We started at Newburgh (NK004256) as it was the closest and is a good site at low tide, which it was at 10:30 in the morning. We stopped off a various points of the area on our way north, beginning with the Burnmouth Scalp area, then at a few of the lay-bys and finally near the hide at the north end. The area had plenty of Oystercatcher, Eider, Mallard, Curlew, Redshank and Lapwing. Ken pointed out a small group of Golden Plover to me and a couple of Red-breasted Merganser. A few Grey Heron were also about, as were various gulls. The patches of rain prevented us staying too long, so we pressed on north. At the stop by the hide we located the geese that could be heard, and on the drive down there a Common Buzzard was perched on a fence post. Ken pointed out that one or two Barnacle Goose were mixed in with the Canada Goose, and the pale-brown one was a Pink Footed Goose. Using his scope he identified a distant group of waders as Dunlin. The nearby Meikle Loch (NK032305) had good numbers of Shelduck. Also present were a few Goldeneye, a single Pochard, some Eider and more of what we'd already seen, like the common waders.
Peterhead was decided as the next stop and the drive there showed a female Pheasant running across the road and a single Kestrel. The harbour was checked for gulls, but very few were around at that time. I picked up Common Gull, Herring Gull and Black-headed Gull, having already seen a Great Black-backed Gull from one of the lab-bys at Newburgh. A few Common Seal were very close to us in the harbour and a small group of Eider had one bird in eclipse plumage.
Further up the road we pulled in to a stop by the sea wall for a quick look for a King Eider, which is often reported from that spot. No luck with that, but it did show a Red-throated Diver, which Ken pointed out to me - my first life tick of the day. A few Shag were on a rock along with some Cormorant.
A little further we pulled into a car park at the side of a river by a golf course to see a popular local attraction. A drake Mandarin Duck that had been there for some time was mixed in with the Mallard and Mute Swan. Several relatively tame Turnstone were also running about, allowing me good footage of both.
Drake Mandarin Duck and Turnstone
For the afternoon we headed further north to the Loch of Strathbeg - a nice RSPB site with a visitor centre and quite a few hides. As we pulled up in the car park there were Chaffinch, Great Tit and Blue Tit on the feeders with a few Tree Sparrow. After a quick toilet stop we had lunch in the visitor centre overlooking one part of the loch. Nobody else was around so we had the place to ourselves, which meant lunch was on the viewing platform complete with RSPB binoculars and scope.
The most obvious thing around was a group of Curlew right in front of us, but during our lunch we picked out lots of geese in the fields behind the loch, a couple of Whooper Swan flew over, as did a couple of Pink-footed Goose. The logbook had shown a couple of recent sightings of two ringtail Hen Harrier, which we kept a lookout for.
From the right hand window I caught a brief glimpse of a large raptor scattering the ducks and waders in the distance, but it had gone before we could pin it down. In the same direction, but closer a Fox had come down to the water to scavenge a bird carcass at the water's edge. This attracted the attention of a Common Buzzard, which perched itself in a nearby tree. Whilst watching this, Ken spotted another disturbance in the background, which turned out to be one of the two ringtail Hen Harrier.
Common Buzzard [Camcorder+RSPB Scope!]
After lunch was done and we'd packed up we spent a few minutes watching the Tree Sparrow on the feeders. Ken took a few photos and I got a little video footage. A couple of Great Spotted Woodpecker were in the nearby tree. I briefly thought I spotted a Brambling amongst the finches, but it was just an oddly lit Chaffinch.
Tree Sparrow
We drove on to some of the other hides which involved passing through a security gate, requiring one of us to make a phone call at the gate - very secretive! As we pulled up to the hide, another birder was just leaving and said that it was mainly just Wigeon. He was pretty much right. About 100+ Wigeon with one Teal and a couple of Goldeneye in the distance, which I mistook for Tufties at first! I caught sight of two birds which I couldn't ID and Ken didn't get onto in time. One was a very small bird in the reeds right by the hide - just a brief glimpse of something small like a Wren. The other was just before leaving the hide. A small raptor which might have been a Merlin flew low over the reeds just by the hide and into the marsh behind us. The sun was low and all I saw for colour was a sandy colour. In that light, it might have been any falcon to me!
The last hide we visited was much further from the water, making it more difficult for me to pick out anything of interest. It was really just more of what we'd already seen, with a pair of Red-breasted Merganser, a Grey Heron, some Cormorant and some Tufted Duck (as well as some more Goldeneye!). It was time to head back.
Red-breasted Merganser [Honestly!]
On the way back Ken thought a quick stop at Rattray Head might show some Long-tailed Duck for me and avoid some of the traffic at the same time, so we drove down a few country lanes towards the coast. Plenty of Common Buzzard on fence posts here - one of which let us get very close for some nice footage. In the fields around the farm on the way we saw a finch flock which could have been Goldfinch of Twite. I had my bins on them which Ken drove slowly along the track. Enough to pick out a single pale wing bar and totally discount Goldfinch, which I'm quite familiar with in flocks on my local patch. I've recorded them as almost certainly Twite, but I'll probably have to let this one go, as it'd be a life tick for me.
Common Buzzard
We pulled up at the rather boggy "car park" at the dunes to see plenty of Curlew in the adjoining fields. Walking through the dunes to the sea showed a practically deserted beach with not much sign of anything on the sea except some Eider and the odd Cormorant flying over the water. Several gulls were around, but nothing seemed interesting. Whilst I looked at blank waves and the odd Cormorant, Ken had his scope out checking all the little dots in the waves that my bins couldn't hope to ID. I did pick up on a couple of Red-breasted Merganser after Ken mentioned them, but the Razorbill he found was just a black dot through my bins and I didn't get to the scope in time to find it - another life tick I'll probably have to let go!
The journey home was mainly dark, but at dusk a falcon flew from a fence post and close to the car... possibly a Peregrine to end the day's birding, but could be sure. I asked Ken lots of questions on the drive home and we talked about some of our earlier birding experiences, like the Northumbrian coast and the Farne Islands. Ken dropped me off at around 4:30pm and I thanked him for, what was for me, a great day's birding. Including those lifers I'm hanging on to by a thread, I had 52 species throughout the day, which is my greatest day total since I began actively birding.
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