A short post to catchup on the last seven days. There has not been much to report on the 2017 Year Listing Front. One new bird today at the Loch of Strathbeg - a Pochard. It turns out that the reserve didn't have it on their year list either. The other bird there that I always like to see was a Pintail.
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| Pintail |
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| Pochard |
On Friday I saw another smart duck at Cairnbulg. This was a Long-tailed Duck
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| Female Long-tailed Duck |
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| Male Long-tailed Duck |
On Wednesday I had to go to Mintlaw to get. some sunflower seed hearts for feeding to the garden birds. There are two places to go to when you are in Mintlaw. Pitfour Lake and Aden Country Park. They are very close to each other and at one point only divided by the A950. In the past they were more deeply divided. Aden was the Anderson's estate and Pifour belonged to the Ferguson's. By all accounts the two neighbours did not see eye to eye on many things and each tried to outdo the other.
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| Dipper |
On this day I want to Aden Country Park. It is run by Aberdeenshire Council and houses the Aberdeenshire Farming Museum, The Book of Deer Project HQ and major events during the year. I was surprised to find a Dipper there
I am not sure whether it is me getting better at finding Dippers or if there numbers and range are increasing but I am seeing more and more of them these days.
Tuesday was great fun. A message came through on the bird alert system that a Snow Bunting and a Shore Lark had been seen the day before at the Lagoon at Strathbeg. The lagoon is where the Loch drains into the North Sea. It is pretty inaccessible and not part of the normal 'visitor' part of the reserve. I wondered whether to go or not. These were two bird on my must see list but the report was a day old and the weather was not conducive to them staying around. It was blowing a gale, and cold and there were rain showers. It was Jill ho made up my mind. She said 'You will worry until you find that they are not there'
To drive to the Lagoon you don't go anywhere near the visitor centre or the hides. You head for Coralhill Farm down the single track road and keep going to Netherton of Lonmay where the road finishes and the farm track starts. I would say the track was heavy going in a 4x4 or a tractor. In my little Ford Fiesta it was lets say a little difficult. With all the rain it was impossible to gauge how deep the potholes were. At the end of the track there is a cattle grid and over that you are in a field of sheep. It was at that point I decided not to go any further. A 4x4 would have had problems. So I parked up and walked a half mile or so into the wind to the Lagoon. Sure enough the weather had driven most of the bird life away or into cover. A couple of hardy Redshanks, a Shelduck and a Meadow Pipit. At least on the way back the wind was behind me. When tide and time are right the Lagoon is a good spot for waders and seabirds, but not on Tuesday.
Here are two views of the Lagoon one with Rattray Lighthouse in the distance
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| Looking North for Strathbeg Lagoon |
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| Strathbeg Lagoon looking South |
Total on lost 116
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