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I’ve been patching at Girdle Ness for about 12 years. Before that period I made plenty of visits of course, looking for migrants, seawatching, and visits with the now sadly defunct Aberdeen Uni Bird Club - but it was late in 2006 that I first claimed Girdle ness as my ‘patch’. It came about having found a few decent birds elsewhere. In 2006 I found avocet (a good bird up here!) and Hume’s warbler (a good bird anywhere!) at Donmouth, prompting the Donmouth regulars to tell me to get my own patch and stay off theirs! I took their suggestion to take on Girdle Ness and I’ve never looked back. 

 

My birding at Girdle Ness has gone through several phases. Having a good hundred or so visits under my belt looking for rarities and migrants, ’Competetive patching’ is what really kicked it off, taking part in a few local competitions with different scoring systems that eventually merged to form the basis of Patchwork Challenge. This period saw me develop a quite ‘strategic’ approach to my birding, where I would be targeting variety and ‘patch quality’ with less of a focus on rare birds (although I still very much enjoyed looking for and finding them!). The desire to record more vigorously saw me starting to focus more on thorough recording and counting birds, with daily counts of waders and wildfowl going onto Birdtrack evolving into all species being counted on every visit (well - counted or at least estimated) and being recorded on eBird. The desire to find and identify migrants and rarities has remained a constant throughout though, and in the period I’ve been ‘patching’ at Girdle Ness I’ve found 2 white-billed diver, red-footed falcon, white-rumped sandpiper, citrine wagtail, 2 greenish warblers, Cory’s shearwater (still an SBRC rarity) as well as plenty of bits of scarce like multiple barred warbler, red-backed shrike etc.

 

My birding at Girdle Ness can broadly be summarised under 5 headings; Seawatching, Migrants, Passage, Winter birding, and Summer.

 

Seawatching

 

The best seawatching can usually be had in August to October, with NE winds that have tracked round from NWerly giving the best results. That said, the best seawatching I ever had at Girdle Ness happened in mid November 2007. A couple of days after a Brunnich’s guillemot had been found, I headed out to the headland in a brisk NE wind to find the spot occupied by a couple of slightly late Brunnich’s twitchers. In the following couple of hours we couldn’t relocate the big rarity, but made up for it in some way with over 300 little auk, 100 or so long-tailed duck, 3 glaucous gull, small numbers of sooty shearwater and pomarine skua, and all 4 species of diver, including great views of a white-billed diver resting on the water. Other winter seawatches have produced good numbers of little auks, with 1064 in an hour session in Jan 2016. I’d have counted more but missed all of the ones that went behind me! 

 

Most of my seawatching effort is concentrated into the ‘third third’ of the year. Things start to pick up in July, which can be a great month to see cetaceans such as white-beaked dolphin and minke whale. The better seabirds generally begin to occur in August and September, with good conditions usually producing commoner skuas and shearwaters. Sabine’s gull are probably annual (but are not seen every year, reflecting the general lack of seawatching effort at the site) and Balearic, Cory’s and great shearwater have all been recorded. Into October my seawatching effort dips a little 9as I’m probably thinking of passerines) but will pick up again in November as my thoughts turn to little auks, tysties, and large divers.

 

Although it’s less glamorous, I also really enjoy spring seawatching. I could spend many happy hours watching the northward passage of red-throated diver, and common and black-headed gulls in April.

 

Migrants

 

What Girdle Ness is famous for! There is no real wisdom I can pass on here - good east coast fall conditions at good times of year will deliver migrants to Girdle Ness, and of course they can get anywhere. Traditionally good areas are the battery and the south bank, but these areas have become quite inaccessible with gorse, so relatively more effort goes into the north bank, the allotments, and the huge areas of cover in Nigg Bay these days. More recent spring ‘finds highlights’ have included shore larks, wrynecks, bluethroats, red-backed shrikes, Richard’s pipit, and blue-headed wagtail. Autumn begins in August, where recent finds include 2 greenish warblers, citrine wagtail and killer whale! September has delivered red-footed falcon among more common migrants. Later in the autumn the suite of species changes of course, and has delivered highlights such as multiple barred warblers, hawfinch, 2 Pallas’ warbler, and what was almost certainly a ‘desert’ lesser whitethroat. Other ‘non-finds’ include desert wheatear, firecrest, common rosefinch and Coues’ redpoll.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Passage

 

Seeing as my patch is essentially a golf course next to the sea, there is very little habitat for most wader species, and ‘non-seaducks’ don’t get much of a look-in either. If I’m going to see these species they are generally just passing through - although thick fog can ground waders onto the golf course and ducks can turn up in the harbour at any time, although during or just after a storm is usually the best time.

 

Spring wader passage usually produces a few whimbrel, common sandpiper, the odd golden plover and occasional ‘tundrae’ type ringed plovers. July usually sees the beginning of the return passage, with that month generally producing stunning ‘red’ knots, the first purple sandpiper of the year (Norwegian birds, which will generally move on further south) and has delivered a remarkably showy white-dumped sandpiper. August sees thing s really kick off, with the years first greenshanks on the move, but September generally produces the best quality, with the more regular species often including ruff and black-tailed godwits, especially on the golf course. Thick fog tends to force waders down at this time of year, which can also deliver quality in the form of curlew sandpiper and little stint. Nocturnal recording sessions in spring and autumn have revealed  passage of golden plover, dunlin, whimbrel and greenshank over Torry in the dark.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wildfowl passage can be productive in spring (in April in particular) with seawatching sometimes turning up patch scarcities such as shoveler, gadwall, or tufted duck, or on one lucky day, a pair of garganey. Scaup have a strange propensity to be seen in mid summer, but as with waders, most of the wildfowl passage happens in autumn. Pintail are on the move then, and seawatching (or even just wondering around the headland) in September and October will usually turn up moving wigeon and teal, with occasional pochard. Pink-footed geese begin to pour through, with smaller numbers of barnacle geese, which will continue into October, which is when the first of the migrating goldeneye and long tailed duck tend to be seen. 

 

Winter birding

 

There’s not a lot to say about this, but as it’s winter from November to April it should probably get a mention! Early in the winter, seawatching can be productive, but from then on, it tends to be about looking for gulls in the harbour (white wingers are occasional) or looking for hard weather movements. Cold spells can bring thrushes to the area and the woodland around Nigg Bay can have local goodies like treecreeper and bullfinch, and it’s probably the best place in the county for wintering chiffchaff (what is it about sewage works?) and can also host the odd tristis bird.

 

Summer

 

Summer birding has developed alongside the development of the habitat in Nigg Bay. The development of the pools has seen mallard, moorhen, and water rail (among others) starting to breed regular, with the waterside vegetation supporting good numbers of reed bunting and sedge warbler. The surrounding trees have plenty of breeding willow warbler, and it looks like lesser redpoll and long-tailed tit have bred in recent years, which would have been unthinkable a few years ago. Whitethroat song fills the scrub, and sparrowhawk and stock dove make regular forays from the nearby hillsides. In addition to the birds, there are generally plenty of butterflies to look at (including a nice population of ringlet in Nigg Bay) and there are often cetaceans offshore. 

 

This is just a summary, and of course there is an awful lot more to patching at Girdle Ness than wha tis described here. Fond memories that can’t be categorised include the sites first Jay one April morning, my only ‘field’ storm petrel on a December seawatch, and a mid-summer surf scoter. I also take great pleasure from noting eider, goosander and wader numbers, hunting the first wheatears of the year, watching the sand martin colonies and looking for the first young, among many, many more. It’s definitely true that the more you know about a place, the more you wonder at it.