It's quite quiet

2/08/10

For the first time ever, there was not a single bird to be seen when I arrived. After half an hour, I had 6 Sand Martins, 2 Pheasants, 2 Starlings and one each of Sedge Warbler (heard) Wood Pigeon, Carrion Crow, Moorhen (heard) Chaffinch (on the feeder) Swallow and Mallard. It was so quiet I could hear a wasp chewing on the woodwork of the hide all the time I was there, so I left before it fell down.

A trip to the Ythan wasn’t much better. The road to Inch Point was blocked - by a house of all things. Well, bits of one, spread all over the road. Building, not demolishing though, so somebody is going to have a very nice hide with rooms attached. Further upriver, at The Snub, I counted 17 Canada Geese heads poking up through the long grass on the far bank. A couple of Greenshanks were feeding on my side of the river. Then, at Waulkmill, I counted 80 Greylag Geese on a sand bank in mid river, a solitary Black-tailed Godwit and 5 more Greenshanks.

I went to Collieston for some watching of the sea. At first there was hardly anything to be seen but gradually I began to notice passing birds, way, way out on the horizon. There were some Manx Shearwaters, and then a group of three which I am 99% sure were Sooty Shearwaters. So that brought up my year list to 200. Hopefully I’ll manage to obtain better views before long just to make sure.

I ended the day at Girdleness. The Swallows are now feeding young in the Foghorn building, making frequent journeys in and out of the tiny gap at the top of the door. What a shock the youngsters will have when they first look out onto the big world. In keeping with the rest of the day, there was little to trouble my notebook, so I knocked off early. It’ll improve.