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| Mistle Thrush |
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| King Eider |
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| King Eider and sleeping Eider |
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| Velvet Scoter |
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| Stormy Fife Ness |
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| Red Throated Divers |
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| Herring Gull |
A day's holiday from work in January last year inevitably meant heavy snow all day, but thankfully this year there has been no sign of similar conditions so far (touch wood!). However, checking the weather forecast and especially the rainfall map before I left the house, did appear to give a little cause for concern with showery weather at both the planned locations to be visited looking for new year ticks.
Target birds were Snow Bunting and Green Woodpecker in particular with a few other possibles, at Tentsmuir Forest, and a chance to see a female King Eider off Ruddon's Point at the eastern end of Largo Bay. Surf Scoter and various divers and grebes were also possible here.
My transport for the day was provided by my birding buddy, Jacqui, once again. Having the car meant we could pack a scope for seeing the King Eider at Ruddon's Point. Distant ducks in the sea are tricky to ID with just binoculars.
We set off from Guardbridge towards the car park at Kinshaldy, in Tentsmuir Forest, arriving around 9am. The car park was very quiet and we set off through the dunes with Jacqui's wee dog, Archie, scampering around enjoying the fresh air. Unfortunately there weren't many birds around along the beach and the dune edges. We did spook a small flock which we hoped were Snow Buntings, but once we caught up with them again discovered were Linnets. I spotted a bird as it landed near the fence line at the southern end of Tentsmuir Point nature reserve. Through binoculars I could make out that it was a falcon and thought it looked Merlin sized rather than a larger Peregrine. I took a few photos but the light was very poor and the photos were very grainy and hard to get a good look at on the camera back screen. Later at home, I checked and still thought Merlin, so I posted on BirdForum where the consensus was that it was indeed a Merlin. New tick number 1.
Walking along the tree line, we spotted Mistle Thrush ahead of us, and a few Meadow Pipits called as they flew above us. Three Bullfinches flew up from the ground into the trees, and we encountered more of them a short distance on. There appears to have been a large influx of these lovely big finches this winter with lots being seen all over the place. Great Tits, Blue Tits and Coal Tits fed in a small flock among the bare branches of a small copse of trees with a solitary Goldcrest foraging among the lichen-covered branches nearby.
We approached the area where I find Green Woodpeckers most times I try and I walked through the trees while Jacqui stayed in the open space to the west, giving her a better view ahead than I had. We heard a calling Green Woodpecker and Jacqui saw it fly, but my view was blocked by branches. Thankfully, Jacqui had seen where it had landed, so I walked on scanning as I moved forward slowly. The Green Woodpecker spotted me before I saw it and flew off towards the main forest giving me flight views for around 10 seconds. Year tick number 2.
We walked back through the forest and saw another Green Woodpecker but little else except Robin and Wren. We headed for Jacqui's to drop the dog at home after his exhausting two hour walk. En route towards Leuchars village we passed a farm where Tree Sparrows and House Sparrows mingled with Starlings in the garden of the farmhouse. At Jacqui's I spotted a Collared Dove fly into a tree behind her house adding another bird to our day list total which was only around 30 species at this point.
We set off southwards for Ruddon's Point and picked up Grey Partridge and Pheasants in the roadside fields as well as a few Buzzards hunting on the ground. At the holiday park at Ruddon's Point we saw two Magpies near the road in and a Curlew ran across the road in front of us. Getting out of the car we added a Reed Bunting along with a female Chaffinch. We walked through the trees to overlook the small bay to the north. A small group of waders were on the beach - Bar Tailed Godwits mostly, with a single Dunlin, as well as a few Oystercatchers and Redshanks. Offshore there was a small group of Eiders, and a pair of Mallards and a drake Wigeon and a large flock of Herring, Common and Black Headed Gulls. We set the scope up and I scanned the water to the northeast. Velvet and Common Scoter were seen and Long Tailed Ducks were around in good numbers. We made our way out to the end of the path through the grass and scanned again. Similar species along with Oystercatchers roosting among the rocks were seen from here.
