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| Cormorant |
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| Robin |
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| Psyllopsis fraxini |
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| Eider |
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| Greenfinch |
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| Tree Sparrow |
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| Buzzard |
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| Snipe |
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| Curlew |
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| Curlew |
I started birding early with a short trip to the shops for my supplies for the day's outing. I managed to see six species - Carrion Crow, Feral Pigeon, Woodpigeon on the way to the shops and Herring Gull, Starling and Robin on my way back. Rhona was picking me up at about 0845 and I added Blackbird and House Sparrow just before she arrived. With the main group meeting at Guardbridge hide at 0930 we had a chance to get the day list off to a decent start before the crowd arrived at the hide.
Mallards were on the Motray as we crossed the bridge. A Magpie was seen flying over as we got out of the car and I checked the paper mill buildings for the Peregrine which sometimes uses it as a vantage point, finding it perched on the corner with its back to us. Heading into the hide we added Tree Sparrow and Greenfinch on the feeders and Redshanks out front on the mud. Black Headed, Common and Herring Gulls were roosting and swimming near the bend in the river. A Grey Heron flew in and there were a mix of waders on the exposed mud - mostly Redshanks and Black Tailed Godwits but with a roosting flock of Lapwings away from the edges. One or two Curlews and Oystercatchers were also picked out. The feeders were visited by Chaffinches and a Coal Tit with a Dunnock feeding below.
A small flock of Teal flew upriver to near the mouth of the Motray and while scanning through them I spotted a Goosander nearby. One of the local Buzzards flew by. Three Woodpigeons, a juvenile and two adults dropped in to the edge of the water for a quick drink before flying off again as the hide began to fill up. We had our first sighting of one of the Little Egrets soon after but there was no sign of the hoped for Kingfisher, much to the disappointment of Rhona and some of the others present. A Blue Tit popped in to the feeders and a very distant flock to the north turned out to be Lapwings rather than the expected geese. A Cormorant flew low upstream past the hide. Richard Bennie and his son Douglas joined us in the hide and Richard managed to find a few new birds for the list via his scope - Dunlin among the Oystercatchers, the 'local' Pink Footed Geese and some Wigeon as well as confirming Rock Pipits on the fence opposite that I spotted. I heard a distant Pied Wagtail and spotted it perched on a half-buried rock on the mud near the Lapwings. The Peregrine was pointed out to various folk and it was joined by a Magpie just before we left for our next stop.
As with the previous year, Denburn Wood in Crail was to be visited, just in case. Rhona made it out of the car park ahead of the masses and we found ourselves reaching Crail ahead of everyone else. Collared Dove and Rook were added around St Andrews. With no-one else showing up within a minute or two, we decided to have a check of the wood. A Wren was around the bottom end and a Magpie was higher in the mature trees further on. I heard a flurry of wingbeats from near my feet and discovered a rather unwary Robin a few feet away. We both managed a few photos although as with last year the poor light meant the ISO on the camera had to be ramped right up. I heard the distinctive call of a Great Spotted Woodpecker from the trees around the church and hurried up the small brae into the graveyard. A quick scan of the high branches found the bird on a rather exposed branch. A couple of Jackdaws overflew and a Blackbird was on the grass near the top end. Woodpigeon and another Wren by the burn were seen before we headed back down through the wood just as the others were beginning to walk up.
We passed on information on what we had seen and confirmed that the next planned stop was at Fife Ness Muir ('the patch') for a ringing demonstration by Dr Jim Cobb at 1130. I figured that gave us at least twnety minutes or so to try at Kilminning for Barred Warbler or Yellow Browed Warbler, both of which had been seen the day before. Driving out towards Kilminning, Rhona spotted a Kestrel hovering over the fields. We headed down to the area where the Barred Warbler had been seen and spoke to a birder who had seen it much earlier. There was no sign of it for us however, though we did see flyover Greenfinch, Yellowhammer and Song Thrush as well as a Robin, but nothing that looked remotely like a Barred Warbler. We headed down across the golf course to hopefully get a parking spot. We weren't the first as Joan and Alice from the club had also arrived a bit ahead of the pack.
Great Black Backed Gull and a Red Throated Diver were spotted offshore but there were no passing Gannets and it looked very quiet. We headed up to the small shed in the middle of the patch as Dr Cobb was setting up a mist net nearby. Almost immediately a Great Tit and a Goldcrest found their way into the net where the Goldcrest escaped as it was being freed, but Dr Cobb decided to 'process' the Great Tit before the rest of the group arrived. Chaffinch and Blackcap were trapped later and we listened to a very informative talk and watched as the birds were measured and ringed expertly before being freed again. Bob McCurley was to show the group the Heligoland traps, so having seen these before and with the patch being very quiet birdwise I decided we should head down to the rocks and have lunch and do some sea-watching.
As before there was very little happening offshore with a few Gannets and Eiders seen and two skeins of Pink Footed Geese coming in from the sea. An Oyestercatcher was down on the rocks by the water and a couple of Common Gulls flew by. Shag, Herring Gull and Black Headed Gull went on the list as we ate our packed lunches. There was no sign of anyone else joining us which had me puzzled. When they did eventually show up we discovered the reason they were delayed was that a Barred Warbler had been trapped and ringed. Ah well, there was still time for a second attempt at the Kilminning bird. Offshore a Guillemot swam with a Great Black Backed Gull nearby. A Rock Pipit landed out on the rocks and a small group of skylarks arrived in off the sea heading off inland.
