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Birds fae Torry (7 Viewers)

Goodness. I stop checking this thread for 36 hours or so and it all kicks off. Inability to understand counts, dodgy photography, indecent exposure ...
Saturday is going to be interesting!

Rob
 
Goodness. I stop checking this thread for 36 hours or so and it all kicks off. Inability to understand counts, dodgy photography, indecent exposure ...
Saturday is going to be interesting!

Rob

I am covering the 'inability to understand counts' category, which of the other two are you volunteering for? ;)
 
I am covering the 'inability to understand counts' category, which of the other two are you volunteering for?

Can I just admit that I also misunderstood the totaliser? I assumed it was a cumulative total (as the totaliser on 'Blue Peter' used to be). This view was strengthened by the confusing statement in post#130 that Laura has already referred to. However, I couldn't for the life of me understand what the point of keeping a cumulative total was. Anyway, it's all clear now.

As for the indecent exposure, in the (very) dim and distant past I did occasionally go 'courting' at Girdleness, but it was always dark so I'm sure nobody saw;)
 
As an avid girdleness watcher (well, a little less avid these days due to work!) I've enjoyed reading this thread, although I feel I can't really contribute to the Purple sandpiper counting debate, cos I stopped reading it a while back!

You have my greatest sympathies Andrew, for girdleness has not been itself this autumn......this is the worst autumn I can remember for the site. To cap it all off, i was away on Ile d'ouessant when Richard found that rosefinch, so I didn't even get that!

All is not lost yet, i suppose....we have about 10 days left to pull a goody out of the bag, I'm thinking a pied wheatear perhaps, so good luck!
 
Hi Mark and welcome to Bird Forum from the Staff and Moderators.

Any chance of you meeting us all there on Saturday morning details here

you'd be most welcome

D
 
As an avid girdleness watcher (well, a little less avid these days due to work!) I've enjoyed reading this thread, although I feel I can't really contribute to the Purple sandpiper counting debate, cos I stopped reading it a while back!

You have my greatest sympathies Andrew, for girdleness has not been itself this autumn......this is the worst autumn I can remember for the site. To cap it all off, i was away on Ile d'ouessant when Richard found that rosefinch, so I didn't even get that!

All is not lost yet, i suppose....we have about 10 days left to pull a goody out of the bag, I'm thinking a pied wheatear perhaps, so good luck!

Hi Mark - I'll probably have a look round tomorrow so maybe 'the boy' will be there then.
 
As an avid girdleness watcher (well, a little less avid these days due to work!) I've enjoyed reading this thread, although I feel I can't really contribute to the Purple sandpiper counting debate, cos I stopped reading it a while back!

You have my greatest sympathies Andrew, for girdleness has not been itself this autumn......this is the worst autumn I can remember for the site. To cap it all off, i was away on Ile d'ouessant when Richard found that rosefinch, so I didn't even get that!

All is not lost yet, i suppose....we have about 10 days left to pull a goody out of the bag, I'm thinking a pied wheatear perhaps, so good luck!

Well it seems the rest of us stopped understanding the Totaliser a while back too, which amounts to pretty much the same thing, so contribute all you like ;)

Welcome to BF :)
 
As for the indecent exposure, in the (very) dim and distant past I did occasionally go 'courting' at Girdleness, but it was always dark so I'm sure nobody saw;)[/QUOTE]

Night Vision Infra Red Binoculars have been known to be used in the Girdleness area for several years..!:eek!:
 
Unless I was suppressing for my own callous amusement, those of you who subscribe to nation's bird news providers will already be aware that 'the boy' was not at Girdle Ness this morning. Or if it was, it failed to darken the prisms of my bins. I did try though, at least for an hour or so. Vis mig proved to be more vague miss, with impressive totals of Redwing 5, Siskin 2, Skylark 2, Meadow Pipit 2. I assume the last three of those were all heading for Noah's Ark, which was anchored offshore. Bird of the day was a female Tufted Duck flying up the Dee - only my second Girdle Ness record. Other ducks were in on the act too - a female Goldeneye in Greyhope Bay and 2 Long-tailed Ducks and a Common Scoter north. 3 Red-throated Divers were on the harbour, with another north and another south. The Stonechat numbers on the north shore had burgeoned to 3, with an extra male now about.

