Girdleness and River Dee, Aberdeen, Scotland

I got dropped off at the lighthouse on Girdle Ness at around 11am. The area was quite quiet, but that was probably due to the strong winds that nearly blew me over a few times. Heading down to the rocks a Curlew saw me before I saw it, and the first glimpse I got was it flying off. After sorting my kit out I checked the sea for the first views of Eider, which were present in several small groups, and the odd Cormorant.

Male Eider

Not much else was in view from this sheltered spot, so I headed back up the path to the road. From here I had good views of the rocks below, which showed good numbers of Oystercatcher [circa 50] and small grey waders, which were later identified as Knot (at least, some were). Several Redshank and Turnstone were present, as were a few more Curlew.

Knot

A large movement of birds and alarm calls came from the golf course behind me and turning around I caught sight of a greyish falcon sp. heading into a flock. It took a small wader (probably a Knot) in flight and knocked it down into the sea. The wader was almost certainly killed on impact and the falcon, which turned out to be a Peregrine, dived down to the surface to retrieve it and fly off.

Various commoner gulls were around, including Common Gull, Herring Gull and a few Great Black-backed Gull. I spent more time trying to pick up footage of the waders down in the rocks, but it proved quite difficult with the strong winds trying to push me of the path and down to the rocks myself. Plenty of Eider were on the sea and I think I picked out a couple of Purple Sandpiper on the rocks, but wasn't convinced of the ID until it was confirmed from the footage by a local birder.

Purple Sandpiper

Heading around to the harbour entrance showed more gulls and Eider in the sea with a single first winter Mute Swan. The harbour walls were covered with large groups of Redshank [circa 70] and more small grey waders (Knot/Dunlin?). On the road back towards the town between the golf course and the harbour was a single Pied Wagtail and a flock of Starling [circa 80] were on the golf course and nearby allotments.

First winter Mute Swan and flock of Redshank

After crossing the Queen Mary Bridge the walk along the riverbank showed a small group of Mallard followed by several Goldeneye [1 male + 3 female] and Goosander [3 male and 2 female] spaced reasonably evenly along the the river to the next bridge. Lots of gulls were around the small island here and a single Grey Heron was on the island at the far side of the bridge.

One of the male Goosander

The male Goldeneye and one of the females

The walk home via Allenvale Cemetery showed just a single Dunnock and several Woodpigeon. However a great morning produced 25 species, including two new birds for me [Purple Sandpiper and Goldeneye] and eight more that were new to my active birding life list, not to mention all those year ticks!