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

Birding in Angus

Today I joined the Aberdeen and District RSPB Group on a trip the find birds in Angus.

We were to meet at Forfar Loch at 10.00.  I left early to visit Loch of Kinnordy before the the official start.  I didn't see the two 'special' birds that have recently been seen there - Bittern and Smew - which was not that surprising as I was only there for half an hour or so.  Even so I was just a little miffed when word came through during the day that the Smew had been seen from one of the hides I visited.  However I clocked up over 30 bird species.  This included a rather battered male Pheasant and a smart looking Mute Swan

Pheasant

Mute Swan

At Forfar Loch I met up with the RSPB Group.  Some I knew fairly well, others I had met last time I went on one of these outings (see 11th January - A great day in Aberdeen) There were a few new faces.  One, Patricia,  I knew from seeing her posts on the NE Wildlife Facebook page.

It was during a brief introduction, while I was seeing what was on the Loch from the car park that I saw the first of the birds to add to my year list - Great Crested Grebe.

Great Crested Grebe

We did a short walk along one side of the Loch as far as the boat club.  There was a terrific wind. In places with no shelter you couldn't stop, just had to keep going to get to shelter.  Once there the sun was warm and brought out a variety of woodland birds.  Although getting a clean shot proved to be difficult as the high winds were whipping the branches about.

Bullfinch

 At the boat club someone had put up bird feeders which made things a little easier

Long-tailed Tit

On the Loch the birds were doing their best in the conditions

Gadwall

Cormorants, Oystercatchers, Lesser Black-backed Gulls, Black-head Gulls, Herring Gull

On the return journey the wind was at our backs and the branched seemed to behave themselves.

Bullfinch

Back at the Visitor Centre the small garden boasted a pond which was populated by frogs, and of course frog spawn.

I got a bit damp taking these photos as I was lying down to get to frog level.  They are manually focused.  The cameras auto focus didn't seem to like frogs!

To get to the next sites we had to take as few cars as possible.  I sat in the back of Trevor's X-Trail.  Bill sat in the front.

The lunch stop was at the Scottish Wildlife Trust reserve Balgavies Loch.  A nice little hide has been built overlooking the Loch and the island where a pair of Ospreys nest.  Unfortunately we were a few days too early.  They had not yet arrived back from West Africa. However we did see two migrant birds back from warmer climates to feast on the abundance of insects in Scotland.  The Sand Martin was too quick for me to photograph.  I will have to wait until they are at their nest site for that .  I did get a shot of a Chiffchaff, there were two, and they were very active.  Two more for the list.

Chiffchaff

Just in front of the hide was a feeding station. (if you go then please take some bird food to leave in the hide and save the SWT, or the volunteers a bit of money).

The Blue Tits, Coal Tits, Great Tits and Chaffinches were so used to people in the hide that they came right up to the hide window to take crumbs of a folded down shutters.  Far to close for me to photograph with my 100 - 400mm lens.

Great Tit

Chaffinch

Reed Bunting

From Balgavies we went to Montreatmont Forest.  This a huge conifer plantation fun by Forestry Commission Scotland.  We walked a little over 500 metres into the forest to a place where there are deciduous trees.  Some years ago a member of the Angus Bird Club built a hide and bird feeding station here. Again if you go there take some bird food to leave in the hide.  Our main target bird was a Green Woodpecker.  It was heard a few times and only seen just as we were giving up.  In fact some of our group had to be called back to see the bird.  It had flown from the Oak trees across a more open area and settled high into a Larch.  We only got distant views.  Patricia, Andy and a couple of others went closer to its tree but it was so high up they couldn't see it.  Anyway it was a Year Tick for me, the fourth of the day and a the second Life Tick of the day for Bill.  The first was a Great Spotted Woodpecker.  Bill is Californian - you get different woodpeckers there.

Green Woodpecker

Total on List 133