It's September, a fantastic month for birds as rarer species can be found amongst vast hoards of migrating commoner birds, sea-watching proves fruitful and winds start thinking about going in to the east. Surely its going to be a good month? Well, September has started fairly nicely for me, with a couple of nice, scarce birds seen today. Read on to find out what those species are.
5th September:
I woke up this morning to hear the light tap of rain hitting my window. I sighed. What if this had set in for the day? Hopefully it would just pass over. My Dad and I waited for a whole two hours for the rain to stop (it was noon), which was relieving, as despite hoping for an earlier start, it had actually stopped. So we eagerly headed out to Girdlness.
We came in by going through Torry, so we ended up down by Greyhope Bay. On the grass near the golf course there were pools created by the hard rainfall that hit us a couple of days ago, which suprisingly holded some birdlife. On these pools my Dad and I noted up to 5 Ringed Plover, 3 Dunlin, over 10 Linnet, a small flock of Starling and 2 rather pretty Wheatear. The Wheatears in particular raised our hopes, as they were definitely migrants, and any sign of passerine movement was enough to make us think there may be some other migrants at Girdlness. Before having a good scour of the battery, we decided to look at the sea. This, however, turned out to be very disappointing, with just 1 Red-throated Diver and 10 to 20 Gannets passed. The Battery, despite our high hopes also proved shockingly quiet, with just a few Goldfinch and a few Robin seen. Due to the lack of birds at Girdlness, we decided the best thing to do would be to go up to the Ythan Estuary.
We arrived at the Ythan on the verge of being high. Due to this, all the waders had been pushed closer to the edge of the estuary; which was luckily right in front of where we had parked the car, so we set up our equipment and had a look at them. The man in the car beside us was doing the same. As he saw us set up our equipment he turned to speak to us.
" Just wondering if you had noticed the Curlew Sandpipers down here?" he asked.
" No we haven't. Where are they exactly?" my Dad asked.
Most of the waders were on the left hand side of a little channel of water just in front of us. However, these Curlew Sandpipers that the birder was talking of were on the right hand side, amongst some rather similar looking Dunlin. But it wasn't difficult to distinct them from Dunlin, one of the birds was far buffer than the Dunlins besides them, had a considerably longer bill, and looked quite a bit bigger. The other Curlew Sandpiper was more or less the same, although slightly less buff.
" I've got them now," said my Dad.
We watched the Curlew Sands for a long time , probably around 20 minutes, as they pecked about for food. When they were sent up by a passing Buzzard, the identification was completely confirmed with their striking white-rumps. At this point the birder who had pointed them out left.
From that moment onwards we didn't see the Curlew Sands. However, as the Buzzard had passed, it had brought in a group of notable waders with them, who we must have not been able to see from where we were. As we continued to look at the birds, I spotted a group of 3 tiny little waders beside the ever abundant Dunlins.
" There's some Little Stint here, Dad," I said, " Amongst that group of Dunlin just on the left-hand edge of the channel. Do you see them?"
" Ah yes. They look like juveniles. Tiny little birds!"
And indeed, the Little Stints were absolutely miniscule. Dunlins are small waders, and as we compared them with the group of Little Stint, they looked big! The Little Stints were very pale, with a strong white V shape on each of their backs, moving quickly and suddenly as they fed for invertebrates. These birds didn't take off, and we watched them for as long as the Curlew Sands to ensure the best views possible. Eventually, we decided it was time to move away from the Ythan, and we headed up to Strathbeg, content with the two waders we had seen. I was particularly happy as I hadn't seen either species for over a year and had never had such good views! Also amongst the waders were hoards of Lapwing, Redshank and Curlew, as well as a few Greenshank and over 200 Golden Plover.
Our experiences at Strathbeg today were incredibly strange. At around 3:00pm, we entered the Visitor Centre to find no-one in there whatsoever. This could have been because the pools were flooded, and there were not many waders either at Tower Pool or in the pools (mostly Teal). But still, why would that stop even the wardens from not checking it? We stayed in the Visitor Centre for around half an hour, where we found a nice Little Egret wading through the water and witnessed a male Marsh Harrier flying very close to the visitor centre and landing close by. We were the only people witnessing this though, after half an hour. Where was everyone?
We suspected that they could have been searching for the Greenish Warbler which had been seem the day before in the plantations towards the sand dunes. So we headed up to the nearby village of St Combes, parking at a small hotel and walking towards where this bird had been seen. The walk was a knackering one; it probably took us an hour to get to the actual plantations. In this hour we saw another few Wheatear, presumably also migrants.
When we arrived at the plantations we quickly became lost, as we had never been to them before. We did eventually manage to get into them, but it took us a while. The plantations consisted of silver birch and pine, which I personally thought wouldn't be the sort of trees that were likely to hold a Greenish Warbler, but considering its position and now Strathbeg sticks out into the sea, I guess anything can turn up. We gave the plantations a good scour, but there was no sign of any warbler activity, let alone bird activity. So we rested for a little while, taking a bite to eat before wending our way back to the car a couple of miles or so away. On the way back, we were surprised to hear the distinctive call of the Snipe, and looking up towards the sky, we saw a whole flock of them together, a total 33 of them going north, presumably migrating. Were they migrants? Whatever they were, my Dad and I found this rather interesting. I for one have never seen so many Snipe together in my life!
It was 6:30pm by the time we got back to the car, and it was time that we went home. Today, I must say, was a strange days birding. The fact that we didn't see anyone at Strathbeg was particularly surprising, and that there were very few passerines present at the Battery. On the other hand, it was lovely to see Curlew Sandpiper and Little Stint at the Ythan.
