"Nobody's Child", ( Jack and Tom, 1966) a Kinnordy orphan

Still suffering from an improving scratched eye, I ventured out to Backwater Dam, Lintrathen, Kinnordy and Murton where nothing unusual was seen, other than the Green Sandpiper at Murton which was on the car park pond. At Kinnordy, a Whooper family of two adults and two cygnets obliged and came very close to the Gullery Hide, until someone banged a window. With the family was what appeared to be an orphan cygnet, it followed them around but the adult constantly pushed it away. The feeders at Kinnordy were attracting a mixture of birds, but I think there would be more if the Pheasants under the feeders didn't hassle the wee fellas.

Nobody's Child, they don't make them like that anymore, click here!  They stayed with my boyhood friend when playing at the Webster Theatre in the 60's, when I was a mere tiddler!


Whooper Swans video     Whooper cygnet video     Raven video (expelling a pellet?)     Green Sandpiper video

Adult Whooper Swan, Kinnordy

"Orphan" Whooper cygnet, Kinnordy

Maw, Paw and the bairns

Brambling, at the feeders but very wary. Flew off each time someone walked past behind me

Tree Sparrow

Dunnock

Robin

Chaffinch

Lapwings, probably between 200-300 in and around the loch

Teal at Murton

Backwater Dam, from the dam wall at the east end

Fulmar and Shag

I went looking for some early Kittiwakes or Razorbills at Arbroath Cliffs on Friday, a fools errand it turned out to be. Instead I sat near the foot of the cliffs at Mariners Grave and waited for a Fulmar to stray close, many did but boy do they glide fast. Also a single Shag came to roost and preen.

Video of the Shag, originally filmed in UHD at 60 frames per second, here in HD 60fps, click here

Fulmar

They appear to be very curious birds

This Shag had been sitting on the furthest away rocks, then it appeared below me in Mariners Grave

Always enough room for a gull photo

Mandarin at Walker Dam, Aberdeen

I can't decide which photos to post so have just put the ones which weren't soft or blurred by its movement in the iffy light. I say every year I'll go to see it when its sunny and it never is when I get there. We had lunch at the dam after a visit to Loch of Skene for the real birds, Ring-necked Duck, Smew, Scaup and Pochard. All distant, didn't have any worthwhile 130 times zoomed video, that's how far away everything was. More later perhaps, when I've counted the Purple Sandpipers at Torry Battery, just have and it's an amazing 252!!

Mandarin video on Flickr, click here                     252 Purple Sandpipers, click here for Flickr video

Common Gull, close quarters video, click here

These Mandarin photos were taken at very close quarters while we had lunch and the bird often was too big to fit in the frame. When I got up and retreated, so did the duck, into a gloomy corner of the pond!

One of the noisy Black-headed Gulls that annoyed Olive while she had lunch. I like gulls, good on them!

Unusual to have Common Gulls so close

Crocus in Seaton Park

Just in case you didn't know where the Black-necked Grebe is at Elie. In the harbour mouth, viewed from near the sailing club

Blue Tit

Coal Tit

Great Black-backed Gull with a Monkfish head at Victoria Park Arbroath

Purple Sandpipers, Inchcape Park Arbroath

Tree Sparrow, SWT Montrose Basin

Turnstone, Victoria Park

Wigeon, from my last Webs count at Easthaven

Quiz, or excuse

I've had to format the SD card in my D7200, it was getting slower and less reliable, and on the card I had around 200 protected photos. Rather than just deleting them I thought I'd post some of  them here, which means they'll stay around in the ether, and give any readers a small challenge in identifying the birds and others in the photos. There's no prize, no pat on the back and if you don't know what something is, then look it up. I spent years trolling the Collins before I felt confident, and some of it stuck!

The photos are in numerical order as named by the camera and all but four are from Angus.
Best of luck!