Thursday 21 July 2011

Quick one.

Things have been beginning to come in up here as well, a Pectoral Sandpiper has paraded the front of the Visitors Centre for the past few days, along with Ruff, up to 6 Greenshank and a roosting Med Gull. (But their no Holywell Terek)

Today the reserve staff had a brush cutter training course, so after doing the morning tasks, including emptying the Moth Trap, which held, 2 Dark Arches, 1 Burnished Brass, 3 Double Square Spot, 1 Silver Y, 1 Antler Moth, 3 Common Rustic, 2 Large Yellow Underwing, 1 Middle Barred Minor, 1 Common Wainscot, 1 Square Spot Rustic and 1 Lesser Yellow Underwings. I was also asked to observe if there was any Corn Bunting activity in an area of the site, which I found a copulating pair.

So by early afternoon I was free, feeling a bit twitchy I headed for a reported Glaucous Gull site, that one of the local birders had told me about in the morning, and once she realised I hadn't seen one before she said I had to go. Not knowing what to expect, as most twitches for them back in Northumberland resulted in dipping, I headed down to Peterhead. I pulled up in the car park to find a reasonable sized group of Gulls on a sandy bank just below the bridge, it didn't take long for me to pick up the Glaucous.



I enjoyed watching this Gull for a while before heading South, to Black Dogs, in search of the Black Scoter. On hindsight I should have done it the other way round, as when I arrived on the dunes, the realization of the task ahead became apparent. Hundreds of Eiders, possibly thousand, as well as the same amount of Common Scoter cluttered an area of sea just North of Mucar Golf Course, bobbing up in down in the waves the amount of separate rafts made it look like I would be there for a while. Scanning across to the more distant rafts I was soon onto 2 Drake Surf Scoters, and then not along afterwards the Black Scoter, another lifer for the day.

Pleased to see both birds I wandered back to the car quite content, being distracted from these beauties before heading for the reserve.


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