Montrose Basin..,..Thoughts & Observations ?? (1 Viewer)

[sbarnhardt]

I'm in the process of expanding the Opus article on the Montrose Basin and wanted to reach out to anyone that might have something to share about it.

Any information passed along will be considered for use in this process. Names will not be given but will be credited as a Bird Forum Member Observation.

Thanks

Barney

 

[Stonefaction]

What sort of info are you looking for?

 

[sbarnhardt]

What sort of info are you looking for?

Personal observations as to anything notable, thing or things you might have been impressed with.

Anything that might be nice for a first time visitor might appreciate knowing about it.

Thanks

Barney

 

[delia todd]

Hi Barry

It's for the Opus page : https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Montrose_Basin

As you can see, there's very little info on it so far. And we'd like, if possible, to have at least something in each section.

It's too long since I've been able to visit, so I'm not much help to Barney sadly.

 

[Stonefaction]

Birds​

Notable Species
Pink Footed Geese - 10s of thousands arrive in Autumn
Osprey - increasingly seen in Summer
Scaup - flock in winter
Eider - large numbers use the basin
Kingfisher
Water Rail
Common Tern (use nest raft in Summer)
White Tailed Eagle - ocassional visitor
Red Kite
Twite (wintering flock)
Almost any raptor species can turn up

Rarities

Lesser Yellowlegs
Spoonbill (increasing in frequency)
Great White Egret (also increasing in frequency)
Hoopoe
Ruddy Shelduck
Glossy Ibis
Snow Goose
Bittern
Avocet
White Rumped Sandpiper
Black Tern
Little Tern
Bearded Tit

Check-list​

Mute Swan, Whooper Swan, Pink Footed Goose, Greylag Goose, Canada Goose, Shelduck, Mallard, Pintail, Shoveler, Wigeon, Teal, Scaup, Tufted Duck, Eider, Long Tailed Duck, Goldeneye, Goosander, Red Breasted Merganser, Pheasant, Great Northern Diver, Red Throated Diver, Slavonian Grebe, Little Grebe, Cormorant, Little Egret, Great White Egret, Grey Heron, White Tailed Eagle, Osprey, Red Kite, Buzzard, Sparrowhawk, Kestrel, Peregrine, Merlin, Water Rail, Moorhen, Oystercatcher, Ringed Plover, Lapwing, Knot, Dunlin, Curlew sandpiper, Little Stint, Green Sandpiper, Common sandpiper, Redshank, Greenshank, Spotted Redshank, Black Tailed Godwit, Bar Tailed Godwit, Curlew, Snipe, Ruff, Black Headed Gull, Common Gull, Herring Gull, Great Black Backed Gull, Common Tern, Sandwich Tern, Guillemot, Stock Dove, Woodpigeon, Feral Pigeon, Collared Dove, Long Eared Owl, Short Eared Owl, Kingfisher, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Sand Martin, Swallow, House Martin, Dunnock, Robin, Song Thrush, Blackbird, Whitethroat, Blackcap, Sedge Warbler, Willow Warbler, Grasshopper Warbler, Chiffchaff, Goldcrest, Wren, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Coal Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Treecreeper, Jackdaw, Rook, Carrion Crow, Starling, House Sparrow, Tree Sparrow, Chaffinch, Brambling, Linnet, Twite, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Siskin, Bullfinch, Reed Bunting, Yellowhammer.

Other Wildlife​

Grey Seal
Common (Harbour) Seals
Stoat
Speckled Wood butterfly (still quite rare in Angus)

​

 

[sbarnhardt]

Birds​

Notable Species
Pink Footed Geese - 10s of thousands arrive in Autumn
Osprey - increasingly seen in Summer
Scaup - flock in winter
Eider - large numbers use the basin
Kingfisher
Water Rail
Common Tern (use nest raft in Summer)
White Tailed Eagle - ocassional visitor
Red Kite
Twite (wintering flock)
Almost any raptor species can turn up

Rarities

Lesser Yellowlegs
Spoonbill (increasing in frequency)
Great White Egret (also increasing in frequency)
Hoopoe
Ruddy Shelduck
Glossy Ibis
Snow Goose
Bittern
Avocet
White Rumped Sandpiper
Black Tern
Little Tern
Bearded Tit

