The Aberdeen and district RSPB group headed for Montrose yesterday on their latest outing. After the last RSPB outing being cancelled due to torrential rain, it was great to get out with the group again yesterday in much more pleasant weather. We started at the Tayock car park at the north-east of the basin. The paths from Tayock lead to a couple of locations to look out over the basin, but also make their way through a wooded area, meaning we could see some smaller birds as well.
Coal Tit, Robin and Blackbird were seen around the car park, and then once we started walking we started to see the occasional smaller bird, but not in any abundance. Goldcrest was a nice addition to the list, with Long-tailed Tit, Great Tit and Dunnock all seen as well. Perhaps the highlight of the smaller birds seen were a few Bullfinches, which allowed great views as they fed on seeds. We saw a couple of pairs along the walk, as well as a single Redwing as we headed back to the cars.
Looking out over the basin itself we managed to see 3 Little Egrets as well as a distant Great Egret - amazing to think these were rarities not so long ago. There were still good numbers of Pink-footed Geese on the mud, as well as a large amount of Shelduck, Wigeon and Teal. Waders were seen, including Redshank, Curlew, Oystercatcher and Dunlin and a few Great Black-backed Gulls were out on the sandbanks.
After making our way back to the cars we headed for Rossie Spit, a wader roost at high tide. Hundreds of Oystercatchers were already roosting, as well as Knot, Sanderling, Bar and Black-tailed Godwits and a few Grey Heron. Eider and Red-breasted Merganser were diving for food and a few Shoveler were sleeping near the shore.
Our final stop was the visitor centre for some heat! We didn’t see much from the hide overlooking the salt pans, but added quite a few things from the VC itself. A large flock of Pintail was nice to see, and a Blackcap feeding on the bird table gave good views, as well as Tree Sparrows and other small birds. A weasel was seen scurrying through some woodwork and the final species for the outing was a highlight - a Water Rail spotted in the marshy ground gave decent views for all of the group.
A nice outing for the group, with a conservative estimate of 58 species seen.
Great White Egret by tigerburnie, on Flickr
