Saturday 7 March 2009

Birding in Musselburgh

Musselburgh is a small town just outside Edinburgh, with a lovely river and beach. We were walking round there today, the weather was pleasant though very windy, and we were impressed with the birds we saw!

On the river - several wigeon, these are very beautiful ducks and though I've seen them before I've never had such a good look at them, I particularly like the males' red and yellow head and pink front. Several goldeneye, very impressive ducks, who were splashing around a lot today. Several mallards, a few swans, greylag geese and canada geese. Two grey wagtails (much prettier than their name suggests) and a pied wagtail. A cormorant. Three goosanders.

On the beach - lots of redshanks, oystercatchers, a few turnstones. A small flock of bar tailed godwits (I assume they were bar tailed, though I can't actually tell the difference between those and the black tailed godwits which are much rarer). A sizeable flock of nondescript waders that I guess were dunlin, though they may have been knots (which are very similar in their winter plumage) waders aren't really my strong point!). Four or five eider ducks on the sea.
Lovely to see all these birds, very sobering to see from the RSPB pages that I link to, how many of these species are Amber status, which means they are threatened in some way or actually declining in number.

6 comments:

lunarossa said...

Lovely place. I think I should attend a "bird-watching course". I don't know half of the birds you've mentioned in your post and I don't think I would know them in Italian either!!! Have a nice Sunday. Ciao. A.

Janice Thomson said...

As always Juliet I love being able to look at the links directly from your posts. You have many varied and interesting birds where you live. It's always a treat to go through your lists identifying the different species, seeing the similarities and the differences.

Vickie said...

What great selection of birds to see in one outing. Beaches are always a fun place to visit. We had a warm day today in the
70's F, in Tennessee, in southeast USA. A nice bit of spring and the birds are starting to sing more.

RG said...

That looks like a great beach for walking and watching!

Crafty Green Poet said...

lunarossa - I think the Italian name for wagtail is ballerina, which i think is lovely...

Janice - yes we are luck to have so many birds....

Vicki - yes beaches are fun, that sounds like a very warm spring day, even allowign for the fact i think in Centigrade these days....

Rabbits Guy - yes it is...

Lucy said...

That's a good haul, especially the ducks. I'm not too good onthose little brown wader jobs either!