First Signs of Spring 2026

First Signs of Spring in Scotland

21-22 March 2026

21 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.

Redshank

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.

Ring-necked Duck, centre

One of many Coot

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.

Scottish Birdwatchers' Conference 2026

14 March 2026

Today, we headed, in the morning, to Dundee, for the SOC/BTO Scotland-run Scottish Birdwatchers' Conference 2026. Since Felix and I had a great time at last year's conference, we decided to meet up again at the new venue of Dundee. We arrived around half past nine, to quickly see some of the stalls on the way in. In the car park, we heard a few Greenfinches, before entering the Invercarse Hotel, where the conference was being held. We settled down at a table near the back, and, after a short delay, the talks commenced. Here was the programme for the different talks over the course of the day:

09:15 – Registration and tea/coffee

09:50 – Welcome and Introduction - Ruth Briggs, SOC President

10:00 – Montrose Basin through the seasons - Joanna Peaker, Montrose Basin Visitor Centre Site Manager, Scottish Wildlife Trust

10:35 – Restoring the River South Esk - Kelly Ann Dempsey, River South Esk Catchment Partnership

11:00 – Tea/Coffee

11:30 – The Lives of White-tailed Eagles - T1 & TZ - Richard Tough, Tayside and Fife Raptor Study Group

12:10 – An early 'heads up' about the forthcoming Bird Atlas - Dr Ben Darvill, Head of Development and Engagement (Country Operations), BTO Scotland 

12:20 – Lunch

13:40 – Successful collaborations in the conservation and monitoring of raptors (Angus Glens) - Dan Spinks, Scottish Raptor Study Group

14:00 – RSPB Scotland in Angus: collaborating for nature - David Hunt, Senior Conservation Officer, RSPB Scotland

14:20 – Baselines and birds: an upland opportunity in Glen Prosen – Gareth Ventress, Environment Forester, Forestry and Land Scotland

14:40 – Q&A session with Dan Spinks, Gareth Ventress and David Hunt

15:10 – Tea/Coffee

15:40 – Who said reedbeds are a transient habitat? - Steve Moyes, Tay Ringing Group

16:10 – Raffle prize draw

16:20 – Summing up - Dr Chris Wernham, Head of BTO Scotland

16:30 – Close of conference

After a lovely set of interesting presentations, Felix and I headed out to Riverside Nature Park, only a few minutes drive away, to see what birds we could see. We were limited on time, since the sun was setting, and we soon had to go our separate ways, but before long, we spotted some Redwings, a species bird a haven't seen very much of this year. After that, we heard a Greenfinch, and a Skylark, and arrived at the first bird "hide" (though was really just a simple viewing screen), and only saw a couple of Moorhens.

After this initial, fruitless stop, we headed on to the next "hide", again just a screen, however we spent even less time since here, since the sun was directly in front of us, and the only birds were a couple of Carrion Crows. After this, we stopped slightly later, at a viewpoint over the Tay Estuary, where we finally found where all the birds had gone.

Despite them being quite distant, we could identify Common Gull, Black-headed Gull, Lesser Black-Backed Gull, a Grey Heron, a Cormorant, some Teal, Mallards, Redshank, Black-tailed Godwits, Curlew, a massive flock of Oystercatchers, and, flying upriver, an adult female Marsh Harrier.

As we scanned the birds in the fading light and cold wind, more birders arrived, some of them missing the Marsh Harrier by only a couple dozen seconds. While we stood in the cold, we had a few Long-tailed Tits pass by, one of which was collecting rabbit fur for its nest. A lovely finish the long day.