Black Redstart

Today has been a hectic one.

First off, well after breakfast anyway,  was to get the shopping.  As well as going to supermarkets I always go the Ian McIntosh the butchers in Fraserburgh.  I have to say it is the finest butchers for miles around.  Ian is a fiddler.  Not about the meat or the prices but with a violin.  Recently the group he is in have been preforming at Burns Suppers.  Ian is often asked to be one of the main speakers as well.  So you get some good chat and learn a bit more about the area when you go there, and you get excellent meat.

Then a bit of packing, I am going to Edinburgh for a few days to see children and grandchildren.

Lunch and then to the vets, our cat has developed a dry cough and has an infected ear.

Then follow up two bird leads.  One from Alex told me about a Black Redstart in Peterhead which I found and photographed.

 

It is not black, its tail or 'start' (derived I think from the Anglo Saxon word 'Arse') is not really red   The books tell you that although relatively common in mainland Europe it is scarce in the UK and confined to urban areas in the South. It is about the size of the more familiar Robin.

The good thing about chasing up these leads is that you get to places that you don't normally visit and have the opportunity to see the birds that live there.  I recorded 18 different species around the Ugie estuary today.  I also got an opportunity for some fairly close up images of more common birds.

Redshank

Oystercatcher

Male Eider

Wren

Pied Wagtail

Little Grebe

The second lead was a day old and I didn't hold out much hope for seeing the Brent Geese that Kenny had seen at the South end of the Loch of Strathbeg.  But as it was sort of on my way home I went to have a look. There were plenty of geese at the location but very distant.  I could only see Pink-footed and Barnacle Geese. The ruin of St Mary's Chapel are there as well.  I took this photo of it a few years ago.

St Mary's Chapel

 

Total on list 117

Rattray

Rattray is a dune system to the South of the Loch of Strathbeg.  This mornings visit was my first of 2017.  It certainly will not be the last as Rattray is the local Mecca for migratory birds.  All sorts of things are likely to turn up in Spring and Autumn.

For non birders the lighthouse is the main point of interest, that and the fantastic expanse of sandy beach.  If the tide and sands are right wrecks are exposed, great for explorers of any age.

Lighthouse Keepers Cottages

Rattray Lighthouse

Rattray Lighthouse

The lighthouse is unmanned and the old cottages are now a B&B and hostel.

I did not expect to see many birds here.  Its the wrong time of year and it was blowing a gale.  Any bird that were there would have kept their heads down.  That said Curlews, a Shelduck, Crows and Herring Gulls were in the dunes.  On the way down to the car park by the Cottages there were Pink-footed Geese in the fields.  One group held some Barnacle Geese - tick Barnacle Goose.

Barnacle Goose

Barnacle Geese wit h Pink-foots

I don't think any of my posts have shown Pink-footed Geese except as above, at a distance.  The Loch of Strathbeg hosts a quarter of the worlds population of these geese (up to 90,000).  It is for many their first stop off point on their journey from Iceland to their wintering grounds further South in Scotland and England. This is what they look like.

Pink-footed Goose

Pink-footed Goose

As you can see they do have pink legs and feet.  Quite a lot of people come up here to shoot these birds,  sometimes for the pot but often just for sport.  The bird in the second of these photos has a damaged wing, probably from a shooting incident.  The one behind was limping.  These birds will not be able to return to their breeding grounds in Spring and will stay around the area trying to keep away from predators.

 On the way back home for lunch I paused at Bilbo Farm because I had seen another 'tick'

Skylark

A Skylark.

This afternoon I was off to the Loch of Strathbeg visitors centre and Tower Pool Hide.  Not a lot to report but I did get this photo of a Sparrowhawk

Sparrowhawk

Total for list 113

Strathbeg - again

Yesterday was a 250 mile plus trip with not a lot of bird life.  Today was an eight mile hop and full of birds.

I had a couple of hours to spare so decided to go to the Loch of Strathbeg.  It is only a few miles down the road.  It was a bit of an odd day because much of the Loch was frozen.  The smaller pools would have been completely frozen so all the bird life seemed to be concentrated in a small area.  There were literally thousands of Wigeon.  There was another person in Fen Hide we searched for the elusive American Wigeon but could not find it.  We looked for a Green-winged Teal but there didn't seem to be one.  Lots of Teal, lots of Mallard, a few Pintail, the odd Shoveller, Goldeneye, Tufted Duck, Whooper and Mute Swans all crowed into a smaller space that they were used to. A new duck for the list was a Gadwall.  Some of the Wigeon were standing on the ice.  It was thawing and quite comical to seen a duck occasionally sink through the ice and try to get out of the ice hole it had made.  More entertainment was provided by an ice skating Moorhen.

