Montrose Basin and the surrounding area (1 Viewer)

[burnie]

Had a walk to the lighthouse again, the sea seems to be still full of small fish, Guillemots and Razorbills diving amongst the bait balls with gulls and Gannets joining in the feast. Large numbers of Linnets and a large murmuration of Starlings also entertained us.

 

[burnie]

Took a walk to Scurdie Ness lighthouse for a bit of sea watching, quite a swell with a strong wind blowing, saw a Red Throated Diver,3 young Gannets, dozens of Eiders, Cormorants and a Great Blackbacked Gull. Half a dozen Rock Pipits a couple of Herring Gulls and 4 Guillemots hunting along the river shore line. A couple of Hundred Pink Footed Geese were over the fields, I couldn't see any different species amongst them.

 

[burnie]

Had 3 hours down at the Basin, first went to the Bank of Scotland hide, waste of time, the SWT have let an SSSI get rank and over grown, you can no longer see the salt pans and the wonderful habitat that used to be there, a crying shame they have been allowed to ruin it.
On a brighter note the Widgeon hide on the opposite side of the basin was heaving with birds, not very good at counting, but I reckon a 1000 Widgeon a few hundred Pink Foots flew over, another couple of hundred Lapwing and around 300 Curlew. 2 Carrion Crows a couple of Pintail ducks and some Knot came up when the Peregrine came in and attacked. I missed getting the Peregrine in the shot.

 

[Nicola Main]

Thanks burnie for that update! I'm going there on Sunday morning and was going to take my "big lens" to try for the Kingfisher, Great White Egret etc but I won't bother now. Will just stick to the VC

 

[burnie]

Had a walk round the fields, now they have had some rain and a lot of the crops are lifted we are getting a few birds in the area, 5 Curlews and a Buzzard where the tatties have been lifted and 9 Tree Sparrows in the hedge, we get a few here but not common. Yellowhammers on the wires and large numbers of Woodpigeons seem to be arriving from the continent.

 

[burnie]

Approximately two thousand Pink Foots flew over our garden, I couldn't see any other species amongst them, but they were very high up, still a couple of House Martins in the Autumnal sun.

 

[JTweedie]

Have you seen these photos of the pink-footed geese feathers from a roost on the mud?

https://twitter.com/x/status/1448665010553507844

 

[burnie]

There's a Snow Goose in the basin with all the Pink Foots

 

[Mark Lew1s]

This bird has been reidentified as a Ross's goose

 

[burnie]

Black throated Diver in the river mouth on the road out to Scurdie Ness

 

[burnie]

Had a long walk round the village fields, found a couple of dozen Redpolls high on a conifer tree, not seen many before at this location, possibly migrants just arrived?

 

[burnie]

There's been a Cattle Egret close to our village, might go for a look to see if it's still around later.

 

[burnie]

Trip to the local forest, greeted by 10 Bullfinches, found another 6 further in, sat in the hide for half an hour, loads of Coal Tits, Blue Tits, Great Tits two pairs of Chaffinch a Blackbird and a single Brambling and a single Jay.

 

[burnie]

Seasons Greetings to all on flickr by tigerburnie, on Flickr

 

[delia todd]

Aaaw!! Thank you Burnie - that's really lovely.

Merry Christmas to you, and yours, too.

 

[burnie]

Took the long walk round the village, first found a small flock of Blue, Coal and Great Tits, then 4 or 5 Long Tailed Tits. On the road back we saw 40 or 50 Linnets flitting in the tree tops, disturbed 2 Buzzards, heard a Peregrine shouting, but couldn't see it, in the clouds obviously.

 

[burnie]

Had a walk to Scurdie Ness lighthouse, half a dozen Eiders on the river, 2 Common Seals, Herring Gull, Oystercatchers, 2 Purple Sandpipers and a Shag that was very tame, it seemed to be in good health and could fly, but it lets us get quite close to photograph it.

 

[burnie]

Our wander round the village fields showed little about, the farmer has used a flail on the hedgerows and butchered all the gorse, I wish those flails were made illegal. We did see a dozen Yellowhammers in the taller trees and very little else, a couple of Herring Gulls, luckily our garden was full of Goldfinches, House and Tree Sparrows, Starling, Blue Tits, Coal Tits, Great Tits and Chaffinches.

 

[burnie]

Had a wander to the Scurdie Ness lighthouse sea watching, a very flat sea with remarkably little to be seen, a few Eider, couple of Shag, 4 Red Breasted Mergansers. Then went over to the harbour where 3 Curlews were picking over the stones by the bridge along with 4 Oystercatchers, even the gulls were absent.

 

[burnie]

Spent a couple of hours in Montreathmont forest, spotted a Jay on the track on the way in, loads of Blue, Great, Coal and Long Tailed Tits, Chaffinch, Dunnock, Blackbird, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Robin and a Red Squirrel stayed close for about half an hour.