Two very different days this weekend- wonderfully warm and sunny on Saturday followed by rain and a bit of westerly wind today. As often happens, the bad weather bought the best birds down on the reserve. Firstly James our new volunteer saw some small waders out on the Low Ground, a long look through a couple of scopes and we identified them as Pectoral Sandpipers. These are normally seen in North America and are rare in much of Britain, but they're a bit of a speciality of Strathbeg and the North East. We've had groups of seven or eight on the reserve in previous years and visiting bird watchers from further south have been amazed to find that sometimes they don't even make it onto the highlights section of our 'What's About' board!
While watching the Pectoral Sandpipers wander in and out of the reeds, Chris, one of our regular birdwatchers, saw some more 'funny' (that's a very technical birding term) waders in the same spot. After another few minutes they were identified as another American bird- two Buff-Breasted Sandpipers. These are nowhere near as common at Loch of Strathbeg as Pectoral Sandpipers and in fact are only the sixth ever record for the reserve. They'll definitely get a special mention on the sightings board.
Along with the rarer visitors, Pink-footed Geese are still flying in from the sea and numbers on the reserve are still climbing. As well as several thousand on the reserve itself there are lots in the area including some big flocks in the fields behind behind the ruined church at Rattray.
The geese haven't really settled in to their usual routine (leaving at dawn and returning at dusk) yet, so it's a great time to pop in and see them flying around the reserve without having to be up before sunrise!