Tayforth Birding (2 Viewers)

[forthbirder]

Had a mid afternoon trip to Loch Leven yesterday, walking from Findatie carpark to Grahamstone. Birds seen included about a dozen grey heron, several great spotted woodpecker, treecreeper, goldfinch, chaffinch, wren, blue tit, great tit, singing chiffchaff (first of the year for me), oystercatcher, curlew, goldeneye, lots of pinkfeet, buzzard, skylark, meadow pipit, partridge, pheasant, song thrush, blackbird, reed bunting, dunnock, and best of all, several flocks of sand martins feeding on the midges.
Mammals were a pair of roe deer at close range and several brown hare.

 

[delia todd]

Had a mid afternoon trip to Loch Leven yesterday, walking from Findatie carpark to Grahamstone. Birds seen included about a dozen grey heron, several great spotted woodpecker, treecreeper, goldfinch, chaffinch, wren, blue tit, great tit, singing chiffchaff (first of the year for me), oystercatcher, curlew, goldeneye, lots of pinkfeet, buzzard, skylark, meadow pipit, partridge, pheasant, song thrush, blackbird, reed bunting, dunnock, and best of all, several flocks of sand martins feeding on the midges.
Mammals were a pair of roe deer at close range and several brown hare.

You had a really good selection there FB. Nice the know the Sand Martins are back in force.

Lots of Curlew and Skylarks up at Drumderg wind farm.

Huh! You lucky thing Rhummy. I was on my patch this afternoon - didn't hear any Skylark and only heard one Curlew (distant) - I really thought they'd be back in force now as it was such a lovely day.

D

 

[gus guthrie]

Very foggy in Kirriemuir this morning, though it looked clear up towards the glens. headed up the glens for a walk and saw Meadow pipits galore, Mistle & Song Thrushes, Red & Black Grouse, Curlew, Snipe,Lapwing, Yellowhammer, Kestrel and a Merlin in hot pursuit of a Meadow pipit.
Came home for lunch and watched Siskin, Lesser Redpoll, Goldfinch and a pair of Collared doves in my garden.
Early afternoon and we set sail for Vane Farm as the Red- breasted Goose had been reported there. We picked it up fairly quickly feeding close to the roadside where it gave great views.... a lifer !!!! Next stop was the visitor centre at Vane Farm where some very helpful people soon pointed out a Ross's Goose sitting out St Serf's Island.. bingo ! another lifer within 10 minutes !!

Decided to push our luck and headed for Rossie Bog to look for the Green-winged teal that had been reported here earlier in the week, sadly didn't see it , but did get good views of Pintail, Shoveller, Gadwall and Wigeon.
all in all a fantastic day's birding.

 

[kawwauser]

i visited morton lochs for a while yesterday,11 curlew feeding in the field approaching morton,toads seen and heard all through the reserve,a very greedy heron feeding effortlesly opposite the berry hide on toads,the male pintail seems to have moved on, a small number teal were on the water plus little grebe/ mutes/ mallards/ 1 pair of gadwall ,a jay flew over the loch and a woodpecker could be heard loudly drumming next to the hide,the woodpecker turned out to be gs, lots of blue/coal/great tits in the trees plus robin.wren,i heard some calls from buzzards and caught a glimpse of 2 buzzards chasing another bird with a forked tail flying just above the canopy,i thought i had just seen my first kite but they swiftly returned and the second view looked more like a buzzard with missing middle tail feathers being chased by the other two,ill be back later in the week and check if a kite has been seen,
at the rail hide a pair of little grebes have taken up territory and one was being chased by a morrhen,this comotion was being watched by a fox resting on the far bank,i have often read reports of this resting fox in the log books but have never witnesed it myself,
a red squirell took over the feeders here and stayed on it ages the poor smaller birds fed on the scraps it dropped

i walked the lundie craggs area later

2 female goosander on lairds loch
3 meadow pipits (first of the year for me)
1 female stonechat (again first of the year)
5 fieldfares flying east
1 misstle thrush
1 raven
jackdaw
carrion crow carrying nesting material
2 gs woodpeckers

pics
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/kawwauser/fox20.jpg

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/kawwauser/rss20.jpg

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/kawwauser/rs30.jpg

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/kawwauser/coalt2.jpg

 

[Rhummy]

I had brilliant Skylarks, popping up all over the place. Never seen as many Curlew as that in once place at this time of year

 

[llendorin]

Had Chiffchaffs singing at Lochore Meadows yesterday and Cullaloe today. Also plenty of Sand Martins at Lochore Meadows - Spring has sprung!

 

[delia todd]

Great news there Grahame - it's nice to know spring is about to hit us.

How's Cullaloe doing?

