With easterlies nowhere to be seen, rarities were off the radar so options for the Wednesday outing with Nat were a bit "up in the air" with no particularly outstanding option. With rain forecast also for a few hours around mid-morning, it was likely we would have to improvise a bit, or bird from the car. Nat had something up her sleeve though. I arranged to meet her at the end of the roadbridge at about 0815 and hopefully we would make it to the promising new site she had found before the forecast bad weather hit.
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| Buzzard |
I left the house at about 0750 picking up a Woodpigeon on a lamp post as the first bird on the list. A Feral Pigeon overflew a bit further down the road and a Starling called from its perch on a tenement chimney. Two Carrion Crows overflew as I walked down Dens Road. Both Lesser Black Backed and Herring Gull were seen before I reached Victoria Road. Cormorant was seen as I crossed the bridge on the bus. I met Nat and we headed for the new location. This was a former industrial site slowly returning to nature, which apparently is visited only by the odd dog-walker. It was a fairly large site with a few reasonably sized pools and numerous bushes and shrubby areas, bordered by farmland and a bit of woodland. From the road there was nothing to suggest the site was no longer in use.
A Blackbird was the first bird seen as we parked up and walked into the site. A Goldfinch and a Pied wagtail overflew. A Buzzard was perched on a fencepost on the adjacent farmland. A Mistle Thrush called noisily as it flew off from a large tree, and a small group of Lesser Redpolls passed ovehead. I spotted a Kestrel perched on a small bank. The bird spotted me too, and flew off. On the largest of the pools, there were a pair of Mute Swans and a large flock of Lapwings took flight. A Linnet headed over. Some scanning found a few Coots, Moorhen and Teal as well as Black Headed Gull, Herring Gull and a single Lesser Black Backed Gull. The first Skylarks of the day were heard calling and I picked up two separate pairs high above the site.
More scanning found a few Little Grebes, and a Tufted Duck. A Grey Heron youngster eyes us suspiciously as we passed. There were a number of Wigeon dotted around, and a single Shoveler male moulting out of eclipse plumage. Nat spotted a Reed Bunting and I added Mallard to our growing list. A Snipe flushed despite us being quite some distance away, and a Yellowhammer perched atop a bush. A Curlew and a Buzzard pair lifted from the adjacent farmland, one of the Buzzard carrying prey which may have been a Mole. As we walked back to the car, we added Meadow Pipit and Swallow. Not a bad wee haul for a new site, and I think it will warrant a few more visits at other times of year, with Spring looking particularly promising.
We moved on to a roadside pool a few miles further on, but it was very quiet with only a pair of Mute Swans (one ringed but unreadable) and a Great Black Backed Gull. Nearby were a number of Herring Gulls and a few Pied Wagtails. Letham Pools was our next stop but with the water levels still rather high there were only a few species of duck around, with Gadwall the only addition. A single Coot was on the other pool. A Robin called from a roadside post. We headed next to The Wilderness, near Ladybank but it was more of the same with a mixture of duck species (Gadwall, Mallard, Wigeon, Teal, Shoveler and Tufted Duck) and a pair of Mute Swans (again one ringed - this time readable). Lapwings were the only apparent wader species, so we headed on to Angle Park.
The water levels here were very low again, and the birds were similar to the selection at the Wilderness and earlier with a mix of duck species and Lapwings. A surprise was seeing a few Long Tailed Tits perching on the overhead wires. A Grey Wagtail called as it passed over. As we checked out the pools in the trees, where the water levels were as low as I've seen them, I heard geese in the distance. A skein of Pink Footed Geese, my first of the 'winter' headed over southwards, possibly towards Loch Leven. A Great Spotted Woodpecker called loudly from the trees but went unseen, as did a possible Chiffchaff. A calling Great Tit didn't escape the binoculars though.
We debated where to go next, eventually settling on a trip up and over the Lomond Hills via Falkland and down to the coast around Buckhaven and Leven. A Chaffinch was the only new bird seen before we reached Buckhaven, where school playing fields had a flock of gulls and the first Oystercatchers of the day. Down at Shore Road there was no sign of any Mediterranean Gulls. We parked in the car park at the end of the road and had something to eat, while scanning across the water. Eiders were offshore along with a number of Shags and the odd Cormorant. Gannets, mostly juveniles, could be seen diving further out in the Firth. A pair of Sandwich Terns passed by offshore. A Curlew chased off a pair of Feral Pigeons from down by the water and a Common Gull glided by.
