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Wild in Aberdeen - City and Shire (7 Viewers)
- Thread starter Ken Hall
- Start date
Concerning Elvis: I've been looking at Birdguides reports and I notice that this year he wasn't reported until 25th April, which is much later than any other year by at least 2 weeks. Does anyone local know if this simply bacause no-one bothered to phone him in, or if he actually was unusually late this year?
Hamish Paton
New member
Newburgh and surrounding area
Good days birding yesterday. Lots of waders from Inches Road Newburgh am including a Woodcock - seemed unusual for the Ythan. Two Little Egrets from the snub car park. A Slav Grebe and White Wagtail at Meikle Loch and 2 Little Grebes and a Great Crested Grebe on Cotehill Loch.
A Wheatear, Spotted Flycatcher and a family party of Stonechats. Also a couple of Ospreys and a Whimbril from the Waulkmill hide.
Good days birding yesterday. Lots of waders from Inches Road Newburgh am including a Woodcock - seemed unusual for the Ythan. Two Little Egrets from the snub car park. A Slav Grebe and White Wagtail at Meikle Loch and 2 Little Grebes and a Great Crested Grebe on Cotehill Loch.
A Wheatear, Spotted Flycatcher and a family party of Stonechats. Also a couple of Ospreys and a Whimbril from the Waulkmill hide.
nicklittlewood
Well-known member
Yep first reported locally on April 25 this spring. Does seem to have been later than usual.
Nick
Hamish Paton
New member
Newburgh
Spotted Redshank , Pectoral Sandpiper, 8 Ruff and an Osprey from the Walkmill Hide from 1130 - 1210 today.
Spotted Redshank , Pectoral Sandpiper, 8 Ruff and an Osprey from the Walkmill Hide from 1130 - 1210 today.
markhammonds
Well-known member
Ythan
Didn't manage to pick out Spotted Redshank or Pectoral Sandpiper from the Waulkmill Hide yesterday but I wouldn't be surprised if they were there (my lack of skill and experience with the waders failed me here). There was a Little Egret, Ruff, Greenshank, 2 x Bar-tailed Godwit, Black-tailed Godwit, and at least two Osprey.
Two Little Egrets were seen from Inch Road.
Didn't manage to pick out Spotted Redshank or Pectoral Sandpiper from the Waulkmill Hide yesterday but I wouldn't be surprised if they were there (my lack of skill and experience with the waders failed me here). There was a Little Egret, Ruff, Greenshank, 2 x Bar-tailed Godwit, Black-tailed Godwit, and at least two Osprey.
Two Little Egrets were seen from Inch Road.
Hugh Addlesee
Well-known member
Following on from Ben's generous comment above, full details of the report and how to get a copy can now be found here:
http://www.the-soc.org.uk/bird-recording/local-recorders-network/north-east-scotland-recording-area/
Many thanks to everybody who supports the report by submitting records and/or (preferably both!) buying a copy.
A bit of bird news: as last autumn, 1000s of Swallows are roosting in biofuel willows near the north end of the Hirn road near Banchory (NJ7200). Worth a look if you happen to be passing around dusk, and I'd be happy to hear anybody else's estimate of the numbers! A Merlin managed to blend into them yesterday evening before grabbing one and making off.
jpoyner
Well-known member
I guess cost a factor but a shame, hope the Highland Bird Report doesn't go the same way as there is nothing quite the same as having them on the book shelf to browse at leisure. The PC screen is just not designed for extended reading (unless using a Kindle type display)........and they smell nice too when brand new.
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laurie langan
Well-known member
There was a Hobby sitting on the garden fence at Rattray B&B at 0800 this morning.
A trip up the coast,did not produce the hoped for rare migrants but some good birds all the same.
The best I could find at Rattray B+B was 7 Stonechats,a Goldcrest and a few Wheatear.On the Beach there was a Knot In with 12 Sanderling and a feeding frenzy of 100+ Gannets just offshore.
3 Bearded Tits and a Peregrine were the highlights at Strathbeg and a Spotted Redshank was roosting on the River Ugie,beside the Golf Course.
2 Little Egrets were on Inch Geck on the Ythan and still a few Comic Terns around on the Estuary.
The best I could find at Rattray B+B was 7 Stonechats,a Goldcrest and a few Wheatear.On the Beach there was a Knot In with 12 Sanderling and a feeding frenzy of 100+ Gannets just offshore.
3 Bearded Tits and a Peregrine were the highlights at Strathbeg and a Spotted Redshank was roosting on the River Ugie,beside the Golf Course.
2 Little Egrets were on Inch Geck on the Ythan and still a few Comic Terns around on the Estuary.
Hugh Addlesee
Well-known member
The next meeting of the SOC NES branch is this coming Monday, when our speaker will be Drennan Watson, a local land-use expert with particular knowledge of the Cairngorms. Drennan has offered the following prelude to his talk: “Sizeable areas of agricultural land are actually being abandoned or semi-abandoned in the north-east. What then happens? Often, whins (gorse) invade these areas. This leads to a succession of events in which birds and the wind play key roles and the result is new habitats, new woodlands of different kinds. But the process is not as simple as it seems at first. Something in the behaviour of birds influences it profoundly. But what this behaviour is and what causes it are obscure. Can members of SOC supply the answers?”. If that sparks your interest (and hopefully it does!), then come along to The Sportsman’s Club, 11 Queen’s Rd, Aberdeen, AB15 4YL for 7.30 pm. There is free parking available behind the venue, and a bar for refreshments. To cover the hire of the room a small donation is requested - £2 for members and £3 for non-members.
