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| Glossy Ibis |
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| Glossy Ibis |
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| Common Scoters |
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| Curlew |
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| Goldeneye |
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| Whooper Swan |
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| Kestrel |
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| Firecrest |
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| Peregrine |
Well, it has been a very good start to 2014 so far with good birds showing up in places I have been able to get to, although there have been a few species that have avoided me so far that hopefully I will pick up before the end of the year. The recent trip to Fife with Gus Guthrie for the King Eider and Ring Billed Gull (and the Mediterranean Gull that has eluded Gus so far in 2014) passed by without us noticing that we'd missed a good bird from our original provisional plan. A Firecrest. Not a common wintering bird in Scotland by any means. In the intervening period however, another very good bird had turned up within striking distance -a Glossy Ibis at Kinross. Gus asked me if I fancied trying to see it. I wasn't going to say no....
Gus arranged to pick me up at Swannie Ponds again (get Iceland Gull on the list for the day again hopefully), so I left the house around 9am, having seen Blackbird, Feral Pigeon, Starling and Herring Gull when I looked out my bedroom window to check the weather earlier. Unlike the previous week, the birds were more elusive as I headed to the rendezvous point. Woodpigeon and House Sparrow were seen near Lidl on Dura Street. Carrion Crow and Chaffinch were added between Baxter Park and Pitkerro Road. Blue Tits were heard but not seen (though not looked for either).
At the ponds, I found the Iceland Gull posing obligingly atop the lighting pole at the lower pond, one of its favourite perches. Most of the usual suspects were around - Mallards, Tufted Ducks, Goosanders, Mute Swans, Black Headed Gulls, Herring Gulls and a Common Gull. A Blue Tit was feedng in the trees by the top pond and I managed to find a Dunnock in below the bushes before I was distracted by a chuckling Magpie. I wandered round for a better view and saw it down on the grass. A second bird flew in and joined the first. They flew back towards Forfar Road a few minutes later so may be the pair I watched gathering nest material the day before. Also saw a Carrion Crow in one of the larger trees near the old bus depot shed.
Gus turned up a few minutes later and we set off for Kinross. A Lesser Black Backed Gull was on a lamp post on the KIngsway and near Kinfauns there were a few Rooks in a field. Down below the Friarton Bridge was a large flock of gulls by a large pool, but they were too distant to identify from a moving van. Gus's sat-nav took us the wrong way when we reached Kinross but as I'd checked Birdguides to see where the bird had been I knew where we should be, so I took over navigation from the sat-nav to get us to it. The field it had been seen in was easy to find and we parked the van to scan the boggy edges of the field where it had been. Gus found the Glossy Ibis quite quickly, and despite the drizzle we both managed a selection of photos, though the bird faced us head-on the whole time, with a spot of preening to liven up the photos slightly. A few more folk joined us with scopes. Suddenly the bird took to the air. Thankfully it didn't go far, flying a circuit before dropping back down to the field edges a bit further away and mostly hidden by the vegetation. In the air the bird had a very prehistoric look. In the bushes where we'd parked the van, we saw Blue Tit and Goldcrest. Not far along past Loch Leven RSPB reserve we saw a few Yellowhammers by the roadside.
We headed to Buckhaven to try for Mediterranean Gull for Gus's list, but just as the previous week there was no sign of any of these 'exotics' in their customary place. Out on the water there was a small flock of Eiders and a larger flock of Common Scoters not too far offshore. Gus spotted a Fulmar gliding by. There were a few Herring Gulls around the roofs and a single Curlew was probing around on the grass by the playpark as we passed, heading for the small seafront car park to scan the western bay. As with the previous visit, there were Oystercatchers and Starlings down on the grass. A Black Headed Gull flew by. A Turnstone was on the stony beach with an Oystercatcher though both flew off together a minute or so later. Another flock of Eiders were out on the water. Scanning further out, we managed to add Long Tailed Duck, Velvet Scoter, Shag, Red Breasted Merganser and 3 Razorbills. Gus picked up a few Gannets further out and a Guillemot that I didn't get a decent view of to put on my own list. A Pied Wagtail landed on the grass, and the Common Scoter was coming closer, so we wandered over to the seawall for hopefully better views. Oystercatchers and Redshanks were on the rocks. I saw a Diver beyond the Scoter flock, but couldn't get a decent view for a photo as it would dive and then resurface in a different area, and then dive just as I refound it. I suspected it was just a Red Throated Diver but couldn't put it on the list. However I did pick up another much further out that I ID'd from the photo I managed. Woodpigeon was seen on our way out of Buckhaven.
