Today Brenda had to head back to Norfolk as she has services to take tomorrow. I’m staying in Scotland for a few more days to do bits and pieces of DIY – and some birdwatching as well of course!
So after I had dropped Brenda off at Aberdeen station I headed a little further north up the east coast of Scotland to Forvie Sands National Nature Reserve. This is a habitat of about 1000 hectares of sand dunes and dune heathland, and I’ve not explored it before. It’s far too much for one short visit, but I stopped beyond the village of Newburgh to look out over a tidal area of the river Ythan (a name that sounds Welsh to me rather than Scottish!) where there were large numbers of shelduck, dunlin, redshank and curlew.
I then walked past a large and noisy rookery, and over the dune heath system to the North sea. On the sea there were several red-breasted mergansers and some divers very far out which I couldn’t specifically identify. I saw the bobbing heads of quite a few seals (I don’t know what species) out to sea too. The dune system itself was quite quiet, with just a few skylarks singing, and the occasional skein of pink-footed geese flying over (just like Norfolk!).
This place will be much busier with wildlife in a couple of months, so I must try to visit again. Meanwhile, back at the house, I’ve been left in charge of the moth trap: What could possible go wrong!
No new species for February 18th:
TOTALS TO DATE:
Birds = 127
Moths = 4
Wildflowers = 16