Our first full day in Scotland didn't start as we'd planned. In fact that's not quite true since we hadn't planned to do anything specific. The weather forecast wasn't promising with thunder and lightning likely across the Speyside region. So we took it easy, watched the mizzle through the cottage windows and considered our options. My original plan was to go to the Ythan Estuary and see the King Eider that had been present throughout the preceding fortnight until Friday, but then it had disappeared so there didn't seem much point in keeping to it. After much deliberation we eventually decided to go for the tried and trusted drive around Lochindorb where we'd be able to see birds from the car windows and avoid getting wet.
However, before we'd reached the end of the drive, Mrs Caley announced that a Red-necked Phalarope had been reported at the RSPB's Loch of Strathbeg reserve on the north-east Aberdeenshire coast so we made a quick change to the Sat Nav and headed eastwards after all. Better weather was to be expected once we'd gotten away from the mountains too so we were hopeful of a good day. Unfortunately after an early positive update on the status of the Phalarope a further report, when we were about halfway there, said that it had been flushed by a Sparrowhawk and had disappeared. We kept on course to Strathbeg anyway because sometimes birds will return once the coast is clear. The Red-necked Phalarope had other ideas though and wasn't seen again, so for the third time this year already, we missed out on seeing one by just an hour or so.
I spent a bit of time scanning the marshes at the reserve but couldn't find anything other than Lapwings and Oystercatchers. The vibrant Common Tern colony at the visitor centre had also been deserted this year. The outbreak of bird-flu definitely seems to have affected the status quo this year. In the carpark we watched some of the Tree Sparrows and got a close up view of a Swallow which was sitting out the drizzle that had followed us from Speyside.
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| Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus) |
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| Swallow (Hirundo rustica) |
We decided to cut our losses and head down the coast towards the Ythan Estuary to the difficult to find, unless you know where it is, Meikle Loch near Collieston. Over the years we've seen many good birds in the area. At the Ythan we saw our first Greater Sand Plover after driving from the Isle of Skye to twitch it before doubling back for a week in Speyside. We've seen a Roseate Tern at the Ythan mouth and of course, Elvis the King Eider on many occasions. Close to Collieston we saw a fabulous Blyth's Reed Warbler, a photograph of which gained me my one and only Photo of the Week award from BirdGuides. At Meikle Loch itself, we saw a Lesser Yellowlegs once. Just in the past week a Pectoral Sandpiper and three Temminck's Stints had graced the shallow Loch but sadly all four had decided to disappear as we were winging our way northwards on the Saturday.
The entry track to the small parking area by the loch side has become more than a little rough since I'd last driven it a few years back. The grass that grows in the middle of track was high enough to give the undercarriage of the car a good brush. I was terrified that the grass could be concealing a rock or two so I drove very gingerly indeed. Once I'd reached the parking area, I even gave the car a once over, but all seemed to be fine. The loch itself doesn't actually look attractive to wading birds, there are no muddy edges and reeds grow around most of it so the waders use a corner of the loch that has a rocky shore and some rocky groynes that fishermen have presumably laid for better access to deeper water. Even though the Pectoral Sandpiper and Temminck's Stints had moved on, I knew that there were three Little Stints still present and I found them readily enough on one of the small man-made rocky peninsulas. Conditions were still a bit grey and dreary and they were a fair distance away so you may have to squint a bit at the photo below, but all three birds are in it.
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| Little Stint (Calidris minuta) |
Year List addition;
245) Little Stint
