I had a couple of Herring Gulls in the garden this week.first lesser black backed gull of the year for me at adler pond,also present several reed buntings /long tailed tits/great tits/robin/moorhen/dunnock/house s[arrow/woodpigeon/chaffinch just around the corner at clatto somebody has been putting down bird seed at the car park and there was small flock of birds ground feeding,best birds were 7 yellowhammers good to see that many and so close,there was also 3 magpies/2woodpigeons/coal tits/great tits/chaffinch/dunnocks/robins,a grey squirrel kept interrupting them ,at riverside nature park i saw my first bumble bee of the year i think this is the earliest i have ever seen one
Today was a day a rather mixed fortunes. Set off to visit Balgavies - first time in ages. Only to find the car park closed for repairs! No notice about it at the road end unfortunately. So we went up to the view point and got the only remaining space. Sat we a cup of coffee and watched a Goosander sail past along with some Tufties. Sadly I'm no longer able to do the walk from there down to the hide.
After that we went down to the road along the east side of the loch and looked in from there... the Goosander and arrived before us. A huge gaggle of Greylag took off, then some more. Guessing around a hundred altogether. There was one left as we passed the spot where they'd been. Lunch in the fishermen's car park at Rescobie Loch in the company of 4 Mute Swans, two young and two adults, rather surprised that the adults are still tolerating them around, Moorhen, Coot, Goldeneye, Cormorant also there.
Finally we set off to wind our way back via Pearsie to the Balintore road. Somewhere after crossing the A90 we came across a field holding goodness knows how many Pink-footed Geese! Not long after turning onto the Balintore road we found Red Kite, while I followed one, Ken found another two. Then a tiny covey of Red-legged Partridge, about 4, scurried across the road in front of us. Other birds we found included Buzzard, a delightful Robin singing his head off.
We then came to Auldallan and there found the road closed!!! Which mightily displeased me... no signs warning of it at the end of the road grrr. However, wouldn't have seen the Kites I suppose. And then wouldn't have seen a hare on the way back!