OK Mark, now that you've come out, tell us who the trousers belonged to. I'm heading that way tomorrow, and I like to be careful who I speak to. 8-P
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Birds fae Torry (2 Viewers)
- Thread starter Andrew Whitehouse
- Start date
OK Mark, now that you've come out, tell us who the trousers belonged to. I'm heading that way tomorrow, and I like to be careful who I speak to. 8-P
Nice article Ken!
I did manage to drag myself round the Ness at 8 am this morning, for which endeavour I was rewarded with almost nothing. Well, if you want me to enumerate, 1 Purple Sandpiper on Greyhope Bay, 3 Red-breasted Mergansers, 5 Wheatears, 43 Common Scoters and a Long-tailed Duck (flying south with a Guillemot, a bit strangely). At least seven Bottlenose Dolphins were about, catching some wicked air at times, or something like that. Not much in the way of migrants at all, but maybe some overnight rain will do something. The forecast maybe looks good but I'll believe it when I see it.
A bit better later in the day was an overdue house tick in the shape of a drake Goosander, swimming across the harbour mouth.
Attached: a discarded wetsuit at the Battery. Its presence there begs a number of questions.
A bit better later in the day was an overdue house tick in the shape of a drake Goosander, swimming across the harbour mouth.
Attached: a discarded wetsuit at the Battery. Its presence there begs a number of questions.
Attachments
amilne
Well-known member
Andrew,
I am truly in awe of your bird recognition skills but you are now entering territory in which I am somewhat knowledgeable.
A wetsuit is almost invariably made of body hugging neoprene, although colour and attachments can vary a great deal. I like my pink, green and yellow one most.:t: In Aberdeen, where boiler suits are normally obtained free from employers, they are brightly coloured in the main, and I would reject that possibility. Note the dark colour, the hood, and the careless way it is lying. I would identify this as a rain accessory from the genus "golfer", often to be seen in some numbers around the battery area. I can give a closer identification if I see it myself on my strolls there, although the "golfer" may have retrieved it. The furtive and erratic habits of the non-paying "golfer" may mean that it really is discarded.
I shall bow to your knowledge here. It's quite rubbery. Maybe golfers like that.
I keep scanning the skyline but haven't seen any yet. Hopefully today will be the day. Still need it for the house list!
Mark Lew1s
My real name is Mark Lewis
should be today, Andrew....first ones over my place on thistle street this morning. Good times!
Grand haul from the ness yesterday inc. 2 lesser whities at the battery, common sand in nigg bay, white wag in the WALLED GARDEN, lapwing and whimbrel over, and 3+ blackcap along the railway embankment.
Grand haul from the ness yesterday inc. 2 lesser whities at the battery, common sand in nigg bay, white wag in the WALLED GARDEN, lapwing and whimbrel over, and 3+ blackcap along the railway embankment.
RecoveringScot
Well-known member
There are at least 30, probably more, over my part of town today. Also Buzzard. This could be a good week as SE winds are predicted off and on. And I'm on holiday.
Cheers
Update
Some judicious use of the scope produced several Swifts over town just now. I think that's 82 for the flat list.
Some judicious use of the scope produced several Swifts over town just now. I think that's 82 for the flat list.
I met up with Ken Hall,in glorious sunshine late this morning and I shall tell you about the highlights,of our 2 hour walk around Girdleness together.
With possibly the warmest day of 2008,it came as no surprise when I recorded my 1st Common Swift of the year.My walk started with Swallows,Sandwich Terns and 3 Guilliemots as I passed the Plotties.(Allotments) No Dolphins on show today,which was a bit of a let down.
I met Ken at the Torry Battery and we soon picked up a couple of Whitethroats,in the gorse bushes and Ken was lucky enough to spot the Lesser Whitethroat,that has been reported recently in the area.
A short walk round the Golf Course,produced a female Wheatear and 3 Common Scoters on the water at Nigg Bay.Also on Nigg Bay were 3 Red throated Divers but not much else.
