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| Gannet |
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| Manx Shearwater |
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| Common Scoter |
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| Manx Shearwater |
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| Dunlin |
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| Gannet |
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| Gannet |
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| Gannet |
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| Gannet |
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| Kestrel |
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| Gannet |
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| Arctic Tern |
With the wet and windy weather to contend with, I figured my birding for the day was most likely to be over when I got home after the morning visit to Riverside Nature Park, however my pal, Jacqui, had other ideas. She suggested that owing to the easterlies and generally poor weather that sea-watching at Fife Ness might be worthwhile for a few hours. As she was to be quite busy in the morning she suggested the latter half of the afternoon, so we arranged to meet up around 3pm and head to the Ness for 2 hours or so, then back to Guardbridge to catch the bus around 6pm for home.
I decided to have an hour or so in the hide at Guardbridge prior to meeting Jacqui so I left the house at around 1320 to catch the bus into town. As it was raining quite heavily, I decided against walking to the bus station. Birds were in short supply even though the bus was rather later than it should have been which resulted in me missing my connection with only Swift and House Sparrow on the afternoon list.
En route to Guardbridge, Swallow and Sand Martin were spotted from the bus as we passed St Michaels, with Woodpigeon also added as we arrived in Leuchars. A Mute Swan was seen as we crossed the Motray Water. As the bus slowed down to let me off I added Herring Gull on the former paper mill buildings. A Pied Wagtail scurried across the wet grass by the bus stop and a Robin showed below the trees near the hide. Blue Tits were on the feeders.
Once inside the hide I scanned around out front with the binoculars. Black Headed Gull, Curlew and Oystercatcher were all fairly obvious, with Grey Heron and Redshank picked up soon after. The two Pink Footed Geese were roosting by the water on the far bank. Great Tits joined their smaller cousins on the feeders to the right hand side of the hide. A few Lapwings were spotted and among the Herring and Black Headed Gulls loitered a Great Black Backed Gull. Half a dozen Canada Geese were seen further downriver. The rain began again limiting the opportunities to add to the list, although a Common Gull flying by did make it onto the rather short list. I headed out to wait for Jacqui at around 1455, spooking a Blackbird as I opened the gate to the car park.
With roadworks on the bridge beginning traffic was relatively heavy so Jacqui picked me up on the main road and we somehow got lucky and made it through the traffic lights without any real delay. The only addition to the list as we headed towards Crail was a flock of Starlings at Kingsbarns. As we crossed the golf course at Balcomie Links, we could see the white shapes of Gannets out above the grey waves.
We headed into the Fife Bird Club hide, opening two of the shutters. Gannets were most in evidence with a fairly steady northwards passage of streams of the birds from the Bass Rock across the Forth. A Common Tern headed north a few minutes later. I picked up the first Fulmar of the afternoon skimming low above the water not too far offshore. I heard then spotted a Greenshank as it flew off low from the rocks. A Shag headed out to sea from the rocks off to the north. A Great Black Backed Gull glided by, closer in. The first Sandwich Terns, an adult and a juvenile, called noisily as they too passed on their way northwards.
After around 20 minutes I picked up the first of the hoped for Manx Shearwaters, a small party skimming low over the waves before pulling up then sweeping back low again in an arc. We continued to see small groups pass by at a rate of maybe once or twice every 5-10 minutes. A rough estimate by the end of our seawatching session gave us around 80 birds in total. The first Kittiwake passed by a minute or two later, their flight almost tern-like. Auks were in rather short supply, but both Guillemot and Razorbill were added 10 minutes later as they headed low over the water towards the Isle of May.
Five Common Scoters sped north low, two males and three females or juveniles. Two birds flying out eastwards over the sea turned out to be Feral Pigeons which soon turned back and headed off inland again apparently having thought better of a possible adventure at sea. The Gannets, Terns and Manxies kept our interest up although photo opportunities were somewhat limited by the poor light and the distance of the birds, but we did still snap away a few times, Jacqui taking the opportunity to familiarise herself with her new Tamron 150-600mm lens. One or two Oystercatchers added to the variety as they sped by.
Five Dunlin flew by low just offshore, waves crashing behind them. We were treated to a few Gannets diving for fish quite close in which is always worth watching. A bit of rain blew in through the windows but we were mostly out of the worst of it. An Arctic Tern gave us another species just before 5pm. Rather surprisingly our next new bird was a juvenile Kestrel over the rocks out front. One or two Herring Gulls drifted by, and we eventually added Eider to the list before calling it a day around 1725 and heading back to Guardbridge where Jacqui dropped me off and I caught the bus back to Dundee.
39 species was the total for the afternoon, with the Manxies being the highlight. Slight disappointment at a lack of Skuas, though there is still a month or two to try and get them onto the year list.
Arrctic Tern, Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Canada Goose, Common Gull, Common Scoter, Common Tern, Curlew, Dunlin, Eider, Fulmar, Gannet, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Tit, Greenshank, Grey Heron, Guillemot, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Kestrel, Kittiwake, Lapwing, Manx Shearwater, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Pink Footed Goose, Razorbill, Redshank, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Sand Martin, Sandwich Tern, Shag, Starling, Swallow, Swift, Woodpigeon.