For Lovers of Plovers

The Loch of Kinnordy remained closed this week so I continued my stop-ins to check the progress of  the Little Ringed Plovers, more below. One day when I had a spare hour I went to Arbroath Cliffs where as well as the gulls and seabirds a number of Sand Martins were nesting on a vertical face where there had been a landslide. The cliffs are good place to see butterflies but on a windy day when I was there I could only find one Common Blue and it was trying to find shelter.

Little Ringed Plover chick, its in HD and you'll need to select it in YouTube to get the best view, click here

Some argumentative Soay sheep? At the west end of Kinnordy, click here to view  This has been slowed down to two thirds speed as the original was only 11 seconds long

This Little Ringed Plover seemed to get frustrated with an adult and juvenile Pied Wagtail and after chasing them away from its chicks it did a few victory laps around the area. They never do anything like that when the light is good!

One of the chicks, growing fast and more importantly still avoiding predators. The rock behind it provided something the camera could focus on

Lots of Reed Buntings about just now with the males standing guard near nests, this one at Arbroath Cliffs

A shag flying into a cave or inlet to its nest. A lucky photo taken from the cliff top at the Mariners Grave, Arbroath Cliffs

I still want a photo of a Fulmar taken level with the bird, not from the cliff top

I'm not sure whether any of these are sitting on an egg, time will tell

Always announcing their presence by calling their name, many Kittiwakes are nesting at Mariners

I liked this one of a Herring Gull nearly moulted into its adult plumage