LATEST:Montrose Basin Ranger Blog
Adam McClure, Montrose Basin Ranger, gives us the latest news and wildlife highlights at Montrose Basin. Check his Ranger blog for a regular sightings update. Watch our webcams for live footage from our Montrose Basin Wildlife Reserve.
August 2010
Nine ruddy shelduck (Tadorna ferruginea) which were present on the Basin since July were last seen on 17th, and the little egret (Egretta garzetta) which was first recorded on 28th July has been present throughout the month, seen almost daily on the western end of the Basin.
Little Egret (Egretta garzetta) flying over Montrose Basin
(Photo taken by David Thompson)
The species which has attracted most attention this month has undoubtedly been the common crane (Grus grus) which has been present since 8th. Regularly on Mains of Dun and feeding on the mud in the western end of the Basin, the bird has been viewed from the Visitor Centre, Lurgies and Shelduck Hide.
View of common crane (Grus grus) from Shelduck Hide
(Photo taken by Andy Wakelin)
Wader numbers continue to increase with over 15 different species being recorded this month, including 12 ruff (Philomachus pugnax) on 9th, 1417 oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus), 726 curlew (Numenius arquata), 957 redshank (Tringa totanus), 50 black-tailed godwit (Limosa limosa), 54 common sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos)- all on 15th during WeBS count, 570 lapwing (Vanellus vanellus) and 29 golden plover (Pluvialis apricaria) on 29th. Other sightings include green sandpiper (Tringa ochropus), greenshank (Tringa nebularia), turnstone (Arenaria interpres), spotted redshank (Tringa erythropus), snipe (Gallinago gallinago) and whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus).
Buzzard (Buteo buteo) and osprey (Pandion haliaetus) continue to be regularly seen on the reserve with 3 ospreys recorded on 3rd. Sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus) were recorded on 10th, 22nd and 31st and peregrine (Falco peregrinus) were recorded hunting on the Reserve on 11th, 24th and 29th.
Fifty-three goosander (Mergus merganser) and 51 goldeneye (Bucephala clangula) were seen from the Visitor Centre on 8th, and 1476 eider (Somateria mollisima) were recorded during the WeBS count on 15th, as were 259 mallard (Anas platyrhynochos), 188 mute swan (Cygnus olor) and 2 pintail (Anas acuta). Five greylag geese (Anser anser) were feeding on Mains of Dun on 9th and 56 Canada geese (Branta canadensis) were seen near the Shelduck Hide on 29th.
Other notable bird sightings include singing willow warbler (Phylloscopus trochilus) on 6th and 8th, a spotted flycatcher (Muscicapa striata) in the car park of Visitor Centre and a wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe) in the Salt Pans on 29th. Excellent views of both water rail (Rallus aquaticus) and kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) have been offered from the Visitor Centre throughout the month as the birds frequent the pools out front.
Swallows(Hirundo rustica) and sand martins (Riparia riparia) continue to feed around the Visitor Centre and pools out front and the feeders are attracting large numbers of passerines including goldfinches (Carduelis carduelis), house sparrows (Passer domesticus), tree sparrows (Passer montanus), dunnocks (Prunella modularis) and tits.
Stoats(Mustela erminea) have been regularly seen throughout the reserve in August and an otter (Lutra lutra) was seen near Old Montrose Pier on 1st. A short-tailed vole (Microtus agrestis) nest was recorded in the Salt Pans on 18th and common seals (Phoca vitulina) are a daily sight on the Basin as they haul themselves out onto the sand banks at low tide.
Butterfly sightings this month include 12 small tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae), 10 green-veined white (Artogeia napi), 8 large white (Pieris brassicae) on 15th and 5 peacock (Inachis io) and 1 painted lady (Vanessa cardui) on 20th.
July 2010
At the beginning of the month flocks of 20-80 lapwing (Vanellus vanellus) were frequenting the Basin, by the end of July this number had grown to c.350. Redshank (Tringa totanus)showed a similar pattern with 300+ birds recorded on 20th and 1015 seen during the WeBS count on 25th. The WeBS count also saw 718 oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus) being recorded on the reserve.
Numbers of other wader species are also building up with curlew (Numenius arquata), common sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos), whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus), greenshank (Tringa nebularia), dunlin (Calidris alpina) and both bar- (Limosa lapponica) and black-tailed godwits (Limosa limosa) all becoming more frequent. The live camera streaming of Rossie Spit which can be viewed in the Visitor Centre gives tremendous views of high tide roosts including some of these fantastic birds.
