CULBIN SANDS

Superb sea passage with enjoyable forest birding, too

CULBIN SANDS IS an RSPB reserve known for its winter sea ducks, but in April we went to look at passage along the Moray Firth. The reserve covers more than 3.5 square miles. The part nearest the car park is popular with dog walkers and people enjoying a quick walk along the beach. To get to the reserve’s quieter and more remote parts you need to walk at least a further 1.5 miles east along the beach. You have watch the tide tables as not to get cut off but you can always carry on your walk in the Culbin Forest, where a number of interesting birds are found. Winter counts of sea ducks can be very impressive with counts up to 10,000 Common Scoters, 600 Velvets and five drake Surf Scoters, not to mention Long-tailed Ducks, Scaup and Goldeneye. Red-throated Divers are common with odd Great Northern and Black-throated worth looking for. Little Auks have passed in numbers and it always worth looking through the gulls with the odd Iceland Gull, in winter. Snow Buntings and Twite often use the beach while Lapland Bunting has also been found. Winter also sees a small gathering of pale-bellied Brent Geese. Summer has plenty of terns fishing around the firth, with loafing taking place on Culbin Bar so look out for Arctic, Common and Sandwich Terns. Waders are here all year round, with winter Bar-tailed Godwits, Turnstone, Knot and Dunlin, while Oystercatchers and Ringed Plover are the breeding birds. One sea duck that summers is the Eider, with breeding in the dunes (see page 75 of this issue for more on Eider). Ospreys nest in the forest along with Shelduck but the bird to look out for is the Crested Tit, often easier in winter in mixed tit flocks. JOHN MILES