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


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