Week 17

23 – 29 April 2025

During my big year, I will update my blog most weeks. This is the seventeenth week's recap. The number next to the day indicates my year list at the end of that day. Birds written in italics indicate Scottish year ticks. This update also marks my 50th POST!!!

April 24 - Day 114: 144

Today, on the way to karate, my dad and I spotted at Footdee to look over the harbour and Girdleness. While I was still setting up my scope, I noticed a quite pale gull with the other gulls in the harbour, an Iceland Gull! As it flew away, it went quite close to us, making us regret having not taken the camera with us. We walked towards the north pier, seeing a White Wagtail along the way. I then refound the bird with Herring gulls on the North Pier, we then had to leave, but still quite a productive outing!

April 26 - Day 116: 150

Today, like nearly every Saturday for the next few months, I woke up at 6:30am for Girdlenesting. This time, we weren't the only ones coming. Many others had joined us this morning. As usual, we walked around Girdleness finding a Ringed Plover nest of 4 eggs and a Meadow Pipit nest of 3 eggs, before I had to go to karate. Again, after an hour of karate, we came back to Girdleness, where we were informed that the others had just rung a Gropper (short for Grasshopper warbler). They told us where it was, so we went there and waited, meanwhile playing the tape. Eventually, the Grasshopper Warbler responded by singing for a very short time. While waiting to get eyes on it, I found a Linnet building a nest near where the others had found a Goldfinch nest. We soon gave up since it was not being very cooperative. We had a quick chat with Mark Lewis, whom we had bumped into. We showed him where the Grasshopper warbler was, but it didn't show. He told us that he had seen a couple of Whitethroats and a Sedge Warbler near the allotments, so my dad and I went there while Raymond and the others were setting up the whoosh net. Once at the famous sycamore, I heard the Whitethroat, but photographing it was another matter. We walked towards the others, spotted many Sandwich Terns, Gannets, a Grey Seal, and many active Dolphins. While we were gone, the others had caught a few birds in the net, including Goldfinches and Linnets. I got to watch them ring a few birds and got to ring a Linnet myself!

Please understand that ringing does not cause harm to the birds and provides critical information on bird populations, movements, long-term trends, and survival rates. It was thanks to ringing that migration was finally understood as a Dutch schoolteacher, named Hans Christian Cornelius Mortensen, put aluminium rings on Starlings for the first time ever.

After leaving Raymond and Rachel, now the only others left, we went to RSPB Loch of Strathbeg, since a Little Gull, Spoonbill and a pair of Avocets were seen recently. When we arrived after an hour, it didn't take long to notice all the ducks, which included Shoveler, Gadwall, Mallard, Wigeon and Teal. As I was scanning, I also spotted a few Black-tailed Godwits, just waiting to be added to my year list. Soon my dad also pointed out the Spoonbill, a bird I had seen this year at Bowling Green Marsh in Exeter, but not yet in Scotland. We drove along the small country lanes near Strathbeg, in search of Corn Bunting. Unfortunately, we didn't see any, however we did see a Wheatear and a Yellowhammer. Since we had made it all the way to Strathbeg, we decided to stop at Bullers of Buchan, along the way.

After a short walk in the rain, we found the spot where the Puffins normally are, and indeed, it didn't take long to find them. We snapped some pictures of the Puffins before having to head back to the car in order to not get soaked. Since we had made the detour to Bullers, we thought we might as well check if anything was around the Ythan.

Upon arriving at the Snub lay-by, I heard a Willow warbler singing. It was high tide, but we still saw some Redshanks, a Lapwing, Curlew and some wildfowl. We saw some Mute Swans, as well as a pair of Pintail and the regular Shelducks, Teal and Mallard. Soon, a raptor overhead caught the attention of my parents, who alerted me to confirm the identification of an Osprey! We watched the Osprey until it flew out of sight. A final scan revealed a large flock of Pink-footed geese in a field. While driving out of the lay-by, my dad spotted a strange wader on the near bank of the river. My mum, IDed it as a Spotted Redshank. I flew away, revealing the diagnostic white cigar on the back. We followed it to the other lay-by where, I scared it again by getting out of the car, but this time, it flew to the other side of the river, where we could still see it. We got some record shots before heading home after a wonderful birding day.