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| Long Tailed Tit |
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| Pied Wagtail |
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| Goldfinch |
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| Buzzard |
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| Pink Footed Goose |
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| Crossbill |
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| Grey Plover, Knot, Dunlin, Sanderling |
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| Grey Plover |
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| Almost 1600 waders (mostly Knot). |
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| Rock Pipit |
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| Wader flocks. |
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| Oystercatcher |
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| Great Black Backed Gull |
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| Grey Heron |
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| Oystercatcher |
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| Red Breasted Merganser |
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| Dunlin, Knot, Sanderling |
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| Knot, Bar Tailed Godwit, Grey Plover |
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Dunlin, Sanderling
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With heavy rain forecast for overnight and into the morning I weighed up my options and hoped that the forecast would pan out as predicted with most of the rain having passed by between nine and ten o'clock. The wet weather was set to linger longer along the Angus coast so I decided that Fife looked the better option. With limited daylight at this time of year, I decided to stay relatively close to home and to head for Tentsmuir. Whichever bus was waiting for me at the bus station when I arrived would determine whether I started at the north end or the south end of the forest.
I left the house just before ten o'clock to head down to the bus station with the sky still looking rather grey and the ground still wet. A Blue Tit foraged around in a small tree across the road, contact calls ringing out loud. A House Sparrow dropped into a small bush to join others. A Herring Gull glided over and a Woodpigeon clattered away from a tree as I passed. A Blackbird was seen as I waited on the bus arriving. I had timed my departure to perfection with the bus only one stop away when I arrived at my stop. From the bus into town I added Carrion Crow and Feral Pigeon was seen at the top end of the Wellgate Centre.
A Starling 'sang' from the top of the building diagonally opposite the bus station and a Pied Wagtail could be heard as I queued to get on the St Andrews bus. I eventually spotted the bird from the bus just as we pulled out from the stance. Cormorants were drying their outstretched wings on the "submarine" rocks in the river. Black Headed Gull was seen at the Fife end of the bridge but surprisingly only one. A male Pheasant was in the fields just past the five roads roundabout and a Buzzard flew off low over the ploughed fields as we neared Drumoig. Rooks fed in a small paddock just beyond St Michaels and a Mistle Thrush flew off over the railway line into the trees at the golf course. Collared Dove and Jackdaw were on the chimneys as the bus arrived in Leuchars.
I walked up past the church to head for the Earlshall Road to walk out to the beach beyond the airbase. A few Black Headed Gulls were perched on the apex of the roof but it was otherwise rather quiet. The connecting road which runs past the primary school however was very active with birds. Blackbirds and House Sparrows predominantly but also a single Goldfinch bathing in a puddle as well as a few Blue Tits. Black Headed Gull, Starling and Woodpigeon were on the grass in the school grounds. A Chaffinch was seen perched in a tree across the road before I reached the crossroads to head out of the village.
A Fieldfare and at least one Redwing were in the mature trees opposite the few houses. Tree Sparrows could be heard from the hedges and a small group landed in the tops of one of the big trees for a few seconds. A Robin watched as I passed, and three male Pheasants ran away along the furrows in the field when they spotted me. Curlews could be heard calling in the distance and I spotted a small flock as it wheeled around above the fields further to the north. What appeared to be more thrushes were in some of the trees nearby, but were too far away to identify with any certainty. A pair of Stock Doves overflew. Nearing the farm, a few Great Tits were seen in the hedges by the radar tower.
Passing the farm another Pied Wagtail was seen and in the small copse of trees further on a small mixed flock of Coal Tits and Long Tailed Tits flitted through the bare branches searching for small insects out in the surprisingly mild November weather. Three Pied Wagtails headed over towards the airfield and a bit of scanning across the motocross track found a Buzzard perched atop a pair of megaphones on a pole. Two Goldfinches fed among a patch of weeds in the middle of the field. A Dunnock and a Blackbird scurried up the banking further on and disappeared into the thicker vegetation. I checked the open area for Woodcock but it appears that the area is being used for motorbikes which may well mean that it is avoided more by the Woodcocks which can sometimes be seen around here.
