Arrivals continue

The pace of new arrivals dropped over the weekend, but new birds continued to be sighted along with some birds hanging on for a few days. The count on Saturday included 6 Redstarts, 2 Whinchats, 2 Pied Flycatchers, 2 Tree Pipits, 1 Lesser Whitethroat. Today an additional new Redstart (a strikingly bright male-thanks to Ruth and Craig) brought the total up to 7 for the weekend. All these were seen around Collieston and Slains-certainly record counts for spring in the area. Of other more regular migrants Whitethroat and Sedge Warbler are all around in reasonable numbers now.
Up on the north coast White-billed divers continue to be a sight worth seeing off Portsoy, with 7 birds seen on Saturday including those now in full summer plumage. Around 13 Great Northern Divers and 1 Black-throated Diver..thanks to Paul Baxter for sorting the trips with the Gemini Explorer; great for dolphin watching as well.
Of interest a single Corn bunting remains frequenting the garden feeders in High Town and down to Sand Loch -as it has through the winter. It now regularly sings from the middle of the houses favouring the top of a wall. A sorry reminder that once numbers could be counted into triple figures in and around the village at certain times of year.

Blackcap, Kirkton

Corn Bunting, Collieston, Hightown

Lesser Whitethroat, Kirkton, Collieston 9.5.15

Male Pied Flycatcher, Kirkton 9.5.15

Male Redstart, Mains of Slains, 9.5.15

White-billed Diver, off Portsoy, 9.5.15

White-billed Diver , off Portsoy 9.5.15

Spring falls

A big arrival of spring migrants on the back of easterly winds and torrential rain last night and early doors today in and around the village. Highlights were a "flava" Wagtail (thanks to Sam), a Wood Warbler, 4 or more Pied Flycatchers, 2 Whinchat, multiple Tree Pipits -3 plus, 3 Redstarts, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 1 Garden Warbler and a supporting cast of Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff and Blackcap in good numbers. Great spring viewing.
Pictures were hard to get last night in the conditions, but better in the early morning.

View from Hightown before the rain came

Wood Warbler Kirkton, Collieston 5.5.15

Pied Flycatcher 1,  Kirkton

Pied Flycatcher 2, Kirkton

Pied Fly 1 again

Waders and weird wildfowl

With spring being slow to arrive this year, and indeed a couple of inches of snow falling last weekend, some nice passage waders have been a welcome distraction from the relative lack of passerines. Whimbrel and Curlew are currently passing through in small numbers, and can often be seen and heard high over the village on still evenings. They are also visible on the estuary, feeding on the mussel beds at low tide.

Curly-beaked waders large and small.

Also noteworthy in the wader department are several Ruff, which have somewhat unusually overwintered on the estuary. However, now is the time to enjoy them as they moult into their summer finery.

A black-and white Ruff...

...and a red one.

Finally, following on from my last post, where I mentioned the return of everybody's favourite technicolour duck, here is some photographic evidence to prove it.

The King is back. Long live the King.

Mid-April Miscellany

The first Wheatear of 2015 (that we've seen anyway) was present on the cliffs just north of Collieston this afternoon. Other notable bits and pieces seen during the walk were a pair of Ravens, a mix of returning seabirds including a handful of  Puffins, a single summer-plumaged Golden Plover moving north, and three Corn Buntings near the farm at Mains of Slains.

Cracking male Wheatear - welcome back!

The past week has seen some interest on the Reserve, with a ('the'?) King Eider reported on the estuary on Monday and Tuesday, and an Iceland Gull also there on Monday. A second-year Med Gull was at the ternery on Thursday with swelling numbers of Sandwich Terns, and best of all, a fine male Goshawk passed north on Friday (the latter a patch tick for me, and my first since the Brown Shrike back in 2013!).

Otherwise spring seems to have been slow springing on the patch, with just a handful of Goldcrests passing through the High Town so far. Bring on the warblers and hirundines!

Post eclipse post

A brighter day in Collieston following a rather cloudy eclipse. A good movement of Kittiwake heading North seen mid-morning was notable. Otherwise it was a good sight to see displaying Long-tailed Duck and a number of groups of Red-breasted Merganser at high tide from the Inches Road in Newburgh mid-afternoon.
Last weekend the highlight was at least 2 Scandinavian Rock Pipit in among a flock of about 20 of that species in the Mains of Slains area.During the week there had been a small number of Goldcrests' in the Slains area as well.
The pictures below shows the brightest of these birds and maybe a more local bird at the bottom.

Scandinavian Rock Pipit, Mains of Slains, 14.3.15

Scandinavian Rock Pipit

Rock Pipit

Spring around the corner

Winter has retreated and we are just awaiting the first clear signs of spring migration. There has been no sign of the American Wigeon for 2 weeks or so, but over in Aberdeen the Harlequin has been seen again in Seaton park today.
A few pictures from a few weeks ago shown below.

Today at Cransdale saw 15 Red-throated Divers just offshore, and plenty of Auks lurking around.There were at least 5 Purple Sandpipers to be seen on the rocks. Late afternoon there was a dapper adult Little Gull passing south past the point.There was a Redwing this morning down the track towards Old Slains, and another 12 Red-throated Diver and a single Common Scoter seen there.
Meanwhile on the Ythan one of the now almost usual Little Egrets was still present at the Snub. Presumably the same bird was seen last week beyond Inchgeck Island.

Harlequin Duck, Feb, Aberdeen

Collieston , 1.3.15

Cransdale 8.3.15

Redwing, Mains of Slains, 8.3.15

February update...

A few scraps of news to catch up on from the last month or so. Highlight for us has been the (re-)appearance of the drake American Wigeon on the Ythan Estuary. He showed well last week for a few days from the bridge at Waterside, with a small flock of his Old World cousins.

Spot the alien!

Other overwinterers on the estuary include up to three Greenshank, a handful of Black-tailed Godwits and two Ruff, all of which add up to more of an August feel than a midwinter one!

On the fresh water, a fine drake Goosander was on Sand Loch today, with presumably the same one having also visited Cotehill Loch intermittently over the last few weeks.

A walk along the north braes up to the Slains old castle recently provided a minor surprise in the way of a pair of Ravens; a magnificent Peregrine was also showing well perched on the clifftop fence.

Keep yer heads down, pigeons.

Closer to home, we took part in the RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch lately, with 51 House Sparrows unsurprisingly making up the bulk of the numbers. However, twelve Tree Sparrows were most welcome, and a Yellowhammer which dropped in was an absolute hellfire garden tick! We've had them as fly-overs before, but never on the deck until now. Good signs that the garden is getting a bit more bird-friendly. As a result of all this passerine activity, we received a Sparrowhawk visit on Sunday, and are now minus one House Sparrow. Sorry RSPB, correction, there's only 50 now!

A dapper little Tree Sparrow.

The dullest Yellowhammer you'll ever see. Hellfire, innit?

This afternoon I was encouraged to see a pair of Grey Partridge between home and the Forvie Centre; it's nice to know they're still around. Finally, at dusk tonight we were delighted to see two Short-eared Owls from the garden - they've been very scarce this winter up to now.