Thursday 30th January 2025 🌤️ 5C ~ WNW @ 25MPH ~ A visit to Loch of Strathbeg today with Mark Sullivan and David & Rob Leslie. Although the weather was dry and bright, the wind from the WNW, blowing at around 25 MPH, did cause a few issues.
We began the day at St. Mary's Chapel, which overlooks the southern end of the loch, in the hope of catching up with a couple of rarer ducks to the area, Smew and Ring-necked Duck. We managed to shelter alongside David's camper van in a vain attempt to keep the scopes steady. One bonus is that there were no 'wildfowlers' blasting away today and so most of the wildfowl was to be found in the southern corner of the loch as normal.
![]() |
Drake Smew |
Initially, we were surprised by the number of Pochard on site, in excess of 27 drakes and Mark informed me that such numbers have not been seen here in the north-east in over a decade. Three Scaup including one drake were also observed before we finally spotted the Smew, a lovely drake in midstream bouncing around in the waves. A good variety of wildfowl today and as well as the above there were Tufted Duck, Goldeneye, Coot, Wigeon and Teal. Unfortunately we dipped on the Ring-necked Duck.
Drake Pochard |
We then drove around and across the old airfield to the Fen and Bay hides. As we walked the short distance to the Bay Hide, we observed a few raptors circling one of which turned out to be a Goshawk (the others were Buzzards). A real bonus bird and likely a juvenile female that has been lingering in the area for a while. There wasn’t much else from the Bay hide, so we nipped round to the Fen hide, which was pretty quiet, but a Marsh Harrier put in an appearance, and two Great Egrets were seen flying in the distance.
We finished with a stop at the visitor centre, where we added Gadwall, Pintail, Lapwing, Little Egret and plenty of other common species. A few Golden Plover were on the low ground, and a flock of Dunlin were in the distance. Just as we were leaving a Peregrine flew across, landing on the mud for a while, giving good scope views. After seeing Kestrel on the way up, it was actually our fifth raptor for the day.
![]() |
White-fronted Goose |
As we started the journey home a report of some White-fronted Geese at Meikle Loch came through. We took a diversion on the way home and luckily managed to see a small flock of 11 at the far side of the Loch. Just as another birder arrived, we turned away to tell them where the birds were, and when we turned back they’d disappeared! No idea where they went to, but showed how lucky our timing was.
As ever good company and a good selection of species and thanks of course to David for driving. Unfortunately it wasn't a day for photography and so all the above images are taken from my personal UK birding photo albums.