Roy had messaged me last week about having a trip through this way on Wednesday for a day out around Angus to try and get some early Spring migrants and a few other local specialities. One of these was the Spotted Redshank at Riverside Nature Park. The Little Gulls at Monikie and Puffins at Auchmithie were another couple. There was also a chance of adding Sand Martin, Chiffchaff (for me), Osprey and Marsh Harrier. Our original plan was for Roy to pick me up at 0915 before we headed to Riverside, however as it was a "low" high tide and Roy would be arriving over 2 hours after high tide I suggested I meet him at the park to save time, and hopefully increase the chances of him seeing the bird (slightly).
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| Red Kite |
I headed out at just after 0730 to catch a bus into town and then another out to the Nature Park. Feral Pigeon, Herring Gull, Woodpigeon, Robin and the local Long Tailed Tits were seen before the bus arrived. Carrion Crow and Blackbird were noted from the first bus and a Lesser Black Backed Gull was seen from the second. A singing Dunnock caught my attention when I got off the latter bus and a Song Thrush flew off as I headed down to the railway underpass. After crossing the road I heard a Chiffchaff calling from the trees by the railway line and contemplated going back for a proper look as it would be a year-tick. However, I was confident that we would likely encounter a few more elsewhere on our travels later in the day, so headed into the park instead.
A Magpie hopped around on the grass but flew up into a tree to join another one below the phone mast. A Blue Tit was in another tree nearby. An Oystercatcher flew out of the park and across the road. A Wren popped up to sing above a patch of Brambles and a Pied Wagtail scurried around on the grass. A Rabbit spotted me and disappeared into cover. A Starling flew over as I headed further into the park. A Great Tit showed near the slope up into the top half of the park and a Chaffinch pair were in the bushes near the Lochan. Unlike Saturday there was no wader roost but still a few Teal and Moorhens to be seen. A Skylark ascended into the air from the hill and a Reed Bunting sang from the top of the bushes a little further on.
As I continued on towards the bay, a male Kestrel flew over and hovered above the slope of the hill. A Linnet perched on a fence around halfway along the path to the hide. A Yellowhammer showed a bit more openly before I reached the hide. A few Black Headed Gulls were flying around and a few Shelduck could be seen on the water. There were a couple of flocks of roosting Redshanks by the burn but both groups flew out onto the mud which allowed me to find the hoped for Spotted Redshank among them. In addition there were 2 Dunlin and a few Black Tailed Godwits. The local Mute Swan pair were in the burn and a few Common Gulls landed by the water's edge. There were some sleeping Mallard by the burn and the Greylags were still around.
Unfortunately for Roy the Redshank roost dispersed bit by bit as the tide receded and the Spotted Redshank vanished while I searched in vain for a singing Chiffchaff in the trees behind the hide. Roy arrived slightly earlier than planned but later than required. We spent around 40 minutes searching through the flocks spread out across the bay but drew a blank on Roy's hoped for year-tick (again). A Great Spotted Woodpecker flew over towards Invergowrie. A Stock Dove pair flew by and some distant Cormorants were added to the list along with a small group of Curlew which arrived from the direction of the airport as we headed back to the car park to drive to our next stop at Monikie.
Rooks were the only addition en route there. I suggested checking the Denfind Pond from outside the park having seen Little Gulls there before with Jacqui. Within a few seconds we spotted a few, and soon picked out more among the Black Headed Gulls and Coots. In total there was a maximum of 9 at one point before they all dispersed to the Island Pond. A Little Grebe and a Long Tailed Tit were noted along with a few Tufted Ducks before we set off for our next planned stop at Auchmithie. We decided to detour to Carnoustie for a quick look for the Ring Necked Parakeet. This proved unsuccessful so we headed onwards to Auchmithie adding Jackdaw and Buzzard on the way.
We parked at the northern end of the village and looked over the wall and down onto the sea. Things were very quiet and a few Eiders were all we could see except some Herring Gulls and Fulmars flying around the cliffs. A few distant Kittiwakes were also seen before I found a couple of Razorbill on the water to the south and then a flock of at least 40 Guillemots flew out over the water from the cliffs in that area. Just as we were considering giving up I scanned again the area of water we had checked first and found a bird that looked good for
Puffin. Once I relocated it with the camera we had our confirmation, and our year-tick. We then found another 4, then another pair before we moved on.
House Sparrows were busy in the village as we passed through. Our next stop was to be Balgavies Loch where there was a slim chance the Ospreys would be back. I had seen a drake Shoveler there last week, a species Roy was hoping to add. A male Bullfinch was seen in the trees as we drove into the car park and a singing
Chiffchaff was music to my ears though the first bird I saw when looking for it was a Chaffinch female. A little further towards the hide and I managed a brief view of the bird before it flew off again. The hide was quite busy but we were able to squeeze in next to Alex Shepherd. A possible Scaup drake turned out to be a hybrid - though it appeared more Scaup x Tufted than the more usual Pochard x Tufted hybrids that are often seen in Angus.
