Tour o' the lochs

Tour o' the lochs, I'm including that well known loch in Arbroath, Keptie Pond which I never visit unless I've got a few minutes left at the end of a day.

I started at Backwater Dam and only saw one bird a Buzzard, but as expected Lintrathen produced much more and from photos of a flock of Chaffinches I confirmed there were at least two Bramblings with them. Alos seen, Red-legged Partridges, Wigeon, Whooper Swans, a Jay, Coots and Goldeneye.

This bird at Kinnordy had me a bit puzzled as it was out of place and out of context, a Kittiwake!

A 1st winter Kittiwake, well lost at Kinnordy. It should surely be at sea or along the coast. It landed a bit far out and to the right of the Gullery Hide then drifted out of sight

Since the "young mums" and "old codgers" have learned to feed the birds at Keptie Pond with seed it has made a difference to the birds that come in as the gulls don't hoover up everything. The Collared Dove is one of a pair seen in the late sun or golden hour

Gorgeous

This kind of light lasted only a few minutes if that. One of 11 Goosanders benefitting from the clear out of weed from the pond allowing them to catch the abundant Roach

One of the female Goosanders

There's always a Grey Heron around at Keptie Pond

After the sun was at its best we got this blue light on this Black-headed Gull

Bored at Kinnordy I started taking photos of anything that moved and this Greylag was an obvious target

Mute Swan, taken while I was waiting for the Bittern to appear, it didn't

Green Woodpecker, Arbroath area

It's now at least 3 years since I found Green Woodpeckers in a forest just north of Arbroath and they've continued to be present again this winter. I even had one calling from the cemetery near my house early in spring one year which might indicate a bird moving around looking for a mate. Further afield I had a walk at Montrose Basin in the northwest corner to see the Twite in the hope they had attracted a Merlin.

Green Woodpecker, high in the tree some distance away

Treecreeper on the track to the bird hides at Montrose Basin

Twite spooked by a passing Kestrel which was already carrying prey which looked to be a vole

Winter Aconite (Canon SX60)

Glaucous Gull juvenile at Gourdon 25/1/2018

Glaucous Gull juvenile, found by Simon Ritchie between Gourdon and Johnshaven but located as expected in Gourdon Harbour where a previous juvenile stayed for a week or two. There's a fish merchants, the chipper, a burger bar and a long layby all within easy reach of a hungry gull.

Glaucous Gull, click here for video                   Hovering Kingfisher, click here for dodgy video

These two added despite neither having the whole bird in the frame. It's the main downside of a prime lens for me, especially when a large subject suddenly comes too close to fit the frame and in this case then flew out of view. These were taken with a 300mm lens without a teleconverter so you can get an idea of just how close the Glaucous came

Glaucous Gull juvenile at Gourdon. I couldn't get on the right side of the light, need to go back in the morning

On the roof of the fish merchants next to the chipper

Little Grebe at the Lurgies

A wild Kingfisher, a male and not associated with the ones contracted to the SWT, Montrose

Hovering Kingfisher, Havering Blogger

Another day of showers and howling gales, it's January after all and an afternoon spell sitting in the Bank of Scotland Hide out of the weather. It was still freezing. The female Kingfisher spent a lot of time on and off hunting by hovering, perhaps aided by the wind or maybe getting blown off the perches!

Female hovering over one of the nearer pools fishing for shrimps and sticklebacks

A stickleback about to be beaten against the branch

One Little Egret today and briefly close

Crest raised

Snow Bunting - MIA

New post same old Iceland Gull, with another cameo from the single remaining Snow Bunting. There was a Peregrine and a Kestrel being chased off by the Peregrine when I arrived on the cliff path which could explain where the second Snow Bunting went. Let's hope it was sheltering from the strong wind. Also and worth scrolling down this post, an adult Black-headed Gull trying to tell a juvenile that it really is time to become independent and to stop pestering me for food.

Snow Bunting

Too close to get it all in the 300mm lens

Photos near dusk at the boatyard slipway, Arbroath Harbour

I had a number of these photos where the adult was really have a go at the youngsters head, eyes and neck

A lonely Eider drake in the outer harbour with the last rays of sunlight on the water

Green Sandpipers and Snow Buntings

A good find by Graham Smith, the Green Sandpipers I'd missed out on at Monikie due to the wading dog! Graham had also reported the Snow Buntings below and Mickey Mellon had some at the old Seaforth Hotel site. Not good photos today but it's about the birds not the camera man!

Two Green Sandpipers photographed into the morning sun from the roadside and left in peace in the hope they wouldn't be flushed before other birders saw them.

One of two Snow Buntings in a stubble strip at the start of Arbroath Cliffs

We don't get many Magpies in Arbroath but they are here in small numbers so when I find some elsewhere I have to try for a photo. These were near Balmossie

Curlew at Inchcape in Arbroath seen when counting Purple Sandpipers

Tales from the frozen east!

Chronological view of the first part of my week, off to do my Webs Count so I'll write a bit more later. Webs highlight was a Jack Snipe from a ditch at East Haven and 22 other species.

Common Gull, the photo straight out of the camera gave this bird a pink/red beak and had me puzzled at first until the colours appeared correctly when brightened

This Curlew and around 60 others were feeding in a field at Kinnaber

Lots of Rooks, Carrion Crows and Jackdaws at Kinnaber but very few gulls roosting in the estuary and none on the beach at high tide

Black-headed Gull at Monikie. No sign of any interesting waders and the most likely spot for one had an Alsation wading about in it

You can see the definitive black underwing patch on this very wary Grey Plover

Sanderling moved on by a big black dug

Stonechat at Westhaven, a female was further along the beach and joined by this male

Turnstone in front of the car park at Westhaven

July 2017

Back to last years review, unless you really want to see more Iceland Gull photos. Yesterday the gull was following a plough in the field next to the Cliffburn Hotel in Arbroath but it and the Herring Gulls didn't like anyone walking past or even a car stopping. Later when I threw down some bread crusts at Victoria Park the same birds were fighting over the bread only metres from my feet!

Sea birds very much to the fore during July, by then everything else had disappeared into the foliage.

King Eider drake at Murcar, click here for video             Med Gull in Arbroath, click here for video

Fulmar at Fowlsheugh NR near Stonehaven. Currently Fulmars have been seen on the cliffs at Auchmithie, St Cyrus and in Lunan Bay

Gannet at Scurdie Ness, Montrose

Mediterranean Gull at West Links, Arbroath. One seen late in the year around Arbroath so worth checking through the Black-headed Gull roosts

Puffins at Fowlsheugh

Razorbill and Guillemot at Fowlsheugh

Mum and kids, (except I've cropped out Mum, doh!) Red-breasted Mergansers at the Lurgies

Stock Dove on the wires behind the But,n,Ben in Auchmithie

An ever elusive Swift seen from my garden in a brief high speed pass

The first Collared Dove I've had in the garden for a few years

I'd thrown some bread over the sea wall which of course blew back on the pavement which didn't put the gulls off at all. One of a few photos that didn't have other gulls fighting over the bread