Trip reports

FORVIE SNH NATURE RESERVE

Tuesday, 25 March 2008

It was cold, wet and windy, with a bit of snow thrown in for good measure, when nine of us turned up at Forvie riverside car park. We decided to walk down the north side of the Ythan to the big dune then across to the sea.

As we passed through the small conifer wood by the car park we saw an early Song Thrush, quite unusual at this time of year. The river produced the usual crop of ducks, including good views of Long-tailed Duck, Red-breasted Merganser and Long-tailed Ducks

An elusive Red-throated Diver tasked our patience as it seemed to spend ten times as long under water as it did on the surface but, in the end, all got a sighting of it through a rather wobbly telescope. On crossing to the sea we added very little to our list but some did spot Common Scoter along the beach. Our raptor haul was impressive with Sparrowhawk, Kestrel, Buzzard and Merlin being noted. With the wind in our faces we walked back to the car park and then to the Snub for lunch.

After lunch I had a treat in store. A rare Bewick's Swan had been in the area for the past week and I had located it earlier that morning. We set off the half mile or so to where I had seen it four hours earlier. It wasn't there. Then Hamish Paton noticed a large group of swans on the opposite side of the road and a few hundred yards further on. After spending some time scanning this group of Whooper and Mute Swans we spotted it. It was very nice to see all three species of swan together so that the differences in size and shape could be compared. It was a lifer for many. By now we were all getting rather cold so we called it a day.
Dave Gill