Tuesday 28 August 2018

Brent Goose in August!

The Pale-bellied Brent Goose has been hanging around Montrose Basin for some time and I found it today at Tayock when looking for waders at the metal hide, it was in the Tayock Burn where it enters the basin.

Just in from Raptor Persecution, report from the RSPB, click the red link, Short-eared owl shooting
The video halfway down the report although 10 minutes long tells the story very well.



Pale-bellied Brent Goose in terrible light conditions



1200 pixels doesn't do this photo justice and I had to crop out some of the 97 Black-tailed Godwits I counted at Rossie Spit


Some of the flock above before they were flushed by a Sparrowhawk



Another Oystercatcher gloriously covered in mud at the Old Harbour


Redshank in an attempted reflection shot, failed due to the breeze


The Old Harbour Sparrowhawk, an adult almost flew into to me upstream of the Slunks on the Lurgies path on the same visit





I'm assuming this is the same ringed Black-headed Gull I've already posted and reported


Another reflection attempt



Arctic Skua at Scurdie Ness, well out at sea. A report this week tells of an 81% drop in breeding numbers in Scotland, thought to be related to sandeel shortages for the terns, guillemots and kittiwakes that the skuas pirate from


Cormorant at Scurdie Ness


Kittiwake juvenile, Scurdie Ness



A juvenile Ringed Plover photographed from the footway at Victoria Park, Arbroath


The first returning Purple Sandpiper at Inchcape Park, Arbroath


Sandwich Tern juvenile at Victoria Park


Same juvenile with two adults


Sunday 26 August 2018

Barry Buddon and Easthaven

I took advantage of the opening of Barry Buddon on Friday which appears to remain free of live firing for the rest of the month. There were 9 Wheatears near the lighthouses and a Kestrel chasing another small raptor which could have been a Merlin or a small male Kestrel. On the beach were 17 Grey Plover, 1 Golden Plover, 3 Bar-tailed Godwits, Curlews, Sanderlings, various gulls and around 150 terns, Arctic, Common and Sandwich.


To me, the tern third from the left is a Roseate Tern. I've used various tools to check the beak colour and measured the bird against the other terns for length and looked at many photos. I note it also has rings on both legs. I had seen it on the beach from afar and when a Great Black-backed Gull flushed all of the terns I took a few speculative shots and look to have got lucky



Grey Plovers, some of a flock of seventeen on the beach north of the lighthouses at Barry Buddon


Very wary birds, photos from around 70 metres 



There were seven of these young Swallows on the roof of the "North Firing Range Hut" which borders the golf links. Elsewhere along the beach many Swallows appeared to be migrating southwards


It was raining at this point but not enough to stop the adults feeding the youngsters






Antler Moth on Barry Buddon


Peacock Butterfly, near Happy Valley on Barry Buddon 



Tapered Drone Fly on Barry Buddon



A very wet male Reed Bunting in front of the car park at Easthaven



There are very large numbers of Starlings along the beach just now, they are feeding on the stranded seaweed. On the day after I took this we were watching a young cow which had got into/under this device and had Starlings around its feet, when a female Sparrowhawk flew under the structure trying to take a Starling, it failed but didn't go far, waiting for a second chance



Golden Plover, one of six at Hatton


Wheatear north of Hatton, one of seven along the beach fence line where the tank traps are situated


Bar-tailed Godwits, Hatton


Curlews, Hatton


Thursday 23 August 2018

Dunlin in the sun, Egret in the gloom

The wader numbers at Easthaven/Craigmill seem to have dropped off or perhaps with the slack tides just now they are sitting out high tide on the rocks instead of roosting on the shoreline. There were a few Dunlin feeding near Craigmill and they were happy enough to venture close if I didn't move. Elsewhere around Montrose Basin a Little Egret has shown up, another Green Sandpiper, Snipe and the Canada Geese remain.



Dunlin, Craigmill Mouth


This Dunlin had spotted something flying over and was assessing whether it was a threat


Juvenile Pied Wagtail in the Craigmill Burn, part of a second brood I'd think


Sandwich Tern, looking for fish. It looks a kinda mechanical to me, but then my brain isn't wired up like yours!


