I had been planning on walking the coast from Tayport to Leuchars for a few weeks, but the weather and lack of motivation had meant it had been postponed a few times already. However, with nothing I wanted to see within easy travelling by public transport range, I decided that I should give it a go. The tide would be on its way in on my walk out and for a good part of the walk south past Kinshaldy. With a bit of luck it should be possible to see around 60 species, including Green Woodpecker, Raven and White Tailed Eagle. There was also a slim chance that the wintering flock of Snow Buntings might have returned.
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I headed out into the rather chilly morning at about 0750 to hopefully catch a bus to Tayport at 0810. There seemed to be plenty birds active with Herring Gull seen as soon as I opened the front door, and seconds later, House Sparrow, Jackdaw and Feral Pigeon were all added. Starling and Blackbird were next with Magpie and Blue Tit both added before I reached the bus station. Cormorants were on Submarine Rock in the Tay.
I decided to get off the bus well before the turning circle to add the birds around the small pond. A Goldcrest was in the bushes and gave close views while there were plenty of Mallards on the water, as well as Black Headed Gulls and Herring Gulls. A Moorhen swam across the pond, but there was no sign of any Mute Swans. There were Oystercatchers and more gulls on the football pitch beside the caravan park. From the road I scanned out across the river and the still exposed mud. Great Black Backed Gull, Grey Heron, Bar Tailed Godwits, Redshanks and more Mallards and gulls were all added to the rapidly growing list before I wandered through the quiet caravan park. A Wren showed near one of the caravans, as did a Song Thrush and a few others Wrens and Blue Tits were heard.
A small group of Goldfinches were seen over the trees as I exited the caravan park, and a Mistle Thrush overflew. More scanning found Grey Plovers and Shelduck among the other birds out on the mud. There were also Wigeon and Curlew further out towards the river. I walked further out towards the forest scanning periodically. Ringed Plovers were next onto the list and a Meadow Pipit flew up from the saltmarsh. Robin, Reed Bunting and Chaffinch all put in appearances before the first skein of Pink Footed Geese headed north out over the Tay. I spotted a white bird flying in, and was pleased to see it was a Little Egret, my first at Tayport. Out on the river I spotted a lone Goldeneye and a few Eider. A small group of Dunlin also contained a single Sanderling. I was checking the small muddy inlets on the saltmarsh for Snipe but was drawing a blank until a single bird broke cover and flew off.
There were a few Carrion Crows dotted around and a single Collared Dove flew towards Tayport. It was still rather cold and rain threatened. I debated turning back but decided to keep going as the weather forecast had said light rain at worst. I hoped they would be correct. Rock Pipit was next to show. A small group of ducks out on the river turned out to be Teal. There were plenty of birds strung out along the water's edge and I had good views of Wigeon, Shelduck and Eider before I reached the fence marking the boundary of Tentsmuir Point nature reserve.
A surprise here was a trio of Pale Bellied Brent Geese and a single Knot was with a large group of 20+ Sanderling. Common Gulls and Red Breasted Mergansers were two more additions. Siskin was heard and then seen above the trees. I think I heard Crossbills a bit further into the forest but failed to pick out any birds. I wandered out towards the edge of the sea, along the edge of the dunes. Meadow Pipit and Ringed Plovers were in the grass, and on the mud respectively. Out on the river parallel to the shore was a huge flock of Eider. With no sign, not unexpectedly, of anything resembling a Shorelark I decided to cut back across the dunes to check out the stand of deciduous trees where I usually find Green Woodpeckers if I'm lucky.
A Green Woodpecker spotted me before I saw it and flew off through the trees. I scanned ahead trying to see where it landed but it flew further on. As I wandered along the edge of the trees to roughly halfway it flew again, this time along the other side of the trees and into the trees somewhere behind me. I continued on. A few Lesser Redpolls circled round above the trees but didn't settle. Over towards the main forest I could hear Long Tailed Tits but failed to see them. A second Green Woodpecker flew ahead of me and I managed a quick photo when this one landed, though it was still rather distant.
Mistle Thrush, Reed Buntings, Meadow Pipit, Goldfinches and Chaffinch all shared the dead trees nearby but there was little to see in the trees towards the main forest except for a few Blue Tits and Goldcrests. Great Spotted Woodpecker was heard but not seen. As I neared the southern boundary fence of the nature reserve I was pleased to see that I wouldn't need to cross any water with only slightly wet mud where there used to be an outflow channel. Gulls and Oystercatchers rooted on the beach. Beyond the fence the large pool held a single Greenshank, a Redshank, a Curlew and a Goldeneye. Out on the sea I could see hundreds of Common Scoters strung out, not too far offshore, stretching southwards parallel to the shoreline, just beyond the breaking waves.