Watching from the flat later in the morning turned up an overdue house tick - two Kestrels circling over the harbour. A Sparrowhawk was troubling the pigeons over the city centre.

Photos: continuing to explore orange and black themes in my work, I call these brooding sunsets 'The future's blight' and 'The future's not black'.
 

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Unless I was suppressing for my own callous amusement, those of you who subscribe to nation's bird news providers will already be aware that 'the boy' was not at Girdle Ness this morning. Or if it was, it failed to darken the prisms of my bins. I did try though, at least for an hour or so. Vis mig proved to be more vague miss, with impressive totals of Redwing 5, Siskin 2, Skylark 2, Meadow Pipit 2. I assume the last three of those were all heading for Noah's Ark, which was anchored offshore. Bird of the day was a female Tufted Duck flying up the Dee - only my second Girdle Ness record. Other ducks were in on the act too - a female Goldeneye in Greyhope Bay and 2 Long-tailed Ducks and a Common Scoter north. 3 Red-throated Divers were on the harbour, with another north and another south. The Stonechat numbers on the north shore had burgeoned to 3, with an extra male now about.

Watching from the flat later in the morning turned up an overdue house tick - two Kestrels circling over the harbour. A Sparrowhawk was troubling the pigeons over the city centre.

Photos: continuing to explore orange and black themes in my work, I call these brooding sunsets 'The future's blight' and 'The future's not black'.

Not only are those really rather nice pictures, the titles made me choke on my drink.
 
The Bottle-nosed Dolphins were on their best form for some time this morning. Around 8-10 were circling the river mouth for a few hours - a few youngsters amonst them. Two Red-throated Divers were there too, with one following the dolphins about as they fed.
 
One or two Bottle-nosed Dolphins again this morning. Away from Torry, I had a Woodcock almost fly into me in St Peter's Cemetery on King Street. A few thrushes around there too. It'll all be happening tomorrow though.
 
Hi, Andrew,
Delighted to find your Torry thread. My Mum came from Aberdeen, and as a child back in the 'forties and fifties I spent many happy days down by Greyhope Bay looking for shore crabs. If I remember rightly I used to catch the No. 17 bus through Torry to get there.

With regard to purple sandpipers, here is my personal experience. In Feb 2000 I was in UK for a visit and my brother (from Campbeltown) and I drove up to Aberdeen to see our cousins. One day we were up at the Ythan estuary looking at bar-tailed godwits. One of my target species that trip was the Purple Sandpiper, so I asked a local lad who was watching the godwits if he knew where they could be found. He told us to go back to Aberdeen and drive to Greyhope Bay. So off we went, and stopped in the parking area at Greyhope Bay. We hadn't been out of the car for five minutes before a flight of 20 or so purple sandpipers came wheeling in from the sea and landed on the rocks just below us. We couldn't believe our eyes.
I am glad to hear from you that they are still around.
Best wishes,
Dave Kennedy
 
Hi, Andrew,
Delighted to find your Torry thread. My Mum came from Aberdeen, and as a child back in the 'forties and fifties I spent many happy days down by Greyhope Bay looking for shore crabs. If I remember rightly I used to catch the No. 17 bus through Torry to get there.

With regard to purple sandpipers, here is my personal experience. In Feb 2000 I was in UK for a visit and my brother (from Campbeltown) and I drove up to Aberdeen to see our cousins. One day we were up at the Ythan estuary looking at bar-tailed godwits. One of my target species that trip was the Purple Sandpiper, so I asked a local lad who was watching the godwits if he knew where they could be found. He told us to go back to Aberdeen and drive to Greyhope Bay. So off we went, and stopped in the parking area at Greyhope Bay. We hadn't been out of the car for five minutes before a flight of 20 or so purple sandpipers came wheeling in from the sea and landed on the rocks just below us. We couldn't believe our eyes.
I am glad to hear from you that they are still around.
Best wishes,
Dave Kennedy

Nice to hear of your experiences at Greyhope Bay, Dave. I'm happy to say that there were quite a few Purple Sandpipers there this morning for our BF bash. If you're in Aberdeen again, you need to get the number 12 bus nowadays!
 

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