Wild in Aberdeen - City and Shire (4 Viewers)

Uncommonly pleasant weather here in Aberdeen today - getting close to 18 degrees and warmer than it will be for most of the summer no doubt. I had a stroll along the River Dee from Inchgarth to Torry, which is usually a great walk in spring. I didn't see anything too unexpected but Dippers and Long-tailed Tits were nest building, Goldeneye were displaying and lots of stuff was singing. LTTs seemed to be particularly conspicuous and a few Grey Wagtails were looking territorial along the river. I also saw my first Lesser Black-backed Gulls of the year and one each of Peacock and Small Tortoishell butterfly.

Here are a couple of spring-like pictures.

I spent a few hours on the Aberdeenshire coast today, starting at Strathbeg, where the Greater Yellowlegs was showing from the visitor centre. To be honest, at 500m in less than ideal light it could have been a Greenshank if I hadn't known otherwise! However, when it took flight it was apparent for a split second that there wasn't much white on its back. Fairly underwhelming though.

There were also 2-3 Ruff, a Black tailed Godwit and a ringtail Hen Harrier at Strathbeg. Heading down to Peterhead I did a quick tour around the harbour but only picked up a single Iceland Gull, among 200+ other gulls at the Freshcatch shed on Errol Street.

The sun started to come out so I stopped briefly at the Bullers of Buchan where quite a few Razorbills, Guillemots and Kittiwakes were back on their nesting ledges, although many more were floating in large rafts on the sea below the cliffs.

I finally ended up at the Ythan Estuary where, among the usual suspects, I saw a male Shoveler.

I popped up to Strathbeg to bag the legs today. It hadn't been seen when I arrived, but a good search of the tower pool area revealed it very distantly at the back. Fortunately it flew closer and landed in front of the old stone building and gave reasonable scope views in good flat light. It was feeding voraciously on small fish, I saw it catch at least 7 in the hour I watched it for.

Had an enjoyable time visting a few local sites yesterday. Highlights included an early Sandwich Tern at Donmouth (perhaps the same bird seen in Aberdeen Harbour a couple of weeks ago?), and 2 European White-fronted Geese, many Pinkfeets and a redhead Smew all in the Ythan area, amongst other things. For a more extended account, see my blog over the next couple of days.

Joseph

The Sandwich Tern was back at Donmouth this evening. LBBs up to 5, but nowt else noteworthy...

Been on here now for a few months with occassional id request so thought I'd put up my sightings for the past weekend as I've found them quite interesting, suppose I should put them up the day after or so but here goes anyway.
Started Saturday, (17th) Loch of Skene (Tower side) for a couple of hours, couple of Grey Wagtails as soon as I went through the gates, some Tufted Duck close in by the boathouse, large numbers of Common, Black-headed gulls and Mute Swans on the loch, as well as Goldeneye, Coot, & Mallard. In the woods, Blue, Coal, Great and Long-tailed Tit in various numbers, Treecreeper (2) Chaffinch, Bullfinch and possible Song/Mistle Thrush, couldn't get it long enoough for a proper id, usual Robin, Blackbird, Starling, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Wood Pigeon. 2 Buzzard wheeling overhead, a skein of Pink-footed Geese overhead (c50).
Sunday, started east side of loch, as soon as I got out of car,2 Buzzard on east side of road, heard and glimpsed for about 10 seconds, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great Tit and Blue Tit. On loch finally got a Whooper Swan, known they have been there but never been able to id one positively. Mute Swan, Oystercatcher and Cormorant on the small island, Tufted Duck, and Mallard again. Garlogie Dam next for Dunnock, Robin, Goldfinch, Long-tailed Tit, Goldeneye on dam, Buzzard, Pheasant, Rook, Yellowhammer and single Red Kite cruising the tree line. Woodpecker heard but unable to get a bead on it. Cullerlie pond next, more Oysetrcatcher, Wigeon, 2 Common Gull roosting on fence post and another Red Kite overhead being mobbed by Crow. Woods by Banchory next and much of the same, Tits etc. 3 x Buzzard overhead which then came through the woods in line astern with much noise and speed, again could hear Woddpecker drumming but no sighting.
Home via some of the smaller roads and come over a hill into 4 Buzzards and 2 Red Kite wheeling about 50 feet above road and field, after almost hitting the wall trying to get stopped, one of the Kites seemd to be fending off the Buzzards, and doing quite a good job of it, the other Kite had a stick and flew over the tree line, was back within about a minute and swooped on field for another stick, disappeared again, repeated this three times so will have to check out this area again. Buzzards seemed to give up but could be heard on the distance. One of the Kites had wing tags but was moving too fast for an id.
So all in all, a quite pleasant weekend, especially with the weather, and also to cap it all, what started my birdwatching interests (on webcams) about a year ago returned, EJ back on her nest at Loch Garten. A couple of not so good snaps to finish it off, seems like I'm rambling now.

Sounds like an enjoyable couple of days out in the fine weather we have been having.

It might be worth sending the details of your nest building kite to Jenny Lennon at the RSPB:

http://www.rspb.org.uk/ourwork/projects/details/274636-aberdeen-red-kites

Chances are it's a site that is known to them, but you never know if you've stumbled across a new location.

Yes, weather makes all the difference, have e-mailed as you suggested with some grid references.

Jimmycq said:

Yes, weather makes all the difference, have e-mailed as you suggested with some grid references.

