Angus coast and inland waters

   
Some birds and boats from Montrose, Tayock, Ferryden, Mains of Usan, Lunan Bay and Keptie Pond, ranging from 2/11/2026 to 11/11/2026.

As I was creating this post an adult male Sparrowhawk flew into my garden, I'm keeping the photo for the next post, hopefully with some Tree Sparrows also in my garden who seem adept at avoiding the hawk.

Forgot I had this, it's a distant video at Rescobie Loch of a male Ring-necked Duck, scoped to find it and filmed at 150 zoom!

Ring-necked Duck preening 2/11/2026

Lunan Bay

He probably missed the session on fieldcraft and stealth

A backlit Goldfinch at Lunan Bay

Sanderlings

with a Ringed Plover cameo

Looks to be feeding on part of a crab

Scurdie Ness

Herring Gull

Montrose Pilot Boat

Eider female

Stonechat male

Stonechat female

Cormorant

Tayock

Pheasant male

Keptie Pond, Arbroath

Wigeon

Black-headed Gull

Pintail/Mallard hybrid

Reed Bunting

Waiting for the pilot, offshore from Montrose

Black-headed Gull just before it was flushed by dogs

Bonaparte's Gull - Lunan Bay and Montrose

   
This Bonaparte's Gull was found a few weeks ago at Lunan Bay and also seen in the South Esk estuary in Montrose. I've deleted the post with the original finder!

The video was filmed in front of the car park at Lunan Bay on 29/10/2026, I didn't get a chance to take any stills as the gull was spooked by three Bottlenose Dolphins fishing almost on the beach at high tide. The first image is a screenshot from the video, the other photos were from the Scurdie Ness road and were about mid-channel. The Little Gull video is from 19/10/2026 and recoded from the Splash at Montrose Beach on a stormy afternoon.

The two photos at the bottom are from Arbroath Harbour which has a dredger working there, it looks like it could be sometime before the water clears and the seabed settles. I don't know how long the dredging will continue.

UHD videos below, click the links to my Flickr.

Bonaparte's Gull, Lunan Bay      Little Gull 1st winter, Montrose Beach 

Bonaparte's Gull, Lunan Bay, this image is a screenshot taken from the video above

Bonaparte's Gull fishing at Scurdie Ness area

Comparison with Black-headed Gull

Comparison with Black-headed Gull

Great black-backed Gull, the largest gull in the world (Arbroath Harbour)

Redshank, Arbroath Harbour

Golden Plovers to wind turbine blades

The worst photo first, as it's the first time this season I've seen Golden Plovers, they were part of a flock of 86 behind near Gayfield.

Various sites are covered, and the photos from my Webs Survey at East Haven are at the bottom of this post, because it's the easiest way to import them! 

As mentioned before, changes to the blog template, the same one I've used for many years, has meant that I've lost control over how fonts are displayed on a phone. The posts are best viewed on a PC, or through a phone browser, at least for my Motorola.

A juvenile Little Gull around 600 metres off Montrose Beach

Golden Plover behind Gayfield Park (home of the Mighty Red Litchies), unfortunately looking into low sunlight

Greenfinches feeding on Rosa Rugosa hips on the pitch and putt course, the sun on my back

Curlew at West Links

Rock Pipit

Now at the Lurgies with a reflected Greenshank

Little Grebe, probably 16 near the car park

Little Egret, Lurgies

Pintails photographed from the Tayock Hide at Montrose Basin at a distance of 197 metres, also 2 Wigeon, and Mallards in the foreground

Turnstone, not seen very often on the basin

Little Egret at East Haven

A Goosander seen on my Webs Survey at East Haven

Black-headed Gull

Common Scoters, not seen often on my webs

Common Gull

One of the few Carrion Crows with white feathers, seen better when in flight

Redshank

Rock Pipit, they feed on the washed up seaweed on small insects

Olive who was my scribe on the survey asked me to photograph this ship on the horizon, it was laden with wind turbine blades. More turbines are being installed, another ship and a crane were placing the yellow bases