Tayforth Birding (3 Viewers)

[Steve G]

Michael could this possibly be a hepatic phase female Cuckoo or a juvenile Cuckoo?

 

[MacGee]

Michael could this possibly be a hepatic phase female Cuckoo or a juvenile Cuckoo?

It could well be. I thought a cuckoo would really have been the most likely thing except that its beak seemed too small, but given the conditions, I could have been wrong about that. On reflection, the wings were probably more cuckoo-like than Nightjar-like.

Michael

 

[Ian Bell]

My first thoughts were Cuckoo and that was before I read Steves reply.Given the location and time of day,I would have to say it was a Cuckoo.

 

[Dormouse]

4) At the cottage at the far end of the track it is possible to walk down into a part of the reedbeds though it's better to find an elevated viewpoint. Scan from here for Marsh Harriers & Beardies. If you hang around for a while you should see Marsh Harriers -especially male birds hunting. It's also a good place to witness a food-pass between the harriers.

It is NOT advisable to walk down into the reedbeds. Apart from the obvious safety issues of walking over mud which is frequently inundated by tidal waters there is the disturbance issue. From end March onwards you are at risk of disturbing several species of nesting birds, including the ones you wish to see, with potentially disasterous results. Through autumn and winter the beds become much softer and even folk who have worked on the beds for 30 years are cautious about where they go.

 

[Dormouse]

Time for the RSPB to take the Black-necked Grebe off the cover of its brochure, perhaps.

Isn't it a mute swan now?

 

[Steve G]

It is NOT advisable to walk down into the reedbeds. Apart from the obvious safety issues of walking over mud which is frequently inundated by tidal waters there is the disturbance issue. From end March onwards you are at risk of disturbing several species of nesting birds, including the ones you wish to see, with potentially disasterous results. Through autumn and winter the beds become much softer and even folk who have worked on the beds for 30 years are cautious about where they go.

Thanks for highlighting this.
I was not advising a walk into the reedbeds though there is a clear cut track & pipeline that can be followed which might tempt people in!

I have witnessed a number of non-birding walkers take this path (only to return 20 mins later). Safety issues notwithstanding, following this path gives very limited views (of anything!) & as you say may unwittingly disturb nesting birds.

I should have made this plain in my initial posting as I would hate to be responsible for encouraging others into a situation where nesting birds were disturbed!!

 

[MacGee]

We went back to Carsebreck yesterday, not to search for Cuckoos, but just to complete our aborted walk. While I was putting my boots on we spotted a couple of Spotted Flycatchers. Later we saw a Flycatcher chick being fed by one of its parents. At the place where I saw the cuckoo on the overhead wire, we stopped to look round—and a cuckoo flew onto the overhead wire, but it didn't stay long enough for scoping or photographing. This was less than 50m from the beginning of the walk. On the way back we saw the cuckoo again and got a good extended look at it in flight. They seem to like to hang about round there.

Buzzards all over, also Swifts, Swallows and Sand Martins. Warbler song everywhere; hundreds and hundreds of Lapwing; an Osprey on a fencepost; Redshank, Teal, Wigeon. The display of wild pansies beyond the second style is the most beautiful I've ever seen there.

Michael

 

[kawwauser]

i done the arbroath - auchmithie walk on tues 23/06 my computer is playing up so i couldnt post,my first chick encounter was a very young herring gull,this bird was taking a chance sitting out in the open like this

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/kawwauser/hgullchick.jpg
i also had my first auk chick a razorbill, what a beut it was , a remarkable resembalance of the adult,
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/kawwauser/razoryb.jpg
1 guilemot chick hiding beneath its mother and many young pipits/yellowhammers,
the shag in the crevice with its cramped nest and 3 juvs has left the nest,the 3 juvs looked qiute relaxed,
i spotted a young shag probably born march/april sitting on a ledge,the bird sat preening yawning giving me the best views of a shag i have ever had,

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/kawwauser/Picture140b.jpg
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/kawwauser/Picture163b.jpg
i came across points on the clifftops where gulls were eating the eggs of birds they had snatched,one point had many eggshells, i picked up the less damaged one,s and layed them out for an id
my guess is
guilemot/razorbill/guilemot/herring gull/razorbil/2 partdridges/2 kittiwakes,
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/kawwauser/Picture131.jpg
great views of whitethroats plus many smaller birds linnits/yellowhammers/reedbuntings

 

[kawwauser]

female tufted duck with 5 newborns at morton lochs today,the water was very quiet ,mutes with 6 cygnents/1 little grebe/1 moorhen/12 mallards/1 heron/woodpidgeon/wren/swift/swallow/sedgewarbler/g spotted woodpecker/buzzard
pics
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/kawwauser/tfd1b.jpg

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/kawwauser/Picture112b.jpg
i walked lundie craggs in the afternoon,
young jay calling/buzzards/m/f stonechats/swallows flying in and out of the craggs/loads of young rooks/m pipits/blue tits
i spotted a bird in the distance landing beside some deadwood ,at the distance it looked like cuckoo/mistle thrush/sparrowhawk,i zoomed in with my camera then checked the pic on my computer, it turned out to be mistle thrush,it had 3 juvs in tow (flew up as i passed)looking at the pic i saw the adult anybody spot the 3 juvs ?
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/kawwauser/Picture161b.jpg

 

[Capercaillie71]

I heard a Quail calling from a barley field next to the B961 south-west of Friockheim earlier today:

http://www.multimap.com/maps/?qs=Fr...ation&loc=GB:56.60736:-2.70193:16|Friockheim|

Also an Osprey fishing over the Montrose Basin seen from the BoS hide.