We then had a walk towards Greg Ness and it was great to see the small breeding population of Sand Martins had returned,to the sand bank for another year.I remember them breeding there 35 years ago..!
Before we embarked on a walk round the STW,we spotted "The Freak",sitting very tightly on what we believe to be eggs,on top of the STW Roof."The Freak" being an Albino Oyster Catcher,that has gained almost celebrity status over the years.
The walk around the STW produced a very obliging male Blackcap and a Willow Warbler singing his heart out,from the top of a tree.We also came across the items of clothing,that have been discussed on this thread recently but I shall leave that to the experts..!
I had to head home but Ken continued his tour of the area and possibly may add to the above sightings.
With possibly the warmest day of 2008,it came as no surprise when I recorded my 1st Common Swift of the year.My walk started with Swallows,Sandwich Terns and 3 Guilliemots as I passed the Plotties.(Allotments) No Dolphins on show today,which was a bit of a let down.
I met Ken at the Torry Battery and we soon picked up a couple of Whitethroats,in the gorse bushes and Ken was lucky enough to spot the Lesser Whitethroat,that has been reported recently in the area.
A short walk round the Golf Course,produced a female Wheatear and 3 Common Scoters on the water at Nigg Bay.Also on Nigg Bay were 3 Red throated Divers but not much else.
We then had a walk towards Greg Ness and it was great to see the small breeding population of Sand Martins had returned,to the sand bank for another year.I remember them breeding there 35 years ago..!
Before we embarked on a walk round the STW,we spotted "The Freak",sitting very tightly on what we believe to be eggs,on top of the STW Roof."The Freak" being an Albino Oyster Catcher,that has gained almost celebrity status over the years.
The walk around the STW produced a very obliging male Blackcap and a Willow Warbler singing his heart out,from the top of a tree.We also came across the items of clothing,that have been discussed on this thread recently but I shall leave that to the experts..!
I had to head home but Ken continued his tour of the area and possibly may add to the above sightings.
Well, after Ben had to go home, I went and had my piece in the car park overlooking Greyhope Bay. While I was munching and watching the Sandwich Terns scoffing sandeels, I saw the unmistakable figure of Andrew striding down the hill from The Battery towards me. While we got talking, he pointed out a pale phase Arctic Skua, barely visible in the far distance. How he ever saw it at all was amazing, but that's the sort of chap he is. Thanks for that one Andrew, but I'll hope to get a better sighting some time. I spent the rest of the day going round and round the Ness getting some photos of the birds, which I'll put on my website/diary. I found the item of rubberised clothing previously referred to (it's size XL if anyone's interested). Ben and I also found a dead Shrew. Just before I met up with Ben, I had a look in the Walker Park, to be confronted with a half naked practitioner of the good-walk-spoiled brigade, practicing his swing right next to the "No golf practice"sign, and a demented jogger running round and round the perimeter. In spite of that, there were a few nice male Wheaters around. And that's about it I think. Here is a photo of The Freak, sitting frying in the sun, on the roof of the Sewage Treatment Works, and proving that birds can't have much of a sense of smell.
Attachments
turkish van
Number 1 celebrity badger
Does that mean he could just as easily have claimed it was a Badgeider or some flying creature of equal status?
Or in other words, did you sling your best buddy (Glauk) some goodies in return for a nice skua impression Andrew?
Nice reports guys, and good to meet up with you this afternoon Ken. It's encouraging to see that some birders weren't skoring big with the Nearctic megafauna at St Combs but were scouring the bushes and fields in the hope of eking out a few minor drift migrants. And I was one of those birders. And one or two drift migrants were eked out. But not many. There follows a report from the front line of bird finding.
