Jay caching acorns

As they say, "you can't stand still, onward and upwards". A new day, new birds, just not so accomodating as the previous Little Stint.
Today it was Balgavies, then Murton and one of my default time fillers, Victoria Park in Arbroath. No photo but while sitting in the Gladstone Hide at Murton Jon and I saw one of the returning Green Sandpipers.

I try at this time of year to find where Jays are collecting and caching acorns. This one was found at Balgavies Loch when I wasn't looking for Jays

Not much to see today at Murton NR near Forfar, and boy are these Shovelers ugly. It's not their fault as they are still growing into their winter plumage, mind you look at the bills!

Some of a growing number of Wigeon, flushed by the ranger as he sped around on his quad bike type vehicle

I was surprised to see a few Common Darters still around, including a mating pair

The only Ringed Plover at Victoria Park at high tide and it didn't stay on a busy beach

Regulars may have noticed I have an obsession with Rock Pipits, so here's a few more from Victoria Park. It's going to get worse when I sit on the beach one day soon to get closer and level with the birds

Photo from a position vertically above the bird

Turnstone pecking at a crab. Another bird was running around with a bit of polythene in its beak which was stolen by another Turnstone and swallowed! It's disappointing to say the least as I see this kind of this at least weekly, seals with plastic around their neck, gulls with polythene caught on their legs and even a Roseate Tern with what looked like dental floss caught on its streamers! Oh what it is to be "human"

Little Stint - Easthaven.

Photos of the Little Stint that Anne found on Saturday at Easthaven. Photos in all levels of light, the sunny ones have more colour. There are many photos, often with reflection, I doubt I'll get an accomodating Little Stint like this one again soon, if ever.

It was my Webs count on Sunday which proved fruitful with one new species, the Little Stint, but also a Mediterranean Gull, Grey Plover, Lesser Black-backed Gulls, Knot and 15 Bar-tailed Godwits in a group, an unusually high number for Easthaven.


Little Stint, longer video, click here

Little Stint, shorter version, click here

When the sun shone, a bit, the Little Stint showed some colour, other photos it looks more grey which is what it looked like to the eye

This one was further away and cloudy at the the time, you can see a few grey feathers moulting through

It's difficult to gauge the size from these cropped photos, it wasn't much bigger than a Greenfinch that landed near it. Small compared to a Dunlin and more so to a Sanderling.

Bar-tailed Godwits, just been flushed by another dog

Grey Plover

Mediterranean Gull, 2nd winter

Inverbervie Fishers

Saturday's photos of small gulls fishing in the shallows at Inverbervie, in the order they came from my PC. 

I'd gone to Inverbervie to investigate the ground, specifically Craig David Croft area, after dropping Olive at her daughters nearby. I found the croft after walking along the clifftop, but got distracted as usual by a small migration of birds going south, Swallows, Tree Pipits, Yellowhammers and Meadow Pipits. That led me to the rocks just north of Bervie Water mouth where I tried to capture the Black-headed and Common Gulls fishing.

I like this one, I'd accidentally shot it a F13 and it worked!

The Black-headed Gulls weren't keen on me being partly hidden in the rocks, but once I stood in plain sight they came closer. I suppose I didn't look like I was stalking them when in full view

This one is flipping the fish to swallow it. I must find out which species of fish

There were less Common Gulls around, but just as successful using the same shallow plungs technique

Backlit Common Gull

I was always on the wrong side of the light, an east coast problem. The shadow on this Cormorant was edited out

Guillemot, again shaded

Still a Guillemot but one of the bridled variant, giving it a strange stare as it moults into winter plumage

Not one of the migrating Yellowhammers I mentioned above, unless it had dropped into the stubble on its way south. When I say migrating in this case it's birds moving south within the UK