Week 1 - Scotland Big Year

Week 1

01 – 07 January 2025

During my big year, I will update my blog most weeks. This is the first week's recap. The number next to the day indicates my year list at the end of that day. Birds written in italics indicate year ticks.

Day 1: 22

Day one was rather relaxed. The first bird was the inevitable Herring Gull, followed by Blackbird, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Blue tit, and Jackdaw, all from inside the house. By submitting my checklist so early, I secured 5th place on eBird in Scotland. We went for a quick walk in our local park, Victoria Park, to try to complete one of our targets of the year; to be 1st in Scotland on eBird. We got several new species such as Stock Dove, Woodpigeon, Coal tit, Great tit, Redwing, Dunnock, House Sparrow, Grey Wagtail, Chaffinch, and Goldfinch. In the afternoon, we went to Hazelhead Park to film a section of our own “The Big Year” movie. We were rewarded with a few new year birds, like Great Spotted Woodpecker, Song Thrush, Greenfinch and the highlight of the day, Crossbill. 

Day 2: 26

Unfortunately, due to the ice on our street, we could not get out and onto the main road, and therefore, had to miss the RSPB's outing to the Ythan Estuary. Myself and my sister, Maya, took a short stroll anyway in Victoria Park and got one new year tick; Pied Wagtail. In the evening, the whole family went out for a walk in town, getting me Mistle Thrush, Fieldfare and Common Gull.

Day 3: 40

January 3rd was my first visit in 2025 to my local patch, Girdleness. I got many easy-to-get coastal birds from the largest car park, such as Oystercatcher, Curlew, Redshank, Turnstone, Great Black-backed Gull, Shag, Cormorant as well as a flock of 7 Whooper Swans flying North, a few Purple Sandpipers and a Rock Pipit. In the tall grasses and shrubs nearby, I heard my first Wren (finally!) and saw a female Reed Bunting. With my mum, I took a short walk towards south pier and the Torry Battery. We quickly got Eider and Black-headed gull, before jumping in the car to evade getting frostbite!

Day 4: 69

In compensation for the loss of birding on the 2nd, today, we went out on a road trip touring the North of Aberdeenshire. We started off by stopping at the Ythan Estuary, we parked at the Seal Beach Car Park. We walked to the beach and started scanning the many waders since it was low tide. Soon, we picked out some more Redshanks and Oystercatchers, a Little Egret, Red-breasted Mergansers, Goldeneyes, Grey Heron, Bar-tailed Godwits. As we walked to the Golf Hut, we got views of my lifer Grey Plover!!! As, we sat down in the hut, sheltered from the cold, we found more of the birds we had already seen, as well as Golden Plovers and an overhead flock of Pink-footed Geese. On the way back to the car, we walked through the Golf Course finding a Skylark along with Meadow Pipit, Rook and a flyover Snipe. In total, we got 13 new year birds, bringing our total to 53. While driving through the village of Newburgh, I finally got, as number 54, Starling. 

Up the river a bit, we stopped at the Snub Lay-by, where we found a few birds such as Teal, Red-breasted Merganser, Grey Heron, Wigeon, some more Snipe as well as many, Lapwings, and some Mallards (at last!). To get back onto the A90, we followed the A975 before turning off towards Hatton. It turned out that following this small, icy road wasn't the best idea. As we shuffled along the small road, a sharp turn made us nearly end up in an open field. Luckily, however, we managed to turn back and caught glimpses of two Grey Partridges, a Hooded Crow, and a female Pheasant. Instead of taking the small roads that weren't gritted, we decided to follow the A975 until it rejoins the A90 near Cruden Bay. While still in trauma from the prior event, I spotted a Buzzard on a fence post by the side of the road. We were now at 63.

After driving a little longer, we arrived at RSPB Loch of Stathbeg. When we arrived, we were quite surprised to see only one other car in the car park. When we got out the car, we immediately saw a few Tree Sparrows at the bird feeders. Once we had walked up the stairs in the visitor centre, we quickly spotted the large, unmistakable Whooper Swans as well as a Great White Egret, a Greylag Goose, and between the many Wigeon, Teal and Mallard, 3 drake Pintails. As we scanned the many waders and waterfowl out on the pools, we spotted a few Dunlin and Snipe, too. After a little while, we saw, Daryl Short, the reserve warden for Forvie NNR. We pointed out the Pintails and headed off to the Dunbar hide. On the way there, we walked through some farmland, where we saw large winter flocks of Yellowhammers, Redwings, and Fieldfares. We didn't see much at the Dunbar hide apart from a few more Snipe as well as a single Little Egret.

Day 5: 74

Today was another cold day, and the afternoon was said to carry with it gale-force winds and heavy rain. We therefore thought of stick to around the city, and decided on St Fittick's Community Park, a wetland and woodland area just to the south-west of Girdleness. While walking through the woodland area, we heard, then spotted, two Goldcrests in some pine trees. As we left the wooded areas without finding our main target species, we moved on to the famous bridge where, in winter, Water Rail can be seen very readily coming out of the reeds in into the open. Already there, was another local birder, Sailaja, she said she had seen two of them fly out of the reeds when she arrived. While we were waiting, we spotted two Bullfinches, a male and a female, in a small tree. We also got excited when we heard some movement in the reeds only to discover it was not a Water rail but a Moorhen. Soon, our patience paid off, we got ridiculous views of a Water Rail feeding less than 2 metres away from our feet! On the way back home, we stopped at the Nellfield Cemetery to try to find the Waxwings that our friend Raymond had rung the day before. As we got out of the car, we saw a Song Thrush feeding on yew berries. We noticed the large numbers of Redwings and Fieldfares and, as we were trying to find the entrance, we found a flock of Lapwings flying over the city! After waiting for about 15 minutes without luck, we called it a day and went home. 

Day 1: https://ebird.org/tripreport/318733

Day 2: https://ebird.org/checklist/S207625738 ; https://ebird.org/checklist/S207665792

Day 3: https://ebird.org/checklist/S207812175

Day 4: https://ebird.org/tripreport/315880

Day 5: https://ebird.org/checklist/S208102416

The diet of Crossbills is very dry, so they must

come down to pools like this to drink from.

Quite distant shots of my lifer Grey Plover

(centre-left)

Flock of Pink-footed geese over the Ythan

Record Shots of the Grey Partridges

One of many Yellowhammers

Tree Sparrow

 (Note the brown crown and black cheek spots)

Great White Egret

Moorhen
  

Water Rail

Rather unusual to spot a flock of Lapwings

over Aberdeen's City Centre 

Song Thrush in Yew Tree

The Fieldfares weren't as 

confiding as the Water Rail ;)