Round up of the Week

I have only one more bird to add to the list this week. Here it is:-

Lesser Redpoll

This photo is actually one of a pair that were in the garden last summer.  One was in garden briefly on Wednesday.  I wonder if it is one of last years?  They have a great liking for Niger Seed.  The other birds returning to the garden after a winter of absence were a pair of Siskins, they too like Niger Seed but also take Sunflower Seed Hearts.

Two Siskins and Three Goldfinches

The fact that there is only one new bird on the year list is not through lack of effort.  On Sunday I had a good morning at the Loch of Strathbeg, no new birds but a good assortment nonetheless.

On Tuesday I went on a hunt for a Brambling and a Great Grey Shrike.  It had been reported that these were in nearby locations up the Dee Valley near Drumoak.  The Brambling should have been in the grounds of Drum Castle.  I searched two tracts of woodland, one predominantly broad leaf the other coniferous.  Both were quiet with only a few common woodland birds to be found.... and a Red Squirrel

Red Squirrel

I thought I had good instructions about how to get to where the Great Grey Shrike was last located.  I was wrong.  I am sure I started out in the right direction but was hopelessly lost when I was supposed to follow the deer fence.  The directions did not say which way.  I tried both but could not find any of the landmarks the I was told to expect.  I did find a large flock of flighty Reed Buntings and a little gang of Bullfinches.  These stayed around just long enough for me to get a photo.

Six Bullfinches

Another consolation was that I was not so lost that I couldn't retrace my steps and get back to the car.

It was reported that the bird had indeed been seen that day and some different direction were posted.

On Thursday I went with Jill to Fraserburgh Esplanade and was surprised to find a Glaucous Gull on the beach.  One for Jill's life list!

Glaucous Gull

Undaunted by Tuesdays failure I set out again on Friday.  This time the directions made sense.  Park on the road and follow the track down to the locked deer fence (a different one form Tuesdays), negotiate the obstacle, (this meant climbing over a six foot plus wooden fence) and continue along the track to the end where there are ruined buildings under the electricity pylons.  The post also warned about the wet ground underfoot.  I was prepared I had my wellington boots.  Between Tuesday and Friday we had had the effects of Storm Doris. Here in Aberdeenshire it was no where near as bad as most of the other country but it had deposited a sprinkling of snow in the Dee Valley.  As the sun rose it did make for magnificent views

Mither Tap catching the early morning sun

It also made the track I was to follow a little trickier

There was quite a bit of bird life around including Long-tailed Tits, Great Spotted Woodpeckers drumming, Buzzard, Goldcrests and Bullfinches. Most stayed well out of camera range and view.

Goldcrest

Buzzard

I didn't find the Great Grey Shrike and there have been no further reports, but I did find a hole in my wellington boots.  The water in track was cold, very very cold.

Total on list 123

On the Way Home

16th February and I am on the way home.  I ordered a take-away breakfast from the hotel in order to leave early.  The breakfast consisted of an apple, a tropical fruit drink (small) and a strawberry yogurt.  I won't be doing that again.

The main reason for leaving early was to get to Morton Lochs in Fife before 8.00.  The other reason was to avoid the on street parking charges of £1.80 an hour, the hotel did not have any parking facilities.

Morton Lochs is part of Tentsmuir National Nature Reserve located near Tayport, in the north east of Fife and is run by Scottish Natural Heritage.  The main part of the Nature Reserve is pine forest run by the Scottish Forestry Commission.  At Morton Lochs there are some trails through the forest.  The most interesting one the Wild Wood Trail was closed and a fellow birder I met told me it had been closed for some years.  Fallen trees that blocked to trail had not been cleared.  (Interestingly, like Balgavies, part of the path network follows an old railway line.  I wonder how access to these and other reserves would have been provided if Mr Beeching hadn't closed a lot of railway lines in the 1960's.  There is a long distance path that was an old railway line near where I live.  It is one of my regular walks and full of wildlife.  There is a lot of public pressure to reopen the line.  What will happen to the displaced wild life?  Where will the cyclist, walkers and dog walkers go for  safe off road exercise?).  The main interest at Morton Lochs was not the water birds, Mute Swans, Mallards (of course), Tufted Duck, Gadwall, Little Grebes and so on but the Red Squirrels

You will notice that the squirrels come in different shades.  There was an even darker one but it was too quick for me to get a photograph.

