Wilson's Phalarope - Meikle Loch
18 September 2026
Today, my dad and I woke up and headed up to Meikle Loch, on the Ythan, since a rare Wilson's Phalarope had been seen there since Wednesday. When we arrived, we saw a large van leaving with the man driving giving us a thumbs up, without exchanging a single word, we know it was there.
We joined Phil Crockett and another birder, who gladly let us see the bird through his scope. Despite it being just a spec on the North side of the loch, we could clearly see that it wasn't the same as the lapwings it was with and that it was clearly paler.
Very, very distant Wilson's Phalarope
Since it was very distant, we decided to walk round to try get a better view. I saw it fly very briefly, but it landed right behind a Canada Goose, and we couldn't see it thereafter. We decided to head back to the car and hopefully stop at the Snub Layby to check the waders there.
When we got back to the car, the other birder, who had stayed, pointed out that the Wilson's Phalarope was in the water, just next to the car park. We got great views of it as it fed along the bank, though the photos I got were less good.
Wilson's Phalarope
The Wilson's Phalarope is a New World wader that was first described by French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot, and named in honour of Scottish-born ornithologist Alexander Wilson (sometimes known as "the father of american ornithology"). The Wilson's Phalarope is one of 5 species of bird named in his honour and one of 3 species of Phalarope in the world - the other two being the Red-necked Phalarope and the Grey Phalarope, the former being a species we saw on Lewis in 2025.
We then stopped at the Snub, since Keith had seen Ruff and Curlew Sandpiper there the day before. We saw many Little Egrets, a few Ruff and many Greenshanks and Redshanks, but sadly no Curlew Sandpipers. Just as I had finished scanning, I spotted my first Whooper Swans of the autumn.
Whooper Swans