Check-list​

Mute Swan, Whooper Swan, Pink Footed Goose, Greylag Goose, Canada Goose, Shelduck, Mallard, Pintail, Shoveler, Wigeon, Teal, Scaup, Tufted Duck, Eider, Long Tailed Duck, Goldeneye, Goosander, Red Breasted Merganser, Pheasant, Great Northern Diver, Red Throated Diver, Slavonian Grebe, Little Grebe, Cormorant, Little Egret, Great White Egret, Grey Heron, White Tailed Eagle, Osprey, Red Kite, Buzzard, Sparrowhawk, Kestrel, Peregrine, Merlin, Water Rail, Moorhen, Oystercatcher, Ringed Plover, Lapwing, Knot, Dunlin, Curlew sandpiper, Little Stint, Green Sandpiper, Common sandpiper, Redshank, Greenshank, Spotted Redshank, Black Tailed Godwit, Bar Tailed Godwit, Curlew, Snipe, Ruff, Black Headed Gull, Common Gull, Herring Gull, Great Black Backed Gull, Common Tern, Sandwich Tern, Guillemot, Stock Dove, Woodpigeon, Feral Pigeon, Collared Dove, Long Eared Owl, Short Eared Owl, Kingfisher, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Sand Martin, Swallow, House Martin, Dunnock, Robin, Song Thrush, Blackbird, Whitethroat, Blackcap, Sedge Warbler, Willow Warbler, Grasshopper Warbler, Chiffchaff, Goldcrest, Wren, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Coal Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Treecreeper, Jackdaw, Rook, Carrion Crow, Starling, House Sparrow, Tree Sparrow, Chaffinch, Brambling, Linnet, Twite, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Siskin, Bullfinch, Reed Bunting, Yellowhammer.

Other Wildlife​

Grey Seal
Common (Harbour) Seals
Stoat
Speckled Wood butterfly (still quite rare in Angus)

​

Thank you very much!

Barney

 

[delia todd]

Oh my Barry!! That's wonderful information lad.

Thanks so much for all that.

 

[Stonefaction]

I suspect there are numerous rarities I've missed (and a couple of other species I've deliberatly left off).

 

[spoonbill1970]

Birds​

Notable Species
Pink Footed Geese - 10s of thousands arrive in Autumn
Osprey - increasingly seen in Summer
Scaup - flock in winter
Eider - large numbers use the basin
Kingfisher
Water Rail
Common Tern (use nest raft in Summer)
White Tailed Eagle - ocassional visitor
Red Kite
Twite (wintering flock)
Almost any raptor species can turn up

Rarities

Lesser Yellowlegs
Spoonbill (increasing in frequency)
Great White Egret (also increasing in frequency)
Hoopoe
Ruddy Shelduck
Glossy Ibis
Snow Goose
Bittern
Avocet
White Rumped Sandpiper
Black Tern
Little Tern
Bearded Tit

Check-list​

Mute Swan, Whooper Swan, Pink Footed Goose, Greylag Goose, Canada Goose, Shelduck, Mallard, Pintail, Shoveler, Wigeon, Teal, Scaup, Tufted Duck, Eider, Long Tailed Duck, Goldeneye, Goosander, Red Breasted Merganser, Pheasant, Great Northern Diver, Red Throated Diver, Slavonian Grebe, Little Grebe, Cormorant, Little Egret, Great White Egret, Grey Heron, White Tailed Eagle, Osprey, Red Kite, Buzzard, Sparrowhawk, Kestrel, Peregrine, Merlin, Water Rail, Moorhen, Oystercatcher, Ringed Plover, Lapwing, Knot, Dunlin, Curlew sandpiper, Little Stint, Green Sandpiper, Common sandpiper, Redshank, Greenshank, Spotted Redshank, Black Tailed Godwit, Bar Tailed Godwit, Curlew, Snipe, Ruff, Black Headed Gull, Common Gull, Herring Gull, Great Black Backed Gull, Common Tern, Sandwich Tern, Guillemot, Stock Dove, Woodpigeon, Feral Pigeon, Collared Dove, Long Eared Owl, Short Eared Owl, Kingfisher, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Sand Martin, Swallow, House Martin, Dunnock, Robin, Song Thrush, Blackbird, Whitethroat, Blackcap, Sedge Warbler, Willow Warbler, Grasshopper Warbler, Chiffchaff, Goldcrest, Wren, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Coal Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Treecreeper, Jackdaw, Rook, Carrion Crow, Starling, House Sparrow, Tree Sparrow, Chaffinch, Brambling, Linnet, Twite, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Siskin, Bullfinch, Reed Bunting, Yellowhammer.

Other Wildlife​

Grey Seal
Common (Harbour) Seals
Stoat
Speckled Wood butterfly (still quite rare in Angus)

​

Hi Stonefaction,

Enjoyed looking through your list of birds etc at Montrose Basin.

We visit two or three times a year from Fife and can add that I've seen a MINK at The Lurgies car park this past autumn. (29th or 30th September - can't remember which)
I reported this to someone from Scottish Invasive Species Initiative.