Rain had begun to fall as we walked out and it showed no sign of easing up. Looking south we could see 4 birders scoping the river to the south, so I turned the scope that way and scanned in roughly the same direction. Eiders were the predominant species offshore and I slowly worked through them, hoping that I would be able to ID a female King Eider among female Common Eiders if I chanced upoin the bird which had been seen here yesterday. Thankfully, my worries were unfounded and it stood out well, the different shape of the head and two small "sails" on its back being very noticable. I managed a distant record shot here, confirming the ID. My fisrt female King Eider. We walked down to join the other birders, but the lower viewpoint made finding the bird again slightly tricky, but eventually it was spotted again, and I managed to get a series of photos and both Jacqui and myself got very good scope views. A nice drake Velvet Scoter showed relatively close in, but hopes of re-finding the Boxing day Stejneger's Scoter seen at Musselburgh remained hopes, albeit very faint hopes. A Red Throated Diver slept beyond the Eider flock and Long Tailed Ducks and Common Scoters dived and surfaced time and time again among the waves. The King Eider dived a few times, coming up with food a least once.
As we watched the King Eider a few small groups of waders flew past - Bar Tailed Godwits with a couple of Dunlin and three Grey Plovers with them, then a Sanderling flock with another few Grey Plover, and a Ringed Plover and some Dunlin. The black "armpits" on the Grey Plovers was very conspicuous despite the lighting conditions. We headed back to the car, where a Robin was hopping around below as we arrived back. Another birder showed up and we gave her directions to where the King Eider was, before we headed off to see if we could find anything at Kilconquhar Loch a short distance away. We had intended on trying the small marsh area to the north of the village but it was quite flooded so we headed to the edge of the loch instead. Coots, Goldeneye, Mute Swan, a distant Tufted Duck and more gulls were the rather slim pickings on the water. We chatted to another birder who we had talked to at Ruddon's Point and as we did so, we heard a knocking sound to our right. It turned out to be a male Great Spotted Woodpecker who seemed rather unconcerned by our close proximity.
Driving towards Crail we had a flock of what were probably Linnets wheeling around over a field as we rejoined the main road. We decided to try for Geese in the fields north of Crail first but drew a complete blank, so headed to Kilminning instead. As I walked along the edge of the field I put up a Woodcock which flew up and over the trees and road, unseen by Jacqui. Another tick for me. A few Goldfinches and Greenfinches were all that was around, so we headed down over the golf course to Fife Ness.
The tide was almost all the way in, with large waves crashing in and the inlets full of thick sea-foam. Birds were in short supply offshore with Great Black Backed and Herring Gulls the most visible species. Eiders were feeding in small groups beyond the breaking waves. I spotted a Diver in the swell to the right of the hide, and got a better view a short while late which let me ID it as a nice Black Throated Diver - another year tick. Unfortunately I then lost it among the waves and despite searching for a few minutes in the hope of getting a photo, I failed to relocate it. Two Red Throated Divers did fly north together and Jacqui had a single Red Throated Diver offshore as I searched for the Black Throated, and also a flyby juvenile Kittiwake which I missed too. Two Long Tailed Ducks flew north and a Cormorant and a Shag flew out from the rocks near where the car was parked. Scanning these showed a large flock of mostly Oystercatchers huddled up. Among them were two Bar Tailed Godwits and some Curlews. A couple of Purple Sandpipers were picked up a little further along. Just after I took a photo of them, a large wave lifted a large flock of around 60 that had been out of sight behind the rocks on the island where the waders were roosting and they flew to some rocks a little further out where they touched down only to be chased off again by another large crashing wave. The light was starting to go, so we headed back to Guardbridge where Jacqui dropped me off to catch the bus.
Another very good day out with 59 species on my list and 5 new year-ticks (in bold).
Bar Tailed Godwit, Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Black Throated Diver, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Common Scoter, Coot, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunlin, Eider, Goldcrest, Goldeneye, Goldfinch, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great Tit, Green Woodpecker, Greenfinch, Grey Partridge, Grey Plover, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, King Eider, Linnet, Long-Tailed Duck, Magpie, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Merlin, Mistle Thrush, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pheasant, Purple Sandpiper, Redshank, Red Throated Diver, Reed Bunting, Ringed Plover, Robin, Sanderling, Shag, Song Thrush, Starling, Tree Sparrow, Tufted Duck, Velvet Scoter, Wigeon, Woodcock, Woodpigeon, Wren
Jacqui also saw Grey Heron, Kittiwake and Teal which I missed.