Kincardinshire, Angus and outwith. (1 Viewer)

Thought it best to start a new thread.
To now it's been odd sightings, occasional impressions and an old thread whose title was not strictly correct for where I bird watch.
Additional area related reports would be most welcome also, needless to say.

First of two posts, same route, one week apart, last week and this.

Date 03. April 2017
Evening 5pm to 7.40pm
Pleasant evening, bright to sun set, breeze from offshore.
Visibility was good.
Johnshaven to Gourdon, coastal path.

Birds in order from cemetery, Johnshaven to Harbour, Gourdon;

Ploughed field - Herring Gulls, Pigeon, Rooks, Carrion Crow.
Lane Cemetery to Lathallan - Blue Tit, Great Tit ;Pair on patrol, Yellowhammer, Robin, Blackbird, Countless Wood Pigeon, Lathallan - Rookery overhead, the company of a Wren four posts ahead and under tree cover, unmistakable rattle first alert to presence.
Waterfront Wairds Park- x 20/30 Turnstone (Pic) watched some turn the act of the seaweed flip in to an art form, x 2 Redshank, Eiders all along the three mile coastline. Black-Headed Gulls, Herring Gulls, Common Gull, Lesser Black-Backed Gull and Greater Black-Backed Gull evident also.
1/2 mile out of Johnshaven, x1 Ringer Plover (Pic) holding solitary station it appeared.
Burn of Benholm - x 5 Mallard with several more on foreshore. x1 Grey Heron (Pic x2) with several Cormorant, stationary and in flight.
Haughs of Benholm to Gourdon along the old rail line - Meadow Pipit, Greenfinch, Chaffinch, Starling, Pied Wagtail, , another Wren, this time much more conspicuous on a fencepost, and Skylark.

Coastal path to Gourdon to end with light beginning to fade - Curlew (Pic) , Stonechat and numerous Collared Doves, well recognised residents from the top of village these past months.

Not an area that I know at all. I look forward to seeing what turns up for you.

Thank you.

It is without doubt the elements of potential and surprise that we all take with us as we venture out; two more great reasons to do what we do.

I should also say that I have taken the time to read your thread and I have really enjoyed doing so.

As a rule, I do try to vary location as there are several favoured locations close to hand, almost all as much about place as potential. But the same path and same direction it was (if a different time of day (Morning) and tide level (low-tide))

The format of this report will be a little different also. I will list the birds from Johnshaven to Gourdon along the coastal path this time around, and return to an observation made as I walked to end.

Date 09. April 2017
Morning 7.45am to 10.30am
Bright morning, sun undecided if in or out, light breeze from offshore.
Visibility was vey good.
Johnshaven to Gourdon, coastal path.

Sightings as follows; Buzzard, OysterCatcher, WoodPigeon, Gulls; Common, Great Backed, Herring and black Headed, Pigeon, Chaffinch, Robin, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Rooks, Carrion Crow, Redshank, Cormorant, Goldfinch, Pied Wagtail, Meadow Pipit (Pic), Jackdaws in flight, Skylark, Mallard, Mistle Thrush, Linnet, House Sparrow busy in a ploughed field, Yellowhammer, Eider somewhat animated, Curlew and two undetermined Divers, unmistakable in size and shape but a combination of low tide, the unique topography here and their low profile had them just beyond my reach to identify.

One additional observation, relating to the humble Skylark. One that confirms why I will always be a bird watcher as opposed to a list aficionado or twitcher or the appropriate term. Of course, to each their own.

I must have spent a half hour watching several Skylarks at intervals, each one held on that piece of invisible string, loud and high (legally) before the plummet to earth, each time opening the parachute, as it appears to me at least, just short of land. That this is a once a year event, one of those observations that keeps time on a year, independent of any form of mechanical device, merely added to the spectacle.

The simple things.

Having flushed several grouse close to the path up Glensaugh on my last visit, and having caught a female pheasant from above, beautifully camouflaged, (Pic) once I had walked through and the wave of disturbance had passed, I set out to cover the path up the glen this time round but from a height parallel to the main route. The sole purpose of this was to stalk the vegetation to each side of the valley path for period of time, from high above and see what turned up.

16 April 2017
Mid-late morning 10.30am to 12.30pm
Overcast to begin, firm breeze, rain to end
Visibility good to fair
GlenSaugh

The result? A solitary Yellowhammer at close quarter! (Pic) Yes, there were Woodpigeon in the trees, the sound of several Wrens without a sighting, Meadow Pipit, Mistle Thrush, Pied Wagtail, and family Corvus but as for the intended quarry beneath my vantage point from up on the hill, looking to the hillside across, looking further up the glen, nothing! The beauty of drawing a blank.

There was further consolation on the way home with sightings of Little Grebe, Coot and Moorhen, with the obligatory Mute Swan also on Loch Saugh. The behaviour of the little grebes was highly amusing to observe from the roadside, ever elusive, diving rather than flying away. There was also a Buzzard perched high just short of Auchenblae on the way back. Stopped the car, got out, set up the tripod, set up the scope, took out the camera phone and set up the holder. Only for the Buzzard to fly away.

So don’t quite know how to feel about this one as a whole, other than time spent outdoors in the foothills of the Cairngorms could never be considered a waste of time!