Saturday, 21 January 2023

Corn Bunting Bonanza!

   
An afternoon short tour from Mains of Usan and back along the coast and roads to Arbroath and Victoria Park.

These photos aren't in chronological order, I've assigned my own level of importance to the birds photographed, many are pretty poor due to long distances, but they produce a record I can look back on in my dotage.

To say the trees at Boghead were dripping with Corn Buntings is partly true, some photos had a high proportion of Corn Buntings and others a mixture with Yellowhammers and Linnets. The hedges near the lone tree were full of Tree Sparrows, perhaps more than 100.

All of this is possible because of the RSPB led scheme, where the farmers have agreed to help farmland birds through the winter. Although it's targeted at Corn Buntings, all of the other species benefit. I can't think of a site where I could see farmland birds in such large numbers.

Videos as promised, click blue text to view

Corn Buntings      Yellowhammer male      
Reed Bunting      Ringed Plover      Dunlin 


Corn Buntings, Linnets and Yellowhammers at Boghead









Corn Bunting and Yellowhammer





Yellowhammer male





Golden Plover, always 100 metres away, Mains of Usan.




Golden Plover




Golden Plovers, more contrast for the camera when flying





Curlews, flew from the coast into a field behind the farmhouse





Two Skylarks, I got a bit closer than the Golden Plover but they too casually walked away




Seven Skylarks





Just the one Pink-footed Goose flying over





Two very distant Velvet Scoter drakes at Lunan Bay





You can see how cameras with long lenses confuse things





Eventually I got to go home.....



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