Having failed to catch up with the St Abb's Hoopoe on Sunday, it having apparently relocated closer to (my) home at St Cyrus there was only one place on the agenda for Monday's day out. My reasoning for taking a week off work in mid-May is to try and add as many Spring migrants as possible to my year-list, and just generally see as many birds as possible. Getting out birding on all 9 days off work was the plan though I usually need the weather to co-operate, and not to get too worn out, for it to happen. I decided my best bet would be an early start. I would catch the 0705 bus to St Cyrus getting to the village around 0820. It would then require a walk down the cliffs then along to the visitor centre area where the bird had apparently been lingering. My suspicion was that with clear skies overnight the bird would likely move on again.
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| Common Scoter |
I headed out to walk to the bus station around 0645. Woodpigeon, Starling, Herring Gull, Jackdaw, Feral Pigeon, Carrion Crow, Goldfinch and Blue Tit were seen on the way. From the bus to St Cyrus, I was able to add Oystercatcher, Pheasant and Blackbird before reaching Arbroath. Swift, House Sparrow, Swallow, House Martin, Rook, Common Tern and Buzzard were noted between Arbroath and St Cyrus village. The walk to the cliff top added a singing Song Thrush. The path down the cliff face gave me views of Yellowhammer, Whitethroat and Willow Warbler. Offshore were a number of Red Throated Divers while a few Oystercatchers and Common Gulls were along the water's edge.
I wandered off in the direction of the visitor centre. White Wagtail, Reed Bunting and a colony of Shelduck stood around outside their former Rabbit warren nest site were seen. Fulmar and Raven including 2 youngsters were spotted up on the cliffs. A Skylark ascended skywards singing loudly. Sedge Warbler and Wren were noted before I finally reached the visitor centre. With no other birders around I had to guess where the bird had been seen, though I checked all the fields I could see anyway. Red Legged Partridges flew off and a Dunnock sang briefly but there was no sign of any Hoopoe.
I spotted a lady taking water to the nearby horses and spoke to her about the Hoopoe. She was able to tell me which field it had been spending most of its time in. As this was the field the path to the hide at the mouth of the estuary went through I decided I might as well pay the hide a visit, having never done so before. A Wheatear with a caterpillar in its beak eyed me warily having flown a short distance from a likely nest hole. Meadow Pipit was seen on the short walk along with a few more Skylarks, but no Hoopoe. Black Headed Gull and Mute Swan were noted to the right of the hide and a Grey Heron flew over.
The hide was empty apart from a rather large spider standing on a clipboard next to where I sat down. Scanning out across the river mouth added a number of species - Teal, Eider, Great Black Backed Gull, Herring Gull, Wigeon, Greylag Goose, Little Egret, Goosander and Red Breasted Merganser. Common Terns flew past and from a side window I was able to see a small flock of waders on a small sand bank with some Sandwich Terns. The waders were Dunlin and Sanderling. I was joined briefly by Ron Mitchell and (I think) Richard Blackburn and his wife, whose name I've forgotten.
After they'd left again I spotted 5 birds flying up the coast and took some photos as they appeared to be geese. They were, and surprisingly they were 3 Barnacle Geese and 2 Pink Footed Geese. Another surprise was a pair of Shoveler in the mouth of the river. Mallard was added before I wandered back towards the visitor centre. Green Veined White and Peacock butterflies were seen. The promised sunshine was struggling to break through the thin layer of cloud and it didn't seem warm enough to tempt any Lizards out to sunbathe. I had a wander back along the tracks in the reserve anyway to see what I could find.
Chaffinch and Long Tailed Tit were spotted close to the visitor centre, the former collecting nest material by the roadside. I noticed a small group of Striped Millipedes on the sandy paths. Small Copper and Small White butterflies were added. Great Tit and a Stonechat were added to the list just before noon. As I was close to the path up to the village and had around 20 minutes before the bus south was due I decided to head elsewhere for the rest of the day as my hoped for targets were nowhere to be seen. I hurried as best I could up the path and through the village to the bus stop. Thankfully I made it in plenty of time. On the bus I debated where to go - Arbroath to Carnoustie, or maybe Ferryden, or maybe Montrose Basin. As the bus neared Ferryden I decided to try Scurdie Ness for some seawatching, though I wasn't expecting much.
I wandered under the bridge to check the Basin first. Curlew, Grey Heron, Sand Martin and distant Goldeneye as well as a few Common Seal were noted before I crossed into Ferryden for the walk out to the lighthouse. A Rabbit was eating the grass behind the fence at the harbour sheds. A Collared Dove landed in a tree as I passed. Once I reached the track out to the lighthouse at the end of the village I spotted 3 ducks ahead down by the water's edge. Unexpectedly they were Tufted Ducks - 2 drakes and a duck. Scanning across the river I could see a handful of Common Terns and a pair of Whimbrel on the sand. A Pied Wagtail flitted along the path ahead of me.
