Spurred on by the fairly strong S/SE winds of yesterday, i decided upon a spot of migrant hunting at Girdleness. The wind was still strongish, and in the right direction, but the sky was cloudless and it was a beautiful sunny day, so I didn't build my hopes up too much.

    First sign of any migrants was a female Blackcap, feeding in the sycamore.....not much to go on, but enough to keep up the slight hope of a goodie. It soon became clear that there had been a small arival of commoner migrants, with hirundines and wheatears fairly numerous, and on my second trip round the battery, a Lesser whitethroat popped up and gave some cracking close up views.

   The main event in the harbour, was, as usual, the feeding Bottle nosed dolphins...there were about 15 of them today, some right in the main harbour itself, leaping about and grinning as they do. I watched them for a short time, but then got distracted by a group of 6 Long-tailed duck, 5 of which were in breeding plumage. 5 late Purple sandpipers fed on the various breakwaters.

     I had a brief, and uninspiring seawatch on my way round to check the recently burnt patch of gorse on the south bank. Now I know its mindless idiocy, going round setting fire to things, and its especially annoying when the area usually held breeding Stonechats, Linnets and Meadow pipits, among others, but finding migrants is an awful lot easier in gorse that has been burnt. Not today, though, as the whole area was totally empty. So, I called it a day, and trudged the long trudge back across the golf course, where a very crisp male White wagtail was getting grief from its territorial pied brother.

    Things look good for tomorrow, with a little egret at westhill, and all those Black terns down south...... 

The giddy highs of birding Donmouth are few and far between, non existent, most would say......but every dog has its day, and today was Donmouths. 

     I arrived at the site early in the afternoon, and almost immediately got onto a sleeping drake Ruddy duck. This is the first one i've seen at this site, or anywhere else in Aberdeen, for that matter. Most NE Scotland records are at this time of year, but are seldom away from Miekle and Cotehill lochs. As I was still enjoying the duck, a stonking Avocet walked through my field of view. This was all getting a little too much for me!! Avocets are pretty rare up here ( about 30 records since 1974 ), and, needless to say, another site tick. I alerted a few regular Donmouth watchers, and other birders, and then sat back to enjoy the bird in the afternoon sun, as it fed in the shallows, and gave the Common gulls a wide berth! A pair of Tufted ducks completed the picture for the estuary, and my first Sedge warbler of the year sang from the river bank.

   I decided to walk up the beach, have a seawatch, and then check out the cover around the exhibition centre car park. It soon became clear that there were a lot of Terns feeding at the river mouth. These were, of course, mostly Common and Sandwich, but, after a little time, I picked out an early Arctic, and a Little. The beach turned up a lonely looking Greylag, sitting in the surf, along with a few waders, 5 Sanderling, a Dunlin, and, best of the three, a Grey plover. It takes a certain type of birder to get excited about a Grey plover, ie a patch worker! but it was only the second time i'd seen one here, so i'll let myself off.

    The Ex. centre was very quiet for migrants, but the golf course chipped in with a female wheatear ( sorry about the pun!).

  This weekend was my wonderful, long suffering and still, remarkably, birder tolerant girlfriends birthday. As a treat, I organised a mornings horse riding in Glen Tanar, for Claire and I, and  a stay in Dinnet, on Deeside, for a couple of days. Of course, this was no birding trip, but I still managed to squeeze half an hour in from time to time.

     We arrived late on Sunday, due to my monumental hangover, but still managed to get a roding Woodcock over the woods at Dinnet.

   The next morning, I got out early, leaving Claire for a well earned sleep in. The dawn chorus around Dinnet, and especially in the oakwood, was stunning compared to the usual Herring gull/Oystercatcher duet we get in Aberdeen....and included Redstart, Tree pipit, Lesser redpoll, Green woodpecker amongst others. The only dissappointment was the lack of Wood warbler, but we were a little early for that.

   There may well have been all sorts of birds to see in Glen Tanar, but unfortunately, i couldn't take my eyes off the back of my horses head. I was a little worried about falling off, especially as they gave me the biggest bastard horse in Scotland. I did hear one or two things, including some Crossbills (non parrot), and a Cuckoo.

  Early this morning, we got up early and went into Glen Gairn, for a brief look for Black grouse. We really should have stayed in bed, however, as the only grouse to be seen were the red ones, chuckling at us in their mocking way, from the hillsides. Keeping up the red theme, on the way back, I had Red legged partridge, and we nearly flattened a Red squirrel.

   All in all, a very enjoyable weekend for us both, despite the lack of any great birds. Thanks to the people at the Glen Tanar equestrian centre, for keeping me alive, and the camp german waiter at the hotel, for keeping us entertained.....  

 Endured another terminally slow seawatching session this morning, but was delighted to be distracted by a female greenland Wheatear, which lingered on the platform for a minute or two, and gave some cracking close up views. Out to sea, the only observation of any note was a group of 3 Harbour porpoise.

    Over lunch, photos of a mystery pipit on heligoland were brought to my attention, through the surfbirds news service. I was surprised to see that the bird was almost identical to a bird I identified as a Meadow pipit, just last week, in Aberdeen. The photos can be seen at www.club300.de, and then going to id-forum.