As both Ian and myself were off work on Friday, Ian suggested a spot of seawatching in the hope of catching up with some of the species we've both missed out on this year so far - especially Shearwaters and Skuas. As always with seawatching you never know what you might see and there is always a chance of something really good, or something very rare. In Autumn, there is also the chance of seeing tired migrants arriving in off the sea. As long as the conditions aren't too uncomfortable, it is probably my favourite sort of birding, so I'm always up for a spot of sitting watching the sea, even out of season or on seemingly unpromising days. Ian arranged to pick me up at 0730 to head for the main site in Angus for seawatching - Fishtown of Usan between Lunan Bay and Montrose.
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Wheatear
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Woodpigeon, Robin, Carrion Crow and Magpie got the list for the day off to a quiet start as I headed round to meet Ian just before 0730. Feral Pigeon, House Sparrow, Blue Tit, Collared Dove and Starling soon joined them on the list though. As we drove out of the city, Black Headed Gull and Lesser Black Backed Gull were noted then Rooks and Jackdaws were seen in the fields by the road before a quick stop at Arbroath. It was a fairly typical spread of birds seen there although overall it was much quieter than on our previous visit. Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Herring Gull, Curlew, Cormorant, Meadow Pipit, Eider, Great Black Backed Gull, Mediterranean Gull (a single adult), Guillemot, Swallow and Goldfinch were all seen either on the shore or water or passing overhead.
We continued on northwards adding Linnets on a wire and Tree Sparrows on a hedge as we made our way to Usan. A Yellowhammer was seen as we wandered through the stubble and a Grey Wagtail passed overhead. We found a decent spot halfway down the steep banking and set up our scopes and started scanning. It wasn't as warm as forecast and I'd dressed for the forecast rather than the likelihood it would be inaccurate. However, once settled into seawatching, the temperature was largely forgotten. A flock of Teal passed by, and a small flock of Red Breasted Mergansers before the first of at least 53 Red Throated Divers sped past just out beyond the rocks. There were Gannets passing northwards mostly a bit further out. A handful of Sandwich Terns were noted, with a Fulmar doing a spot of shearing low over the waves momentarily giving us false hope.
A Common Gull flew by and a few Razorbills and Guillemots bobbed around offshore among the waves. Meadow Pipits were passing over sporadically, and a Grey Heron flew past slowly heading north. A small flock of Common Scoters flew south. The numbers of Red Throated Divers passing by rose even further with at least one bird seen every couple of minutes. Four waders which turned out to be Redshanks overflew directly above us, confusing us slightly at the time. A flock of Wigeon with 2
Shoveler (a year tick) headed south. Around 1000 I picked up two
Manx Shearwaters heading north and Ian managed to get onto the birds to give us both a welcome year-tick. A Peregrine was glimpsed just before it vanished out of sight round the bend in the coast. A Rock Pipit was seen nearby.
A distant dark bird was watched for a minute or two until it became apparent that it was a Skua, and
Arctic Skua, a third year-tick too. We kept hoping for a Sooty Shearwater but despite much scanning we failed to add to the Shearwater count. More Teal and Wigeon passed by as did Sandwich Terns, Kittiwakes, Gannets and a few auks. One or two Curlews and an Oystercatcher were seen in flight closer in. Ian found a Wheatear on the rocks below us, and soon discovered there were actually 2 of them. After 4 hours scanning out over the sea we called it a morning having seen at least 26 Teal, 11 Red Breasted Merganser, 53+ Red Throated Divers, 4+ Fulmar, 48+ Sandwich Tern, 16+ Common Scoter, 36 Wigeon, 2 Manx Shearwaters and an Arctic Skua. Not too bad, all told.
We headed for Rossie Spit via a quick stop at the visitor centre at Montrose Basin so I could buy copies of the Angus & Dundee Bird Reports for 2015/16 & 2017/18. We were hoping for Little Stint for us both and also Ruff and Curlew Sandpiper for Ian. Lots of scanning through the waders opposite added Black Tailed Godwit and Dunlin to the list plus Lapwings and a few Greenshanks. Ian found a few distant Little Egrets across the far side of the Basin and a small flock of Common Terns fished to the north of us. I found a few Ringed Plovers and when a Peregrine upset everything I was sure I spotted a Ruff in flight with a group of smaller birds. Checking the photos later at home, I discovered I was correct but in later photos there were actually 2. A Great White Egret was reported from the Wigeon Hide by Alex Shepherd but we were in the wrong place to be able to see it.