Raptors were represented by several Buzzards and a Sparrowhawk but is was an entirely different bird that set the Wigeon into the air.  By this time my fellow watcher had left.  My first reaction on seeing all the birds take flight was to find out what had spooked them.  If they were unconcerned about Buzzards and a Sparrowhawk what could it be?  Then within the flying ducks I saw hat must have frightened them.  It was not a raptor but  a Glossy Ibis.  Its unmistakable long thin neck with a round head and long decurved beak and long legs meant that it couldn't be anything else.  I lost sight of it as it flew past fen hide.  A top bird for a Monday!
Now my little mini aim is to get to 111 birds by the end of the month.  Agh.  That means finding a new bird tomorrow.

Total on List 110

Ythan

Before I go any further Congratulations to daughter Amy and her partner Jonathon on the birth of their third child, another boy, mine and Jill's sixth grandchild today.

The other night I was late to bed. I had been taking photos of an Aurora

This is the 'normal view you get in the NE of Scotland.  Occasionally the Aurora goes a bit mad and you see pillars of light, red and magenta colours as well as the green, but not on the night of 18/19th.  This photo, like many other Aurora photos I take is from the patio doors at the back of the house.  But that is not what this blog is about it is about birds.  As I said I was late to bed and at a quarter past midnight I heard a Tawny Owl to add to my year list.

The entry onto my year list is on the basis - if the British Trust or Ornithology 's BirdTrack  accepts the bird it goes on.  Hearing birds is allowed.

Today I went to the Ythan estuary.  The Ythan is a river that rises somewhere near Fyvie Castle and empties into the North Sea at Newburgh, north of Aberdeen.  It's estuary has been well studied by Aberdeen University for decades a permanent field station was first established in 1958.  On the North side of the estuary is Forvie Sands National Nature Reserve.

The reason for going was that a Kingfisher was known to hang around where the Foveran Burn enters the Ythan in the village of Newburgh.  No sooner had I got there than I saw the Kingfisher resting on the prow of a catamaran just meters from the road.

Kingfisher

It was only there for a few minutes but long enough to take this photo and another one

Kingfisher

It is a female.  You can tell that by the red base to the lower mandible

This quick capture of my target bird for the day (I had been prepared to wait around that area for some time) allowed me to explore other parts of the Ythan estuary.  The tide was well out leaving a lot of exposed mud,shingle and sand.  There were plenty of waders around.  The estuary is well known for its breeding Eiders (the largest colony in the UK) and there were plenty of them.  For the last few years they have been joined by a King Eider.  Two days ago a King Eider was seen 25 km North at St Combs.  There was speculation that the Ythan King Eider nicknamed 'Elvis' had returned.  I was unable to find it this morning.  The Ythan and Forvie NNR are also known for the seal colony and the four types nesting Terns.

On my way back North to Fraserburgh I stopped at the Snub car park where I picked up a second bird for the list - Golden Plover. Every year in November a flock of Golden Plover take up residence in a field just up the road.  I pass it every day on my way to the shops in Fraserburgh of to get the paper in Cairnbulg.  Frustratingly, for the purposes of year listing this flock moves on before the end of December so Golden Plover is a bird to seek out, or to wait for in anticipation of its return at the end of the year which of course may not happen.

My BirdTrack up load from the Ythan contained 30 species.  Here are a couple of them

Grey Heron

Red-breasted Merganser

Curlew

Wigeon

There is no doubt that I will be returning to the Ythan quite a few time during the year. 

 Total on list 105 

Strathbeg and Number 102

This is just to quickly log year sighting one hundred and two, a Slavonian Grebe.  I went to the Loch of Strathbeg this afternoon.  All the usual suspects were there, Whopper Swan, Mute Swan (you know they are not mute they make a soft grunting noise), Mallards, Goldeneye, Wigeon, Grey Heron, Buzzard and so on.  At the far side of the Loch one of the other 'watchers in the Fen Hide spotted a small diving bird.  After some discussion it was agreed that it was a Slavonian Grebe.  No picture I'm afraid it was too too far away,  I had difficulty seeing any detail with my telescope.  But here is today's photo:-

Red-breasted Merganser

Total on list 102

Three More For The List

Friday there were howling gales, Saturday there was snow, today it was calm, misty and decidedly damp.  Three days and nearly every sort of weather you could think of.

Today I went in search of an Iceland Gull.  There had been reports of one in Fraserburgh but with no details about exactly where it was.  There has also been reports of Iceland Gulls in Aberdeen at Girdleness and Donmouth.  So I decided to go to Peterhead.  My thinking was if they were North and South of Europe's biggest fish port they must be in the port itself.

Driving down the A90 to Peterhead I saw that there were large flocks of Pink-footed Geese in the fields.  Normally I would have stopped to see if there were any other types of geese with them but the lack of visibility and damp conditions meant that to o so would not have been safe.  Who knows what I missed!

Looking for Gulls in Peterhead means looking in three key places.  The first I stopped at was the Ugie estuary by the golf course, its the first of the three you get to.  All the usual gulls were there.  In order of size:-

              Great Black Backed Gull

Herring Gull

                Common Gull                                                                   Black-headed Gull

  In case you are getting confused the Black-headed Gull has a white head with that black ear smudge in the winter.  In the summer it has a brown head, but it looks black from a distance.  Although we are in the middle of winter some Black-headed Gulls are already developing their summer plumage.  These two were on the Ugie estuary today.