I am also interested in the sighting of BEARDED TITS.
I visited on 31/10/19 and was sure I saw two birds very briefly. However, I've never seen bearded tits before and the sighting was very brief, thus the doubt.
They landed in a bush next to the sand martin wall.
You know when you catch a glimpse of something and you just know its something "different"?
A minute or so later they flew out and headed west. Again giving very brief views.
I asked the warden who was present if it was likely that I had seen beardies, but he said they have never been seen at the reserve before.

I haven't as yet added them to my life list....but your note of their presence has me swithering...

We look forward to better times when we can again visit this beautiful part of the country.

Happy birding,
JSP

 

[Stonefaction]

I haven't seen Beardies at Montrose Basin myself but I think they have been reported from the reedbed area at The Lurgies (west side where small burn enters the Basin/small car park) once or twice (though I'm probably only about 60/40 sure & maybe should have left them off). However, there are plenty of reeds around the Basin and plenty of Beardies not too far away (on the Tay) and they have shown up at Loch of Kinnordy and Loch of Strathbeg in the past in small numbers, so really there is no reason to rule them out completely.

Did a quick check via Google and found an eBird list from last summer and someone has reported 2 at The Lurgies (there's a note and a recording attached to the report).

https://ebird.org/region/GB-SCT-ANS?yr=all&m=&rank=lrec

 

[spoonbill1970]

I haven't seen Beardies at Montrose Basin myself but I think they have been reported from the reedbed area at The Lurgies (west side where small burn enters the Basin/small car park) once or twice (though I'm probably only about 60/40 sure & maybe should have left them off). However, there are plenty of reeds around the Basin and plenty of Beardies not too far away (on the Tay) and they have shown up at Loch of Kinnordy and Loch of Strathbeg in the past in small numbers, so really there is no reason to rule them out completely.

Did a quick check via Google and found an eBird list from last summer and someone has reported 2 at The Lurgies (there's a note and a recording attached to the report).

https://ebird.org/region/GB-SCT-ANS?yr=all&m=&rank=lrec

Hi Stonefaction,

That's really helpful - thank for taking the time to dig that out for me.
Makes my sighting more probable than possible!

I have just began recording my daily walks on eBird but I don't really know my way around it yet. It looks like a great source of localised information.

It's funny when you start birding you think every robin is a red-flanked bluetail but the more experience you have....you go the other way.

Thanks again.
JSP.

 

[Stonefaction]

I don't use eBird but as with Birdtrack they do give some idea as to what you might run into (though accuracy of observers does vary). When I started birding I'd never even heard of a Red Flanked Bluetail (though having just checked, it was actually in my favourite bird book as a kid - though illustration doesn't do either sex any favours). Worth checking the Robins regardless - the 2 Red Flanked Bluetails I've been lucky enough to find were never given much peace by the resident Robins and were actually handy for relocating the first one especially.

 

[spoonbill1970]

I don't use eBird but as with Birdtrack they do give some idea as to what you might run into (though accuracy of observers does vary). When I started birding I'd never even heard of a Red Flanked Bluetail (though having just checked, it was actually in my favourite bird book as a kid - though illustration doesn't do either sex any favours). Worth checking the Robins regardless - the 2 Red Flanked Bluetails I've been lucky enough to find were never given much peace by the resident Robins and were actually handy for relocating the first one especially.

RFB still on my wish list! Thanks for the tip.

 

[Muso]

Hi Barney

Not sure if this is of interest, but a memorable moment for me of Montrose Basin. I counted 147 curlew in the pic before I spontaneously combusted...! And that was just what the pic captured - left & right of this pic were more curlew. No attempt made to count anything else, wigeon, shelduck etc. We'd stayed at St Cyrus for a week in March 2016, and went to the basin on our way home to Glasgow. Not a great pic (taken from one of the hides, a fair distance from subjects on a fairly dreich day), but a moment I wanted to capture due to the jaw-dropping (at least for me) numbers. Converted to jpeg from Raw, then resized from 10.6mb to 1.41mb to post here, which unfortunately causes pixellation/pixilation when you zoom in.

 

[burnie]

Before the lockdowns I visited the Basin area at least 3 times a week and have friends who visit it daily, it is a great place to visit, though it can be a bit exasperating at times, everything can be a very long way away when the tide is out. The Tern raft has been out of action for a couple of years now, it was brought ashore for repair and hasn't been replaced for use. There was a request put in to put some trays of grit in the reed beds for the Bearded Tits, similar to those at Kinnordy, but this has been ignored by the wardens, this could be so much better than it is, but there seems to be a lack of understanding about how to manage the site properly.