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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Birds fae Torry (4 Viewers)

Ken Hall said:
talking of the foghorn, I noticed that the gap in the fence has been repaired. No more viewing from the Upper Circle. :C
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There were some workmen up there a month or two book who were saying this was going to happen. They also told me that if anything happened to me while I was in the foghorn then it was my own fault. I was truly chastened by that.

Black Guillemots breed along the coast in northeast Scotland but only in small numbers so are not normally very easily encountered. They get commoner further north.
 
Ben Nevis said:
Is there still a pair or two at Muchalls ? I remember them breeding there a few years back but am never in that area.
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Could be but I'm not sure. I've seen the occasional bird just north of Cove Bay during the breeding season and I suspect that they have at least attempted to breed in that area.
 
More seabirds today, loads and loads of auks moving and 62 manxies in an hour. I also met a chap who was out surveying hoverflies, which you don't see every day.
 
Flowers fae Torry anyone?

With an absence of birds today I started looking at some plants in Nigg bay....and found a sea pea. Apparently this is the only place it can be seen in NE scotland (according to the NESBREC map....see my blog for pics and map link).

Desperate times call for desperate measures..................
 
A very pleasant day at the foghorn today. Loads of Gannets, mostly going south, auks going both ways, and a lone Manxie heading north. I probably missed a lot more though. And a dark phase Arctic Skua giving the terns a hard time.
 
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Had a shufty this evening. No hoverfly related excitement and not much other excitement either come to that. There were, however, one or two signs of the distant approach of autumn (or at least of high summer). 17 Goosander were around Skate's Nose and there were large numbers of eclipse Eiders loafing about more-or-less everywhere. Two Common Sandpipers were perched on top of the North Pier and there were large numbers of Guillemots on the water around the harbour mouth. Amongst them I noticed one young bird. The usual few Bottlenose Dolphins were parting the waves. The rocks on Greyhope Bay held a sleeping Purple Sandpiper in brownish breeding plumage and at least eight Turnstone. Two Common Scoters went south off the Coo but there weren't too many seabirds moving through, although a large group of Gannets were feeding well offshore. For the second time recently I saw a Fox crossing the south side of the golf course, this time with a young rabbit clasped in its mouth. Eleven Curlew, perhaps migrating, flew south.
 
Quite blowy here today, with some heavy downpours at times. I did a bit seawatching from the flat during the day. The best was my first Bonxie of the year going north. Also two Manx Shearwaters and two or three Puffins. I finally had a proper look down at the Coo this evening but there were fewer birds moving by then - just a couple of Manxies of any note. Also a Dunlin on Greyhope Bay.
 
Andrew, what time did you see your Bonxie?....I had one travelling north past Arbroath mid-afternoon (really not sure of the time, but probably between 3pm and 4pm) with a srong tailwind. Would be interested to find out if it could conceivably have been the same bird we both saw.
 
Stonefaction said:
Andrew, what time did you see your Bonxie?....I had one travelling north past Arbroath mid-afternoon (really not sure of the time, but probably between 3pm and 4pm) with a srong tailwind. Would be interested to find out if it could conceivably have been the same bird we both saw.
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I think it was a bit after 3 or 4 pm (maybe 5-6) so could be the same bird. I suppose it's possible there were a few Bonxies going through yesterday, so hard to be sure.

Today there didn't seem to be too much moving but a Red-throated Diver went through and there were several dolphins around.
 
Very breezy this afternoon, but a bit better than the murk and drizzle of yesterday. The Goosander flock is building up around the harbour mouth with at least 22 now present. Maybe we should have a Goosander Totaliser in these thin times for Purple Sandpipers. There was also a single Red-breasted Merganser amongst the very numerous Eiders. The usual Bottlenose Dolphin activity.

Greyhope Bay was quite busy. A group of twelve splendid looking summer-plumaged Knot were on the rocks. Two of them were ringed, but not in any readily identifiable way. There was, once again, a single Purple Sandpiper, which now looks remarkably dark, almost chocolate brown on the upperparts. In addition there were twelve Turnstone, a Dunlin and a good scattering of Redshank and Ringed Plover. One juvenile Common Tern was accompanied by lots of adults and there was also a juvenile and adult Arctic Tern.

Off the Coo two Whimbrel went south and single Arctic Skua and Bonxie were on their way north. 39 Common Scoters mostly went north, but some of them decided to sit on the sea instead, as they are sometimes inclined to do.
 
Here's a cracking shot of those lovely Knot from yesterday. Thrill to the detail in the plumage. In the evening I also saw another Arctic Skua and Bonxie going north.

This morning lots of dolphin activity.
 

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Andrew Whitehouse said:
Here's a cracking shot of those lovely Knot from yesterday. Thrill to the detail in the plumage. In the evening I also saw another Arctic Skua and Bonxie going north.

This morning lots of dolphin activity.
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Cracking shot indeed. It's at least 5 minutes since I last saw a shot that quite so clearly featured a bird. Well done indeed.
 
It could have been quite an interesting day today at The Ness, if only I could have seen more than a couple of hundred metres out to sea. But any time the haar did roll back briefly, I saw 8 Common Scoters fly north, 2 Bonxies, quite a few Manxies going north, a pod of 5 dolphins cavorting in the tide race off the foghorn, and on one occasion, the top of the lighthouse was visible. Things were brighter round in the harbour, but I only managed 18 Goosanders, so no threat to the totaliser.
 
Girdleness - my spellchecker doesn't recognise it. Blatant ignorance. The suggested corrections are: Gridlines, Gardenless, Idleness, Godliness, Grisliness. Actually, some them are quite appropriate.
 
Headed down to the Ness for the first time in a while today, primarily going for a look out at sea - if the weather had been worse, I suspect the Coo would have provided me with more than I ended up seeing. There were plenty of Gannets, Razorbills, Guillemots and Kittiwakes passing through, but that seemed to be the best of it. Just before we left a Manxie did go south, which was nice and my first one at the Ness this year. Elsewhere at the Ness there were a few Goosanders (hardly a noteworthy contribution to the budding Goosander totaliser) and a single Common Sandpiper scuttling about on the shoreline by the harbour.

Joseph
 

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