We headed next to the river mouth at Leven. Nat spotted House Sparrows on a roof on the way. Redshank was the only addition at the mouth of the river, though there were a number of species around including Herring Gull, Black Headed Gull, Great and Lesser Black Backed Gull, Mallard, Oystercatcher and Curlew. A text message from the Fife Bird Club grapevine arrived, mentioning 'no sign' of a 'probable' Black Scoter at St Andrews. In addition, 3 Scaup were mentioned as being offshore. Having yet to see Scaup for the year, I suggested to Nat that we head to St Andrews in the hope of at least managing to find the Scaup. If we were very lucky, we might also see the Black Scoter, which would be a lifer for both of us.
We stopped off first at the harbour to scan over the outer bay. A small group of Turnstones flew in as we got out of the car, and a Sandwich Tern called over to our left. Various gulls, Oystercatchers and Redshanks were out on the seaweed covered rocks. Out in the bay we could see plenty distant Common Scoters, but there was no way, even with a scope, that we would be able to pick out a Black Scoter amongst them. We walked up the hill to scan from a higher viewpoint. Red Throated Divers and a pair of unidentified Grebes could be seen bobbing around among the Scoter flocks. While I scanned, Nat spotted a number of roosting Ringed Plover on the rocks below us. House Martins swooped around us, and around the cathedral ruins.
We headed next to the car park at the West Sands by the golf museum for more scanning. A Jackdaw wandered around nearby. I spotted a pair of Greenshanks flying in but failed to get Nat onto the birds. She did spot a Bar Tailed Godwit which landed near the gulls and Sandwich Terns on the sand. With still no sign of the Scaup or Black Scoter we headed out to the end of the road to Out Head, to scan from the slightly raised bank at the edge of the beach. This gave us better views of the Divers and the Grebes, which turned out to be Great Crested Grebes rather than the hoped for Slavonians. A pair of Guillemots were seen and there were flashes of yellow bills on some of the Scoters, but nothing like the amount a Black Scoter would show. We decided to walk down onto the beach, closer to the water, for a better view of the birds we could see.
Nat spotted a Sanderling rushing around among the Oystercatchers along the shoreline and a while later a Dunlin. There were probably just into double figures of Red Throated Divers with at least 5 in a single group and others dotted around and another pair having flown off. A group of Red Breasted Mergansers drifted by just beyond the waves. A second skein of Pink Footed Geese headed south, these ones in much better light than those seen in the morning, now that the sun was shining. Eventually after much scanning, the scope landed on a bird showing a lot of white on the belly that was having a bit of a flap and a shake. A quick check when the bird settled down alongside another pair and I had my first
Scaup of the year, Mission accomplished and time to go home after what had been an interesting day out around Fife with a nice mix of birds seen.
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| Buzzard |
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| Grey Heron |
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| Curlew |
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| Yellowhammer |
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| Mute Swan |
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| Long Tailed Tit |
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| Wigeon |
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| Grey Heron |
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| Sandwich Tern |
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| Sandwich Tern |
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| Red Breasted Merganser |
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| Red Throated Diver |
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| Scaup |
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| Pink Footed Goose |
65 species seen (1 year tick in bold) - Bar Tailed Godwit, Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Common Gull, Common Scote, Coot, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunlin, Eider, Gadwall, Gannet, Goldfinch, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Crested Grebe, Great Tit, Greenshank, Grey Heron, Grey Wagtail, Guillemot, Herring Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Kestrel, Lapwing, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Lesser Redpoll, Linnet, Little Grebe, Long Tailed Tit, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Mistle Thrush, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Pink Footed Goose, Red Breasted Merganser, Redshank, Red Throated Diver, Reed Bunting, Ringed Plover, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rook, Sanderling, Sandwich Tern,
Scaup, Shag, Shoveler, Skylark, Snipe, Starling, Swallow, Teal, Tufted Duck, Turnstone, Wigeon, Woodpigeon, Yellowhammer.
