Mixed Bag

19/07/09

I didn’t stay long, because it was a bit rainy and the windows were closed, and there seemed little prospect of anything else interesting turning up.

I had lunch in Peterhead, at Battery Park, watching terns and Gannets going past, then a quick stop at Meikle Loch. I thought there was nothing much to see, until a wader zigzagged in and landed on the shore. It was a Snipe. I watched it feeding in what little mud there was, before moving on to the Ythan. Scanning around from opposite the Snub, I soon latched on to a Little Egret. First one for the year, oddly enough. At the Inches, it was more terns, quite a few Curlews, and a hunting Osprey, but no sign of any interesting waders.

So I ended up at Girdleness, where it was fairly quiet as well. Terns, Fulmars, Curlews, lots of Eiders, and the arrival of four Common Scoters at The Coo, and four Ringed Plovers at the Bay of Nigg, and a load of roosting terns was the total. Some of the terns were ringed, both adults and juveniles.

I took 13 photos today, and binned the lot. Too dull, and birds too distant.