The weather forecast for Wednesday was heavy rain coupled with strong winds and rather low temperatures. That made Paul and I's original plan to head for the Angus Glens a bit of a a non-starter. However, I noticed that Aberdeenshire was largely avoiding the worst of the rain so suggested a trip to the Ythan Estuary for the terns and maybe Elvis the King Eider. Loch of Strathbeg can turn up anything at this time of year so we would also pop in there. Paul agreed and we settled on a 0700 start.
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| Whimbrel |
I headed out into the rain a little early hoping that Paul would also be early as he normally is. There weren't too many birds seen on the walk to our rendezvous point. Starling, Herring Gull, Carrion Crow, Feral Pigeon and Blackbird were all seen, with Blue Tit and Goldfinch heard only. A Lesser Black Backed Gull landed nearby as I waited for Paul to arrive. We headed off at 0700 as intended though the weather meant we were unlikely to see too many birds on the road up to Aberdeenshire. Woodpigeon, Pheasant, Rook, Lapwing, Buzzard, Mute Swan, Magpie, Swallow, Skylark, Jackdaw, Black Headed Gull, House Sparrow and a Wheatear were seen, with most in the drier weather north of Stonehaven. In addition Roe Deer, Rabbit and a Brown Hare were also noted, though all in Angus.
Rather than head to the Ythan Estuary first as we had intended we decided to continue to Strathbeg as a shower of rain was about to hit the Ythan area. As the road we intended to take via Leys to Crimond was closed we ended up slightly further to the north and I suggested a visit to a site I hadn't been to before, at Cairnbulg. This did prove to be quite productive with a couple of Whimbrel, a few Sandwich Terns, Curlew, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Collared Dove, Meadow Pipit, Common Gull, Gannet, Shag, Cormorant, Linnet, Great Black Backed Gull, Sand Martin, Swallow, Skylark, Razorbill and Guillemot all added to the list during a relatively brief stop.
We headed next to Strathbeg where Goldfinch, Greenfinch and Tree Sparrow were seen at the feeders in the car park while
Common Terns - a year-tick for us both, called from overhead. With a class of young children in the visitor centre we headed to the Dunbar Hide to see what was there before the children reached there. This proved to be a good choice as 1 Spoonbill and a pair of Garganey were good birds to get. In addition, Grey Heron, Teal, Gadwall, Mallard, Shelduck, Shoveler, Sedge Warbler and a marauding Peregrine were all seen. An unexpected bonus bird was a lone
Swift, giving me a second year-tick before the children arrived at the hide We pointed out the Spoonbill and Garganey to the Ranger who was with the kids before we left and headed back to the visitor centre.
I had heard a Grasshopper Warbler reeling on the walk out to the Dunbar Hide but it was silent on the walk back and we didn't any waste time looking for it, as it had sounded relatively distant. A few Chaffinches flew past. Redshank, Tufted Duck and Moorhen were added from the visitor centre along with Wigeon. A Lesser Redpoll was on the bird table. A local birder told us there were still 14 Dotterel at Rattray Head and that the 'road' was still at least as bad as I remembered it from my one and only previous visit. We decided to try for them anyway and the road was still very bad.
Unfortunately there was no sign of the birds when we finally made it to the correct field where the birds had been earlier in the day (and again the day after!). We did find a few Pink Footed Geese plus Skylarks, Wheatear, Meadow Pipit, Carrion Crow, some distant gulls and I managed to see a decent candidate for Hooded Crow, though it could also have been a hybrid. Disappointed that there was no sign of the Dotterel we set off for the Ythan with a quick stop at Bullers of Buchan for Puffin planned en route. A field with a small flock of Stock Doves in gave us another tick for the day as we headed back to the main road again.
Bullers of Buchan was a 2 mninute visit but Kittiwake and Puffin were both seen without any real effort among the Guillemots and Razorbills. House Martin was spotted as we passed through Cruden Bay. As Paul was hoping to be home for around 1800 we chose not to stop at any of the upriver stretches of the Ythan but headed for the mouth and the area around the golf course instead. Eider, Dunlin, Ringed Plover,
Arctic Tern and
Little Tern were all added without too much trouble and there were plenty of Seals around (Grey and Common). There were also Black Headed Gulls, Oystercatchers, Red Breasted Mergansers, Common Terns and Sandwich Terns around. We packed up around 1515 or so to head back down the road and found the rain around the same area where we'd left it behind in the morning. No new species were seen on the way home and I arrived home at around 1700.
A decent enough day out with 4 year-ticks (in bold) for me among the 68 species seen. With a week off work and a decent weather forecast it should hopefully mean we can see the species we were hoping to in the Glens during our visit next week (all going to plan).
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| Meadow Pipit |
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| Whimbrel |
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| Shag & Herring Gull |
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| Guillemot & Razorbill |
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| Whimbrel |
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| Sandwich Tern |
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| Whimbrel |
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| Whimbrel |
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| Skylark |
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| Common Tern |
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| Common Tern |
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| Spoonbill & Grey Heron |
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| Mute Swan, Teal & Garganey |
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| Garganey |
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| Common Tern |
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| Grey Heron & Spoonbill |
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| Garganey |
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| Garganey |
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| Spoonbill |
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| Common Tern |
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| Gadwall & Garganey |
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| Grey Heron, Teal & Shoveler |
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| Spoonbill & Mute Swan |
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| Swift |
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| Lesser Redpoll |
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| Razorbill, Guillemot & Puffin |
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| Dunlin |
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| Arctic Tern & Sandwich Tern |
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| Arctic Tern & Sandwich Tern |
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| Little Tern |
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| Little Tern & Arctic Tern |
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| Arctic Tern, Sandwich Tern & Little Tern |
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| Arctic Tern & Sandwich Tern |
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| Little Tern |
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| Arctic Tern & Little Tern |
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| Sandwich Tern |
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| Dunlin, Ringed Plover, Black Headed Gull, Eider & Arctic Tern |
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| Shelduck |
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| Arctic Tern |
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| Red Breasted Merganser & Black Headed Gull |
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| Black Headed Gull & Arctic Tern |
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| Arctic Tern & Little Tern |
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| Eider, Arctic Tern & Black Headed Gull |
Species seen -
Arctic Tern, Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Collared Dove, Common Gull,
Common Tern, Cormorant, Curlew, Eider, Gadwall, Gannet, Garganey, Goldfinch, Great Black Backed Gull, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Guillemot, Herring Gull, Hooded Crow, House Martin, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Kittiwake, Lapwing, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Lesser Redpoll, Linnet,
Little Tern, Magpie, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Peregrine, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Pink Footed Goose, Puffin, Razorbill, Red Breasted Merganser, Redshank, Ringed Plover, Feral Pigeon, Rook, Sand Martin, Sandwich Tern, Sedge Warbler, Shag, Shelduck, Shoveler, Skylark, Spoonbill, Starling, Stock Dove, Swallow,
Swift, Teal, Tree Sparrow, Tufted Duck, Wheatear, Whimbrel, Whitethroat, Wigeon, Woodpigeon.
Mammals seen - Brown Hare, Common Seal, Grey Seal, Rabbit, Roe Deer.
