When I went to bed on Friday night I chose not to set my alarm and I didn't have any plan for where to go birding when I got out of bed on Saturday morning either. I still ended up waking around 0615 and getting out of bed. A check of potential buses to get me to places where the birding might be favourable resulted in a decision to catch the bus to Carnoustie for the tide coming in then walking along to Craigmill Burn mouth, and then once the tide had receded enough I would cross the burn and continue along the beach to Easthaven, then from there continue out to Arbroath. My main target species was Little Stint which I hoped to find among the Dunlin and/or Sanderling on the sandier stretches of beach. I didn't rate my chances very high and with a bit of a throat infection I wasn't even sure I'd get very far along the route.
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| Ruff |
I headed out just after 0745 to walk to Arbroath Road to catch the 73 to Carnoustie. Herring Gull, Woodpigeon, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Blackbird, Starling and Feral Pigeon started off the list for the day. Movement of branches in a tree at the start of Strathern Road got me decent views of a Grey Squirrel as it moved through the trees by the bus stop. Carrion Crow, Swallow, House Sparrow, Black Headed Gull, Jackdaw, Magpie, Rook, Collared Dove and House Martin were added from my seat upstairs on the bus. I headed for the waterfront by the Leisure Centre at Carnoustie.
Lots of Swallows were passing through along with some Meadow Pipits. There were small numbers of Sand Martin and House Martin too. Scanning offshore I quickly added Sandwich Tern, Eider, Gannet, Cormorant and a pair of Razorbill on the water beside a Kittiwake.A couple of Pied Wagtails were on the beach. A few Blue Tits flitted through the trees by the road as I set off eastwards. Out on the rocks I was able to add Redshank, Mallard, Common Gull, Common Tern, Arctic Tern, Great Black Backed Gull, Curlew, Turnstone, Grey Heron, and a lone Canada Goose. Heading round on the beach to Westhaven I added my first Wheatear of the day and a Large White butterfly.
Stuart Green was on the beach scoping out over the sea. Stuart picked out a distant Arctic Skua which I managed to see and some Manx Sheatwaters that I didn't. The Bottlenose Dolphins appeared as we watched the skua chasing a tern. Stuart directed me onto the Roseate Terns out on the rocks and a small flock of Dunlin were seen by the water a little to the east. Stuart had to leave and I continued my walk along the beach. More Wheatear and Pied Wagtails were seen on the sand and a small flock of Goldfinches were in among the seed heads along the field edge. A single Black Tailed Godwit was found sleeping alongside some Curlew. Nearer to the burn mouth I added Ringed Plover and Bar Tailed Godwit.
I was joined by another birder and we chatted about what was around. A strange call from above diverted us from our chat and I picked out a Peregrine going over towards the trees to the north. A minute or so later a Sparrowhawk appeared and headed off to the northwest. There were a few Wigeon among the gulls, waders and terns at the burn mouth but nothing out of the ordinary. Goosander was added along with a single Shelduck. A small flock of Lapwing took to the air from out among the rocks a little further on. More Wheatear, Pied Wagtails and Meadow Pipits were seen. A couple of Rabbits disappeared into their burrows along the dune edges as they saw me approaching. A Fulmar glided by and a Red Admiral butterfly flew past me from the direction of the sea.
A skein of 26 Pink Footed Geese passed over eastwards towards Easthaven. I spent some time on the beach at Easthaven photographing the small flock of Dunlin, Ringed Plover and 3 Bar Tailed Godwits though from a distance so as not to disturb them. A Wheatear which appeared to have a white supercilium in front of the eye turned out to just have a very faint trace of buff rendering it "not rare". A much larger skein of Pink Footed Geese passed over heading towards Dundee. I continued on along the beach for a while before cutting up onto the cycle path. A Painted Lady butterfly was added before I found a single Ruff feeding around the small pool on the opposite side of the railway line. A steam train passed by, though my 200-500 lens wasn't ideal for getting photos, though I did get a few anyway.
The next stretch of path along by the water treatment path added a few more species of butterfly - Green Veined White, Small Tortoiseshell and Peacock as well as a Common Darter dragonfly which was almost stood on by 2 impatient walkers who saw me photographing something on the path but continued on anyway - before noticing the dragonfly that was now in flight. A Yellowhammer was on the fence across the field before flying past and I had a brief glimpse of what could have been a Yellow Wagtail which dropped into the vegetation in the field but didn't reappear while I watched. One that got away.
