I can’t think of a title so there isn’t one.

27/07/10

The more observant of you may have noticed a map has appeared on my home page, showing the locations of visitors to the site. It should prove interesting as time goes by. By the way, no information is gathered about anyone visiting the site. I still don’t know who you are, unless you are kind enough to sign the guestbook. Back to the birding.

Last week I went down to Angus to check out a couple of sites I hadn’t known about. I’m not sure if I found them, although the directions I was given were specific enough. Time will tell. I dropped in to the visitor centre at Montrose Basin and had a nice half hour there. The tide was well in, so there were not too many birds on the water, but the ones on the feeders in front of the windows were entertaining. A pair of Blackbirds was sunbathing. One was lying spread-eagled on the grass, wings and tail feathers extended, the other was lying on its side, beak half open, and with a look of sublime bliss on its face.

Later I went to Lunan Bay, rather hoping to find my first Velvet Scoter of the year. The car park was well filled, and there were lots of happy people on the beach. I ignored them and concentrated on scanning the choppy waters of the bay. Soon I found a small flock of scoters, and one of them was a Velvet Scoter, white wing flash and white eye patch showing up well. Then, almost casually, I found myself looking at another scoter, and this one was a Surf Scoter, my first for Angus and a bit of a surprise. It was mostly asleep, with its head screwed round, so its white nape was at the front end, and its outsize bill hidden under a wing.

On my way back to Montrose Basin, I filled my lunch box with some very nice wild rasps. A walk along The Lurgies was productive, although there was not the hoped for Green Sandpiper. Lots of Common Sandpipers, and a few Greenshanks were as much as I could muster.

Yesterday, I relented and went back to RSPB Loch of Strathbeg, lured by the presence of nine Ruddy Shelducks. They are gorgeous birds, and a bit rare. Their origin in the UK is sometimes open to question, as many are kept in collections. But there is also a wild population in the Netherlands, so they could equally well have come from there. Some authorities do not include them in their lists of UK birds, others do. This is where listing gets problematical. I’ve always counted them, so for the sake of continuity, they were gratefully added to my 2010 year list, which now stands at 199.

A bit of sea watching at Peterhead was interesting. There were good numbers of shearwaters passing, but as far as I could tell, they were all Manxies. No Sooties, so the magic 200 remains unclaimed.