I wandered slowly along the edge of the dunes. Ahead of me I spotted a large flock of finch-type birds, but they were too far away to identify but were behaving like Linnets. I hoped that they could be Snow Buntings. There were none at the same stretch of dunes where I'd seen them the past 2 winters. However, a little further south I heard calling birds and a trio of Snow Buntings changed their mind about landing on the beach near where I stood. I watched where they flew off to, and moved slowly, stopping to scan ahead of me to see where they were among the grassy dunes. Eventually I saw the birds a short distance ahead of me and crouched down to watch and photograph them hunting around for seeds. There were 2 other birders further along the beach and they could see that I was obviously photographing something. When they got close enough I pointed out where the birds were and they stopped to set up their scope to view the birds.
I skirted out further down the beach so as not to disturb the Buntings and had a short chat to the English couple about what other birds were likely and also other sites in Fife where they might see some good birds on their way south. With the time now after 1200 I scanned through the flock of Scoters offshore adding Long Tailed Ducks and eventually Velvet Scoters and a few Slavonian Grebes. As I skirted along the dune edge I spooked a small flock of Skylarks which flew off high over the forest. A single Linnet was seen a little bit further on. Among the Scoters I found a pair of Guillemots and a drake Red Breasted Merganser flew past. A Red Throated Diver was also found among the waterfowl offshore.
I now had a decision to make. I had around 4 miles still to walk before I reached Leuchars. I could either continue on along the beach to Reres Wood and head inland from there or walk along the Kinshaldy road and then cut through the forest to Earlshall Muir. As Woodcock was also one of my hoped for species, I decided to try the latter. There was also the chance of Redwing and Fieldfare in one of the horse pastures near the toll barriers. As it turned out there were only a few Mistle Thrushes there, though a Pied Wagtail was a new bird for the day and scanning the tree-tops to the north found a Great Spotted Woodpecker at the tip of a conifer.
Cutting south along a forest track I could hear plenty of Coal Tits and Goldcrests and eventually managed to see one of the former. What was surprisingly the first Woodpigeons of the day, flew ov the track before I found a small group of Bullfinches feeding in the trees by the track. No Woodcocks though. As I headed across the more open area to the south of the forest towards the boardwalk along Earlshall Muir's northern edge I managed to spot some Long Tailed Tits feeding in the trees. From the boardwalk I managed to see a distant Stonechat on a fencepost. Birding buddy, Jacqui, had been messaging me to say she was in the area walking her dog, and that if I wanted a lift back into Leuchars to wait by her car at the farm buildings by the radar. With heavy legs my progress had slowed, the weight of my camera gear and not really being in any hurry contributing to my reduced speed.
Scanning to the north from the boardwalk I spotted what appeared to be a flock of thrushes very distantly. As I attempted to find them with the camera a Jay flew through my view and another species was added. Rooks were flying over towards Reres Wood, giving me yet another new species. I thought I heard Jacqui somewhere behind me as I checked out the woods to the east of the moto-cross track for Woodcock, but I couldn't see her. A Buzzard flew low across the field and perched on a loudspeaker stand as I neared the farm, and a Dunnock was finally added in a gorse bush by the track. As I was trying to identify a pigeon in a tree (Woodpigeon rather than the hoped for Stock Dove), I heard Jacqui behind me and I gratefully accepted the offer of a lift back to Leuchars to catch the bus back to Dundee having had a good walk and seen 70 species along the way.
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| Little Egret |
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| Teal |
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| Pink Footed Geese |
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| Dunlin & Sanderling |
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| Bar Tailed Godwits |
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| Sanderling |
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| Wigeon |
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| Wigeon & Redshank |
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| Wigeon |
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| Shelduck |
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| Eider |
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| Brent Geese & Grey Plover |
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| Knot & Sanderling |
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| Cormorant |
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| Red Breasted Merganser |
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| Eider |
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| Reed Bunting |
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| Green Woodpecker |
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| Mistle Thrush |
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| Goldfinch, Meadow Pipit & Reed Bunting |
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| Greenshank |
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| Goldeneye |
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| Common Scoter & Slavonian Grebe |
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| Common Scoter & Slavonian Grebe |
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| Snow Bunting |
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| Snow Bunting |
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| Skylark |
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| Velvet Scoter |
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| Common Scoter |
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| Oystercatcher |
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| Common Scoter |
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| Slavonian Grebe & Common Scoter |
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| Guillemot |
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| Red Breasted Merganser |
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| Great Spotted Woodpecker |
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| Stonechat |
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| Jay |
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| Rook |
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| Buzzard |
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| Woodpigeon |
Species seen - Bar Tailed Godwit, Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Brent Goose, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Common Scoter, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunlin, Dunnock, Eider, Goldcrest, Goldeneye, Goldfinch, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Green Woodpecker, Greenshank, Grey Heron, Grey Plover, Guillemot, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Jay, Knot, Lesser Redpoll, Linnet, Little Egret, Long Tailed Duck, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Mistle Thrush, Moorhen, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Pink Footed Goose, Red Breasted Merganser, Redshank, Red Throated Diver, Reed Bunting, Ringed Plover, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rock Pipit, Rook, Sanderling, Shelduck, Siskin, Skylark, Slavonian Grebe, Snipe, Snow Bunting, Song Thrush, Starling, Stonechat, Teal, Velvet Scoter, Wigeon, Woodpigeon, Wren.