Sandwich Tern, found a target


Lots of Starlings on the beach feeding on insects in the stranded and rotting seaweed. Good to see how many immatures are in the flock



Green Sandpiper at the Lurgies, photo from a hole in a gorse bush and from a distance as these birds are easily spooked


Greenshank, one of four still frequenting the area near the Old Harbour



The first Little Egret I've seen at Montrose Basin since spring


It landed midway between the Lurgies path and Miss Erskine's Bank before moving to the bank



One of three Ospreys fishing in front of Montrose Railway Station as the tide fell. You don't get close views but it's easy access with a high likelihood of seeing them fish





Common Snipe on a small scrape at the top of the Lurgies, the same site where the Green Sandpiper was but days apart. Got closer for this one and I'm sure it could see me peering through a tree


This young Sparrowhawk seems to sit in trees near the Old Harbour and always flies off over the trees. I just pointed the camera vaguely in its direction and got one photo with the whole bird, some with bits cut off and some blank sky



Small White butterfly caught in flight at the road bridge, Old Harbour, Montrose Basin


Same Small White


Some of the many Canada Geese seen on the shingle at Montrose Basin just now, numbers vary between 200 and 400. It looks like at least some of the geese move between the Basin and the North Esk estuary at St Cyrus and I've seen small groups flying over near the Glaxo



Sunday 19 August 2018

Ythan Estuary, farewell to the Terns

A fruitless visit to the Ythan Estuary when I went looking for Skuas, just too late in the season. Only a small number of Common Terns and less Sandwich Terns remained and none at the ternery. The Skuas, Arctic, Pomarine and Great Skuas are usually found harassing the terns trying to get them to drop or regurgitate their fish, but with so few it wouldn't be worthwhile. I'll need to find somewhere with a large tern and gull roost like Lunan Bay or Kinnaber. I stayed around and photographed the last of the terns and anything else of interest. The other few photos were taken at Keptie Pond while I was avoiding the cold winds on the beach on Friday. (Must sort out the script I used here which appears to have sharpened the photos while resizing them).

Grey Seal with net injury, Ythan Estuary, click here for video  it did swim downstream with the group. This is the second Grey Seal I've filmed at Newburgh with a neck injury, the last one looked to have a large wound caused by a plastic lid which I later found was probably a frisbee, the type with a round hole in it.

Grey Seals, part of the healthy masses, click here for video  there could be as many as one thousand Grey and Common Seals in the large group on the north bank


Common Tern, Ythan Estuary


With a small fish caught in shallow water at low tide


I just couldn't get any terns at the point of entry. They weren't getting many fish and had many aborted dives


Another Common Tern


Sandwich Tern, calling as it went even with a fish in its beak


Sandwich Tern


The sun appeared briefly and what a difference it made to the more distant photos


This Grey Seal as you can see has netting tangled around its neck which has cut into its blubber. It did swim away with the others as the tide came in


Do people go to the Ythan to watch seals or do the seals go to watch the humans. At one point as the tide started to flow around fifty seals were watching people taking photos with phones!





A small section of a very large haul out, perhaps as many as one thousand mostly Greys and a few Common Seals


Dunlin which flew past unannounced


The Sanderling were kept moving by the walkers, it was very busy with the car park full when I left


Great Black-backed Gull, quite a number on the north bank of the estuary at low tide


Off to the south, maybe to the fish curing area in Aberdeen for scraps




The juvenile Black-headed Gull flew from the shore to near the island at Keptie Pond to intimidate the young Grey Heron into dropping it's hard won Roach, it didn't work this time


Although a constant or very frequent visitor this Grey Heron hasn't got used to people and dogs walking around the pond and stays as far away as it can when fishing


An unusually close view of a Lesser Black-backed Gull at Keptie Pond. This is the original frame resized  from 5568 to 1200 pixels wide which my new "batch script" didn't do justice to



Mute Swan at Keptie Pond on a dull day. The pair failed to produce ny cygnets this year and I recall only one last year


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