As this is a birding blog I had better put up images of some of the Morton Lochs birds

Grey Heron

Robin

Mute Swan

Little Grebe

From Morton Lochs I want to the small town of Tayport, mainly to find some food to supplement my take-away breakfast.  In the harbour there was a Red-breasted Merganser

Red-breasted Merganser

My next stop was the Forestry Commission Car Park at Tentsmuir Beach.  The only reason for this stop was to see the Scoters out at sea.  There were certainly Common Scoter but they were so far out it was impossible to see if there were any 'Velvets' or 'Surfs' among them and too far for any meaningful photograph.  So only one addition to the year list.

I then went to find the Eden Estuary (in Fife I hasten to add not Cumbria or Kent).  Trying yo find somewhere to park the car and get access to the estuary prove to be a problem.  A fortunate one as it turned out as on the road to St Andrews I came across a fills with Mute Swans and Light-bellied Brent Geese, the second year list tick of the day.

Mute Swans and Light-bellied Brent Geese

I turned round on the outskirts of St Andrews to see if I had missed a way of getting to the estuary and came upon a sign 'Eden Estuary Centre'.  They must be able to tell me how to get there.  The centre was actually a bird hide overlooking the estuary.  As bird hides go this on was at the top end of luxury.

Facilities included heating, comfy seats and a toilet as well as  information about the estuary.  Just outside were some well stocked feeding stations.  There wasn't a great deal in the was of bird life for the hour I was there.  Redshank, Curlew, Gulls on the mud and in the water,  Finches, Tits and a Great Spotted Woodpecker on the feeders.

Talking to the other birders in the hide I was shown, way out towards the sea, the two posts that are used by White Tailed Eagles to hang out.  They are not there on a daily basis and the hide log recorded them last seen on 19th January.   A kingfisher is often seen just outside the hide as are a variety of waders.  This is somewhere to return to if only to have lunch, as I did, talk to local birders and have the chance of seeing some interesting bird life in a degree of comfort.

There are a few other bird hides up and down the UK that offer more than just the wooden hut, wooden benches and slot style windows.  The visitors centre at the Loch of Strathbeg is another 5* hide.  The Gillian Hide at Leighton Moss is quite good.  I am sure there are others.  Someone should organise a 'Good Hide Guide' or open up a public vote to fine the top one hundred hides in the UK (or even the world).  Another list could be the 'Hides of Shame' for those at the opposite end of the spectrum.  It may even lead to improvements!

Total on list 121

Two new birds for the year list

Today I went to Haddo House, a stately home that used to be the seat of the Earls/Marquesses of Aberdeen.  It is now owned by the National Trust for Scotland.  The parkland is owned and run as a Country Park by Aberdeenshire Council. The surrounding Haddo Estate owned by the 7th Marquess of Aberdeen and and Temair.  All very confusing.  The house was closed for the winter. The Country Park was open, all the signage seemed to have been done by the Haddo Estate and estate workers still had cottages around the park.  NTS has a gift shop, visitors centre and cafe all of which were open from 10:30.  The Haddo Estate also has a gift shop!  Here are two Country Park images.

This is looking each way along the 'Scots Mile'  The house is at one end and the huge urn is at the other.  A Scots Mile is 196 yards longer than a normal 'Imperial' mile.


Anyway I was there for the wildlife and the birds in particular.  There is a river running through the park which some Earl of Aberdeen dammed to form a lake.  This has plenty of wildfowl form the big......

Greylag Goose

Canada Goose

Mute Swan

(The Canada Goose is a new year tick.)

....to the quite small

Little Grebe

Wigeon

Goldeneye

Moorhen

There were two non wildfowl waterbirds a Kingfisher and a Dipper

Dipper

On land the bird life was not as diverse.  I did however seen the second year tick of the day, a Jay.  Others were the usual fare - including Robins, Chaffinches, Tits, Crows and most numerous, Jackdaws.

There were mammals as well.  I caught a fleeting glimpse of a Roe Deer and saw Red Squirrels on the side of the drive to the car park (it was too dark for a photo) and another on a rope specially made for Squirrels (it was also too dark for a photo but I took one just the same.

Red Squirrel

 I arrived at sunrise (8:00am).  There had been a frost:-

By 9:00 the dog walkers started to arrive, by 10:30 the car park was full, and the park nearly full with families, joggers, more dog walkers and just a few people like me with binoculars and cameras.  That was my cue to go to the cafe for a coffee and cake.  I did another quick tour round the lake but found nothing new.  The ducks, geese and swans had found lots of humans with bread and seeds so they were happy.

A couple or so more happy snaps -:

Teal

Teal

Total on list 115