We headed off up to Kilminning ahead of the crowd after I had a short chat to Joan about a prospective Speyside trip later in the week. Once again, the Barred Warbler was to prove to be elusive. Meadow Pipit overflew as did Carrion Crow and a small flock of Tree Sparrows on the move. I decided we should check the other bushes around about in case the bird had discovered a quiet spot to feed. Rhona got good photos of a Kestrel as I hunted the rather empty bushes. On arriving back at the start point we were regaled with tales that the Barred Warbler had shown four times in the previous ten minutes. We waited, and waited, but it was apparently choosing to avoid us. Eventually we gave up and decided to see if we could manage to find the resident Tawny Owl at Kilrenny, despite never having managed in the past without any expert help.
There were decent amounts of birds in the wood, with Blackbird, Blue Tit, Woodpigeon, Chaffinch and a small flock of Redwings seen in the first section. A Buzzard flew off across the fields and we spotted it perched on a fencepost further on. Despite trying hard we drew a blank on the Tawny Owl. Crossing over the bridge at the top end of the path I spotted a muddy track and we went exploring. We found some interesting feathers (raptor kill?) which turned out to be from a Starling. They had a pale tip, a thin brown edge and an irridescent patch. Although we wracked our brains we couldn't think what they could be from and it was only afterwards at home with the help of a book that I discovered what species they belonged to. We were watching a small flock of Linnets in a dead tree, having just seen a small flock of Tree Sparrows fly past and heard Skylark go over when my mobile phone rang.
It was Graham Ewen from the club who asked if we were the rest of the group as there was a Spoonbill at Guardbridge and he wanted to let everyone know. Unfortunately I didn't have a phone number for any of the main group but we decided to hurry back to the car and try to get to Guardbridge to see the bird for ourselves. A distant Stock Dove was seen from the car park alongside a Carrion Crow high in a tall tree.
Arriving back at Guardbridge just before 5pm we hurried in to the hide, a Grey Wagtail calling as it overflew the small park heading towards the river. There were only a few folk left inside, and no sign of the Spoonbill. We learnt that it had flown off upriver after landing very briefly out beyond the waders opposite the hide. One of the ladies showed me a few rather nice photos of the unmistakable bird, as well as the White Tailed Eagle she had seen earlier in the day out at the far end of Leuchars runway. Someone had obviously had a far more productive day than we had.
We decided to try the other side of the bridge although with the tide quite well in there was only a slim chance that we might find the bird. We did see Little Grebe, Mallard and Black Headed Gull before we left however. We walked down to the bridge and crossed the surprisingly busy road to head down the muddy track. We could see a large flock of very distant gulls milling around over a field that I knew we could get relatively close to by taking a rather circuitous route. The birds we could see were all very distant with Starlings, mixed gulls and Lapwings all seen in good numbers, taking flight, milling around then landing back in the fields. A distant Buzzard perched on a fence post was spotted through the binoculars. The gull flock took flight and headed off to the fields further east so having reached as close as were likely to get and having drawn a blank on any Spoonbill we turned around to head back.
Goldfinches, Greenfinches, Blue Tits and Chaffinches were in the trees and bushes by the corner of the cow field and I found a male Yellowhammer just as we were about to leave. The walk back only added a single Mute Swan to the list until we reached the river again where five Snipe broke cover from the edge of the reeds and headed off in the direction of the bridge at speed with the setting sun catching them nicely. A pair of Wrens chased each other in a bush. We took a few photos of the sunset with the clouds reflected in the calm water of the river before heading up to cross the road to walk over the footbridge back to the car. Two Little Grebes were on the river and three Curlews flew low over us towards the saltmarsh.
Rhona suggested we have a last look from by the hide just in case, so we headed in to have a look. Although the light was fading fast, with pink edging to the grey clouds reflecting in the river, we were still able to pick out various birds silhouetted mostly, though some more obvious birds such as a rather vocal cock Pheasant just opposite the hide and two Little Egrets flying in to join a Grey Heron by the 'goal posts'. A skein of Pink Feet flew over and something disturbed the wader flock with Redshanks, Black Tailed Godwits, Curlews, Dunlin and a single Greenshank being picked out from the photos of the birds milling around and settling back. A few Teal and Wigeon were on the water. With the time having passed six o'clock we decided to call it a day and headed for home.
Although we had failed to see Barred Warbler (3 times!), Spoonbill, Yellow Browed Warbler and Tawny Owl we had still managed to see 63 species and had a decent if unspectacular day out. The failure to see them was pretty much wholly down to decisions made by me. On a different day they may have borne fruit.....
Species seen - Blackbird, Blackcap, Black Headed Gull, Black Tailed Godwit, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunlin, Dunnock, Eider, Gannet, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Grey Wagtail, Guillemot, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Kestrel, Lapwing, Linnet, Little Egret, Little Grebe, Magpie, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Peregrine, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Pink Footed Goose, Redshank, Red Throated Diver, Redwing, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rock Pipit, Rook, Shag, Skylark, Snipe, Song Thrush, Starling, Stock Dove, Teal, Tree Sparrow, Wigeon, Woodpigeon, Wren, Yellowhammer.