By now, my legs were getting rather heavy and my enthusiasm was starting to wane. I added the expected Sanderling on the walk along the beach at Elliot. A few Silver Y moths were seen along the top of the rock armour. At the burn mouth I managed to add a couple of Guillemots to the list and a juvenile Little Gull dropped in before the whole lot was disturbed a walker who cut right across the end of the beach and burn sending all the gulls, terns and waders off in various directions. A Reed Bunting was seen by the path just in from the beach. I decided not to continue on to Arbroath, but rather to head for home. While waiting at the bus stop the first Buzzard of the day drifted over behind the houses opposite.
Despite the way I was feeling, it wasn't the worst way to spend the day though it was quite tiring despite taking my time. I managed a total of 61 species of bird, 6 of butterfly, 1 of moth, 1 of dragonfly and 3 of mammals. Although decent photo opportunities were limited I still ended up taking way too many photos again.
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| Razorbill & Kittiwake |
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| Carrion Crow |
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| Pied Wagtail |
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| Herring Gull, Common Tern, Sandwich Tern & Oystercatcher |
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| Kittiwake |
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| Canada Goose |
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| Wheatear |
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| Large White |
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| Bottlenose Dolphin & Gannet |
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| Arctic Skua & tern sp. |
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| Wheatear |
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| Wheatear |
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| Wheatear |
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| Dunlin |
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| Dunlin |
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| Dunlin |
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| Wheatear |
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| Wheatear |
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| Wheatear |
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| Wheatear |
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| Linnet |
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| Wheatear |
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| Bar Tailed Godwit |
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| Peregrine |
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| Peregrine |
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| Sparrowhawk |
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| Sparrowhawk |
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| Pied Wagtail |
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| Lapwing |
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| Curlew |
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| Wheatear |
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| Grey Heron |
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| Dunlin & Ringed Plover |
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| Pink Footed Goose |
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| Bar Tailed Godwit |
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| Ringed Plover |
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| Dunlin |
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| Dunlin, Ringed Plover & Bar Tailed Godwit |
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| Ringed Plover |
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| Wheatear |
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| Wheatear |
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| Wheatear |
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| Wheatear |
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| Wheatear |
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| Pink Footed Goose |
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| Pied Wagtail |
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| Wheatear |
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| Wheatear |
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| Starling |
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| Starling |
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| Starling |
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| Ruff |
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| Ruff |
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| Ruff |
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| Ruff |
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| Ruff |
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| Ruff |
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| Ruff |
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| Ruff |
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| Ruff |
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| Green Veined White |
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| Green Veined White |
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| Small Tortoiseshell |
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| Peacock |
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| Painted Lady |
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| Painted Lady |
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| Common Darter |
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| Chaffinch |
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| Rook |
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| Goldfinch |
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| Yellowhammer |
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| Sanderling |
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| Sanderling |
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| Common Tern & Kittiwake |
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| Guillemot |
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| Little Gull |
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| Reed Bunting |
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| Peacock |
Species seen - Arctic Skua, Arctic Tern, Bar Tailed Godwit, Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Black Tailed Godwit, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Canada Goose, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Common Tern, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunlin, Eider, Fulmar, Gannet, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Black Headed Gull, Grey Heron, Guillemot, Herring Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Kittiwake, Lapwing, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Linnet, Little Gull, Magpie, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Oystercatcher, Peregrine, Pied Wagtail, Pink Footed Goose, Razorbill, Redshank, Reed Bunting, Ringed Plover, Feral Pigeon, Rook, Roseate Tern, Ruff, Sand Martin, Sanderling, Sandwich Tern, Shelduck, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Swallow, Turnstone, Wheatear, Wigeon, Woodpigeon, Yellowhammer.
Butterflies seen - Green Veined White, Large White, Painted Lady, Peacock, Red Admiral, Small Tortoiseshell.
Dragonfly seen - Common Darter.
Mammals seen - Bottlenose Dolphin, Grey Squirrel, Rabbit.
Moths seen - Silver Y.