D

 

[llendorin]

How's Cullaloe doing?

D

Not too badly, so far!

We've had to take down the feeders now, due to lack of funds for the food. Luckily, it hasn't stopped the birds appearing, so there's still plenty of birds to see (although woodpeckers are not quite as common anymore)

We put up 40 bird/bat boxes (28 bird boxes, 12 bat boxes) over the winter, so hopefully a good few of those will be put to use this year.

Other than that, not a massive amount happening. Give it a week or two, and all the warblers will arive and it'll all just spring into life!

 

[alan crossley]

Just got back from the annual pilgrimage to Scone for the Haws...managed to get around 30+ birds, thats my biggest total.

At first I was only getting 3's and 4's doing the usual tree hopping capper, then managed to count 10 in one tree. After about 30 minutes of severe grilling at medium distance I decided to try for a photo....as I returned to the spot were the grilling had take place, 5 birds lifted followed by a further 7 flying towards the palace, then from some trees just out of view a large flock of 18 took flight and flew over head to join the rest!

6 birds returned to the original tree were upon I managed some VERY poor record shots, even though they are pretty crap images (and bare in mind the weather conditions - very grey and overcast!!) I'm quite pleased.....they are not the easiest species to photograph!! B

As a birder south of the border who is staying at the caravan site next to Scone next week I am stunned to see that hawfinchs can be found at Scone. They dissapeared from my patch many years ago (Cleveland) and the chance to catch up with them is too good to miss, so any advice where is the best place to look for them. Any advice/info would be most gratefull.

 

[delia todd]

Hi Alan

You're coming to my neck of the woods then LOL

HERE'S a map with an arrow pointing to a back entrance to the grounds. Wander down the drives towards the palace and keep an eye on the tops of the trees. No promises mind

Apparently, they sometimes go across to the Quarrymill Woodland Park also.

Hope this helps.

D

 

[alan crossley]

Cheers Delia, looking foward to having a look around a new place. One the joys of birdwatching is not knowing what you might see. Will let you knopw how I get on.
Alan

 

[Ken Hall]

two, possibly three Ospreys today at Lintrathan. Also Swallow and Wheatear at Balintore.

 

[Gavin72]

Tay Reedbeds

I heard recently that the Tay Reedbeds area is good for birdatching and was thinking of heading over at some point in the next couple of weeks - I found some info on this site (here: http://www.birdforum.net/opus/Tay_Reed_Beds,_Perth,_Scotland )

I just wondered if anyone had any further info to help plan a visit. I'm particularly keen to see bearded tit and marsh harrier - would just now be a good time to look for them here? Anything else to look out for just now, or any particularly good spots to watch/head for?

Thanks,
Gavin

 

[forthbirder]

Lots of signs of spring on walk around Burntisland today. Migrants included my first swallows of the year, had singing chiffchaff, wheatear, but still no terns around on the forth. Gannets are back though, and the cliffs behind the town had raven, kestrel plus loads of displaying buzzards and an unseen calling green woodpecker. Farmland north of town had skylark, lapwing, yellowhammer,pheasant, and a pair of soaring sparrowhawk.

 

[delia todd]

I heard recently that the Tay Reedbeds area is good for birdatching and was thinking of heading over at some point in the next couple of weeks - I found some info on this site (here: http://www.birdforum.net/opus/Tay_Reed_Beds,_Perth,_Scotland )

I just wondered if anyone had any further info to help plan a visit. I'm particularly keen to see bearded tit and marsh harrier - would just now be a good time to look for them here? Anything else to look out for just now, or any particularly good spots to watch/head for?

Thanks,
Gavin

Hi Gavin and welcome to Birdforum.

I get the impression that the Tay Reed Beds are not so easy to visit now (though I could be wrong).

Try a PM to Darell (Kinnordyvolunteer on here), he may be able to give you more information - or be able to get it for you.

D

 

[Rhummy]

Loads (and I mean LOADS) of Skylarks and Yellowhammers on Alyth hill.
3 Herons on the ponds up there too.

Loads a wee little brown birds but don't know what they are yet - only ever see them flying away

 

[llendorin]

We had at least 3 calling Willow Warbler at Cullaloe today, and our swans are on nest just now, too.

In non-birding news, My first Orange-Tip butterfly for the year at Cullaloe, too!

 

[kinkell]

ospreys

two local nests back in action only about quarter mile apart thought they would have been more territorial

 

[kawwauser]

i had my first wheatears of the year today near lundie craggs today, first time i have seen them in the area

 

[delia todd]

i had my first wheatears of the year today near lundie craggs today, first time i have seen them in the area

I saw my first ones Up the Hill on Sunday.

No Stonechats yet - anyone?

D