Trip reports

CRUDEN BAY AND ENVIRONS

Wednesday, 16 April 2008

As we waited in the car park the hammering of a Great Spotted Woodpecker became louder as it came nearer but the bird never showed itself. Paddy Grant welcomed eight members then outlined his plans for the day. A Heron flew over and in the trees were a Blackbird, a Chaffinch and a Great Tit. It promised to be bright, dry and not too cold, a welcome change from the incessant rain of the previous day.

We squelched from the car park into a tree-edged gully, very muddy underfoot, where a Wren, perched just above eye level, presented itself well and a Goldfinch was picked out with difficulty in the obscuring twigs near the top a tree. We opted for a drier path by climbing out of the gully to find a Dunnock in the gorse and a Meadow Pipit and a Greenfinch in bushes. A Kestrel hovered on our right, and a Lapwing flapped over some houses where, the previous week, we had seen Jackdaws carrying nesting material into a chimney.

Gaining more height we looked into the gully and beyond, to the stark outline of Slains Castle. As small birds moved about in the dense branches of the trees below us, we were able to identify Goldfinch, Dunnock, Robin, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Reed Bunting and Wren. Two Cormorants flew over. Across the gully were a Yellowhammer and a Pheasant in a ploughed field.

We retraced our steps to the gully where a clump of primroses at the base of a rock gave a bright spot in the rather dull surroundings. A skulking bird high in a tree was never identified but it was agreed not likely to be something out of the ordinary. As Paddy sagely remarked 'I suppose common things are common because they are common'. Not a voice was raised in dissent.

As we walked through the gully, Great Tit, Robin, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, and Wren all appeared before we reached the rocky edge to the sea. We admired the Eiders and Fulmars before
moving on to Slains Castle and a good vantage
place to scan the sea.

A Rock Pipit flew off a rock. A large number of Herring Gulls, a dozen Jackdaws and a single Shag stood on a rocky island, at the base of which were swimming Eider with several Guillemots and a few Razorbills beyond them. A Great Black-backed Gull drank from a pool. A Fulmar glided past, further out several linear flocks of Common Scoter, low over the water, hurried north while a Gannet flashed near the horizon. Two Herring Gulls squabbled noisily overhead, the bird with food pursued closely until it contrived to drop it.

On the way back to Cruden Bay we got a nice pair of Reed Buntings, a Meadow Pipit which showed well perched on a stone, singing Skylarks and Starlings and Lapwings in a ploughed field. At the edge of the town we passed a busy, noisy rookery and, appropriately, a House Sparrow. The picnic benches at the harbour allowed us to sit for lunch and watch two Buzzards over Cruden Bay.

Afterwards some of the party left to follow other pursuits, leaving the rest to take a mile-long walk to the far end of the beach. Access to the beach is the wooden Lady Bridge across the Water of Cruden on the bank of which probed a Redshank and an Oystercatcher. Along the beach we watched flying Black-headed Gulls and diving Common Terns.

The beach ends in rocks from where we could see several flocks of auks hurrying north, passing several swimming Razorbills. A pale Red-throated Diver was eclipsed by a handsome male Long-tailed Duck, close inshore. Then, in the small bay beyond the rocks, two further pairs of the ducks were found. A small rocky island provided perches for Herring Gulls and below them, fairly well camouflaged against the seaweed, were two Purple Sandpipers and a Turnstone. This seemed a good time to end a very enjoyable day for which we must thank Paddy.
Bill Williams