Thursday 29 June 2017

Rain, rain and more rain

I'm getting a bit stir crazy being stuck in the house as the rain continues to pour down, I almost went to photograph local rivers in spate but the SEPA river station network is experiencing problems and I couldn't rely on the gauge readings. Below are just a few photos from Montrose on a slightly better day earlier in the week but still a dull enough for me to put a trip to the Ythan Estuary on hold.
Below is a link to a clip of one of two Little Egrets fishing at Montrose Basin on 30/6/2017. A third Egret previously seen with these wasn't around.

Little Egret fishing, click here for video


Common Tern with a small sand eel or similar caught in front of the east car park at Ferryden


Another of the Common Terns which had flown down the South Esk from their nesting raft in front of the SWT centre on Montrose Basin



The Eiders are going into eclipse plumage and looking "fell orra"



One of many Great Black-backed Gulls patrolling along the Scurdie Ness track and foreshore looking for a lost Eider duckling or anything else they could swallow


Back home and the Sparrowhawk was in exactly the same place, high and circling at the end of the street looking for an opportunity. Minutes earlier the Sparrows in my garden suddenly panicked and flew into cover showing just how many were there that I couldn't see, probably 50 or more

Saturday 24 June 2017

Puffin Fest at Auchmithie

There were at least 22 Puffins either on the sea just offshore or flying around further out and they stayed like that until they'd decided I wasn't a threat hiding in the rocks on the beach. After a period of time most birds flew into their nests, fed the chicks and flew back out to fish again so these photos were taken in around a five minute period of action. They fly faster than you'd think!


Flying in to a nest, I didn't see any birds with sand eels though






The old red sandstone and the shade giving everything a red hue


Male Stonechat who looked to be guarding a nest near Auchmithie


Rock Pipit on the beach

Wednesday 21 June 2017

Scurdie Ness in the sun

I took a walk down to the Scurdie Ness Lighthouse on Tuesday without anything special in mind but always hoping the Dolphins, Gannets or Common Terns would be fishing. I only saw a few terns flying out to sea but I was able to amuse or frustrate myself by trying for photos of the small birds in the undergrowth. The photos are displayed in the order taken.



At least three of these Sedge Warbler fledglings were trying to conceal themselves in the long grass and generally did a good job but gave the game away by calling to be fed


This adult Sedge was further along but could have been one of the parents of the newly fledged youngsters.


Even the Swallows were having a rest in the sun and this one had dropped in for a quick drink near the lighthouse


The House Martins kept coming to this small wet area where they were picking up mud and some of the green weed


One of the many Meadow Pipits collecting food for clutches all along the track


Eider duck, one of many without ducklings


Linnet female, lots of these along the track and they do approach if you stay still and no-one walks by, they don't like the noisy speed boats though


Male Linnet in the harsh sunlight


Song Thrush sunbathing near its nest, perhaps a second brood?



Now at the Lurgies, even the Black-headed Gulls are feeling the heat and yawning


First Meadow Brown Butterfly this year for me and a better photo than I usually manage holding that heavy lens on my DSLR


Red-breasted Mergansers heading into the basin, I counted 13 of them briefly at Miss Erskine's Bank


The first time I recall seeing this Whooper Swan this season, it's a long staying bird which has hung around the basin and usually rests on Miss Erskine's Bank where this photo shows it. I'm sure I've seen it flying in previous summers but perhaps it doesn't fly well enough to migrate with its kind



Monday 19 June 2017

Little Ringed Plover Part 2

I've been taking it easy in the heat and relaxing without a cold beer in the garden with a short trip to see how the Little Ringed Plovers who failed at their first attempt to breed were getting on.



Little Ringed Plover, nest attempt two. Never a good plan to build a new nest two feet or less from the one that had been predated. You should be able to see an egg on the old nest to the right and up a bit, hoping for a better result this time


It's difficult to get a Swift photo and I've found that my garden isn't a good place to try due to all of the houses, trees and garages that obscure the birds even if they are higher up. Will try again somewhere more open


Olive's House Martin, she's claimed this one as it's nesting on her house. She'd earlier claimed the budgie which is still here and seen daily


Maybe the same bird or it's mate


Starling plumage evolution. One of the latest new broods invading my garden


This one must be from one of the earliest broods and is the most advanced I've seen at my feeders


One of the hard worked adults being constantly harangued for food


Inevitably all of the bird action in the garden has eventually attracted this male Sparrowhawk. It was a long way away and circling quite high up when I saw it, and I thought the commotion I'd heard in the garden before had been an unsuccessful attempt at one of the young sparrows. Tonight when filling a feeder I found the evidence of a sparrow having been plucked, all of which must have happened when I was at the other side of a very large cotoneaster

Friday 16 June 2017

When you're having a bad day.....