It was rather quiet among the conifers although a Red Squirrel was a nice surprise here. I decided to check the boardwalk area where I could hear Teal calling. They were too well hidden from view but a Mallard was also heard but likewise went unseen. I did manage to see a Wren and a female Reed Bunting so it wasn't a completely wasted detour. A couple of corvids tussled with one looking a bit bigger than the other. The tail shape hinted at Raven but the bill shape didn't look quite deep enough on the photos, so they may just have been Carrion Crows with the tail shape being down to moult.
Heading down towards Reres Wood I hoped that there might have been a raptor or two hunting low above the field but there was none. There was a lot of activity in the trees here with plenty Rooks around, and I did wonder whether the mild weather had them checking on nest sites. I bumped into my pal, Jacqui and her wee dog Archie as she headed back from the beach end. She told me she thought she'd heard Crossbills and when I played the calls from an app on my phone it confirmed her suspicions. A minute after finishing our conversation and heading on a bit further I too heard Crossbill and looked up to see a single bird above the trees. Always a good bird to get at any time of year. Scanning across the base, I found a bird perched on a gate post. I hoped it might be the Great Grey Shrike which was in the area recently (and may still be, though unreported) but instead had to make do with a Kestrel. A few Herring Gulls passed over the river.
I heard more Crossbill calls further on as well as a Great Spotted Woodpecker but they remained elusive and unseen. As I neared the beach I could see a flock of waders wheeling about. A quickly grabbed photo showed them to be mostly Knot. Arriving within sight of the beach I found that there was quite a large mixed flock with Oystercatchers also quite numerous. Scanning through the flock also added Sanderling, Bar Tailed Godwits and Grey Plover with more birds flying in, in small groups. Dunlin flew into the join the restless throng and slowly walked past the roost as far up the beach as I could so as not to spook them. Common Gull and Great Black Backed Gulls could be seen further on out on the water but in the relative shelter of a small bay and a Red Breasted Merganser was spotted flying into the Eden estuary.
Movement amongst the rubble gave me views of a single Rock Pipit, its legs looking rather dark red on the photos, probably as a result of the angle the sun was illuminating them from. With the tide coming in quickly I once again only had a short window of opportunity to try for the Shrike. A bird on the fence line was only a Robin. A pair of Carrion Crows also settled on the fence further along. I headed back past the wader roost stopping for a seat on one of the old concrete blocks from the World War two beach defences to try a spot of seawatching. The rather choppy sea meant that it was tricky to see anything on the water and there were very few birds beyond some rather distant Common Gulls to be seen. A single Red Breasted Merganser low over the waves being the only exception.
I decided to check the Goosepools area next and wandered along the path spooking a Buzzard as I neared the end of the wood. There was no sign of any Snipe or Water Rail or even any ducks by the reedbeds with only a Blue Tit to show for my efforts. A distant Grey Heron was the only evidence of life further on and with the tide quite far in and time wearing on I decided against pressing on further and ditched my original plan to walk round the coast to Tayport. I headed back to try some more seawatching from the same concrete block but it was still fruitless although there was a lot of movement from the wader flocks which seemed to be rather unsettled although where I was sat was out of sight of the roost by the waters edge.
A Cormorant was seen out over the watern and yet another Red Breasted Merganser passed by. Common Gulls settled on the water. I decided to check further down the beach with the tide appearing to be on its way back out again. A Pied Wagtail chittered around among the debris on the strandline and the wader flock eyed me suspiciously. I sat on the rubble down by the runway end lights for a short while and was rather surprised to see a jogger out in only a pair of shorts heading along the beach. Needless to say the wader flock weren't impressed and vacated the area. After a short apparent breather the jogger headed back northwards along the beach. I don't think it felt quite that mild! With the light starting to fade a bit I decided to head back towards the village again. As I walked along the beach, movement caught my eye as a bird lifted from the sand and flew off round into the sun and off to the north.
