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| Shelduck |
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| Shelduck |
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| Shoveler |
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| House Martin and Shelduck |
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| Eider |
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| Buzzard, Woodpigeon and Pink Footed Geese |
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| Woodpigeon |
 |
| Buzzard |
 |
| Woodpigeon |
With another showery day forecast and limited public transport available as is normal for a Sunday, I decided to spend some time at Guardbridge, to keep my 9 days of birding holiday promise to myself going - even if it was still only day 2). The tide times weren't great for seeing too much, but nothing ventured, nothing gained.
I headed out to catch a bus to Fife around 1005, immediately spotting Blackbird, then quickly adding Herring Gull, Woodpigeon and a little further on, Collared Dove. The walk into town was quite quiet bird-wise overall, but with a 10 minute wait for a bus I did manage to see a few extras - Lesser Black Backed Gulls along with Herring Gulls stood around on the bus sheds opposite where they breed each year. One or two Feral Pigeons flew around, with Starlings purposefully flying straight routes overhead, either going to, or coming from nest sites. A Pied Wagtail passed over as I waited to board the bus.
Once again things were rather quiet en route with very little seen from the bus as we passed through the north part of Fife. A Blackbird hopped around on the roundabout at the southern end of the roadbridge. Woodpigeons were dotted around or flew over. Approaching St Michaels the rookery opposite the pub was active with Rooks loudly announcing their location in the treetops. A small group of House Martins darted around.
On reaching Guardbridge, more Woodpigeons in the trees and Herring Gulls circling above were seen along with Feral Pigeons on the former paper mill buildings. Entering the hide and opening the window fully to make photography easier, a small flock of mostly male (and 1 female) Shelducks flew around in a circle before landing back on the river. A Buzzard flew over the river into the trees opposite. High above I noticed a pair of Swifts and pointed them out to the few others in the hide.
Scanning the river and exposed mud added a flock of Curlews, a pair of Eiders and the odd Oystercatchers in addition to Herring Gulls and Lesser Black Backed Gulls. A couple of Greenfinches popped into the feeders outside the hide. More scanning resulted in spotting some rather distant but still identifiable Red Breasted Mergansers and the head of a Grey Heron appearing above the grass over on the saltmarsh, the rest of the birtd being out of sight in what was obviously quite a deep pool. Pink Footed Goose was next to be added, with a single bird in the horse field. I spotted two pigeons in flight and once I managed a reasonable view of the upperwings Stock Dove went on the list.
A single Mute Swan flew north over the mud towards RAF Leuchars as a few Swallows zipped through heading in a similar direction. A Jackdaw was next to pass by. A Mallard drake was spotted up towards the bend in the river, with first a Teal and then a drake Shoveler being found just offshore at the saltmarsh as the tide continued to rise. At the feeders things got a bit busier with Dunnock and Chaffinch feeding on the ground while a Tree Sparrow sat on one of the feeders. The first Blue Tit of the day joined the mix of birds, soon being joined by a Woodpigeon pair on the gate and a male Blackbird below the feeders. A Great Black Backed Gull circled just in front of the hide before the Shelduck squadron took flight once again with the female bird being the apparent reason for the gathering though she seemed not to be showing much enthusiasm for her potential suitors.
We spotted a pair of House Martins landing down on the rapidly diminishing mud spit opposite the hide to collect wet mud for nest building. A Pied Wagtail 'chiswicked' loudly as it flew across the river to the edge of one of the small pools hidden in the grass. The Feral Pigeons from the paper mill zoomed over in small groups. The bank behind the fence to the north of the hide had been completely cleared of trees sometime very recently - surely during the breeding season and given the University of St Andrews now owns the site at their request. I find it hard to understand why such an establishment which should know better has carried out this work at this time of year. The only plus of this devastation being the improved view to the north, though with no cover now there will be less to see. Starlings rose in a small group from the horse field before dropping back down in a flock to once more forage in the grass.
A Royal Navy Sea King helicopter landing at Leuchars put up all the gulls, Curlews and Oystercatchers over at the salt marsh. Fourteen Pink Footed Geese appeared from somewhere swimming out in a line into the river. More species popped into the feeders with a pair of Robins together, along with a female House Sparrow and a Great Tit being next to go on the list. Another surprise was a pair of Wigeon which swam around from the far side of the salt marsh. Way out on the river a distant Goldeneye was ID'd despite the distance, the lack of heat haze making it much less tricky than normally.
A male Kestrel showed up and hovered above the grassy area on the other side of the Eden before moving on towards Leuchars. A wee bit of a surprise with most Kestrel sightings being of distant birds hovering over the farm or the airfield. Another surprise was a single Lapwing which flitted out northwards towards the base. A couple of Black Headed Gulls popped in, and after a couple of uncertain, rather tentative calls at Common Gull, I finally managed to get a definite couple of the birds alongside the Black Headed Gulls. A Linnet dropped down briefly onto the barbed wire fence where it joined a Woodpigeon and a Buzzard for a wee while. A Tree Sparrow also showed on a fencepost for a short while.
There were still a few surprises to be had as the tide slowly started to recede again, with a flock of 6 Goosanders seen distantly out on the river. 2 males and 4 females made up the group. One of the local magpies put in an appearance as it flew over the river. A distant duck in flight was identified from photos as a Long Tailed Duck - another surprise for this late in the Spring. The Pink Footed Geese plus the Wigeon pair and Shoveler drake flew out over the mud and landed in the river near the airfield. Around half a dozen Redshanks camouflaged almost perfectly against the wet grey mud on the opposite bank were spotted and added to the list. The Buzzard was joined by a Carrion Crow as it fed on something unseen in the grass opposite the hide. As it was around 4pm I decided to pack up and head for home having managed to see 46 species.
Species seen - Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Chaffinch, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Curlew, Dunnock, Eider, Goldeneye, Goosander, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Herring Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Kestrel, Lapwing, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Linnet, Long Tailed Duck, Magpie, Mallard, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Pink Footed Geese, Red Breasted Merganser, Redshank, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rook, Shelduck, Shoveler, Starling, Stock Dove, Swallow, Swift, Teal, Tree Sparrow, Wigeon, Woodpigeon.