A little further on I spotted a fin breaking the surface out in the bay and so did some of the local gulls. Bottlenose Dolphins, my first this year. For the best part of the next 2 hours I watched and photographed at least 3 adults and 2 younger Dolphins as they hunted near the river mouth, sometimes coming in really close to where I sat out on the rocks. I pointed them out to a few walkers who were delighted to see them, and 1 man even asked if I would send him a photo of them so he could frame it. I said I would (and have).
A ship heading out to sea seemed to disturb the Dolphins and they disappeared. I headed round to finally do the seawatching I'd intended doing. However, I spotted the Whimbrels I'd seen earlier which had flown over while I watched the Dolphins. Unfortunately they spotted me and flew off again. Razorbill and Guillemots passed by in a few small groups and a single Turnstone was seen in flight. A few Kittiwakes were seen slightly further out. There were lots of Eider offshore and as I scanned through them I noticed 2 Common Scoters just off the rocks, much closer than I've seen the species before. I found a route out across the rocks which the birds couldn't see me approaching along. Thankfully this strategy worked and I managed some rather good photos before heading back in across the rocks.
As I did so I spotted a nervous Ringed Plover and skirted round in case it had a nest nearby. When I sat down in my usual seawatching spot the Ringed Plover still seemed unsettled so I moved to nearer the lighthouse. A Rock Pipit was next to appear agitated so I decided that seawatching wasn't happening and headed back towards Ferryden and the bus stop beyond. A Small Tortoiseshell butterfly and a pair of Linnets were the only additions as I hurried back to catch the next bus home.
Although I didn't see the Hoopoe (for the second day in a row) or even the Lizards I was hoping to see the day ended up being very productive with my best Common Scoter photos as well as my best Dolphin photos from land. I also managed to see 73 species of bird, 5 of butterfly and 3 of mammals.
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| Yellowhammer |
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| Whitethroat |
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| Red Throated Diver |
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| Buzzard |
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| Raven & Carrion Crow |
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| Shelduck |
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| Shelduck |
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| Reed Bunting |
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| Striped Millipede |
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| White Wagtail |
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| Dunnock |
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| Wheatear |
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| Grey Heron |
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| Black Headed Gull, Herring Gull, Great Black Backed Gull, Eider, Mallard & Wigeon |
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| Goosander, Red Breasted Merganser & Shelduck |
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| Barnacle Goose & Pink Footed Goose |
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| Skylark |
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| Dunlin & Sanderling |
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| Red Breasted Merganser |
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| Teal |
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| Peacock |
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| Chaffinch |
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| Chaffinch |
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| Small Copper |
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| Raven |
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| Green Veined White |
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| Willow Warbler |
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| Song Thrush |
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| Raven |
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| Raven |
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| Raven |
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| Whitethroat |
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| Tufted Duck |
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| Linnet |
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| Linnet |
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| Whimbrel |
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| Bottlenose Dolphin |
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| Bottlenose Dolphin |
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| Cormorant |
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| Bottlenose Dolphin |
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| Common Tern |
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| Common Tern |
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| Bottlenose Dolphin |
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| Bottlenose Dolphin |
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| Whimbrel |
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| Whimbrel |
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| Bottlenose Dolphin |
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| Bottlenose Dolphin |
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| Common Tern |
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| Common Tern |
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| Common Tern |
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| Common Tern |
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| Eider |
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| Common Tern |
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| Rock Pipit |
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| Whimbrel |
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| Whimbrel |
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| Guillemot & Razorbill |
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| Common Scoter |
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| Common Scoter |
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| Common Scoter |
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| Ringed Plover |
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| Ringed Plover |
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| Red Throated Diver |
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| Common Tern |
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| Sand Martin |
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| Sandwich Tern |
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| Rock Pipit |
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| Rock Pipit |
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| Rock Pipit |
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| Rock Pipit |
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| Small Tortoiseshell |
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| Eider |
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| Linnet |
Species seen - Barnacle Goose, Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Common Scoter, Common Tern, Cormorant, Dunlin, Dunnock, Eider, Fulmar, Goldeneye, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Tit, Grey Heron, Greylag Goose, Guillemot, Herring Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Kittiwake, Linnet, Little Egret, Long Tailed Tit, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail (& White Wagtail), Pink Footed Goose, Raven, Razorbill, Red Breasted Merganser, Red Legged Partridge, Red Throated Diver, Reed Bunting, Ringed Plover, Feral Pigeon, Rock Pipit, Rook, Sand Martin, Sanderling, Sandwich Tern, Sedge Warbler, Shelduck, Shoveler, Skylark, Song Thrush, Starling, Stonechat, Swallow, Swift, Teal, Tufted Duck, Turnstone, Wheatear, Whimbrel, Whitethroat, Wigeon, Willow Warbler, Woodpigeon, Wren, Yellowhammer.
Butterflies seen - Green Veined White, Peacock, Small Copper, Small Tortoiseshell, Small White.
Mammals seen - Bottlenose Dolphin, Common Seal, Rabbit.
Also - Striped Millipede.
