STONEFACTION BIRDING: 0212 : Mission To Musselburgh (24/9/15)

0212 : Mission To Musselburgh (24/9/15)

Our original intention for an outing on Thursday of my week off work was a trip northwards to Speyside and the general area north of the Cairngorms. However, while I was out and about with Nat on the Wednesday outing around Fife we had a text message reporting a Black Tern at Dalgety Bay. Rather than rushing down the coast to try to see it, we decided to change our plan for the following day and to head for East Lothian instead. We would avoid rush hour traffic on the Forth bridge by popping into Dalgety Bay and hopefully seeing the Black Tern. Afterwards we would head round the bypass to Musselburgh and work our way further along the coast. The target bird would be Red Necked Grebe, with a chance of Slavonian Grebe as well.

Wigeon

We set off at our usual 0800 and headed down the fast road towards Edinburgh. The downside of this route is that birds are in short supply compared to cutting down through Fife. However, with time being a consideration due to shortening daylight it made more sense. Herring Gull and Feral Pigeon kicked the list off, with Blackbird and Pied Wagtail being seen on the grass verges off the Kingsway. On our way towards Perth, we added Carrion Crow, Woodpigeon and Starling. Kestrel and Magpie were seen as we reached the southern half of Fife, with two different Kestrels and increasing numbers of Magpies.

Lesser Black Backed Gull was seen as we drove through Dalgety Bay, while a Robin hopped around in a bush above the car when we parked. We cut down through the trees to scan across the shore, where there was plenty of variety to be seen. Curlew and Shelduck picked around furthest up the beach, while closer to where we were viewing from were Dunlin and Turnstone as well as a few Redshanks. Oystercatcher and good numbers of Lapwings were further round the bay as was a Grey Heron and a few Mallards. Black Headed Gulls and Sandwich Terns flitted around with some perched on small exposed rocky islets just offshore.

We walked up through the sailing clubs hauled out boats for a better view of the river where hopefully we would find the Black Tern. Unfortunately the sun was rather strong and the resultant glare off the water made ID difficult of distant birds. A few Eiders were on the water, while a single Meadow Pipit called as it passed over westwards. A pair of Common Scoters hurried upriver low over the water and there were a Cormorants also. There was no sign of the Black Tern despite much scanning and re-scanning. With the time approaching 1000 we admitted defeat and moved on.

Other than Magpies and a few other non-specific corvids, there was only really a Buzzard to add to the list between the Forth and Musselburgh. As always, Canada Geese were on the Esk. We headed round to park at the mouth of the river. There was a rather strong westerly wind blowing which could potentially cause us a few problems when trying to find birds out in the river among the waves. This didn't however deter us from taking both the scope and the tripod on our walk along the seawall path. Pied Wagtails flitted and scurried around on the grass verge, while a single Grey Wagtail flew off across the river. Mute Swans swam in the calmer water of the river while a tightly packed flock of Wigeon bobbed around in the rougher water where the Esk met the Forth.

Further out were a number of Goosanders while House Sparrows chirped from the roofs and gardens of the nearby houses. A few Jackdaws wandered around close by. In addition, there were Mallards, Eiders and Cormorants as well as a few Oystercatchers and Redshanks on the other bank, near a mixed group of Herring, Black Headed and Common Gulls. We set off along the path. Initially things looked rather quiet offshore, but when we stopped to scan I managed to see a few distant Gannets. A male Goldeneye took flight and flew off out into the Firth. The Wigeon flock flew by a few times, settling for a short spell before taking to the air again. A trio of Red Breasted Mergansers flew by in line astern formation and a small flock of Linnets twittered as they overflew us.

A Kestrel hunted above the grassy slope leading up to the lagoons and a pair of swallows swept past westwards. A distant skein of Pink Footed Geese (almost certainly) could be seen over the hills headed south. A single pale brown duck passing offshore caught my attention and I called it as a Pintail, an ID confirmed from the rather poor photos I managed to get. I eventually gave up on trying to keep the tripod steady, instead choosing to rest the scope on the concrete seawall which provided a lot more stability, though generally the height wasn't ideal. Common Terns were picked up well out over the river and a pair of distant Guillemots could be seen on the water below them.

A single Red Throated Diver was found via the scope as were a number of Shags diving below the water for fish a bit closer in. Our first Velvet Scoters of the day were spotted well out over the river, easily picked out by their white wing panels. A pair of what looked like Great Crested Grebes were spotted round towards Cockenzie Power Station but they were lost sight of and not conclusively identified. As we walked back round to the car we added Razorbill to our decent sized haul. From there we decided to head round to the hides at the Lagoons in the hope that there would be some waders on the scrapes. A Little Grebe was added from the pond where a party of school kids were about to get sailing/boating lessons.

We walked up the short distance to the top hide/concrete screen and found plenty of waders around. Redshanks, Dunlin and Knot were huddled up together while slightly further over a Black Headed Gull partially blocked our view of what turned out to be a Grey Plover. Teal dabbled around in the shallows. Bar Tailed Godwits and Oystercatchers roosted on the grass between the pools, and there were Curlews a bit further back. We almost managed to overlook three Stock Doves in the grass closer to the hide. A small group of Greylags flew in as we walked to the other screens. Nothing too spectacular seen but a nice selection and in decent sized groupings too.