Next time I write in here the Scottish Birdforum Bash will have taken place, an event I am very much looking forward to. Providing that we see some interesting birds, I may need two blog entries to chart the event. Check back next weekend for news on what we see. Thanks for reading!
5th September:
I woke up this morning to hear the light tap of rain hitting my window. I sighed. What if this had set in for the day? Hopefully it would just pass over. My Dad and I waited for a whole two hours for the rain to stop (it was noon), which was relieving, as despite hoping for an earlier start, it had actually stopped. So we eagerly headed out to Girdlness.
We came in by going through Torry, so we ended up down by Greyhope Bay. On the grass near the golf course there were pools created by the hard rainfall that hit us a couple of days ago, which suprisingly holded some birdlife. On these pools my Dad and I noted up to 5 Ringed Plover, 3 Dunlin, over 10 Linnet, a small flock of Starling and 2 rather pretty Wheatear. The Wheatears in particular raised our hopes, as they were definitely migrants, and any sign of passerine movement was enough to make us think there may be some other migrants at Girdlness. Before having a good scour of the battery, we decided to look at the sea. This, however, turned out to be very disappointing, with just 1 Red-throated Diver and 10 to 20 Gannets passed. The Battery, despite our high hopes also proved shockingly quiet, with just a few Goldfinch and a few Robin seen. Due to the lack of birds at Girdlness, we decided the best thing to do would be to go up to the Ythan Estuary.
We arrived at the Ythan on the verge of being high. Due to this, all the waders had been pushed closer to the edge of the estuary; which was luckily right in front of where we had parked the car, so we set up our equipment and had a look at them. The man in the car beside us was doing the same. As he saw us set up our equipment he turned to speak to us.
" Just wondering if you had noticed the Curlew Sandpipers down here?" he asked.
" No we haven't. Where are they exactly?" my Dad asked.
Most of the waders were on the left hand side of a little channel of water just in front of us. However, these Curlew Sandpipers that the birder was talking of were on the right hand side, amongst some rather similar looking Dunlin. But it wasn't difficult to distinct them from Dunlin, one of the birds was far buffer than the Dunlins besides them, had a considerably longer bill, and looked quite a bit bigger. The other Curlew Sandpiper was more or less the same, although slightly less buff.
" I've got them now," said my Dad.
We watched the Curlew Sands for a long time , probably around 20 minutes, as they pecked about for food. When they were sent up by a passing Buzzard, the identification was completely confirmed with their striking white-rumps. At this point the birder who had pointed them out left.
From that moment onwards we didn't see the Curlew Sands. However, as the Buzzard had passed, it had brought in a group of notable waders with them, who we must have not been able to see from where we were. As we continued to look at the birds, I spotted a group of 3 tiny little waders beside the ever abundant Dunlins.
" There's some Little Stint here, Dad," I said, " Amongst that group of Dunlin just on the left-hand edge of the channel. Do you see them?"
" Ah yes. They look like juveniles. Tiny little birds!"
And indeed, the Little Stints were absolutely miniscule. Dunlins are small waders, and as we compared them with the group of Little Stint, they looked big! The Little Stints were very pale, with a strong white V shape on each of their backs, moving quickly and suddenly as they fed for invertebrates. These birds didn't take off, and we watched them for as long as the Curlew Sands to ensure the best views possible. Eventually, we decided it was time to move away from the Ythan, and we headed up to Strathbeg, content with the two waders we had seen. I was particularly happy as I hadn't seen either species for over a year and had never had such good views! Also amongst the waders were hoards of Lapwing, Redshank and Curlew, as well as a few Greenshank and over 200 Golden Plover.
Our experiences at Strathbeg today were incredibly strange. At around 3:00pm, we entered the Visitor Centre to find no-one in there whatsoever. This could have been because the pools were flooded, and there were not many waders either at Tower Pool or in the pools (mostly Teal). But still, why would that stop even the wardens from not checking it? We stayed in the Visitor Centre for around half an hour, where we found a nice Little Egret wading through the water and witnessed a male Marsh Harrier flying very close to the visitor centre and landing close by. We were the only people witnessing this though, after half an hour. Where was everyone?
We suspected that they could have been searching for the Greenish Warbler which had been seem the day before in the plantations towards the sand dunes. So we headed up to the nearby village of St Combes, parking at a small hotel and walking towards where this bird had been seen. The walk was a knackering one; it probably took us an hour to get to the actual plantations. In this hour we saw another few Wheatear, presumably also migrants.
When we arrived at the plantations we quickly became lost, as we had never been to them before. We did eventually manage to get into them, but it took us a while. The plantations consisted of silver birch and pine, which I personally thought wouldn't be the sort of trees that were likely to hold a Greenish Warbler, but considering its position and now Strathbeg sticks out into the sea, I guess anything can turn up. We gave the plantations a good scour, but there was no sign of any warbler activity, let alone bird activity. So we rested for a little while, taking a bite to eat before wending our way back to the car a couple of miles or so away. On the way back, we were surprised to hear the distinctive call of the Snipe, and looking up towards the sky, we saw a whole flock of them together, a total 33 of them going north, presumably migrating. Were they migrants? Whatever they were, my Dad and I found this rather interesting. I for one have never seen so many Snipe together in my life!
It was 6:30pm by the time we got back to the car, and it was time that we went home. Today, I must say, was a strange days birding. The fact that we didn't see anyone at Strathbeg was particularly surprising, and that there were very few passerines present at the Battery. On the other hand, it was lovely to see Curlew Sandpiper and Little Stint at the Ythan.
Next time I write in here the Scottish Birdforum Bash will have taken place, an event I am very much looking forward to. Providing that we see some interesting birds, I may need two blog entries to chart the event. Check back next weekend for news on what we see. Thanks for reading!
o
