It seems like ages since I was last out birding with Susan Falconer - possibly a trip around Angus with her and Matt Jackson way back in the mists of the pre-Covid era, so when the opportunity arose for a spot of birding together I immediately agreed. We settled on Thursday for our trip out but circumstances meant that it would be a relatively short birding 'day'. Both time and tides were against us, to some degree limiting what we could expect to see, but we settled on trying to see some waders along the coast. Susan arranged to pick me up at 1000.
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White Wagtail
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I headed out at around 0945 weighed down with camera gear and scope plus tripod. Feral Pigeon, Starling, Carrion Crow, House Sparrow, Magpie, Robin, Blue Tit, Great Tit and Herring Gull were seen or heard on the 10 minute walk to our arranged pick-up spot. I had considered suggesting stopping off at Balmossie and Monifieth but decided we might have a more productive use of our time by heading for the Craigmill Burn outflow between Westhaven and Easthaven. Susan agreed so off we went. Jackdaw, Woodpigeon, Rook and Buzzard were spotted from the car as we headed east. We missed the correct turn off the dual carriageway so instead of Westhaven we decided to start at Easthaven and walk along the beach westwards to the burn mouth.
A Swallow zipped over as we got out of the car. The sound of Pink Footed Geese could be heard and the first of many skeins was seen almost overhead. This particular skein also contained at least 3 Barnacle Geese which were a nice bonus. Down on the beach we added Dunlin, Bar Tailed Godwit, Oystercatcher andd Curlew. Further out were Cormorant and Grey Heron on the rocks. A few Meadow Pipits passed overhead and we watched a flock of small birds drop down from mjuch higher. Photos showed them to be Tree Sparrows - another nice surprise. There were a number of Pied Wagtails foraging among the seaweed ahead of us. A Linnet flew over us. There were a few Sandwich Terns fishing in the bay.
There was an almost constant movement of birds - Wagtails and Pipits moved ahead of us along the beach and overhead, along with Swallows and House Martins zipping along at various heights while high above were skeins of arriving Pink Footed Geese. Considering the winds were quite strong westerlies this amount of visible migration was totally unexpected. In addition, there were a number of Wheatear also down on the beach and among the Pied Wagtails were quite a few White Wagtails looking much cleaner and paler than their British cousins. A few Skylarks also passed overhead.
Among the rocks we found Turnstone, Redshank and four waders I spotted taking flight from much further on turned out to be Golden Plover. A Greenfinch and a flock of Goldfinches were seen. Offshore we added Gannets, Red Throated Diver, Razorbill and Eider. A pair of Stock Dove were seen in flight. When we reached the mouth of the burn we scanned through the large gull roost but failed to find anything unusual. Great Black Backed Gulls, Black Headed Gulls, Common Gulls and a few Lesser Black Backed Gulls were outnumbered by the Herring Gulls. A Sand Martin was seen over the burn with a flock of Swallows as they grabbed a quick drink or a wash. A few more Red Throated Divers, Guillemot and a Common Scoter were seen offshore along with a few Wigeon and Mallard.
It was much the same story on the walk back to the car with plenty birds to be seen though only a Yellowhammer and a couple of flocks of Canada Geese low over the sea were new for the day. A Red Admiral butterfly flitted low across the beach as we neared the car park. A Little Stint had been seen around a small pool at a pig farm roughly 20 minutes or so away and with time restraints I reckoned we could just squeeze it in, so we decided to give it a go before calling it a day. We found the correct pig farm but there was no sign of the bird at the first 2 pools we could see. Thankfully, it was found by Susan at the third and we had our first Little Stint of the year.
Despite the day's birding being mostly along the one stretch of coast we still managed to record a total of 53 bird species including the one year tick (in bold). The numbers of individual birds we saw however must easily have been in the thousands despite the seemingly unfavourable conditions for migration. It would have been very interesting to see just how heavy the movements had been earlier in the morning from sunrise onwards and if there was anything more interesting than Sand Martin, White Wagtail or Tree Sparrows on the move. All in all, a very enjoyable and interesting few hours birding.
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Tree Sparrow
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Tree Sparrow
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Pink Footed Goose & Barnacle Goose
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Dunlin
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Golden Plover
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Wheatear
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Greenfinch
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Wheatear
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Wheatear & Meadow Pipit
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Meadow Pipit
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Pink Footed Goose
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Wheatear
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Wheatear
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Wheatear
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White Wagtail
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White Wagtail
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Wheatear
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White Wagtail
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White Wagtail
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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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Stock Dove
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White Wagtail & Pied Wagtail
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White Wagtail
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Swallow
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Swallow
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Swallow
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Red Throated Diver
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Canada Goose
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Red Throated Diver
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Gannet
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Canada Goose
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Canada Goose
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Meadow Pipit
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Meadow Pipit
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House Martin
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House Martin
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White Wagtail
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White Wagtail
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White Wagtail
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White Wagtail
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White Wagtail
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Pied Wagtail
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Pied Wagtail
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Pied Wagtail
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Pied Wagtail
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Pied Wagtail
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Grey Wagtail
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Little Stint
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Little Stint & Pied Wagtail
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Little Stint
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Birds - Barnacle Goose, Bar Tailed Godwit, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Canada Goose, Carrion Crow, Common Gull, Common Scoter, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunlin, Eider, Gannet, Golden Plover, Goldfinch, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Grey Wagtail, Guillemot, Herring Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Linnet, Little Stint, Magpie, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail (& White Wagtail), Pink Footed Goose, Razorbill, Redshank, Red throated Diver, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rook, Sand Martin, Sandwich Tern, Skylark, Starling, Stock Dove, Swallow, Tree Sparrow, Turnstone, Wheatear, Wigeon, Woodpigeon, Yellowhammer.
Butterflies - Red Admiral.