Next stop was the car park at Leven overlooking the mouth of the river. There were plenty Black Headed Gulls here, as well as a few Herring and Lesser Black Backed Gulls, but no Mediterranean Gull here either. A Great Black Backed Gull was perched out on a wooden pole offeshore. A Red Breasted Merganser drake was fishing nearby. In the channel below the car park were a small group of Goldeneye swimming against the flow but giving us very good views. Gus found a Turnstone, and I found another one as well as a Rock Pipit. A few Carrion Crows wandered around the car park and perched on the fence and wall hoping for hand-outs. Out on a concrete outflow were a few Eiders and Oystercatchers. A small flock of waders dashed around before landing. From the photos we identified them as Sanderling, probably flushed from the sands by a walker. A single Mallard was further upstream with the gulls though Gus somehow managed to miss it. We had a brief look out over the Forth as we turned the van around, picking up a fly-by Curlew and a pair of Long Tailed Ducks on the river.
Letham Pools was next on the planned route so we headed back north towards Cupar. Again, birds seen en route were in very short supply though we did add Jackdaw to the daylist near Craigrothie and 2 Buzzards together by Springfield. There were quite a few birds on the pools at Letham as well as in the fields too. Whooper Swans and a few Mute Swans were initially the most obvious, with Coots closer in to the road. The other pool held a pair of Gadwall and a Coot. Mallards, Teal, Gadwall and a Shelduck swam around with a large flock of Wigeon both in and out of the water towards the top corner of the big pool. Pink Footed Geese grazed in the grass, with Greylags on the far side of the main road, with more flying in to join this gaggle. A small island held Black Headed Gull, Lapwings and 2 Ringed Plovers. A Skylark flew over singing as it went, just before a Kestrel flew in and hovered not far from the van allowing us good views. We moved further along the road and scanning the fields added Curlews and a single male Pheasant. Carrion Crow and Woodpigeon flew over.
Next stop was round at Mountcastle Quarry to search for the Firecrest. We bumped into Malcolm Ware, the Fife bird recorder, and two other Fife birders here who told us where they had seen the bird earlier. Goldcrests flitted around in the bushes giving us fleeting glimpses that needed proper checking just in case. Malc and co left to look for a Chiffchaff they had heard calling, and we kept looking for the Firecrest. More Greylags flew over as did a few Black Headed Gulls but the Firecrest was proving elusive. I wandered further along checking the tree line when Gus gave a loud whistle to alert me that he had the Firecrest in sight. I ran back and managed to get my binoculars on what was only my 3rd ever Firecrest. My first was at Auchmithie in 2011, and I self found one at St Abb's last Autumn while twitching the Sardinian Warbler with Gus. Being very small and highly mobile they are a nightmare to photograph well and so it proved once again with only one 'sharp' photo out of the small batch I got, although a couple of others had the bird in the open but not quite in focus. Better than nothing and number 132 for the year for me. While attempting to get the Firecrest a pair of Treecreepers appeared in the same small trees.
Malc had told us that there was shooting at the quarry from 2pm, so we gave the Chiffchaff a miss and headed for Angle Park instead. Lots of gulls on the water, mostly Herring Gulls though there were also Common, Black Headed and Lesser Black Backed here too. Duck species were as expected - Mallard, Tufted Duck, Wigeon, Teal and Goldeneye. There were also some Greylags and Coots. We could hear a few Little Grebes but struggled to find them. We did eventually manage to see three of these diminutive waterbirds, close in to the banks among the vegetation, constantly diving and resurfacing briefly before diving again. A few Chaffinches were in the trees behind us.
En route to Rossie Bog we saw Stock Dove in the roadside fields which always seem to hold at least a few of these birds. However they tend to fly off at the sight of a car, which isn't handy for photography. A brief check at Rossie Bog gave us another 3 Buzzards, Mallard, Teal, Wigeon, Black Headed Gulls, a few Lapwings and a Redshank. Two, probably injured, Pink Footed Geese were in among the vegetation in the field. The small pool in the field to the north held 4 Teal and a couple of Carrion Crows were nearby and a few more Chaffinches were in the bushes by the roadside as we passed.
As the light had improved from the grey of the morning we decided to attempt to get better photos of the Ibis so we headed down the road towards Kinross again. A male Pheasant by the side of the main road was a little bit of a surprise but once again there weren't too many other birds to see en route.When we reached the field again, there was no sign of the Ibis. We had a brief chat to fellow birder/photographers, Eth and Paul Jessett who had managed to get great shots of the Ibis from the path behind where walkers had been passing, ignored by the bird. Unfortunately at some point, possibly as a result of better weather, the bird departed. We did manage to see a pair of Magpies here though, as well as distant views of a Buzzard and some Tufted Ducks.
