First Signs of Spring in Scotland
21-22 March 2026
Today, with the first signs of true spring weather on its way, we headed up to the Ythan, with my side-quest being to record the "woo"-ing calls of Eider courtship, a regular sound there in March.
Once at the Ythan, we started at Inch Road, where we saw few birds, mainly due to it being a high tide. We saw the odd Redshank, and Curlews, but the only Eiders, were pretty far upstream and were sleeping on a shingle bank. Instead, I focused on the birds closer to us.
This year, I have decided to try to get my "Audio Life List" (list of birds I have audio recordings of) to 100. I got quite a few species added to this list while in French Polynesia, most notably, two endemics ; the Society Kingfisher, and Grey-Green Fruit Dove.
I saw a few Teal and Wigeon feeding on the opposite bank of the Foveran Burn, but only the Teal (which I have already recording in Dundee), were calling. However, I did eventually get a flyover Rook recorded, and a Black-headed Gull.
After this first stop, we drove up to the Snub lay-by, where a few waders were feeding. I managed to pick out some Curlews, and a couple Dunlins, in the large flock of Redshanks. We also saw a few Red-breasted Mergansers, many, many Pink-footed Geese, and some Shelducks.
Finally, we went to our friend Raymond's house, where I recorded a Siskin that was visiting the feeders.
22 March 2026
Today, we had some spare time, so we decided to go to Loirston Loch, to see the Ring-necked Duck again. Once we arrived, it didn't take long to pick out the Ring-necked Duck in the flock of Tufted Ducks at the North end of the lake. We tried taking some photos, although it was quite hard through the scope.
On the lake, there were also some Coots, Wigeon, a Little Grebe, and to my surprise, a drake Pochard. Pochard is a fairly scare species in the North-East, so I was delighted to see this individual. While watching the waterfowl, we also heard many Chiffchaffs, a sure sign spring has arrived.
