It was Nat's turn to not feel 100% this week, but she decided that she'd rather be out birding than stuck at home feeling sorry for herself. With Little Stints at The Wilderness and Black Tern at Loch Leven the previous day, I had to hope that either or preferably both would stick around long enough for me to see them. Nat had already seen Little Stint, at Kinshaldy Lagoons a week or two ago, but we had both missed out on the Arbroath Black Tern. Fingers were crossed.
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| Black Tailed Godwit |
I headed out at around my usual time for a Fife outing with Nat and headed for the bus station. Feral Pigeon, Herring Gull and a singing Robin got the list off to a rather slow start, followed by Woodpigeon on a lamp post and a pair of Collared Doves that were on the grass a few feet from the path and which I would have missed had they not fluttered up onto a small fence as I passed. I was too busy looking for a Blue Tit that was calling from the trees above the doves. For some reason I thought about Magpies, just 2 seconds before a pair flew across the street ahead of me, silently (for a change). Carrion Crow was added before I reached the bus station.
Cormorant was seen as the bus crossed the bridge, one flying low across the water from the direction of Fife. We headed first for Letham Pools as rain was forecast to pass through before too long. A Buzzard perched on a small tree by a field was spotted from the car before we reached the pools. As is usually the case at this time of year, there were plenty of birds around. Lapwings, Mallard and Teal made up the group on the top end small-ish section of pool. I found a few Gadwall among them. Dotted around the edges in good numbers were plenty of Snipe. A Black Headed Gull was on the fence. A Meadow Pipit overflew, while a flock of Starlings foraged in the field nearer Mountcastle Quarry.
There were a few Mute Swans on the water and scanning through the scope I soon found a few Moorhens. High above us there was some movement of Swallows passing over. I spotted a Ruff among the Lapwings. There was a second bird on the other half of the same pool and a party of 5 on the usually less busy pool. A Common Gull perched on the fence and a Lesser Black Backed Gull dropped in. There were a few Pied Wagtails around and I eventually succeeded in finding an adult Water Rail. The other pool had a pair of young Shovelers and some Coots on it. There were a few Little Grebes and Wigeon on the main pool and a Greenshank added to our wader count. A second one was around the fringes of the second pool. A Reed Bunting was on the ground near the Greenshank.
With the sky looking a bit threatening we decided to move on to The Wilderness to look for the Little Stints that had been seen the previous day. Nat spotted a Pheasant by the road as we neared Bow Of Fife. A male Blackbird flew across the road as we neared the site. The usual Curlew flock was in its usual place and there were 5 Black Tailed Godwits on a small island near them. A Grey Heron was across the far side. There were plenty Mallard, Teal and Wigeon around as well as Black Headed, Common and Herring Gulls. A Ringed Plover was towards the Ladybank end of the pool. A few Skylarks passed overhead as well as a few groups of Swallows.
A Pintail was a nice find as it dabbled around near a Mallard. After scanning for around 25 minutes I spotted a small spit with two clean looking small waders and another Ringed Plover. The two smaller ones were clearly smaller birds than the Plover. I called to Nat to tell her I thought I had the
Little Stints. Just at that the two took flight and I lost sight of them as I tried to track them through the scope. Nat found a Stock Dove feeding near a Woodpigeon in front of us, as I scanned in vain for the Stints again. There was mass disturbance with most birds taking flight with the Lapwings flying up highest. From where we stood by the wall we couldn't see what had caused it. After a short while everything settled down again.
Nat suddenly said she'd found the cause of the disturbance. A Sparrowhawk, stood on the grass relatively close by. We watched it for a few minutes, taking a number of photos. More scanning and i found a pair of Dunlin. These were 'dirtier' looking than the Stints had been, I was sure. Eventually after more disturbance and even more scanning I found the Stints, near a few Ringed Plovers and Dunlin. They were still rather distant but we had good views through the scope and the Dunlin gave a good chance to compare the species side by side. A nice year-tick for me.
Having succeeded with our first target bird after a bit of effort, we headed for Kinross and Loch Leven. House Sparrow and Jackdaw were added as we passed through Milnathort. Loch Leven is a lot of water and we had just 1 small bird to search for. When we arrived at Kirkgate Park things didn't look too promising - a few Black Headed Gulls around, but nothing flying about except a few Mallards and Tufted Ducks. A Grey Wagtail overflew. The fields to the south of the Loch held geese but we were uncertain which. Thankfully, the mystery was solved when a small flock took off and flew in our direction. Greylags.
We decided to explore the path heading round the Loch. Close to the car park we found a small view-point and stood scanning. I'd explained what I though the tern would be doing (hawking for insects) to Nat in the car. A flock of Goldfinches flew in and a Pied Wagtail was by the edge of the water. We both scanned out over the loch. Mute Swans, gulls, Coots and various ducks were dotted around. Nat suddenly said "I think I've got it". She directed me onto the bird and sure enough we had our
Black Tern. My second year tick of the day, and a lifer for Nat. The bird was quite distant, but we both took some photos anyway. I spotted a possible location that would hopefully give us closer views so we headed there. The bird was slightly closer, but was flying quite a small circuit and never coming any closer. As we watched I spotted a bird flying over. An Osprey with a fish in its talons.
Along with the Black Headed Gulls, Cormorants, Mute Swans, Coots and Mallards, there was also a Greylag and a few Pied Wagtails on the shore. What we didn't notice as we were so focussed on the tern was a Snipe and a Greenshank too, which I discovered in the photos later at home. I did actually see the Snipe landing as I watched the tern but didn't check it out properly as I was too busy with the tern. A Buzzard flew over the Loch in the same direction as the Osprey a few minutes later. Eventually hunger got the better of us and we wandered back to the car, to have lunch and to decide where to go next.
