The Beast

On Sunday 26th March the Aberdeen and District RSPB group organised an field trip to Glen Tanar.  I was told that there hadn't been so many people on one of these trips for ages.  There were over forty of us and a Pomeranian dog.  Here are just a few of them assembling at the bridge by the visitor centre.

As you can see the weather was glorious perhaps that is why so many came on the trip.  Or it could have been the prospect of seeing some special birds.

Glen Tanar is a sporting estate but one with a reputation for conservation.  It is in the Cairngorms Nation Park.  It has ancient Caledonian pine forests and various conservation protection statuses  such a 'Site of Special Scientific Interest' (SSSI) have been granted to many parts of the estate.  It is known to harbour the rare, endangered but elusive Capercaillie or Caper for short, also known as 'The Beast'.  Golden Eagles nest on the mountains, Ospreys inhabit the estate in the summer, Goshawks and Green Woodpeckers are residents as are three UK species of Crossbill, Common, Scottish (the UK's only endemic bird) and Parrot. The field trip leader was Tony.  Tony's job is sourcing timber for a local sawmill and knows the forest of Deeside like the back of his hand and knows his birds so it was stacking up to be a great day.

That's Tony on the right of this group

The route we were going to take was one of the waymarked walks of about five miles following the Waters of Tanar and relatively flat.  The route would take us through the old pine forests.

The first two bird we saw were not that special, a Chaffinch and a Pied Wagtail, but this was before we got to the woods.  The next birds were clearly a mere taster of what was to come, Siskin and Goldcrest, birds that thrive in the conifers.  On the river we saw a Grey Wagtail but that was about as good as it got.

Grey Wagtail

Every now and then some one would shout that they had heard a Crossbill but none were seen.  At a View Point someone saw what they thought might have been a Merlin but this was never confirmed by further sightings. Towards the end there was a shout for a Raven flying over.  I took a photo, it was a Rook.

Rook

There was a none birding highlight.  Lots and lots of Common Toads moving to spawning grounds, some were alone others in in an embrace of two, three and even four Toads.

One Toad

Two Toads

Lots of Toads, we think four

Now about 'The Beast' or Capercaillie.  At the furthest point from the visitor centre out path took a right turn and over a bridge.  Straight on would have continued thought the forest and out onto the moorland and eventually to Glen Esk.  The path had a sign which basically said 'don't go down here you will disturb Capercallie -  a schedule 1 listed bird'.  Tony was talking about the general conservation efforts being made on  behalf of Capercaillie and explaining why they shouldn't be disturbed and that forty plus people and a dog going into the birds territory was not a good idea when a bloke on a mountain bike came down that path with a frightened look on his face. 'Don't go there.  A Caper nearly knock me off my bike' he shouted as he sped past.  The sign, it seemed was a not just about the welfare of the bird but about the safety of pedestrians and cyclist.  Tony then showed us a photo he had recently taken of a Caper attacking a colleague while they were going about the forestry business.  From then on any Capercaillie was referred to as 'The Beast'.  They are big birds and have a beak that can be likened to tin shears. Some also have a reputation for being 'Rogue' and attacking anything that comes into their territory.  Straight on would have led us into a Rogues territory.

For the rest of the walk through the pine forest emotions were rather mixed.  On one hand it would have been great to see a Caper, on the other there was the fear of being attacked by one.

Given the distinct lack of birds - no one could remember a field trip with so few birds - we got back to the visitor centre earlier than expected.  Four of us Me, Trevor, Alex and Gordon decided to retrace our steps to see if there would be more birding luck in a smaller group.  Key target was a Crossbill, if a Caper came our way that would be a bonus.

We did have a debate about who was the slowest of us four and therefore who any Rogue Caper would catch up with first.  Or which of us would stand their ground to get that  close up photo that would go viral on the net and be the envy of all.  The discussion was academic.  We did not see a Capercallie although we did find evidence of there existence through droppings on the footpath.

We also found our Crossbill.  Trevor heard it and then spotted it high up in the pine canopy.

