Stonefaction's 2011 List. (1 Viewer)

[Stonefaction]

Sunday 17th July

Been a while since I've added anything to this list but finally got the Montrose Basin Spoonbills at the second attempt.

165. Spoonbill

 

[Stonefaction]

Sunday 24th July

A wee bit sea-watching off Arbroath Cliffs gave me my first Skuas of the year, with a single Bonxie and a single Arctic.

166. Arctic Skua
167. Great Skua

 

[Stonefaction]

Monday 25th July

Seawatching from Crail and Fife Ness today and managed to see my three targets, one of which was a lifer.

168. Storm Petrel
169. Sooty Shearwater
170. Manx Shearwater

 

[Stonefaction]

Saturday 6th August

Over to Fife in the hope that the Little Egrets from earlier in the week (4 of) were still around. Got a text before I left saying 3 still there and 4 Kingfishers around too. Still needing Kingfisher so had fingers crossed. Saw 2 Little Egrets on the river and 1 Kingfisher out in front of the hide. Added 2 Green Sandpipers later at Angle park.

171. Little Egret
172. Green Sandpiper
173. Kingfisher

 

[Stonefaction]

Sunday 14th August

Managed to add a completely unexpected bird in an unusual location to the list, whilst out watching Dolphins in the middle of the Tay between Monifieth and Tayport. A low, and fast, flying Merlin at wave-top height. ID'd from hastily grabbed (and blurred) photos.

174. Merlin

 

[Stonefaction]

Saturday 20th August

Forgot to add the three new birds I picked up last Saturday at Guardbridge. Three of the regular rarer waders that pass through this area.

175. Ruff
176. Spotted Redshank
177. Curlew Sandpiper

 

[Stonefaction]

Thursday 8th September.

A wee wander from Arbroath to Carnoustie produced a surprise addition to the list for the year (and another kind of half tick - counted it last year, so it goes on this year again for the sake of consistency).

178. Black tern
179. White Wagtail

 

[Stonefaction]

Saturday 8th October

A trip to Auchmithie in the hope of seeing migrants, but nothing rare, although 7 Barnacle Geese down the coast were a new one for the year. (50+ seen on Sunday from Fife in 3 or 4 flocks).

180. Barnacle Geese

 

[Stonefaction]

Monday 10th October

Yet another failed attempt to see Hen Harrier and Short Eared Owl. This time a trip to Speyside. Did find a single Crested Tit showing well in Abernethy Forest (and a juvenile Peregrine having a go at a Red Kite at The Lecht).

181. Crested Tit

 

[Stonefaction]

Thursday 13th October

A wee trip north to Loch of Strathbeg produced 2 Hooded Crows en route.

182. Hooded Crow

 

[Stonefaction]

Saturday 15th October

After quite a lot of effort and lots of Goldcrest sightings I eventually managed to get a clear view of the first of 2 lifers for this weekend.

183. Yellow Browed Warbler

 

[Stonefaction]

Sunday 16th October

A wee bit of lazy seawatching produced a surprise in the shape of a Skua I didn't recognise (though there was a nagging doubt it could be JUST an Arctic) but after posting pics on here the ID was confirmed and I got my second lifer of the weekend. A nice Long Tailed Skua.

184. Long Tailed Skua

 

[Stonefaction]

Saturday 29th October

Took a trip through to Arbroath to try and see the Dusky Warbler (a lifer), and with a bit of help from others, managed to see it. Went to try and relocate it later and found what appeared to be another warbler (possibly a Radde's - hopefully someone will re-find this bird tomorrow and confirm the ID), though the photos I managed to get appear to be a Dusky, though there were two birds flitting around in the same area at the same time, and one was certainly paler on the underside than the one we'd watched earlier, so fingers crossed.

185. Dusky Warbler

 

[Stonefaction]

Saturday 5th November

A productive day out which started at Riverside Nature Park provided 6 new patch ticks there, and some nice birds were seen later at Westhaven, including a single Twite flying along the beach, possibly just arrived. A detour to Auchmithie was made later to get a Firecrest which had been reported. Mission accomplished after a bit of hunting around. Another lifer for me.

186. Firecrest
187. Twite

 

[Stonefaction]

Sunday 13th November

A day out with the ADBC in rather dismal light turned out quite well in the end. A field of Canada Geese was spotted en route to Backwater Dam, so we stopped on the way back and found a Bar Headed Goose among the flock. Got a text later in the afternoon reporting a Little Auk at Fishtown of Usan. The light was fading fast but a small group of us decided that if the bird was still there we'd have just about enough light to see it by the time we got there. Thankfully the bird was still there, and was viewed down to 20 feet or so at one point, although the light was atrocious even at ISO3200, and very poor record shots were the result. Still, a much wanted lifer for me.

188. Bar Headed Goose
189. Little Auk

 

[Stonefaction]

Friday 18th November

Took a long walk along the coast from Tayport to Leuchars, with a wee diversion thrown in which added 3 miles or so to the trip. Legs a wee bit heavy now. Didn't get many of the target species, but did manage to see the biggest of the targets - a Sea Eagle (Red T), and a few other quite nice birds (Grey Plover, Green Woodpecker, Redwing, Fieldfare, Knot, Snipe, Siskin, Redpoll, Bullfinch, Whooper Swan, Scaup). 57 species in all.

190. White Tailed Eagle

 

[Stonefaction]

Saturday 19th November

Went out today to Fife to try and add 3 more ticks to the year list. Not a great start in St Andrews when the Waxwings that have been around most of the week near Morrison's were noticable by their absence, so it was onwards to near Crail to see if we could find the two Geese species that had been reported for a few days. Unfortunately, only Bean Geese were in the field with the White Fronts nowhere to be seen. Headed to Wormiston after that, where we spoke to a man who said there had been a Barnacle Goose and a White Front which had been with a flock of Canadas before flying off. Walking down to the sea, we spotted a couple of distant geese flying out over the water. Took a photo or two, and the front bird was clearly a Barnacle and the other was a grey goose of some description. Can just make out a touch of white from the photo around the bill. A White Front, thankfully. So two out of three (ain't bad, as Meatloaf said).
Went hunting for the Sea Eagle later and it was still around in the same area.

191. Bean Goose
192. White Fronted Goose

 

[Stonefaction]

Saturday 26th November

Another trip to Fife to attempt to add another new species or two to the list. The Great Grey Shrike at Leuchars which had been reported on Wednesday and Thursday was hiding (although with strong gales blowing, I'm not surprised), but en route to looking for it, I finally managed to see one of this year's bogey birds, a Hen Harrier. At last.

193. Hen Harrier

 

[Stonefaction]

Sunday 4th December

Fife once again delivered the goods, giving me the second of my bogey birds in just over a week, and in some style with 3 together at one point - Short Eared Owls at St Andrews West Sands.

194. Short Eared Owl

 

[Stonefaction]

Wednesday 7th December

An afternoon off work and a wee visit to Guardbridge for another attempt to get Great Grey Shrike on the yearlist. Saw it, and got a few photos (not too great) but it flew off even though I was at quite some distance away, and didn't come back while I was there.

195. Great Grey Shrike