With the time nearing 1400 we squeezed in a few minutes scanning from the small car park just along the coast to the east, which confirmed Great Crested Grebes in the area. Two species of Grebe seen , but not the ones we were hoping for. We decided that we would move on to Aberlady for a quick visit to Waterston House where I hoped for some more books for my collection would be found (they were). While we browsed and had a look at Keith Brockie's paintings on display a torrential rain shower began, prolonging our stay a little longer than planned, though it was better to be indoors than outside, or even sat frustrated in the car as rain streamed down the windows. The rather chatty SOC lady eventually talked me into getting a bag for my books and we hurried to the car during a slight let up in the ferocity of the shower.

Nat drove the short distance to the actual Aberlady reserve car park where we scanned as best we could while the rain obscured the view as it hammered on and streamed down the glass. Teal, Curlew, Mallard, Redshank, Dunlin were all seen well enough to ID despite the poor light and wet conditions. A Greenshank in flight was also spotted just as the rain was easing off. We had a quick walk part way across the bridge where Nat spotted a pair of Little Egrets upriver as I photographed a Buzzard a second or so after it had flown through the arc of a rainbow. Collared Dove was added to the list as we headed through the village.

With the rain moving on to the southwest we headed back to the Longniddry Bents car park number 3 where a Sparrowhawk passing over lifted a flock of Golden Plover from the seaweed covered rocks. Another stop at Port Seton harbour added Great Black Backed Gull among a flock of Herring Gulls. We moved on once more back to the small car park where we had seen Great Crested Grebe earlier. There had been tantalising views of potentially other grebe species earlier but as they were distant and mostly very brief among the waves we could only hope that the birds might be closer this time.

We walked westwards along the muddy path towards the Lagoons site, stopping to scan from various points. Velvet and Common Scoters and Cormorants and Shags were easy enough to see, but grebes seemed to be in very short supply. This wasn't what we wanted. We eventually found a pair of birds quite far out, though after a lot of effort we discovered they were only Great Crested Grebes - quite possibly the same pair seen earlier in the afternoon. Another single bird teased us for a while before also being ID'd as another Great Crested Grebe. Nat picked up another bird beyond the Scoters and when I eventually got onto it with the scope it had an almost Diver-like feel to it, the neck seeming shorter and less slim than the Great Crested Grebes. This looked promising.

Finding the bird through the camera viewfinder to check for detail proved almost impossible with none of the photos taken with the DSLR being in any way helpful. A spot of rather over-exposed video filmed with the P900 however did appear to show a yellow bill at times as well as a subtly different head shape. It took a good bit more scoping before I was eventually satisfied that it was indeed a much hoped for Red Necked Grebe, my first of the year and a lifer for Nat. Once again our target bird had left it late before putting in an appearance but we had eventually found one. As we walked back towards the car park again, we stopped for another spot of scanning. This time, I spotted a bird much closer in but frustratingly it dived and we struggled to find it for what seemed like ages. This bird looked good for Slavonian Grebe but I needed another look just to confirm it and also for Nat to see it too, for confirmation of another year-tick.

Just as we were getting close to giving up, Nat said she had a bird near a pair of Velvet Scoters. Trying to find the correct pair of Velvet Scoters proved rather tricky but I eventually did success in finding the ducks and their small grebe companion. It was, as I had hoped, Slavonian Grebe, my second year-tick of the day. With both birds now on the list and having managed to put off encountering too much tea-time traffic we decided it was time to head for home. Checking Birdguides on the way we saw that there had been no further sightings of the Dalgety Bay Black Tern during the day so we passed on by without stopping.

Another enjoyable day's birding with Nat which yielded 64 species including 2 year-ticks (in bold) despite having once again not succeeded in exploring any of the Lothian coast beyond Aberlady. Hopefully with some easterlies blowing in we can re-visit the area in a few weeks time when I make my last concerted effort to bump up the year-list to hopefully a new record total for me (surpassing 205 from 2010).

Species seen - Bar Tailed Godwit, Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Buzzard, Canada Goose, Carrion Crow, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Common Scoter, Common Tern, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunlin, Eider, Gannet, Golden Plover, Goldeneye, Goosander, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Crested Grebe, Greenshank, Grey Heron, Grey Plover, Grey Wagtail, Greylag Goose, Guillemot, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Kestrel, Knot, Lapwing, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Linnet, Little Egret, Little Grebe, Magpie, Mallard, Meadow pit, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Pink Footed Goose, Pintail, Razorbill, Red Breasted Merganser, Red Necked Grebe, Redshank, Red Throated Diver, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Sandwich Tern, Shag, Shelduck, Slavonian Grebe, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Stock Dove, Swallow, Teal, Turnstone, Velvet Scoter, Wigeon, Woodpigeon.