Neither myself or Gus had been to Vane Farm since it was rebranded as Loch Leven RSPB, so we decided to see if we could add some of the smaller birds that were missing from our day list by popping in. Two more Magpies were seen by the road before we got to the reserve. The feeders were full of birds as always, giving us Long tailed Tit, Coal Tit, Greenfinch, Siskin for the list as well as Blue Tit, House Sparrow, Great Tit, Goldfinch and Chaffinch. Not bad. We walked through the farm buildings and out the other side to scan the loch. Gus found a small flock of Pochards with some Tufted Ducks. One of the pools held Gadwall, Wigeon and Teal. A few mallards slept beside a single Shelduck and a female Goosander. Gus then found us a pair of Moorhens and then a Grey Heron which was flying away from us. Surprisingly, the first of the day. A few Lapwings were dotted around near the pools, but we decided the walk down to the hides was likely to be a bit of a waste of effort. We both turned as we heard the 'pruk' of a Raven, and saw it high above the hill heading westwards. Slightly unexpected but welcome none the less. Another two crows went over but were only Carrion Crows and a pair of Herring Gulls drifted over on the wind as well. Blackbird, Dunnock and Robin foraged around behind the building. Gus spotted a Wren that I missed, and we headed back to the van.
We decided Guardbridge gave us the possibility of adding a few species to our list which had exceeded expectation and which was already at more than 70 species. 60+ is usually a very good day, but more than 70 in March is very good going for me in Angus and Fife. A Kestrel was hovering opposite the glider field at Portmoak as we passed. Collared Dove had somehow managed to elude us all day but we did eventually find one as we passed through Balmalcolm then another a bit nearer Cupar. On reaching Guardbridge we took the road towards St Andrews to see if we could see the Brent Geese flock in the fields but as the tide state was wrong there was no sign of them though we did see a flock of Mute Swans in the field opposite where we turned around at the end of a farm access road. A flock of small birds milling around above a field were probably Linnets but went unidentified.
One of the birds we didn't have on the day-list was Peregrine so we popped into the small nature reserve on the north side of the Motray and managed to see one perched on the buildings opposite - a nice male which eyed us from its raised viewpoint. Feral Pigeons and gulls milled around behind. A few Mallards swam up the Motray towards the weir. Black tailed Godwits and Teal were feeding along the water's edge - the Godwits on the mud, the Teal on the water. Redshank, Oystercatcher and Curlew were on the main mud area opposite where we were with a large mixed flock of gulls grouped together. A few Great Black Backeds, Lesser Black Backeds, with larger numbers of Herring, a few Common and lots of Black Headed Gulls made up the group. We scanned out towards Balgove Bay but only managed to ID Shelduck among the distant birds.
Cutting up into the main area of the small reserve, we spooked a Blackbird. A Song Thrush flew away from us but landed in the top of a tree allowing us to confirm our suspected ID. From the thicker clump of trees we could hear what we thought was Redwings, and just as we were discussing whether or not it was a couple of them flew out from their hiding places, proving us right. In all there were around a dozen of these thrushes which have been in relatively short supply this winter. Just before we got back to the van, Gus spotted a Wren which I managed to miss. Thankfully a slight change of viewing angle got me views to get it on the list for the day. We headed for home with my own list at 78 species and Gus's at around 85 - having visited Loch of Kinnordy in the morning.
My day-list (new year-ticks in bold) -
Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Black tailed Godwit, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Common Scoter, Coot, Curlew, Dunnock, Eider, Firecrest, Fulmar, Gadwall, Gannet, Glossy Ibis, Goldcrest, Goldeneye, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Greylag Goose, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Iceland Gull, Jackdaw, Kestrel, Lapwing, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Little Grebe, Long Tailed Tit, Long Tailed Duck, Magpie, Mallard, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Peregrine, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Pink Footed Goose, Pochard, Raven, Razorbill, Red Breasted Merganser, Redshank, Red Throated Diver, Redwing, Ringed Plover, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rock Pipit, Rook, Sanderling, Shag, Shelduck, Siskin, Skylark, Song thrush, Starling, Stock Dove, Teal, Treecreeper, Tufted Duck, Turnstone, Velvet Scoter, Whooper Swan, Wigeon, Woodpigeon, Wren, Yellowhammer.