Things didn't start well, when something like this finally happened to my ED50. I slunk along the north shore, hoping there wasn't anything too distant that I might need a securely attached scope to ID. Luckily the birds were fairly close. A Common Sandpiper flew out of a tree (!) and along the shore, where there was also a White Wagtail. 31 Turnstones were roosting on the old pier. The first of the day's Lesser Whitethroats was gleaning insects from the buds on 'The Sycamore'. Those tasty tender buds are so enticing. Another was in the gorse at the Battery and occasionally burst into brief flurries of song. There were also a couple of Common Whitethroats there and the 'wetsuit' was still present.
Down at Greyhope Bay I met Ken and we watched the aforementioned pale phase Arctic Skua make life hard for the assembled gulls. My first of the year. 13 Purple Sandpipers were on the rocks and there were 16 more Turnstones. The underdressed pedestrian botherers had disappeared from the Walker Park and in their wake there were lots of Wheatears - up to 13 and three more were seen on the south side later on. I wonder where they're heading for.
Off the foghorn were three Common Scoters, two Red-throated Divers, an Arctic Tern and a few Common Terns. Another Red-throated Diver was in Nigg Bay. And that was about it. I still felt enormously virtuous for not chasing the mega. So long as I didn't think too much about it.
Things didn't start well, when something like this finally happened to my ED50. I slunk along the north shore, hoping there wasn't anything too distant that I might need a securely attached scope to ID. Luckily the birds were fairly close. A Common Sandpiper flew out of a tree (!) and along the shore, where there was also a White Wagtail. 31 Turnstones were roosting on the old pier. The first of the day's Lesser Whitethroats was gleaning insects from the buds on 'The Sycamore'. Those tasty tender buds are so enticing. Another was in the gorse at the Battery and occasionally burst into brief flurries of song. There were also a couple of Common Whitethroats there and the 'wetsuit' was still present.
Down at Greyhope Bay I met Ken and we watched the aforementioned pale phase Arctic Skua make life hard for the assembled gulls. My first of the year. 13 Purple Sandpipers were on the rocks and there were 16 more Turnstones. The underdressed pedestrian botherers had disappeared from the Walker Park and in their wake there were lots of Wheatears - up to 13 and three more were seen on the south side later on. I wonder where they're heading for.
Off the foghorn were three Common Scoters, two Red-throated Divers, an Arctic Tern and a few Common Terns. Another Red-throated Diver was in Nigg Bay. And that was about it. I still felt enormously virtuous for not chasing the mega. So long as I didn't think too much about it.
Mark Lew1s
My real name is Mark Lewis
errmm....I got as far as greyhope bay today, and then got a little distracted!
Does that mean he could just as easily have claimed it was a Badgeider or some flying creature of equal status?
Or in other words, did you sling your best buddy (Glauk) some goodies in return for a nice skua impression Andrew?
Well, admittedly I didn't see the Glauk (or is it Glauc?) today. Or any Badgeiders, unusually. But it was still an Arctic Skua - after all two of us saw it, so it couldn't possibly be stringy.
I see some people were weak today
.
markgrubb
Leading a life of quiet desperation
One of the comforts of life are the certainties. The dependable things you can rely on to always be the same.
Dr W has always been one-promoting the virtues of dedicated local patching(as above) and decrying the hollow soulless existence that is twitching. And you can always smile at the usually slightly blurred picture that accompanies his local jaunts.
So it comes as a shattering blow to see that the Torrymeister has sunk into the depravities of moral turpitude and has confessed to travelling 80 miles there and back to twitch the aforementioned nearctic mega. Even more surprising is that the images are, as Edenwatcher mentions, and I find this hard to say, pleasing to the eye.
So does this thread change now to 'Birding fae the Scillies to Shetland'? Is he planning to expand his media interests to photography? Will we see him with a Bigma slung over his shoulder? Or will we get some lame excuse about having to be on site to tell his fellow twitchers what a shallow existence they are leading.
The world awaits with baited breath
G Anderson
Registered User
I know - surely this is more listening to birdline than listening to birds!
