I came home from my morning walk with a tick for the year list. It was just a 'heard' tick. I did not see the Blackcap that was singing away.
Once I had got home I got the call that there was a Pied Flycatcher at Rattray. Rattray is not far away so off I went. No Pied Flycatcher in fact nothing of note to see unless you count the others who were looking for it as well.
Back home again and another call out. This time it was a Wood Sandpiper at the Loch of Strathbeg. Strathbeg is even closer to home than Rattray so I had to go. This time I was lucky. The Wood Sandpiper was still there and I also saw a Ruff - one tick for the year list.
In the absence of any photos of the days ticks here are some others I took
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| Willow Warbler |
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| Buzzard |
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| Rabbit with nesting material |
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| Female Bullfinch |
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| Common Tern |
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| Mute Swan and Cygnets |
On 17th May I went to the Ythan Estuary to try out my new telescope and tripod. Alex picked me up in the morning and as we both had to be back by lunchtime the time there was limited. Alex's ulterior motive in doing the driving was three fold. He wanted to see what the 'scope was like before he took the plunge to upgrade his equipment and he wanted to see if he could find a Roseate Tern among the Common. Arctic and Sandwich in the colony. He also wanted to give he car a run as it was overheating.
It was a windy day and not very warm and soon our eyes were watering making it extremely difficult to see clearly. The birds were not cooperating either. They were mostly resting the sand with their heads tucked under there wing. One of the main ways of telling Common, Arctic and Roseate terns apart is by bill colour and that was not possible. The other trick that the terns played on us was to rise up into the air en mass, fly around and land again taking up their original posture of hiding their bill. But they didn't land in the same place so you had to start again looking through the birds trying to find the Roseate. It was a bit like a pack of cards being shuffled before you had a chance to see them all. I haven't got a photo of the terns but i do have one of the seals that haul out at the mouth of the estuary. The tern colony has been out of bound to the public for a long time the seal haul out area has only recently (this year) been designated as such and therefore officially out of bounds. There has been a growing problem of people, some with dogs, trying to get close to the seals to take photos. So close in fact that they have put themselves at risk and the disturbing the seals. To find out more about the Ythan seals go to the Ythan Seal Watch Facebook page.
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| Seals at the Ythan Estuary |
Anyway the good news about the trip was that I saw Little and Arctic Terns for the first time this year.
Total on list 180
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