Hugh Addlesee
(Branch Secretary)
Hugh Addlesee
(Branch Secretary)
Hamish Paton
New member
Yesterday - Spotted Sandpiper showing well pm in the bay nearest to the Inverallochy village. Lots of activity at Cairnbulg harbour - usual waders and approx 2000 Starling avidly feeding on the beech.
Capercaillie71
Well-known member
I don't seem to have done much birding at all in the second half of this year. Two young children, a dog, and a tendency to be more office-bound with my job all seem to have conspired against much birding. I hadn't realised how much of my birding was done on the fly in the odd spare hour as I traveled around with work.
Anyway, with a couple of weeks off work over the festive period I have at least managed to get out and about a bit more locally (mostly walking the dog) and caught up with some decent birds close to home. Three days before Christmas I was out delivering cards to houses in the area when a Goshawk appeared low over the field in front of me, powering directly into a belt of trees at the far side. This is the third Goshawk sighting I have had within a kilometre of home in the past year or two and a welcome sign that they are being left unmolested in the immediate vicinity. Only a few minutes later I was walking back past the same field and a Red Kite flew slowly over it, flying to roost in the other end of the same belt of trees. It was almost dark as I got home and a Woodcock flew over the field in front of my house, no doubt heading out to a marshy area to feed.
Yesterday I had a more sobering experience as I took a walk into the pine forest a couple of miles from home to set up my camera trap. There were few birds around - a couple of bullfinches and a fieldfare being the best of it, until I started finding a scattering of black feathers on the ground. After a bit of searching around my worst fears were confirmed as I found a mass of wing and tail feathers that had clearly belonged to a cock Capercaillie. Worse still, most of the tail feathers had buff tips, which is not something you normally see on adult caper tail feathers and which I think means that this was an immature bird, hatched this year. Still, at least it shows that some capercaillie were reared this year so hopefully there are a few more around.
I set my camera trap on the caper kill site but discovered that I had forgotten the SD card, so I had to go back today. It was a windier day, and as I headed up the hill towards the woods a huge female Golden Eagle suddenly appeared from behind a ridge and soared over the woods at eye-level, about 300 metres away. Its golden nape feathers glistened in the sun as did the white on its tail. Watching it circle for a few minutes I reckon it was probably about 5 years old and as I watched it was joined by a smaller male with fully adult plumage. Both birds then rapidly disappeared from sight towards the west. A fantastic end to the year, and the closest I have ever seen a golden eagle to my house (although part of me couldn't help thinking that a golden eagle is one of the few predators that can kill a cock capercaillie!).
Hopefully I'll manage to get out a bit more in 2015. Happy New Year everyone!
Anyway, with a couple of weeks off work over the festive period I have at least managed to get out and about a bit more locally (mostly walking the dog) and caught up with some decent birds close to home. Three days before Christmas I was out delivering cards to houses in the area when a Goshawk appeared low over the field in front of me, powering directly into a belt of trees at the far side. This is the third Goshawk sighting I have had within a kilometre of home in the past year or two and a welcome sign that they are being left unmolested in the immediate vicinity. Only a few minutes later I was walking back past the same field and a Red Kite flew slowly over it, flying to roost in the other end of the same belt of trees. It was almost dark as I got home and a Woodcock flew over the field in front of my house, no doubt heading out to a marshy area to feed.
Yesterday I had a more sobering experience as I took a walk into the pine forest a couple of miles from home to set up my camera trap. There were few birds around - a couple of bullfinches and a fieldfare being the best of it, until I started finding a scattering of black feathers on the ground. After a bit of searching around my worst fears were confirmed as I found a mass of wing and tail feathers that had clearly belonged to a cock Capercaillie. Worse still, most of the tail feathers had buff tips, which is not something you normally see on adult caper tail feathers and which I think means that this was an immature bird, hatched this year. Still, at least it shows that some capercaillie were reared this year so hopefully there are a few more around.
I set my camera trap on the caper kill site but discovered that I had forgotten the SD card, so I had to go back today. It was a windier day, and as I headed up the hill towards the woods a huge female Golden Eagle suddenly appeared from behind a ridge and soared over the woods at eye-level, about 300 metres away. Its golden nape feathers glistened in the sun as did the white on its tail. Watching it circle for a few minutes I reckon it was probably about 5 years old and as I watched it was joined by a smaller male with fully adult plumage. Both birds then rapidly disappeared from sight towards the west. A fantastic end to the year, and the closest I have ever seen a golden eagle to my house (although part of me couldn't help thinking that a golden eagle is one of the few predators that can kill a cock capercaillie!).
Hopefully I'll manage to get out a bit more in 2015. Happy New Year everyone!