Water rail(Rallus aquaticus) have been seen in the pond in front of the Visitor Centre throughout the month with sightings of one or two birds being recorded on 2nd, 10th, 12th, and 20th.
Birds of prey include regular sightings of buzzard (Buteo buteo), peregrines (Falco peregrinus) on 9th and 18th, a female sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus) on 30th and ospreys (Pandion haliaetus) have been recorded fishing almost daily on the reserve,
A staggering 1983 eider (Somateria mollisima) were recorded during the WeBS count on 25th, as were 216 mute swan (Cygnus olor), 129 shelduck (Tadorna tadorna), 599 black-headed gull (Larus ridibundus), 539 common gull (Larus canus) and 486 herring gull (Larus argentatus).
At the beginning of the month there were approximately 130 common tern (Sterna hirundo) chicks on the raft, this number had reduced to 11 on the 29th as chicks fledged and left the safety of the raft, ready to face the big bad world!
There is still much activity around the sand martin (Riparia riparia) bank and feeders at the Visitor Centre.
Notable sightings this month also included guillemots (Uria aalge) on the 9th, 11th and 19th, 2 kingfishers (Alcedo atthis) at Old Montrose Pier on 17th, 2 grasshopper warblers (Locustella naevia) singing at Drum on 20th and large flocks of red-breasted merganser (Mergus serrator) and goosander (Mergus merganser) with 138 and 90 being seen on the 4th and 10th respectively. Small flocks of pink-footed geese (Anser brachyrhynchus) have also been seen throughout July with 13 being recorded on 2nd and 17th.
Rarities on the reserve this month included 9 ruddy Shelduck (Tadorna ferruginea) which were seen near the Shelduck Hide on 30th and 31st and a little egret (Egretta garzetta) in Maryton Bay which was recorded daily from 28th.
Ruddy shelduck (Tadorna ferruginea) at Montrose Basin
There have been many mammal sightings throughout July with a mole (Talpa europaea) seen on the Visitor Centre steps and a fox (Vulpes vulpes) on the shoreline both on the 3rd. Stoats (Mustela erminea) and roe deer (Caperolus capreolus) have been a common sight on the reserve throughout the month and a short-tailed vole (Microtus agrestis) was seen in the Salt Pans on 27th and a pygmy shrew (Sorex minutus) at Tayock on 31st. Groups of common seals (Phoca vitulina) are seen daily at low tide with 17 being recorded on 17th and 29th.
June 2010
There has been much activity on the reserve over the past month, including the arrival of a new ranger!
Throughout June, crèches containing over 100 eider (Somateria mollisima) ducking have been a regular sight on the Basin and 1208 adults were recorded during the WeBS count on 20th.
The tern raft, now in its third season, has continued to be a tremendous success with the colony of common tern (Sterna hirundo) growing each year. At the start of the month it was estimated that there were approximately 100 nests on the raft, however, during the night of 11-12 June the high tide, coinciding with strong north-westerly winds resulted in waves breaching the side of the raft, causing some substrate to move. This led to a number of nests being destroyed but thankfully birds have since been seen mating and relaying and by the end of June there were c.120 chicks on the raft with more on the way.
Sand martins(Riparia riparia) have once again taken up residence in the purpose built nesting bank in front of the visitor centre, with lots of activity throughout the day and several pairs of swallow (Hirundo rustica) have nested under the eves of the centre.
A female mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) nested in the vegetation on the fresh water pool which is used, almost on a daily basis, by school children for pond dipping during educational visits. She successfully incubated 8 eggs and the ducklings managed to make it to the brackish pools of the saltpans.
Around the visitor centre young birds can be seen and heard in the bushes and on the bird feeders, including house sparrow (Passer domesticus), goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis) greenfinch (Carduelis chloris), dunnock (Prunella modularis), great spotted woodpecker (Dendrocopos major) and tree sparrow (Passer montanus).
Other notable sightings on the reserve have included fishing osprey (Pandion haliaetus) on 5th, 540 black-headed gulls (Larus ridibundus) were seen during the WeBS count and a little tern (Sterna albifrons) in the high tide roost on Rossie Spit on 28th.
An otter (Lutra lutra) was recorded at Old Montrose Pier on 20th and roe deer (Caperolus capreolus) have been seen regularly taking advantage of the lush vegetation in the saltpans.
Since March, we have added a staggering 24 new species of moth to the reserve list.
