For the third of my days off, a Friday, I arranged to get out and about with Nat once again. However, our choice of destinations were rather limited with a combination of poor weather and roadworks putting a good chunk of the local area more or less off-limits. We decided that we would decide where to go once we had an idea of the weather forecast in the morning. With rain looking likely around lunchtime we settled on an early start to maximise our time out and about.
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| Snow Bunting |
At 0815 I met Nat and we decided to see if we could better the views of the Bittern we had managed on Wednesday at Montrose Basin while the conditions were reasonable. With blue sky and sunshine forecast for the early part of the morning we were hopeful that there was at least a chance of seeing the bird wandering around in the open. Blackbird, House Sparrow and Herring Gull got the list off to a start before we got underway. Jackdaws on the roofs were next followed by Carrion Crows at Clepington Road. Passing Swannie Ponds we managed to see Mallards, Tufted Ducks and Black Headed Gulls. Woodpigeon and Common Gull were added as we drove out towards Claypotts.
Once we were onto the dual carriageway we spotted our first Buzzard of the day, on the roadside verge. One or two others were seen between Dundee and Arbroath. Passing the Bell Rock chipshop in Arbroath we saw a pair of Magpies feeding on the ground. I'm not sure but I think these might be my first sighting of Magpies in Arbroath. A few Feral Pigeons were dotted around on roofs and Nat spotted a Pied Wagtail on the pavement as we stopped at some traffic lights. The pair of Whooper Swans were still in the same field at Marywell, where they had been 2 days previously. A few Starlings flew across the road a little further on.
We arrived at Montrose Basin at around 0905 and immediately added Greenfinch to our list. In the Bank of Scotland hide already was Ron Mitchell, the original finder of the Bittern. There had been no sign of it, but the Kingfisher appeared just off to our left. This seemed to confirm my suspicions that the Bittern wasn't the only bird that didn't like the look of the pop-up hide the day before. Scanning out across the basin found me a few Goldeneye drakes as a Great Black Backed Gull youngster flew by. A Grey Heron was in the reeds off to the left, and there were a number of Cormorants resting on a sand bank. A number of Oystercatchers could be seen dotted around and a few more flew low over the water towards Rossie Spit. A small party of Red Breasted Mergansers swam by.
We were joined by Alex Shepherd who confirmed that the hide had been allowed by the SWT, though the positioning had been dictated by them. Certainly not one of their finest decisions, though to be fair they probably didn't think the birds would have reacted so negatively to the strange looking structure in so prominent a position. A quartet of Wigeon were next to pass by and the first skein of Pink Footed Geese were seen off to the east above the town. There was still no sign of the Bittern however, despite all of us searching for it. Curlew was our next addition with a singleton passing by just offshore. Black Tailed Godwits headed west low over the shoreline beyond the fence.
Scanning through the birds out in the basin found a few Eiders but a flock much further away looked interesting. Given the number of birds in the flock I thought they were probably the Scaup that I had found 2 days before. I took a few photos and carefully scrutinised what little detail was visible. This seemed to confirm it, (though a check using the scope from the visitor centre was required to be 100% certain). The blue sky had been replaced by grey clouds and it was now rather chilly in the hide. With the visitor centre opening at 1030 myself and Nat decided to pop up for a different, and warmer, angle on the pools. Alex decided to head round the basin in the hope of getting photos of the Scaup from the cemetery.
It was a lot warmer in the main building and the warmth was certainly appreciated. It also gave us a few additions as birds arrived at the feeders out front. Chaffinches, Goldfinches, Robin, Blue Tits, Great Tits and a Moorhen all popped in for something to eat. Redshanks were added too, as they flew by to Rossie Spit. I had a chat to Graham Smith as we both hunted for birds out on the basin. There were decent numbers of Pintail along to the west. Graham found a few Greenshanks and Nat spotted a few Turnstones. A Dunnock fed in below the feeders. A female Long Tailed Duck was well out in the basin and kept diving which made it hard to confirm initially. We finally added Tree Sparrows to the list before deciding to move on.
As the weather forecast had been for heavy rain around lunchtime at Montrose but drier around Arbroath, we settled on trying for the Snow Bunting flock at the cliffs. We added Rook on our way down the road. Having had decent numbers of Corn Buntings the day before at Boghead Farm and disappointing views the day before that with Nat, we decided to route that way again to see if there were any Corn Buntings around. A Kestrel was hovering above the verge as we arrived but it flew off and landed briefly in a small tree by the little gatehouse. There were birds in the trees behind the cottages but these appeared to be just Linnets, Yellowhammers, Chaffinches and Reed Buntings.
It was around 1215 when we reached Arbroath cliffs. It was rather windy and rain was just beginning to blow through, so we hurried up the path and scanned across the field. There were no obvious birds around so we set off along the clifftop path to where they had been reported the previous late afternoon. A few Rock Pipits and Skylarks appeared in the stubble and a Fulmar was seen cruising around offshore before we finally found a single male bird in the stubble. A bit more scanning from a better angle found a few more partially hidden birds. When a few of them ventured out onto the ploughed section of the field they were much easier to see, though they also disappeared behind clods of earth very easily. By now the rain had started to fall with the wind adding to the difficulty of photographing the buntings. We took a few photos then hurried back down to the car, deciding to call it a day and head for home.
Despite no new additions to the year list it was still a decent morning out and about with some good birds around.
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| Eider |
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| Grey Heron |
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| Pink Footed Geese |
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| Kestrel |
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| Kestrel |
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| Oystercatcher |
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| Oystercatcher |
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| Oystercatcher |
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| Curlew |
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| Snow Bunting |
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| Snow Bunting |
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| Snow Bunting |
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| Snow Bunting |
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| Snow Bunting |
53 species seen - Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Black Tailed Godwit, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Common Gull, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunnock, Eider, Fulmar, Goldeneye, Goldfinch, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Greenshank, Grey Heron, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Kestrel, Kingfisher, Linnet, Long Tailed Duck, Magpie, Mallard, Moorhen, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Pink Footed Goose, Pintail, Red Breasted Merganser, Redshank, Reed Bunting, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rock Pipit, Rook, Scaup, Shelduck, Skylark, Snow Bunting, Starling, Tree Sparrow, Tufted Duck, Turnstone, Whooper Swan, Wigeon, Woodpigeon, Yellowhammer.
