Week 10

5 – 11 March 2025

During my big year, I will update my blog most weeks. This is the tenth week's recap. Next weekend, I will be in Inverness, at the Scottish Birdwatchers' Conference with my friend Felix. Sadly, this week was extremely uneventful birdwise, and therefore, it took quite some motivation to write this up, so there is a slight delay. The number next to the day indicates my year list at the end of that day. Birds written in italics indicate year ticks.

March 8 - Day 67: 126

Today, my dad and I went to the north of Aberdeenshire, to see what was still about. When we arrived at St. Mary's Chapel, we were amazed by the many singing Skylarks and the now regular Pochards on the loch. Among the Pochards were 2 drake Pintails and of course the Goldeneyes and Tufted ducks.

We soon moved on to the visitor centre. We were greeted by many birds singing, such as Chaffinches. We met David Gill, a local birder, and had an interesting chat but didn't see much birdwise apart from some Gadwall.

After a report of a juvenile Glaucous Gull at Cairnbulg, we moved on to the small fishing village. Unfortunately, apart from some Rock Pipits and several Redshanks, we didn't see much.

We decided to stop at Phingask bay before heading back, to check for any "White-winged" gulls. Unfortunately, after a thorough scan, all the gulls turned out to be Herring gulls.

On the way back to Aberdeen, we stopped at the Tarty burn, across from Waterside Bridge in Newburgh, to meet up with Raymond. Apart from many Shelduck, Wigeon and Redshanks, there was a flock of Pink-footed geese, going to roost.

Monday, March 10th, marked the end of our first weekend of 2025 with zero year ticks.