Birds fae Torry (4 Viewers)

[Andrew Whitehouse]

Are all your regular places within walking distance of your home or do you need to travel to them? It must be great to have regular sightings of cetaceans.

Basically St Fittick's Park and the headland of Girdle Ness are on my doorstep in Torry. The foghorn at Girdle Ness (where I seawatch and see cetaceans) is about 2km from my front door and that's about the furthest point from home that's within 'the patch'. Sometimes I sneak in places that are little bit further, like last weekend's walk from Cove Bay. I got the bus there but then walked back the few miles along the coast. It's a very good place to live for wildlife, particularly given that I'm only about a mile from the centre of Aberdeen.

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

It was mostly cloudy today, but stayed fairly calm. I began at St Fittick's. Perhaps the most notable sighting of the day was of a drake Teal in the marsh. I suspect it's my first ever June record here and, coming just a few weeks after a pair were last seen in the marsh, perhaps indicates some breeding activity. It's something to keep an eye out for anyway. Things were relatively quiet there otherwise, although there are certainly two family groups of Long-tailed Tits now.

Things were mostly as usual around the headland. Eight Turnstones remain in Greyhope Bay but very few other waders were about. Offshore there were two Puffins. Eider numbers are building up, with 195 counted today, mostly drakes and mostly off the foghorn.

A quick report on nocmig recordings through the latter part of May. Things were generally quiet with not much moving. A surprise was a group of Redwings going over on 23rd May. I also recorded a Barn Owl again on 28th May.

 

[tjbw]

I decided to leave my camera behind on Sunday. I was soon to regret this as I came across 2 Sedge Warbler singing near the path below the Battery, also showing well were Goldfinch, Meadow Pipit and Linnit. Three Goosander were resting nearby.

At Greyhope Bay, I had numerous sightings of Common Ringed Plover, though it could be just 2 birds that kept flying around. I just saw 1 Ruddy Turnstone.

Over at St Fittick's I also saw the Teal mentioned by Andrew.

Barry

 

[Cucurrucucu]

The only thing of interest on the way down Balnagask to the post office today.

View attachment Tesco PO 23,6,7 gulls duelling attacked by jackdaw cut 10 comp .mov
The jackdaw chased one of the gulls away, talons flashing. And then it or its mate went for the other one. Duelling too close to their nest?

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

Relatively quiet this week, at least when I've been out. I was out on Monday afternoon (5th) but was showing someone around, so wasn't full on birding. The best of it was a dark phase Arctic Skua and a Puffin offshore.

This evening was beautifully calm and clear. Lots of birds were on the sea, including five Manx Shearwaters going north. The Eider flock was up to 208.

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

Another calm, sunny evening. Three Dunlin were in Greyhope Bay, so wader passage isn't quite done yet. Pleasingly, a rather large Ringed Plover chick appeared in the same area, presumably one of the brood seen a few weeks ago. The Eider flock is now up to 250. A Yellowhammer was singing from the gorse by the main track over the headland, a bit further north than they usually are.

 

[Ian Bell]

I was also at Greyhope Bay last night.I must have missed you,Andrew.
Only other things to add to Andrew's Post was two Turnstones In nice summer plumage and a bit of Dolphin activity between the North and South Piers.

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

So today turned out to be surprisingly interesting. It was pretty fine weather and reasonably warm by recent standards. I spent the morning in St Fittick's. Nothing too unusual was about but it was good to see plenty of juvenile Long-tailed Tits and a recently fledged Goldcrest. I continued on to the headland. Not much was happening offshore. The Eider count edged up to 262. A Dunlin was in Greyhope Bay. That was about it, or so I thought, and I headed for home.

I'd got back to around the eastern end of the allotments when a message came through on the local WhatsApp group saying that local ringer Raymond Duncan had seen a singing White-crowned Sparrow at the Battery at around 9am in the morning. He'd not been able to identify it initially, hence the delay in the report. I think my jaw dropped a bit when I saw the report. Apparently the bird had been seen well but had disappeared fairly quickly. I started wandering back towards the Battery, checking the bushes as I went. Nothing seemed to be happening around the Battery, by which time a few other birders had arrived to look for it. I suspected that it might have moved on fairly quickly and maybe wasn't around anymore.

I started heading home at around 3pm and had got back to the same spot where I'd been when I'd initially got the report. I thought I'd quickly play the song and, almost instantly, a bird shot into a small tree on the bank below me. It was the White-crowned Sparrow! I was shaking a bit but managed a few photos and could just about use my fingers enough to send a message out to other birders. It sat in the tree for a couple of minutes before flitting up the bank to the allotments, where it perched on the outer fence before perching up nicely on a wooden post. It seemed to annoy the local House Sparrows a bit. It had just flipped out of view by the time others arrived and, somewhat to my surprise, didn't reappear initially.

I finally went home to go through my photos. I think this appears to be of the 'eastern Taiga' subspecies, so is definitely different to the Gambell's bird that was in Sussex earlier this year. It apparently reappeared in the allotments at around 5pm. I guess it's the 13th British record, with the one in Sussex the 12th.

 

[Cucurrucucu]

White-crowned Sparrow!

The pictures turned out well! Well worth the search.

 

[tjbw]

The pictures turned out well! Well worth the search.

Yes indeed, an excellent find and photos.

 

[birdmeister]

Such great photos Andrew, and glad you got to see and document such a great rarity! Congratulations to the finder, too.

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

Yes indeed, an excellent find and photos.

Thanks! I should emphasise that I didn't find it, but did relocate it.

 

[Ian Bell]

Great photos,Andrew.I went down after 6pm but no sign of It,despite plenty folk looking.

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

Great photos,Andrew.I went down after 6pm but no sign of It,despite plenty folk looking.

That's a shame. Seems as though there's no sign so far today.

 

[Scozmos]

Cracking shots @Andrew and great to see the bird

 

[Cucurrucucu]

That's a shame. Seems as though there's no sign so far today.

What there was mostly today were lots of twitchers! (Andy(?) from Ullapool sends his regards.)

 

[Cucurrucucu]

That's a shame. Seems as though there's no sign so far today.

When was the last cruise ship here? If it had come in on one, our little boat person would have been here for days. Or had it got off the cruise in Lerwick and come here on Helliar?

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

When was the last cruise ship here? If it had come in on one, our little boat person would have been here for days. Or had it got off the cruise in Lerwick and come here on Helliar?

Don't think I've seen any for a few weeks. It may not actually have come in on a cruise ship, although I suspect at least part of its journey from North America would have been on a boat. It might even have come across last autumn and wintered somewhere in Europe before heading north to what it hopes might be Canada.

 

[tjbw]

I arrived at Greyhope Bay before sunset yesterday, and didn't see the twitchers!

There were 2 Sandwich Tern, 4 Common Ringed Plover, 6 Ruddy Turnstone, and 9 Goosander.

Barry

 

[Gander]

It was the White-crowned Sparrow!

Superb! Well done and well deserved.