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Hi Jimmy,
If you're back at Skene soon, it's worth looking amongst the Tufted Ducks for a couple of Scaup (a female and an immature male - though looking pretty smart now) amongst them. They were still present this morning to the west of the Towers, not too far out. There's also a presumed Scaup X Tufted Duck hybrid if there's one that you're struggling with. Nothing else of particular note, other than that Tree Sparrows seem to be taking up residence by the Towers; there should be some summer migrants back soon though. The Whooper that you saw will probably be one with a damaged wing that's been resident for a couple of years now, but others do drop in or flyover, mainly on autumn or spring migration.
It looks as though you're being careful in not putting any detail about the location of nesting kites etc online, but just a gentle reminder to continue to be so - I hope that doesn't sound patronising (it's not meant to be), but you do say you're new to birding.
All the best,
Hugh.

Thanks Hugh, no offence taken whatsoever, I'll have to study some Scaup pictures before my next visit, probably wouldn't recognise it if I did see one. Dont know if I'll manage this weekend due to work commitments. Will lookout for the Tree sparrows as well, another new one for me. Funnily enough, having waited that long for the Whooper, I was down Wed evening and got a whole flock, typical I suppose. doesn't show up too good in this photo but there was Mute in amongst so was easily id'd in the binoculars. Had a reply from Jenny at the RSPB and this is a known kite nesting site so quite chuffed with myself, will have to keep an eye on it.. from a distance of course, cheers
Jim

2 Chiffchaffs singing in Kirkhill Forest this morning - my first. Also singing redwing, heaps of meadow pipits in the summit clearing and a woodcock flushed from open ground near the Tappie Tower.

It's a glorious day - i'll be surprised if good birds aren't found today!

5 Whooper Swans looking good on Loirston Loch this afternoon right by the road - nice to see something different there.

Started off the day at Strathbeg with distant views of the Greater Yellowlegs from the Towerpool hide...not too much else around there apart from Geese in the back fields. Numbers are building up ready for their departure north soon.
We picked out a couple of Barnacles and several White-fronts among them from the Fen hide as well as several Pintails on the loch.
We were really lucky as a bittern flew up from our right and crossed over in front of us into the reeds, superb view !
We went back to the centre at starnafin and the Greater Yellowlegs had come to the pool in front of the big window..so we all had super views of this stunning bird.
It looks paler to me compared to when I saw it at Dornoch around christmas time, a beautiful bird.
Next stop was at Rattray Head where we picked up Great Northern Diver, Sandwich Tern, Red-throated Diver and a Puffin !
A brief stop in Peterhead produced several stunning Iceland Gulls and then down to Forvie where we watched a couple of Scaup on the loch there.
Last stop was at Torry where we got close views of the Purple Sandpipers and some show off Dolphins and then down the road for tea.
A great day out, super weather and great company along the way.

gus guthrie said:

Started off the day at Strathbeg with distant views of the Greater Yellowlegs from the Towerpool hide...not too much else around there apart from Geese in the back fields. Numbers are building up ready for their departure north soon.
We picked out a couple of Barnacles and several White-fronts among them from the Fen hide as well as several Pintails on the loch.
We were really lucky as a bittern flew up from our right and crossed over in front of us into the reeds, superb view !
We went back to the centre at starnafin and the Greater Yellowlegs had come to the pool in front of the big window..so we all had super views of this stunning bird.
It looks paler to me compared to when I saw it at Dornoch around christmas time, a beautiful bird.
Next stop was at Rattray Head where we picked up Great Northern Diver, Sandwich Tern, Red-throated Diver and a Puffin !
A brief stop in Peterhead produced several stunning Iceland Gulls and then down to Forvie where we watched a couple of Scaup on the loch there.
Last stop was at Torry where we got close views of the Purple Sandpipers and some show off Dolphins and then down the road for tea.
A great day out, super weather and great company along the way.

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Great to see you and Matt again today Gus, enjoyed your company and I'm glad that you had a successful day up here. My day was relatively similar to yours, starting with a female Merlin at strathbeg lagoon before getting reasonable views of the Greater Yellowlegs from the Visitor Centre. Missed the Bittern by minutes, and the rest of the loch was quiet.

Annachie Lagoon had the pleasant surprise of 20 Sandwich Terns and 5 Black-tailed Godwits; its good to see both species returning in numbers now. Peterhead held a smattering of Iceland Gulls. Finally, Blackdog held a small number of Common Scoters offshore and a pair of Stonechat by the footbridge, the latter my first in the NE this year and a delight to see considering the struggles they have had in recent winters. For a more extended account and pics, see my blog in the next few days.

Joseph

wish we had stopped at Blackdog now !! would have liked the Stonechats !! was great to meet up with you both again and will be back up before too long !!

There was a cock Pheasant picking around the doors to The Justice Mill boozery on Union Street this morning with people strolling by...a rather surreal sight which made me double take!

This morning I saw my tenth Short-eared owl of the year. Considering that I'd only seen 3-4 SEOs in total over the previous 5 years, it just goes to show what a good winter it has been for this species this year.

Unlike the first nine, which were all flushed from lowland roosts, today's bird was on an upland breeding site.

Capercaillie71 said:

This morning I saw my tenth Short-eared owl of the year. Considering that I'd only seen 3-4 SEOs in total over the previous 5 years, it just goes to show what a good winter it has been for this species this year.

Unlike the first nine, which were all flushed from lowland roosts, today's bird was on an upland breeding site.

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If only you could say the same about Hen Harriers Paul.:C
An uplifting story all the same. :t:

Peregrine Falcons

3 Peregrine Falcons Involved In a rapid chase In the city centre this morning,screaming at each other as they went.Excellent viewing.

Good flock of Sand Martin over Loch of Skene yesterday, 30+.