I watched the Carrion Crow in the first photo landing in the tall reeds in front of the Gullery Hide at Kinnordy and feared for a Willow Warbler nest nearby but after a while it flew off with a frog which is behaviour I can't recall seeing before. Not only was the frog having a bad day but the House Sparrow fledgling in the second photo looks like it's in need of some personal hygiene or had it just fallen in my pond?


I've seen the Marsh Harriers take frogs but not the crows but as they're clever birds they'll take what they can get when feeding young


Bedraggled for sure


A day after I took this photo a second Little Egret had turned up at Montrose Basin, hopefully it will feed a closer than this one


A male Yellowhammer standing guard near his mate who'll be sitting on a nest just now


One of the many Eider ducks who have failed to breed or been predated at the Basin


The Spoonbill leaving a deposit on the mud from the air as it flew up towards Miss Erskine's Bank to roost at high tide

Monday 12 June 2017

Sanderlings still at Easthaven

Some late Sanderlings at Easthaven displaying various stages of breeding plumage, the last photo I'm posting of a Spoonbill unless it comes much closer and a Linnet watching Ron and me while we watched the Spoonbill.

Spoonbill feeding at Montrose Basin, for video click here

Sanderlings at Easthaven, for video HD click here,


Taken on my Webs count with my SX60 in poor light but as they were fairly close I got this decent photo for the camera which serves the purpose of showing the variation


In front of the Old Harbour today about two hours before high tide, the closest I've seen it


Linnet keeping an eye on Ron and I until walkers flushed it


Sunday 11 June 2017

Spoonbill still at Montrose Basin

Back at Montrose Basin on a Saturday evening, I was hoping to find the Little Stint again but with some sun on its back, instead one of the "missing" Spoonbills the 1st summer bird flew in unexpectedly. Also around was the long staying Little Egret and two Ospreys visited and fished, but I'm not sure if they actually caught anything while I watched.

I managed a few photos of the Spoonbill which had landed on the shingle on the river edge close to the Shelduck Hide where it preened and then hopped about drying its feathers before flying down into the basin to feed in one of the channels. I wonder where the older Spoonbill has gone and noted that a single Spoonbill was seen on Saturday on the Garnock Estuary in Ayrshire.






Found this House Martin sitting in a part built nest on Olive's house recently lit up by an orange sun near to dusk


Friday 9 June 2017

Little Stint and Peregrine

A second post today after I found a Little Stint with a group of Ringed Plover and a few Dunlin at the Lurgies. It was a dull, cold and miserable afternoon for June and I was idling away some time leaning on my favourite tree when I spotted a strange backside. Now I suspect you think this is where he mocks an undeserving woman, but no it was the Little Stint almost hidden behind a Ringed Plover.
The waders had been flushed just minutes earlier when a Peregrine chased a single Ringed Plover nearby but I may have benefited by it stirring up the flock. The Plover escaped.

I'm not saying these are record shots, all of my photos are. I like and try to get the best photos I can but on some days it's just not possible with a tiny bird on a dark background too far away. If you're viewing on a PC monitor, just push your chair back 2 metres, it works for me! I just wish I'd bothered to take the SX60 as I'm sure I could have got a decent video.


Got a wee bit of light from the water in this one just before it flew up the Slunks near high tide



With a Ringed Plover to show the size difference


Still noticeably smaller than the Dunlin even when it's closer to me


Just short of the north bank and definitely too far away. I first thought the wing tip was touching the water when I looked on the camera


Little Ringed Plovers battle to keep their unborn bairn

The Black-headed Gulls are the main suspects for the disappearance of two of the Little Ringed Plover eggs from the nest I've previously blogged about. There are 14 gull nests nearby but it's possible a crow or a magpie nesting in the area did the deed although they'd most likely have taken all of the eggs. The first photo is from Carnoustie Golf Links which Olive wanted me to post.

Latest Little Ringed Plover video, click here,  shows the male vacating the nest as the female arrives to sit. The female has a metal ring of unknown origin.


Five of the six cygnets on the small pond on the Carnoustie Golf Links boundary with Barry Buddon Camp. Unfortunately the other pair of Mute Swans on the links "lost" their four cygnets according to a contractor on the course but he re-united two of them later. Let's hope the parents find the other two somewhere on the links soon.



Turning the single egg that remains


Sitting tight but they never did so for long, although to their credit they never ventured far and were always close enough to return to defend the egg


Heading off a Black-headed Gull just out of shot, the gull was testing their attention and resolve. I note that the nest has been re-shaped and now has a bit of a cup. The stone to the right of the egg had looked like a broken egg but photos showed that not to be true, showing the value of having a photo for evidence


Search Blog

Blog archive