News

Friday, 25 November 2011

THE YEAR IN ANGUS 2011

In the earlier part of the year a pair of Sea Eagles were regularly seen in the Lintrathen/Backwater Dam area and a Bittern overwintered at Kinnordy. In April a drake Garganey showed well at Kinnordy and a surprise visitor to a garden at Finavon was a Nuthatch. Hopefully the northern spread of this delightful bird will continue and in the near future they will become more common. In early May an influx of Wood Sandpipers delighted many observers and was followed up, later in the month, with many calling Quail. Loch of Kinnordy had it's first successful breeding of Marsh Harriers and during the summer months a visit of a Great White Egret to the same reserve and 3 Spoonbills to Montrose Basin kept the bird interest going. The Spoonbills stayed at the Basin for over 6 weeks! Autumn didn't disappoint with larger than normal numbers of Little Stints and Curlew Sandpipers and a real rarity on the 27th October - a Dusky Warbler. This bird was found in Cliffburn Gully, Arbroath and was surprisingly joined by another Dusky. They stayed 6 days! Winter geese are always a feature of the Angus bird life. Pink-footed Geese peaked at 63,000 at Montrose in October and the were unprecedented numbers of Whitefronted and Bean Geese reported during November.
Our local group has had a good year with stalls at the Dundee Flower Show and Broughty Ferry Seafest. Sales of pinbadges and tombola tickets were excellent at these events. In November many members of the public visited Broughty Ferry Library to see the 'Feathers on the Forth' display. A Sea Eagle Sculpture designed by Art College students is to be built on the shore front in Broughty Ferry next year and the public were asked for their ideas and opinions on this and the Sea Eagle release scheme.