Kinghorn was our intended destination for a spot of seawatching but a Fife Bird Club text alert message came in suggesting that things were relatively quiet there, though there were some decent birds around, just not any of those we were hoping for. With Nat not feeling 100% I decided that Vane Farm might be a better bet, so we changed our plan and headed to the reserve. We passed a Kestrel hunting by the road and a Rook was finally added to the day list a little further on.
From the first hide we scanned through the ducks in the small bay. Mallards, Teal, Tufted Ducks, possibly a few Pintail, some Wigeon and a new one for the day - Pochard. A large skein of geese flew in off to the west. Around 150 Barnacle Geese, which was a bit of a surprise. There were 4 Ospreys and 2 Buzzards visible perched on fenceposts. A couple of birders nearby spotted a Great Crested Grebe out on the choppy waters. A few minutes later we had more geese pass by. This time they were Canada Geese. With not much else around we wandered along to the furthest away hide. Teal, Mallard, Black Headed Gull, Moorhen, Grey Heron, Pied Wagtail and Greenshank were seen but we decided to head back to the visitor centre for a quick look at the books and then to head back to Guardbridge to catch the tide on its way out.
We would hopefully manage to add a few species that we hadn't already seen, with Oystercatcher and Redshank probably the most surprising birds missing from our list, but ones we were almost guaranteed to get at the Eden estuary. We were the only ones at the hide when we arrived and the Redshank flock were occupying the small piece of exposed mud, with Mallards, Goosander and Wigeon offshore. A Great Tit was on the feeders, and a Tree Sparrow soon popped in also. Scanning through the waders opposite I found a Knot having a bath. Nat spotted a few Black tailed Godwits, and surprisingly also nearby were 2 Bar Tailed Godwits. A Chaffinch male shared a feeder with a Greenfinch male adding another 2 species to our list.
A Great Black Backed Gull dropped in as the area of exposed mud grew in size as the tide receded. Common, Herring and Black Headed Gulls were also plentiful. I eventually managed to find a single Oystercatcher. Another bird photographer joined us in the hide and a few minutes later another couple also arrived. A Blue Tit visited the feeders and as I scanned across the mud I found 2 rather distant Curlew Sandpipers. Nat found a small wader but lost it when it flew off before I could get onto it. It might have been another Little Stint. Nat decided she would head for home for some sleep as she wasn't feeling too great. I decided I would stay and catch the bus home around 1700 when the hide was locked up for the night.
A few minutes after Nat left I spotted that there was a bird on one of the distant 'Osprey posts' out in the estuary. A few photos confirmed my suspicions - a White Tailed Eagle. There was plenty of activity from the Army base with Hercules aircraft and Chinook and Lynx helicopters moving. While watching the Lynx departing I was distracted by a Peregrine passing them heading in the direction of the paper mill. Another raptor for the day list, taking us to 6 - Osprey, Kestrel, Sparrowhawk, Buzzard, White Tailed Eagle and Peregrine. A very good haul. I chatted to the couple who were left when the lone birder headed out to try to get closer views of the Eagle on its post. It departed before he got there.
It turned out that I was actually facebook friends with one of the pair - a lady called Donna Mackay, who I hadn't met until then, but who I had helped with a few IDs of birds and who I'd discussed the vague possibility of starting a bird ID 'class' for beginners. A Little Egret flew in and we had really good views of 2 Black Tailed Godwits and a few Redshanks below the hide. There was no visit by the Kingfisher but given the quality of the 72 species I'd seen during the day I could hardly complain. When the ranger arrived to lock up I headed for the bus and homewards.
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| Ruff |
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| Shoveler |
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| Sparrowhawk |
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| Dunlin & Lapwing & Little Stint |
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| Lapwing, Little Stint & Black Headed Gull |
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| Greylag Geese |
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| Black Tern |
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| Osprey |
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| Buzzard |
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| Black Tern, Black Headed Gull & Mute Swan |
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| Black Tern & Mute Swan |
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| Black Headed Gull & Black Tern |
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| Grey Heron & Black Tern |
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| Barnacle Geese |
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| Canada Geese |
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| Redshank & Bar Tailed Godwit |
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| Redshank, Black Tailed Godwit & Bar Tailed Godwit |
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| Black Tailed Godwit, Redshank & Bar Tailed Godwit |
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| Black Headed Gull, Redshank & Curlew Sandpiper |
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| Lapwing |
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| Peregrine |
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| Black Tailed Godwit |
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| White Tailed Eagle |
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| Black Tailed Godwit |
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| Black Tailed Godwit |
Species seen (2 year-ticks in bold) - Barnacle Goose, Bar Tailed Godwit,
Black Tern, Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Black Tailed Godwit, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Canada Goose, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Coot, Cormorant, Curlew, Curlew Sandpiper, Dunlin, Gadwall, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Crested Grebe, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Greenshank, Grey Heron, Grey Wagtail, Greylag Goose, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Kestrel, Knot, Lapwing, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Little Egret, Little Grebe,
Little Stint, Magpie, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Osprey, Oystercatcher, Peregrine, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Pintail, Pochard, Redshank, Reed Bunting, Ringed Plover, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rook, Ruff, Shoveler, Skylark, Snipe, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Stock Dove, Swallow, Teal, Tree Sparrow, Tufted Duck, Water Rail, White Tailed Eagle, Wigeon, Woodpigeon.