Crossbill taken with a 400mm zoom lens

Crossbill - cropped image

Finally thanks to Alex who drove me there and back.  Its my turn to drive next time

Total on list 134

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

Wild Goose Chase

White-fronted Goose is number 111 on my year list.  I have to thank the young man at TESCO phone shop in Fraserburgh who this morning switched my 4G signal on so that I could pick up the message from Alex who had found the geese just outside St Combs.  Thank you Alex.  I have to thank my partner Jill, we were having lunch in Fraserburgh when the message came through, for driving me out there. I had my camera but not any binoculars so I wasn't sure I had seen the WFG. So we went home,  Jill dealt with the two blokes who had started fixing the garage door while we were out while I went, with camera and binoculars to find the WFG.

It was quite an easy task to pick them out from about 200 or so Pink-footed Geese. They were a bit far away but the photos are quite clear.

Total on list 111

Fog

Not a lot of birding today - Fogbound.  In any case I had domestic chores to do and I had to catch up with sorting (deleting) and filing all the photos I have been taking. I have up loaded the Cherry Cottage Big Garden Birdwatch results.
From 9:30 to 10:30 on Saturday the birds were recorded following the RSPB instructions.

Starling

Coal Tit

Chaffinch

Goldfinch

Tree Sparrow

Of course I had my camera by my side as well as a notebook and pen and a cup of tea.  The birds recorded were:-
Goldfinch                       7
Starling                        33
Chaffinch                     13
Tree Sparrow               11
House Sparrow           16
Blackbird                       8
Blue Tit                          2
Great Tit                        2
Robin                             1
Dunnock                        2
Woodpigeon                  1

Carrion Crow                 2

Collared Dove               2

Coal Tit                         2
Jackdaw                       1
(The numbers are the highest number of each bird seen at one time)


I have also been looking at further trips.  In the middle of February I am going to Edinburgh to spend a day with daughters and grandchildren.  I want to be able to see thing on the journey that would be difficult or impossible to see here in the NE of Scotland.

One bird that I want to plan in the trip is a Red Kite.  Although there has been a Red Kite release scheme to the west of Aberdeen numbers are still small and there is no designated  viewing isn't like the ones in Dumfriesshire, Perthshire and the Highlands.  A couple of years ago I did see one on one of my morning walks but I can't rely on that that happening again to get the tick.

Another bird, one that doesn't live in Aberdeenshire at all, is a Nuthatch.  Their range has been extending northward for several years and they have now reached Edinburgh.  The Firth of Forth is a a good place to find wintering Grebes so if time permits they might be the subject of a search.  The Firth of Firth is a big area and I would have to be quite sure that I would find one or two.

One place I have heard a lot about and from where I have seen lots of bird  photos is  Balgavies Loch in Angus.  It may not provide any ticks but if I have time I would like to visit.  There might even be a Coot there.

   

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

5th January Rosehearty

Yesterday I put a post on Facebook saying that I was doing the 200+ challenge and writing this Blog.  I said anyone who could assist by pointing me in the direction of difficult to see/find birds.  Almost by return I got a message from Alex telling me about some Twite in Rosehearty.  As I was going into Fraserburgh anyway a extra few mile to Rosehearty was neither here nor there.  And there they were just where Alex has said they would be.

Two Twite reflected (so that's four Twite!) 

I spent about an hour walking round the village harbour.  The tide was out so birds were scattered and generaly a long way off.  However I managed to add several more birds to the list.

 Grey Heron

I have been thinking about the list and what to put in it and what should be left out.  Comments from anyone with any thoughts on this please put in your two bits.  Are hybrids allowed?  I often see Carrion/Hooded Crow hybrids.  Does it count If I hear but do not see a bird?  I have often heard Quail but I have never seen one.  If a really rare bird turns up can I count it before it is acepted by the appropriate rarity committee?   Under what circumstances can escaped birds be counted?  What other do's and don'ts are there?  I have done a quick trawl through the www but so far have not found anything useful.

Total on list 65