Trip reports

GIRDLENESS

Tuesday, 13 January 2009

The sea was flat calm, there was no wind when we met at the car park near the lighthouse on a pleasant but chilly morning. Our leader, Bob Littlejohn, greeting the dozen members present, told us that the highlight of his recce had been the large number of Purple Sandpipers.

On the rocks at the shore in front of us perched Herring Gulls and Oystercatchers. Just offshore two Red-throated Divers floated close together and a few Eiders, some Cormorants and a handful of Eider were scattered about. Then a dolphin broke the surface several times, easy to pick out in the absence of waves.

We moved off towards the harbour and along the rocky shore on which were numbers of Redshanks.

A Rock Pipit gave a brief view. On the top of the south breakwater stood numerous Oystercatchers and a Cormorant drying its wings while at its base two or three Turnstones foraged, as did a solitary Purple Sandpiper, inconspicuous against the background. A skein of Pink-footed Geese, travelling north, flew overhead.

On the other side of the breakwater were large numbers of Redshanks with a dozen busy Purple Sandpipers searching about. A Robin flew on to rocks. In the entrance to the harbour, a seal floated vertically with just part of its head exposed. Further on Purple Sandpipers and Turnstones appeared and disappeared as they scurried about amongst the rocks on the shore where more obvious Oystercatchers idled and a Curlew posed for a while before flying off.

At the base of the inner breakwater Eiders squatted in the brown seaweeds, the ducks quite well camouflaged as opposed to the obvious drakes. Here, too, were Herring Gulls, Redshanks, Oystercatchers and Turnstones. Further along the shore, among the rocks, were more Purple Sandpipers, one with a red and a yellow ring on its right leg.

We walked up to the road by the allotments, giving the trees a quick look over but they were devoid of both leaves and birds. In the allotments House Sparrows, Dunnocks and Blue Tits flickered in the bushes and an unseen Blackbird gave an alarm call. By the golf course, perched on a fence, a Black-headed Gull with very red legs and beak detained us for a while but the consensus was that it could not be transformed into anything else.

The battery did not yield anything and there was little by way of bushes to give birds cover. As we watched a female Stonechat moving between a fence and high dry stalks, we waited hoping for a male but in vain. Back at the car park two Carrion Crows flew in. The number of Eider in the water had increased greatly. As we prepared to leave after a leisurely picnic as we sat on boulders, two Meadow Pipits scurried about on the grass verge.

It had been a very pleasant January outing although not many species. Our thanks to Bob for his leadership.

Bill Williams