There were Redshanks, Mallards, one Lapwing and surprisingly no Mute swans.  The bridge over the river to the golf course is a favourite place for the people of the town to feed the Gulls, Ducks and much more often than not the Swans.

So I went on the the next stop along Gadle Braes and Skene Street these look out over the North Sea.  Today you couldn't sea very far out to sea so I made do with the shore birds at Buchanhaven, Turnstones, Purple Sandpipers and Redshank.

The third place is the harbour itself.  There were very few birds about.  Perhaps because it was Sunday and the fish market wasn't open and no boats were landing the catch.  Perhaps it was because I was there in the afternoon.  There was a Guillemot swimming about among the plastic bottles - first year tick of the day.

Guillemot in winter plumage

Then just to see I went out to the Lido to see if there was anything in the bay.  Alas the visibility was too bad to know.  Just so you know what it was like here is a picture I took of an Oil Supply Ship.  Can you see it?

By this time the light was begining to fade but on the way out of the town I went to the golf club car park for another look at the Ugie estuary.  Its a good job I did.  What was turning out to be a 'day of disapointment' turned into 'mission accomplished'.   There on the other side of the river with the roosting Common and Black-headed Gulls was the Iceland Gull I had gone to find.

As a bit of a bonus there was the third year list tick of the day a Greylag Goose as well

So I took a really bad photo of it.

Total on List 98

A Morning at the Loch of Strathbeg

Today was going to be a trip to Moray with Brian.  We planned to meet Jimmy at Cullen who was going to take us round the birding spots on that stretch of the Moray Firth.  I was looking forward to seeing Divers and Scoters and hopefully catching up with some others I need for my year list like Stonechat, Merlin and Greylag Geese.  And getting my year list to over 100.  The weather put paid to all those plans.  Snow overnight and more forecast meant that it would be unwise to travel too far.

Plan B was put into action.  I live only a few miles from the Loch of Strathbeg a major RSPB reserve that contains Britain's largest dune loch. So that is where I went.  I arrived at 10:00 and was surprised to see that no other cars had been up the access road since the snow had started to fall.
From the visitors centre you look out over Starnafin Pool and beyond that to the 'Low Ground'.  Both areas held a lot more water than usual so there was little exposed mud that is loved by waders.  Much of the standing water was frozen over so there was not much in the way of ducks and other water birds.  As I am new to this blogging lark I did not have the forethought to take picture to show what Strathbeg is like so here a couple I took last year that shows the sort of habitat at the reserve.

In the last photo there are five Konik ponies.  They are primitive horses from Poland and have been introduced into the reserve in a semi wild state to help with the management.  Apparently the enjoy eating the rank vegetation that would otherwise take over the area.

The Visitors Centre has recently had a significant makeover and one of the new attractions is a picture window overlooking a feeding station.  The viewing area has been supplied with comfy chairs and it is very easy to sit down a watch the comings and goings of the finches and LBJ's that take advantage of the free food.  But that sort of comfortable bird watching is not what I came to Strathbeg for, I could do that at home.  I went to the Tower Pool Hide.  From there you look over the 'Low Ground' where many of the Ducks and Gulls congregate.  It was most enjoyable checking through the hundreds of Wigeon, Mallards and Teal to see if there were any other species lurking in there.  The same went for the Gulls and Waders.  Every so often a family of Mute or Whooper Swans would take off and you could hear the wind whistling in there wings or the Gulls or Waders would take to the air en mass disturbed by something that more times than not remained undetected by me.

Today the highlight was a Peregrine fly past.  I first saw it as rising up from behind a ridge as it was pursuing a Wood pigeon. Its attempt failed so it turned and flew past me again.

On this fly past I was able to get some photos.

 On the way to and from the hide loads of small birds were commuting between the stubble and the hedges.  Most were Yellowhammers but there were Corn Buntings, Redd Buntings and Tree Sparrows there as well.

So it was a great morning, although rather cold.  Only one bird was added to the year list, a Pheasant, but that doesn't matter.  Even though you have given yourself a target that should not dominate your birding.  The outdoors and the wild life it contains, and for me specially the birds are there to be enjoyed whether you have targets or not.

Total on List 95

9th January 2017 Cairnbulg Harbour

A quick trip to Cairnbulg Harbour this afternoon. One of my favourite spots probably because it is the nearest sea to where I live, about 3 miles away, and the nearest shop.

I caught up with two of my favotite birds for the first time this year - Corn Bunting and Purple Sandpiper.  Why are they favourites?  Well I have to say that although not rare they do take some effort to find.  I also empathise with them.  Like me both are on the portly side and like me there singing leaves a lot to be desired.

Corn Bunting

 Purple Sandpiper

  

The main cause of great panic and excitement among the waders at the harbour was not me wandering round the foreshore with my camera but a Sparrowhawk looking for a meal.

Sparrowhawk

There were a couple of other 'good' birds at the harbour.  I saw a Red-throated Diver but missed the Sandwich Tern that was found my my birding mate John.

Total on list 80