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| Whinchat |
If you're one of my long-time readers of this blog then you'll know that pre-Covid I would often head out birding on a Wednesday with my birding buddy, Paul. Obviously when Covid hit that sort of outing came to a rather abrupt end. However, although Covid hasn't gone away, there have been some attempts at getting back to something resembling pre-Covid-like normality. May always meant a trip up the Angus Glens for some of the summer visitors and so when Paul contacted me to see if I fancied a trip to the Angus Glens on Wednesday with him, I didn't have to think about it. Our last trip out had been back at the end of February 2020 when we headed to Scone Palace for Hawfinch but bad weather curtailed the day's birding around lunchtime....and that was that for the next 2.25 years.
Paul arranged to pick me up at 0800 but as I had suspected might happen he was a little early so we were well underway by what would've been our start time. A Swallow flew low over the A90 as we headed north towards our first Glen and a Sparrowhawk was seen overhead a bit further on. Paul got his first Swifts of 2022 shortly after (I had my first 3 birds on my walk home the previous afternoon near my work). A pair of Brown Hares were seen running round in a field before they leapt onto and over the drystane dyke. We took a bit of a detour to check out a small pool I knew of. This proved to be relatively productive with a Red Kite drifting around, a few Little Grebes and Tufted Ducks as well as Greylag Geese, Black Headed Gull and Mallard. A Skylark ascended as a few Lapwings chased the Kite. A bit of movement along the edge of the pool turned out to be a
Little Ringed Plover which was a nice year-tick for us both.
We moved on again and continued towards the Glens. Buzzard, Curlew, Mistle Thrush and a number of more common birds were spotted at our first very brief stop (to confirm a raptor overhead was 'just' a Buzzard). A Stoat ran across the road in front of the car as we wound our way along the road further into the Glen. The first of many
Red Legged Partridges were noted by the side of the road. A surprise was a male
Black Grouse in a corner of a field by the roadside - not a bird I've previously run into in this particular Glen. Paul was able to add his first House Martins of the year at another slightly longer stop. I spotted another Red Kite being chased off by Lapwings. On we continued to the end of the road where we parked up and got organised for a bit of walking.
Common Sandpiper and Grey Wagtail were on the burn near a small bridge we crossed. Long Tailed Tit and Lesser Redpoll were also noted before our first butterfly of the day fluttered by - a Green Veined White. We found one of our target species for the day a bit further on, in trees hanging over the track - a
Spotted Flycatcher. A Dipper was seen down on the burn. Meadow Pipit and Wheatear were added beyond the trees and after 15 minutes or so of scanning the hillside we finally managed to catch a pair of
Ring Ouzels as they flew in and landed together in a small bush before dropping down onto the grassy slope. We had a wander back towards the car hoping for a Redstart or a Tree Pipit, or preferably both. A number of Red Deer were seen lazing around in a spot I've seen them before. Paul spotted a Stoat dragging a Rabbit back to it's den in among the roots of a fallen tree but I was unable to get a clear enough view for a photo.
Eventually in another wooded area we managed to catch up with a
Tree Pipit though views did prove to be quite elusive but the bird did eventually treat us to a few song flights. A bit further on we managed to find a singing
Redstart in another fenced off area and with perseverance and a good bit of luck we managed some relatively distant views of it. There were still a few target species we hadn't yet seen so we set off back down the Glen hoping that we might chance upon one or more of those. As we drove along past a rather open area I happened to spot a bird perched in the bare branches of a tree behind a leafier one. Paul stopped the car at the side of the road and I was able to confirm that we had our
Cuckoo, being mobbed by a pair of Meadow Pipits. As Paul got out of the car for a better view (as he was on the wrong side of the car to be able to see it clearly, the bird flew off. From somewhere close by it was joined by a second Cuckoo that must have been lurking unseen.
We stopped again another few miles down the Glen where we ran into Jon Cook, the local recorder. A Treecreeper was noted exploring a small rocky outcrop in the manner of a Wallcreeper, though without any of the latter's flamboyance. On our way to the second Glen a little later than planned we added Rook to the list. Driving up the Glen we stopped periodically to check birds on the wires running parallel to the road. This gave us Stonechat, and more importantly,
Whinchat. There were a few
Red Grouse visible among the heather. We had better views of another Whinchat a bit further on. There was no sign of any Black Grouse at either of the 2 spots where they can usually be found. This was disappointing but not a major disaster as we'd seen one in the first Glen.
We decided there wasn't any great need to continue on to the end of the Glen and turned around to head back down the road. We finally found what were our first Ravens of the day high up the hillside, and over the brow of the hill, along with a few Buzzards and at least one Red Kite. We also heard a calling Cuckoo. Another stop a bit further on got us a much closer sounding Cuckoo calling. I managed to pick the bird out as it perched on a fencepost opposite where we were. A second bird could also be heard making the 'bubbling' sound of a female. It showed up and perched close to the first bird on the fenceline. They moved off in different directions before the female flew to a tree closer to where we were. The assumed male bird then joined her before they both flew off out of sight together.
With limited options available and time against us we decided to call it a day a bit earlier than our original plan. Paul dropped me off back in Dundee around 1600. We had managed to see or hear a total of 64 species of which 10 (in bold) were new for my year-list. Although a lot of the views were quite distant it was still a really good day out. It was good to catch up with Paul again and to be able to get in some birding outside Dundee and to see, and hear, species that I'm less likely to run into within Dundee's city boundaries though most of those seen must surely pass over the city, even if they don't appear to stop off anywhere.
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Red Kite
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Red Legged Partridge
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Song Thrush
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Grey Wagtail
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Spotted Flyctacher
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| Wheatear |
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Pied Wagtail
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Meadow Pipit
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Ring Ouzel
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Common Sandpiper
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| Pheasant |
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Red Deer
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Tree Pipit
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Willow Warbler
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| Redstart |
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Cuckoo & Meadow Pipit
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| Buzzard |
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Red Grouse
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Mistle Thrush
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| Stonechat |
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| Cuckoo |
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| Raven |
Birds - Black Grouse, Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Common Gull, Common Sandpiper, Cuckoo, Curlew, Dipper, Dunnock, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great Tit, Grey Wagtail, Greylag Goose, Herring Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Lapwing, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Lesser Redpoll, Linnet, Little Grebe, Little Ringed Plover, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Mistle Thrush, Oystercatcher, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Raven, Red Grouse, Red Kite, Red Legged Partridge, Redstart, Ring Ouzel, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rook, Sand Martin, Siskin, Skylark, Song Thrush, Sparrowhawk, Spotted Flycatcher, Starling, Stock Dove, Stonechat, Swallow, Swift, Tree Pipit, Treecreeper, Tufted Duck, Wheatear, Whinchat, Willow Warbler, Woodpigeon.
Butterflies - Green Veined White.
Mammals - Brown Hare, Red Deer, Stoat.