Also among the large number of waders roosting oppoiste were a number of Knot, a few Goosander and Grey Herons and around 10 Turnstones. A Red Admiral butterfly flitted past. Eventually after just short of 2 hours of effort I found a Curlew Sandpiper and got Ian onto the bird. Unfortunately we drew a blank on the Little Stints. A Greenfinch flew over before we headed round to the Lurgies for a very quick check there. We added Mallard, Mute Swan, Stock Dove, Pintail, 3 more Ruff, a Greylag Goose and a large flock of Canada Geese as well as a few more Greenshanks, Redshanks, Dunlin, Wigeon and a flock of Goldeneye. Ian found a Little Egret as we headed back to the car. Chaffinch were heard at the car park and Kestrel and Buzzard were both added between Montrose and Arbroath as we headed for home.
All in all, another good day out with plenty of decent birds among the 71 species noted. 3 of the species were year-ticks for me (in bold). There is still time to catch up with more of the seabirds I've yet to see this year - though it appears likely that Roseate and Black Tern have already dispersed for warmer climes. There should still be a chance of the other Skuas, though neither are particularly regular. It can be a bit of a balancing act between spending time seawatching and searching for fresh in migrants at the coast at this time of year, with the chance of missing out, or hitting the jackpot with either, or even both, but it is always worth a look, just in case.
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Mediterranean Gull & Black Headed Gull
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Black Headed Gull
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Guillemot
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Linnet
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Gannet
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Common Scoter
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Common Scoter
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Redshank
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Red Throated Diver
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Red Throated Diver
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Red Throated Diver
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Red Throated Diver
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Kittiwake
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Curlew
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Wigeon & Shoveler
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Sandwich Tern
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Common Scoter
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Red Throated Diver
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Wigeon
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Arctic Skua
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Wheatear
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Red Throated Diver
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Red Throated Diver
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Lapwing
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Dunlin & Ruff
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Turnstone, Redshank & Lapwing
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Grey Heron, Lapwing, Curlew, Dunlin, Greenshank, Goosander & Eider
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Ruff & Dunlin
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Peregrine
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Peregrine
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Black Tailed Godwit, Redshank & Dunlin
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Lapwing & Peregrine
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Dunlin & Grey Heron
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Swallow
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Herring Gull
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Dunlin, Redshank Knot & Black Tailed Godwit
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Redshank, Dunlin (& Oystercatcher)
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Common Tern
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Greenshank, Redshank & Turnstone
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Lapwing, Redshank, Knot & Dunlin
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Lapwing & Curlew Sandpiper
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Common Tern
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Common Tern
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Common Tern
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Herring Gull, Great Black Backed Gull, Common Gull, Black Headed Gull, Teal & Mallard
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Canada Goose, Black Headed Gull & Common Gull
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Black Headed Gull & Common Gull
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Common Gull
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Stock Dove
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Cormorant & Goldeneye (& Grey Heron)
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Greenshank, Herring Gull & Black Headed Gull
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Shoveler, Wigeon, Pintail & Herring Gull
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Mallard, Black Headed Gull & Little Egret
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Birds -
Arctic Skua, Black Headed Gull, Black Tailed Godwit, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Canada Goose, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Common Scoter, Common Tern, Cormorant, Curlew, Curlew Sandpiper, Dunlin, Eider, Fulmar, Gannet, Goldeneye, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Black Backed Gull, Greenfinch, Greenshank, Grey Heron, Grey Wagtail, Greylag Goose, Guillemot, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Kestrel, Kittiwake, Knot, Lapwing, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Linnet, Little Egret, Magpie, Mallard,
Manx Shearwater, Meadow Pipit, Mediterranean Gull, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Peregrine, Pied Wagtail, Pintail, Razorbill, Red Breasted Merganser, Redshank, Red Throated Diver, Ringed Plover, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rock Pipit, Rook, Ruff, Sandwich Tern,
Shoveler, Starling, Stock Dove, Swallow, Teal, Tree Sparrow, Turnstone, Wheatear, Wigeon, Woodpigeon, Yellowhammer.
Butterflies - Red Admiral.