 

[gus guthrie]

little egret

Went down to the Lurgies at Montrose basin with my daughter this afternoon, to get her off the computer for a while. Saw a Little Egret, 2 Ruddy Shelduck, a Kingfisher, peregrine, sparrowhawk and heaps of waders and ducks. We ended up with a tally of 71 species including several new ones for both of us.
Considering this is a fairly quiet time of the year we have seen a lot over the last couple of days, especially good to see were the sea-birds at Fowlsheugh up at Crawton, got some really good pics from there.
We also visited St Cyrus nature reserve, well worth a visit if you are in that area.

 

[aythya_hybrid]

In Fife at the moment and went up Glen Clova with my girlfriend and my parents today. It was pretty good:
2 Golden Eagle showing well, 2 Ring Ouzel on thw scree covered hillside, a few buzzard, 2 kestrel, 1 Spot Fly, 2 Redstart and a few Wheatear. Good times.

 

[MacGee]

I've just come back from a holiday at Minsmere, where the variety and numbers of birds was amazing. Now I'm suffering a bit of cold turkey. I did see a Hen Harrier at Muckhart yesterday, which cheered me up a bit, but I'm feeling the need for a few novelties to help phase in my readjustment to normal birding life. So I was wondering if anyone could point me in the direction of Ring Ouzel not too far from the Bridge of Allan area. Jonathan has seen them at Glen Clova but I wonder if there are any nearer. I'm also in the market for Red Grouse, Redstart, Redpoll of any kind or any other rarities or relative rarities you know of, even if they don't begin with r.

Help me, people. I've started dreaming about Barred Warblers.

Michael |:$|

 

[MacGee]

I suggested to Delia that it might be a good idea to combine this thread with the Stirlingshire thread under the name of, say, Tayside and Forth and she asked me to ask those who post here for their thoughts on the issue. This new thread would cover Angus, Perthshire, Kinross, Fife, Clackmannanshire and Stirlingshire. That's 2, 24, 16, 13, 9 and 30 on the map. Thoughts?

Michael

 

[delia todd]

Thanks for posting this Michael, and for the map too.

If we combined... what thoughts on a thread title?

D

 

[kingofit]

names.....

Thanks for posting this Michael, and for the map too.

If we combined... what thoughts on a thread title?

D

Tayside, Fife and Central?

 

[choughed2bits]

Was down at Montrose this evening to see the Spoonbill. Well worth the visit. Visible from the Lurgies looking across to Miss Erskine's Bank.

Hopefully it will stick around for tomorrow, but if not there are plenty of other interesting birds around.

Happy birding,

Kev T

 

[gus guthrie]

Was down at Montrose this evening to see the Spoonbill. Well worth the visit. Visible from the Lurgies looking across to Miss Erskine's Bank.

Hopefully it will stick around for tomorrow, but if not there are plenty of other interesting birds around.

Happy birding,

Kev T

Hi Kev, was down there to see the spoonbill tonight as well, must have just missed you ! Did you see the ruddy shelducks, makes up for missing them at lintrathen last year !
saw a wader not far from the spoonbill which looked like a greenshank but it had a straight bill and a white ring round its eye, couple of other people there but nobody was going to stick their neck out and say what it was, my guess is a green sandpiper but haven't seen one before. Looks like it in the books I have but would be fine to get confirmation from someone with more experience of waders than me.

 

[choughed2bits]

There was a whole heap of Black Tailed Godwit next to the Spoonbill when i was down (1730 - 1830) but when the spoonie started feeding and moving towards them they got a bit freaked and flew off.

Its quite possible that i missed the Green Sand as there were loads of waders sitting on the bank in the middle of the river just opposite the hide, but didn't want to get too close in case i spooked the Spoonie.

I will get another visit down there soon. An hour just isn't long enough.

Another candidate for your white eyering bird could be Common Sandpiper?

There are good numbers on the lurgies at present - they fly with rapid wing beats and exhibit a characteristic bobbing up and down action.

Just a thought, I'm no expert!

Happy birding,


Kev T

 

[kawwauser]

2 youg kestrels calling out for food on the sidlaws today,this particular pair of kestrels have had a poor breeding record
the last couple of years down to a poor choice of nesting site,im glad they have picked a better site,yellowhammers/linnits/buzzards/stonechats were all seen plus a dunnock feeding its young then getting
harrassed by a greenfinch youngster for food,i came across some very interesting spiders siiting on some rocks,
they were smaller than a thumbnail and were carrying egg sacks, a small wasp half their size was trying to catch them,
i also came across a dead lizard
i was caught out by torrential rain near the top of the sidlaws and in my effort to protect my camera equipment i
forgot about my mobile phone and now have ill to buy another one
pics
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/kawwauser/spdb.jpg

this landed on my arm

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/kawwauser/tckb.jpg