Having yet to properly spend any time looking for the Black Scoter which is reportedly still around at Lunan Bay, I decided that I should put in some effort on Friday, as I had the day off and wanted to get out birding somewhere. There wasn't much else around of much interest, and the weather wasn't quite as bad as it could have been, so I decided to catch the 0815 bus to Inverkeillor and walk out to Lunan Bay, spend as much or as little, time as required to catch up with the rare Scoter and then wander to Boddin Point for a spot of seawatching before heading to Montrose for a quick scan over the Basin, or a visit to the visitor centre.
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| Dipper |
A Sparrowhawk perched in a garden and a Grey Heron flying past B&Q in Arbroath were the high points of the bus journey. A Kestrel, a covey of 10 Grey Partridges and a flock of (mostly) Linnets were seen on the wander out to the bay. I was going to head straight for the viewing platform but decided to check the south side of the bay first. I discovered there were 2 large-ish groups of Scoters visible and I then spent a lot of time scanning through these from various points along the dunes. There were a number of Long Tailed Ducks and Red Throated Divers amongst the Scoters as well as a few Shags and Eiders. A group of 5 young Velvet Scoters joined one the flocks briefly and I found my first
Razorbill of the year, eventually finding a small group of 3.
Around lunchtime I decided to head round to the viewing platform to scan from there. There was another decent sized flock of Common Scoters offshore and I did glimpse a few contenders for the Black Scoter but none which appeared to be completely convincing. I was joined by Alex Shepherd but neither of us managed to find the bird we were looking for. We gave up around 1500 and Alex offered me a lift back to Arbroath, which I very gratefully accepted (thanks again, Alex). A quick check at the harbour area in Arbroath found a singing Dipper near the mouth of the burn but a walk along to the cinema area added little of interest but a single Purple Sandpiper. A slightly underwhelming day's birding with only 44 species seen (including a year-tick - in bold) but relatively enjoyable nonetheless. As I only had my Nikon P900 with me I didn't take too many photos as most birds were rather distant.
Species seen - Dundee to Inverkeillor - Herring Gull, Blue Tit, Feral Pigeon, Woodpigeon, Carrion Crow, Oystercatcher, Black Headed Gull, Sparrowhawk, Grey Heron, Jackdaw.
Inverkeillor to Lunan Bay - Starling, Blackbird, Kestrel, Grey Partridge, Linnet, House Sparrow, Chaffinch, Yellowhammer, Curlew.
Lunan Bay - Fulmar, Common Gull, Great Black Backed Gull, Sanderling, Shag, Long Tailed Duck, Cormorant, Red Breasted Merganser, Common Scoter, Red Throated Diver, Eider, Razorbill, Velvet Scoter, Song Thrush, Pheasant, Reed Bunting, Moorhen.
Inverkeillor to/and Arbroath - Dipper, Turnstone, Redshank, Pied Wagtail, Purple Sandpiper.
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| Linnet |
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| Linnet & Goldfinch |
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| Common Scoter |
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| Common Scoter |
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| Common Scoter |
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| Long Tailed Duck |
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| Long Tailed Duck |
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| Grey Heron |
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| Common Scoter |
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| Redshank |
Species seen - Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Common Scoter, Cormorant, Curlew, Dipper, Eider, Fulmar, Goldfinch, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Tit, Grey Heron, Grey Partridge, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Kestrel, Linnet, Long Tailed Duck, Moorhen, Oystercatcher, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Purple Sandpiper,
Razorbill, Red Breasted Merganser, Redshank, Red Throated Diver, Reed Bunting, Feral Pigeon, Sanderling, Shag, Song Thrush, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Turnstone, Velvet Scoter, Woodpigeon, Yellowhammer.
