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| Sandwich Tern |
As with the previous day I arranged to meet Nat at the end of the Tay bridge. Once again, birds were in relatively short supply on the way down to the bus station. Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Blackbird, Woodpigeon and Feral Pigeon on the way with Carrion Crow and Lesser Black Backed Gull seen around the bus station. Cormorants on Submarine Rock added to the list. Black Headed Gulls were on the lamp posts around the car park. With no stops along the way, there wasn't too much to see between Newport and Kinghorn with only a trio of new species seen - Starlings, Buzzard and Pied Wagtail.
We found the car park we were looking for in Kinghorn easily enough and set up the scope and ourselves on the rocks along the edge. With the sun shining to the east, we had a bit of glare off the water to contend with, but we hoped it wouldn't be too much of an issue. Eiders were on the rocks nearby, as well as on the water, Sandwich Terns passed by close in to shore, with a large group of Shags on the water off to the east a bit. I found a Guillemot a bit further out and we found a small group of Oystercatchers roosting nearby. There were good numbers of Gannets around, which I found slightly surprising given that we were upriver from the Bass Rock by a few miles.
Curlew and Turnstone flew in to the small beach area down to our left, while a pair of Teal passed offshore. Goosanders flew over from our right. Scanning a bit further out, I found a Razorbill bobbing around among the waves. I could hear a Magpie chuckling which was quite distracting as I just couldn't see it. I did see movement behind us on the path as a bird disappeared down among the rocks. This turned out to be a Robin. A few Common Gulls and Black Headed Gulls glided by. I spotted a Grey Wagtail foraging around among the rocks on the beach but it disappeared down among the rocks before Nat could see it. Thankfully it did reappear for her.
There was still no sign of any Skuas, but we weren't short of birds to look at, with steady, if unspectacular movement going on all the time. Redshank, Fulmar, Swallows and Great Black Backed Gulls were all added before the first Kittiwakes of the day headed in the direction of the Forth Bridges. A Meadow Pipit called as it passed overhead, and we managed to see it. Just before we were about to pack up, I spotted a bird swing round and land on the water. It was dark and the movement was very Skua-like. It lifted off again and headed back upriver, moving fast and with that characteristic Skua sense of purpose about it. I called out directions to Nat as the bird passed various landmarks and I thought she was on the bird, but when her bird landed and mine didn't, I had to give better directions.
Thankfully at the second attempt we both got on the same bird. It looked to me to be an Arctic Skua, though I couldn't completely rule out Long Tailed and with the light very glaring off the water in the area where the bird was hanging around I struggled to get enough detail or decent photos. The bird made a few short chases before settling on the water again. Mission accomplished though. Twenty minutes of watching the bird and it was time to move on with one year-tick in the bag, having decided that it looked more like Arctic Skua than the one Long Tailed Skua I'd seen in the past. [However, not being completely convinced, I posted the photos, poor though they were, online for a second opinion from more experienced birders. The result - Long Tailed Skua was the consensus. Nice one.]
Our next destination was another one neither of us had visited before. Cullaloe nature reserve, though we did instead detour into Kinghorn Loch where we found a bit of a building site and very few birds visible, though Coot, Tufted Duck and Mallard all went onto the list before we found our way back out. A Magpie flew past the car as we did so, and we picked up two male Pheasants by the side of the wee road we were on. Rooks in a field were next. Cullaloe was reached a short while later, and we discovered that it wasn't exactly clear where to go from the car park. Thankfully, on our wrong route we bumped into a man who pointed us in the direction of the small loch, where our target bird had been seen over the past month or so.
House Martins and Swallows darted around above the fields bordering the reserve but we saw very little on the way along the track, except a few butterflies and dragonflies. Arriving at the 'hide' - similar to the Riverside Nature Park one - ie. a wooden wall with holes in, I almost immediately spotted a single bird picking around on the mud opposite. A Green Sandpiper, and target number two was on the list. Also on the pool were a number of Teal, Wigeon, Moorhens and a pair of Mute Swans, while a Grey Heron roosted close by. A Bullfinch popped out of a bush as we headed back to the car for lunch. Having eaten we decided to head for Lower Largo in the hope of finding Red Necked Grebe.
A Sparrowhawk flew over as we were leaving the reserve, but there was little to see, except a few gulls, Buzzards and corvids as we headed for Largo Bay. When we arrived the wind seemed to have increased greatly from the earlier spell by the coast. Eiders bobbed around in the swell, while Gannets could be seen further out. A Red Throated Diver was the only addition. We decided against heading to Ruddon's Point with the sun's position and the stronger wind rendering it fairly pointless. Instead we would pop into Kilconquhar Loch on the off-chance that there might be something of interest there.
A Great Tit greeted us in the churchyard, while a young Coot erupted from below the bushes by the 'quiet garden' viewpoint, along with a number of Mallards. Across the loch were a number of Herring Gulls and Black Headed Gulls, while up the far end were Tufted Ducks and a Great Crested Grebe. We also managed to find a pair of Little Grebes. A surprise find was a juvenile Little Gull which caught my eye up in the far corner of the loch, where the overhanging vegetation between the bird and me made it tricky to confirm, though I did eventually manage a couple of photos showing the upper wing markings. A nice find at a site which apparently used to be a good place to find them in Fife.
With the time approaching 1500 we settled on paying Guardbridge a visit to bump up our totals for the day with a number of species likely that we hadn't yet seen. We would hopefully manage around 45minutes to an hour in the hide. The tide was on its way back out when we arrived though most of the waders were still bunched up opposite the hide. Thankfully, scanning through the massed ranks was made easier with the scope, though being able to see detail made it a slow process with Spotted Redshank a possibility among the numerous Common Redshanks. A single Common Sandpiper was another decent bird at this time of year, with most having already departed south. There was easily a few hundred Redshanks and among them were at least a pair of Knot and a single Ruff as well as perhaps 10 or so Dunlin and a few Lapwings. In addition there were also a few Black Tailed Godwits and a Greenshank.
An Osprey hunted above Balgove Bay before coming a bit closer. The feeders had Great Tit, Blue Tit, Greenfinch and Chaffinch visiting while we sat. Just as we were in the process of packing up to head for home, a Little Egret flew past the window before circling up above the river and the trees opposite and departing southwards and out of view. Nat dropped me off near Drumoig to wait for a bus and before it arrived I heard the distinctive call of a Mistle Thrush as it flew out of the trees and across the road. A nice way to finish up a successful day.
65 species seen including 2 year-ticks (in bold) - Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Black Tailed Godwit, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Common Gull, Common Sandpiper, Coot, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunlin, Eider, Fulmar, Gannet, Goosander, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Crested Grebe, Great Tit, Green Sandpiper, Greenfinch, Greenshank, Grey Heron, Grey Wagtail, Guillemot, Herring Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow, Kittiwake, Knot, Lapwing, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Little Egret, Little Grebe, Little Gull, Long Tailed Skua, Magpie, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Mistle Thrush, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Osprey, Oystercatcher, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Razorbill, Redshank, Red Throated Diver, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rook, Ruff, Sandwich Tern, Shag, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Swallow, Teal, Tufted Duck, Turnstone, Wigeon, Woodpigeon.
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| Teal |
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| Sandwich Tern |
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| Long Tailed Skua |
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| Green Sandpiper |
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| GreenSandpiper |
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| Grasshopper sp. |
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| Coot |
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| Little Gull |
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| Little Gull |
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| Little Egret |