I managed to get three fairly poor photos which didn't show much detail, but lightening the best of the three photos showed what appeared to be black secondaries with what appeared to be pale-ish brown coverts. There was also a hint of white at the base of the tail. Unfortunately the head couldn't be seen and with no reference point I had no way of accurately gauging the size of the bird. With the bird having lifted from the beach there was a slim chance that it could be the Desert Wheatear that had been seen in Angus earlier in the week. Only the Collins app on my phone had any illustrations of the species but the photo was hard to make out on the back of the camera. I was unsure of what the bird was, but if it was a Desert Wheatear I needed to get word out as quickly as possible. However, I was nowhere near certain. After a lot of deliberation and argument with myself I decided to send copies of the photo to the few birders whose numbers I had so that they could check the photo on a computer screen and check it against books etc.
After a bit of effort I managed to take a phone photo and forwarded it to the four - Ian Ford, Gus Guthrie, Jacqui Herrington and Malcolm Ware (the Fife bird recorder). Jacqui was first to respond but was unable to help. Malc was next but he hadn't received the photo via text message though he had got my description of the few features I could make out on the photo. I emailed the photo instead and waited for his opinion on the bird in the photo. I was a bit surprised that he put out a text round the grapevine as a report of a POSSIBLE Desert Wheatear. Although I wanted to wait until I saw the photos on a computer before making a decision on the bird I felt I had to at least make him aware of the possibility, and so had messaged him with the photo attached for his opinion. Obviously if the bird turned out to be a Desert Wheatear after all, then time was of the essence as it would be a bird others would want to see.
It is one of the situations in birding nowadays where if you wait and are correct then it appears you are witholding the sighting, but if you put it out and it isn't correct then you look like you are either claiming a rarity that isn't or have screwed up. Damned if you do, damned if you don't and one of the things that I'm a bit uncomfortable about in the grand scheme of (birding) things as I'm generally (possibly overly) cautious about making calls on possible rare birds until I'm at least ninety percent sure. I would much rather wait until I can see any photos on a big computer screen if I'm trying to make an ID call based on a photo. If I don't get a photo and I'm unsure then the bird goes unclaimed and unidentified. Unfortunately in these digital days of mobile phones and the likes everything has to be done immediately if not sooner. (Coincidentally there is a letter in this month's Birdwatching magazine saying that the birding community needs to be much more forgiving of mistakes to encourage people to stick their heads above the parapet when it comes to identifying rarities).
As I was later to find out at home, the bird wasn't a Desert Wheatear, or even a Wheatear at all. The less detailed photos which were impossible to make out on the camera held the clues that provided the identity, once seen on the computer. The bird was only a Linnet! The white wing flash being visible on what were closed wins shots. The only minor plus being that I hadn't seen a Linnet at any other point during the day. I messaged Malc again to tell him that it definitely wasn't a Desert Wheatear and hoped that a further message would go out in case anyone was planning on searching for the bird on Sunday.
I headed back through the wood with Woodpigeons clattering away from the treetops where they had dropped in to roost and Rooks doing likewise. A Siskin was seen and a flock of Lapwings was seen to the south of the base. Mist was hanging above the weedy fields and a Barn Owl would have given me lovely atmospheric photo opportunities but there was none. In the gloom I managed to identify overflying Curlews, Pink Footed Geese and Black Headed Gulls as well as a single Mistle Thrush before I got back to Leuchars and my bus back to Dundee.
I only managed forty eight species and having to decide whether or not to put out the word on the "mystery" bird had overshadowed the actual enjoyment of the day (with around 30 minutes of deliberation and indecision before deciding I had better at least raise the possibility but with enough doubt that made me wary of doing so), with the actual final identity making things worse. Not a nice feeling and one I'd much rather do without.
Species seen - Bar Tailed Godwit, Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Collared Dove, Crossbill, Common Gull, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunlin, Dunnock, Fieldfare, Goldfinch, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Tit, Grey Heron, Grey Plover, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Kestrel, Knot, Lapwing, Linnet, Long Tailed Tit, Mistle Thrush, Oystercatcher, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Pink Footed Goose, Red Breasted Merganser, Redwing, Reed Bunting, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rock Pipit, Rook, Sanderling, Siskin, Starling, Stock Dove, Tree Sparrow, Woodpigeon, Wren.