Tit, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Bullfinch, Robin and my first
Chiffchaff of 2018, though it did play a spot of Hide-and-Seek with me before finally showing quite well. A Long Tailed Tit was added near the level crossing junction. I headed west along the main road into the camp.
I passed a small group of Linnets in the trees b a bend in the road and a Carrion Crow seemed rather upset by something I couldn't see, cawing loudly and repeatedly. There were a few Mallards on the Yeomanry Pond while the other ponds held a few Goldeneye and Tufted Ducks as well as a few more Mallards. A Grey Heron flew lazily past. A Mute Swan was seen in the vegetation beyond another small pond beyond the main pools. There were a lot of army cadets making a lot of noise and heading in my intended direction, so I detoured down a small track which proved to be full of birds.
The second Chiffchaff of the day flew ahead of me, while Goldfinch, Bullfinch, Chaffinch, Great Tit, Blue Tit and Long Tailed Tit all gave me decent views. In addition, I added Wren, Siskin and Greenfinch as well as a Goldcrest. With no sign of any reduction in the noise levels and activity of the army cadets I decided I might as well walk out to the lighthouse to at least attempt to see Wheatear. My legs were already beginning to feel heavy but nothing ventured, nothing gained, so off I went. There had been a few bouts of gunfire - despite the red flags not flying and my route out towards the lighthouse took me past the source. More cadets, obviously using blanks.
There was no sign of any Wheatears where Bob had seen his, with Meadow Pipits all I had to show for my walk. A Pied Wagtail was in the fenced-off area at the lighthouse but no Wheatears. I headed down to the shore. There were some distant gulls over the river to the east but nothing obvious on the water and what was left of the shore was covered with piles of washed-up detritus. I decided to walk along the dune edge for a few hundred metres to see if there were any roosting waders and to find a place to have a seat for a short while.
I spotted a small group of Grey Plover ahead of me and decided to not go any further so as not to spook the birds. Instead I sat down on the sand and scanned out over the water. A few distant Kittiwakes and a few passing Eider were all I was able to see. A Pied Wagtail and a Meadow Pipit picked around between me and the plovers. A bird flew past me as I was scanning out to sea but I assumed it was likely to just be another Meadow Pipit. However, as I was about to leave my resting spot I chanced to check the plovers again and found a rather nice male
Wheatear perched near them on a washed-up tree branch.
A Turnstone flew past me as I walked back along the dunes. A pair of scrambler type motor-bikes churned up the soft sand as they headed back up the dunes as I got closer to the small track down to the beach. This made the short climb up the sand harder than it should have been. By now it was around 1625 and I had a long walk back to catch a bus. Checking the travelineScotland app on my phone it appeared that it was going to be difficult to make it to the outskirts of Carnoustie for the 1700 time showing. The next bus after that wasn't for another hour and my heavy legs meant the prospect of hanging round for an hour, or finding somewhere I might see more birds for zero extra effort, didn't fill me with any added enthusiasm.
However, as I got closer to the level crossing entrance into the camp I checked to see if the bus was running late. A different part of the app showed a time of 1710 for the bus. I had roughly 20 minutes to get to the bus stop. It would be tight, but I reckoned it was do-able and hurried on as best as I could. A Great Spotted Woodpecker flew over as I reached the few houses across the railway line at 1700. Thankfully I made it to the Carnoustie bus stop with a few minutes to spare and caught the bus back to Dundee. An Oystercatcher was perched atop the church on Craigie Avenue. A Lesser Black Backed Gull was a final addition on Balmore Street as I headed for home after what turned out to be a 13.5 mile walk.
Although I hadn't had much enthusiasm for birding when headed out I still managed to see 49 species including 2 year-ticks (in bold) and the weather held and I even seemed to get a bit of possible suntan on my neck!
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| Great Black Backed Gull |
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| Stonechat |
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| Stonechat |
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| Common Gull |
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| Kittiwake |
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| Herring Gull |
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| Kittiwake |
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| Guillemot |
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| Common Gull |
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| Eider |
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| Common Scoter |
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| Black Headed Gull |
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Meadow Pipit
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| Common Gull |
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| Common Gull |
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| Common Gull |
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| Stonechat |
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| Herring Gull |
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| Buzzard |
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| Chiffchaff |
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| Chaffinch |
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| Chiffchaff |
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| Tufted Duck |
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| Goldeneye |
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| Chaffinch |
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| Bullfinch |
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| Meadow Pipit |
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| Meadow Pipit |
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| Meadow Pipit |
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| Wheatear & Grey Plover |
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| Meadow Pipit |
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| Meadow Pipit |
Species seen - Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch,
Chiffchaff, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Common Scoter, Cormorant, Curlew, Eider, Goldcrest, Goldeneye, Goldfinch, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Grey Plover, Guillemot, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Kittiwake, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Linnet, Long Tailed Tit, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rock Pipit, Rook, Siskin, Skylark, Starling, Stonechat, Tufted Duck, Turnstone,
Wheatear, Woodpigeon, Wren.