A Great Spotted Woodpecker visited the feeders and we also noted Coal Tit. A Grey Heron flew over the Loch. We had a very brief view of a bird landing on the spit behind the feeders. In the split second sighting I had the impression of a wader's actions but there was no sign of any bird, even when a Moorhen wandered right over the area where the bird had landed. A few minutes after everyone else had left, a bird popped into the open near where the bird had landed earlier. This one was a wader - but a quite unexpected one given the nature of the terrain around the Loch - a Snipe. We had good views for a few minutes before we decided to continue on to Murton for a quick look there.
A trio of Roe Deer were in the bushes to the left of the car park hide and along with a Lapwing we added the Green Sandpiper to the list for the day before moving down to the next hide. A Siskin displayed over the tepee and a trio of Lesser Redpolls flew over. Wigeon were numerous and a couple of Pheasants were seen before we again headed back to the car to continue onto Loch of Kinnordy. The car park was almost full when we arrived and the Gullery Hide in particular was rather busy. A single Pink Footed Goose flew in with a small party of Greylags and there were some distant Whooper Swans across the Loch. A pair of Shoveler gave Roy another year-tick. The Marsh Harrier failed to show for us so we wandered along to check the other hides.
A male Bullfinch gave us good views as it tucked into catkins near the Swamp Hide. There was some action around the feeders but no sign of the Bramblings which have been seen here. There was no sign of any Tree Sparrows either. Another pair of Bullfinches were in the trees nearby. Before we decided to pack up and head homewards we had distant views of a Red Kite from the East Hide. This was our third of the species for the day as a pair had been seen earlier elsewhere and we had enjoyed good close views of 1 of the 2, with the other in the same area but slightly further away from where we stopped to watch the bird casually drifting along into the wind.
A pretty good day out with 70 species seen, including 2 year-ticks for me (in bold), and at least 5 or 6 for Roy. The species we missed out on were not ones we are unlikely to see as the weeks progress so we were not unduly worried with having failed to see them. Spring is only just beginning, after all.
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| Reed Bunting |
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| Kestrel |
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| Yellowhammer |
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| Dunnock |
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| Lesser Black Backed Gull & Black Headed Gull |
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| Common Gull, Redshank & Black Tailed Godwit |
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| Redshank & Spotted Redshank |
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| Dunlin |
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| Redshank, Spotted Redshank & Common Gull |
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| Redshank & Teal |
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| Little Gull |
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| Little Gull & Black Headed Gull |
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| Long Tailed Tit |
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| Little Gull |
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| Little Gull & Black Headed Gull |
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| Black Headed Gull & Little Gull |
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| Black Headed Gull & Little Gull |
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| Black Headed Gull & Little Gull |
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| Guillemot |
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| Shag |
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| Puffin |
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| Puffin |
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| Hybrid duck (Pochard x Tufted?) |
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| Snipe |
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| Snipe |
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| Shelduck |
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| Roe Deer |
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| Roe Deer |
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| Green Sandpiper & Lapwing |
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| Green Sandpiper |
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| Green Sandpiper |
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| Black Headed Gull & Common Gull |
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| Siskin |
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| Green Sandpiper |
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| Blue Tit |
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| Black Headed Gull & Pink Footed Goose |
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| Shoveler |
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| Greylag Goose |
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| Bullfinch |
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| Buzzard |
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| Teal & Carrion Crow |
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| Siskin |
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| Bullfinch |
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| Red Kite |
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| Herring Gull & Lesser Black Backed Gull (& Teal) |
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| Whooper Swan |
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| Red Kite |
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| Red Kite |
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| Red Kite |
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| Red Kite |
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| Red Kite |
Species seen -Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Black Tailed Godwit, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch,
Chiffchaff, Coal Tit, Common Gull, Coot, Cormorant, Dunlin, Dunnock, Eider, Fulmar, Goldeneye, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great Tit, Green Sandpiper, Grey Heron, Greylag Goose, Guillemot, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Kestrel, Kittiwake, Lapwing, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Lesser Redpoll, Linnet, Little Grebe, Little Gull, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Pink Footed Goose,
Puffin, Razorbill, Red Kite, Redshank, Reed Bunting, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rook, Shag, Shelduck, Shoveler, Siskin, Skylark, Snipe, Song Thrush, Spotted Redshank, Starling, Stock Dove, Teal, Tufted Duck, Whooper Swan, Wigeon, Woodpigeon, Wren, Yellowhammer.
Mammals seen - Rabbit, Roe Deer.
