Thursday 21 June 2012

Craigmill Den 18 June

Weather a bit better today so we decided to take a walk to a local beauty spot just outside Carnoustie which is know  locally as the 'Fairy Steps' - not sure why it is called that but if any local can tell me then thats great!
It was actually quite sunny on the walk and to begin with we saw plenty of swifts, swallows and other small birds flying and buzzing about overhead.  There was a mature gentleman on the path doing some spotting with his binoculars and he greeted us with a friendly hello and introduced himself as Bob McCurley from the Dundee\Angus birding club.  Bob proved to be a very engaging and informative individual with great knowledge of birds and told us he was just back from a birdwatching\wildlife trip in the Spanish Pyrenees so he was a real enthusiast and it was nice to meet him.  He had been to this spot yesterday and spotted some 16 different species of bird and he was trying to spot some more today! He pointed out a lot of whitethroats flying about and there were also swallows, swifts, goldfinches and a few warblers all buzzing around this nice little den.  Bob told us that a friend of his spotted a bee-eater bird here a few weeks ago, which is amazing as they tend only to be found in the south of England in the UK.
After a good chat with Bob we walked up and down the Den (which is not the longest) and saw a buzzard and a kestrel and on the way back we got a glimpse of a Fox slinking through the gorse bushes on the other side of the burn.  This place is lovely and green and blooming with wildflowers so highly recommended although it is a fairly short walk.

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