The weather forecast wasn't looking too promising on Friday so I chose to head for the part of the Angus coast that seemed to offer the best chance of decent birds and decent weather. I headed out at just before 0955 to catch a bus to Arbroath. I started at Elliot where I found 100s of birds out over the sea. Unfortunately I didn't see any Skuas here but I wandered along to Arbroath harbour stopping on the way to scan through a large gull flock on the water off the pizza restaurant/playpark area where I managed to find 4 Mediterranean Gulls. The terns by the harbour were very flighty as they roosted on the rock armour in front of the camper vans. I did manage to find a Roseate Tern adult among them. The rain started to blow through before I was joined by Stuart Green. We headed along to the cliffs where we managed to add some Arctic Skuas (& possibly Pomarine too) and more Mediterranean Gulls to the list. A stop at Easthaven added an unexpected, though relatively distant, Black Tern. A quick check for the Panbride Yellow Browed Warbler drew a blank, most likely because of the rain. I headed for the bus around 1750 rather wet but having had a rather good day's birding.
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| Common Tern |
Walk to bus station - Feral Pigeon, Herring Gull, Woodpigeon, Starling, Magpie, Grey Wagtail, House Sparrow.
Bus to Elliot - Carrion Crow, Common Gull, Oystercatcher, Rook, Buzzard.
Elliot - Pied Wagtail, Dunlin, Ringed Plover, Sandwich Tern, Black Headed Gull, Meadow Pipit, Swallow, Cormorant, Knot, Great Black Backed Gull, Goldfinch, Linnet, Reed Bunting, Turnstone, Eider, Gannet, Little Gull, Skylark, Mallard, Kittiwake, Common Tern.
Walk to Arbroath harbour - Guillemot, Barnacle Goose, Mediterranean Gull, Sparrowhawk, Redshank, Wheatear.
Arbroath Harbour - Roseate Tern, Rock Pipit, Arctic Tern, Arctic Skua, (possible Pomarine Skua), Grey Heron, Jackdaw, Razorbill, Curlew, Purple Sandpiper.
Arbroath Victoria Park - Lesser Black Backed Gull.
Easthaven - Bar Tailed Godwit, Black Tern.
Dundee - Blackbird, Blue Tit.
Confirmation/comments on any of the Skua photos below welcome.
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| Meadow Pipit |
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| Knot |
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| Dunlin & Ringed Plover |
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| Reed Bunting |
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| Ringed Plover |
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| Ringed Plover & Dunlin |
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| Dunlin |
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| Little Gull & Kittiwake |
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| Herring Gull |
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| Goldfinch |
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| Guillemot |
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| Rock Pipit |
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| Starling |
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| Guillemot |
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| Meadow Pipit |
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| Mallard |
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| Barnacle Goose |
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| Mediterranean Gull & Black Headed Gull |
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| Kittiwake, Herring Gull, Black Headed Gull & Mediterranean Gull |
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| Black Headed Gull, Herring Gull, Kittiwake & Mediterranean Gull |
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| Knot |
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| Mediterranean Gull & Black Headed Gull |
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| Mediterranean Gull |
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| Turnstone |
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| Turnstone |
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| Turnstone |
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| Sparrowhawk |
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| Carrion Crow |
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| Turnstone |
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| Wheatear |
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| Grey Heron & Black Headed Gull |
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| Goldfinch |
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| Redshank |
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| Jackdaw |
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| Common Tern |
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| Arctic Tern |
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| Common Tern |
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| Arctic Tern |
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| Common Tern |
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| Common Tern |
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| Common Tern |
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| Arctic Tern |
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| Common Gull |
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| Common Tern |
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| Grey Heron |
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| Common Tern |
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| Arctic Tern |
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| Common Tern & Roseate Tern |
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| Cormorant |
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| Common Tern |
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| Common Tern |
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| Common Tern |
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| Cormorant |
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| Common Tern |
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| Herring Gull |
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| Common Tern |
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| Arctic Tern |
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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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| Rock Pipit |
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| Arctic Skua (?) |
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| Arctic Skua (?) |
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| Pomarine Skua (?) |
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| Pomarine Skua (?) |
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| Mediterranean Gull |
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| Arctic Skua (?) |
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| Arctic Skua (?) |
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| Arctic Skua (?) |
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| Arctic Skua (?) |
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| Pomarine Skua (?) |
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| Pomarine Skua (?) |
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| Pomarine Skua (?) |
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| Pomarine Skua (?) |
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| Pomarine Skua (?) |
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| Pomarine Skua (?) |
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| Pomarine Skua (?) |
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| Arctic Skua (?) |
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| Little Gull & Arctic Tern |
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| Common Tern, Arctic Skua (?), Black Headed Gull, Herring Gull |
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| Common Tern & Arctic Skua (?) |
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| Arctic Skua (?) |
53 Species seen - Arctic Skua, Arctic Tern, Barnacle Goose, Bar Tailed Godwit, Black Tern, Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Common Gull, Common Tern, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunlin, Eider, Gannet, Goldfinch, Great Black Backed Gull, Grey Heron, Grey Wagtail, Guillemot, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Kittiwake, Knot, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Linnet, Little Gull, Magpie, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Mediterranean Gull, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Purple Sandpiper, Razorbill, Redshank, Reed Bunting, Ringed Plover, Feral Pigeon, Rock Pipit, Rook, Roseate Tern, Sandwich Tern, Skylark, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Swallow, Turnstone, Wheatear, Woodpigeon.
*also Possible Pomarine Skua.
