BIRDING
TRIP & PHOTO REPORT:
SCOTLAND
– EAST COAST,
MAY
2007
By
Stephen Burch, England
Introduction
This is a short
photo based trip report, covering a day and a half's
birding on the Aberdeenshire coast, on 4 and 5th May 2007.
A business trip to Aberdeen provided this opportunity for
some birding afterwards. Last year I had 'done' Speyside
and Fowlsheugh to the south of Aberdeen, so this time I
tried coastal sites north of Aberdeen, with the main aim
of finding photo opportunities.
As last
year, however, the weather was not particularly good.
Although there was some sun on the afternoon of the 4th,
the 5th was uniformly dull and grey with a cold easterly
wind for good measure, with temperatures as low as 10°C
- quite a contrast from the 20+°C temperatures recently
in southern England.
All pics
were taken with a Canon EOS350D & EF400mmf5.6 (prime) lens. See
page on equipment for more details.
Bullers of Buchan
These splendidly
named cliffs don't seem to be widely known, but they are
easily accessible from the road just north of Cruden Bay,
and contain most of the usual cliff breeding sea birds,
including Puffin in reasonable numbers.
I took the southerly path from the houses close to the
car park, towards Cruden Bay. This provided a few
opportunities to get close enough to the birds for
photography, but did require some rather risky short
descents in places! I had read of Puffins
easily accessible on the cliff tops in the evening, but
of these there was no sign whatsoever. In fact the only
photo-able Puffin was on a ledge, which
needed the hairiest slide down to get reasonably close.
There was some sun while I was here, but as it was
afternoon/evening it wasn't shining on the birds -
morning must be better from that point of view. The only
mild surprise here was a Peregrine
flushed off the cliffs.
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The only accessible Puffin
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A group of four Guillemots,
including one of the bridled form
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A reasonably close Razorbill
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A pair of Razorbill getting in
the mood for the breeding season!
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One of many Fulmar flying
along the cliff tops
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Kittiwake cruising past
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Ythan Estuary
Estuary
mouth
There are various easily accessible places worth visiting
on this estuary. Probably the best was the estuary mouth,
reached by a short walk from the car park at the end of
the beach road from the Ythan Hotel. Here there were
masses of Eider resting on the shore
opposite, and good numbers of both Sandwich
and Little Terns, sometimes coming close
enough for flight photography, which would have been so
much better with a blue sky. I kept on having to retreat
in the face of the incoming tide!
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Sandwich Terns fishing in the
Ythan estuary mouth
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Little Terns fishing in the
Ythan estuary mouth
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Waulkmill Hide
This hide overlooks the upper park of the estuary, and is
reached along the minor road opposite the Collieston turn.
This road had an obliging Oystercatcher perched on a road-side
fence post, which allowed a close approach using the car
as a hide.
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An obliging Oystercatcher by
the road
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There wasn't a great
deal around at the hide itself, only some distant Curlew
over the far side. However, all this changed when an Osprey
suddenly appeared, caught a (huge) fish and then flew off.
Only rather distant views for photography:
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Distant Osprey with huge fish!
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Oystercatchers in a yellow
light caused by the field of oil seed rape behind
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The main road bridge
over the estuary near Newburgh produced more fishing Sandwich
Terns and some Red Breasted Mergansers.
Collieston
This was a
surprisingly good site, where I spent some time. The road
to the left at the start of the village ends in a car
park right by some rocks overlooking the sea. There was a
small breeding sea bird colony just to the north, and all
three auks (including Puffin) could be
seen offshore. Also, there were some fairly distant Red
throated Divers, some in summer plumage, as well
as a couple of passing flocks of Common Scoter further
out. Also well out to sea were Gannets.
The nearby rocks had the odd Turnstone.
Plenty of Eider and fly by Sandwich
Terns as well.
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Fly past Eider
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