With the buses running at something like normal again, I planned to head for Tayport to walk to Leuchars. Hopefully this would allow me to pick up a few new species along the 12 mile (or so) route. With the Shorelarks in particular still being reported on the 2nd, there was certainly plenty incentive to go for it. Thankfully I was feeling a bit better than the previous day, though still not quite 100%. Again, I decided on a before sunrise start, and a slow walk taking my time and hopefully adding some good birds.
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| Surf Scoter & Common Scoters |
I headed out just before 0800 and managed to catch a bus into town with only Herring Gull seen in the gloom. I made it to Tayport for around 0825 and decided to check the duck pond first. There were a few Moorhens walking around at the edge and Mute Swans on the water. The local Mallards thought they were getting fed and swam over. There were also 2 pairs of Wigeon on the pond, which was unexpected. I scanned out across the mud to see what I could make out in the still rather dim light. There were a few Oystercatchers, a number of Knot, Black Headed Gulls, Common Gulls, Redshanks and a few Carrion Crows. Everything else was just a bit too far away to be sure of the ID.
I wandered on through the caravan park picking up Blackbird on the road. Curlews and
Shelducks unsurprisingly were added when I scanned from the other end of the caravan park. There were a few birds around near the former RAF weather station area. A pair of Reed Buntings, a Robin, Dunnock, Wren as well as flyover Woodpigeons and a Goldfinch all extended the list a little. A single Pink Footed Goose headed out over the river. A Song Thrush flew out from the bushes and a
Meadow Pipit flew up from the salt marsh.
Rather than walking along the beach I decided to cut through the trees as on my previous walk along this route a few weeks earlier. A Buzzard posed nicely in a tree a short distance in, only flying off as I passed. There were plenty of Goldcrests in the conifers, their high pitched calls providing a soundtrack to my walk. When I eventually reached the end of the trees I scanned the beach and river again. There were a few Grey Plovers dotted around, with Eider out on the water, but things were otherwise rather quiet.
Further on, I headed out to try for Green Woodpecker in the stand of deciduous trees where I've had success in the past. A Chaffinch flew over and a pair of Mistle Thrushes flew up into a treetop nearby. Things were quiet along the length of the wood, but there was a bit more activity at the far end. A Great Spotted Woodpecker flew out from its unseen perch. There was a lively flock of Lesser Redpolls which landed briefly in the dead trees before flying off again, while a pair of Blue Tits flitted around in the bushes. A Siskin was also seen.
I wandered out to the edge of the dunes where a Great Black Backed Gull was well out on the exposed sand, along with a few smaller gulls. A few Red Breasted Mergansers were on the water. Way out on the sand there was a Cormorant roost near the fenceline at the end of the reserve. As I neared the pools through the dunes, I heard numerous dogs barking and was a bit disappointed to see a dog walker cross the Shorelarks' favoured site with all 7 dogs off the lead. There were 2 birders in view but they didn't seem to be looking at anything. This wasn't great to see.
I cut across the beach towards the end of the dunes on the far side of the pools, but there appeared to be no birds on the pool, as well as nothing obvious on the mud. I sat down in the dunes and scanned slowly and methodically. The other 2 birders had given up and headed back south, though they regularly stopped to look back, to see if I was looking at anything. I wasn't. There was no sign of anything at all. An older couple turned up and they too scanned across the mud, but seemed to be struggling to find anything. The dog walker and his pack crossed back along the edge of the pool, and up towards the forest. After a few more minutes, I decided to walk across to tell the couple I wan't having any luck either.
As I walked in their direction, I caught movement out of the corner of my eye, a few feet away.
Shorelarks! I suspect they had fled to the beach, or into the dunes, when the dogs came through initially, and had only just ventured back, flying in unseen to the edge of the muddy area. I crouched down and gestured to the couple to let them know I'd found them. They headed over and I pointed the birds out. I chatted to them for a while. I was sure I recognised them and they confirmed that they were Chris and Anne-Marie Smout, 2 well-known veteran Fife Birders.
I found a spot where I could crouch down to photograph the birds as they fed unconcerned. The birds shuffle around almost on their bellies 99% of the time, and only when someone gets too close do they stand up tall, something unsurprisingly though disappointingly that I've seen in a few pics posted online. I was joined by another birder from the Angus side of the bridge and a few minutes later by another birder who was visiting the area from Devon, though he was originally from the Dundee area.
All 3 of us were looking for birds for our year-lists, so once we'd had our fill of the Shorelarks we wandered towards the pools to see if we could find the
Greenshank that has been there all winter so far. Thankfully the bird had returned and although distant was added to all our lists. In addition, a couple of
Sanderling scurried around the edge of the pool too, as well as a Redshank. We then wandered along the edge of the dunes in the hope of finding the lone Snow Bunting, but we drew a blank. Offshore we could see plenty of Scoters, mostly
Common Scoters, though
Velvet Scoters were also eventually found among them.
The birder from Devon, Chris, was hoping to see a White Tailed Eagle, s as I was intending on heading towards the Goosepools and the end of the runway at Leuchars, I mentioned the possibility of getting the birds on the posts in the Eden, and that if he wanted to join me for the walk he was welcome to. A flock of Linnets circled round above the dunes. We found a few
Long Tailed Ducks among the flock of ducks offshore, as well as a
Red Throated Diver and a
Great Crested Grebe or two.
As we continued south along the beach, I happened to glance towards the forest and spotted a large bird above the trees, Another year-tick. One of the
White Tailed Eagles, a rather nice adult (wing-tag Z). Mission accomplished for Chris. A Pied Wagtail that landed near us on the beach was also new for Chris. We headed in towards the Goosepools and sat atop the highest point to sca the duck flock offshore and to see if there was any sign of anything on Earlshall Muir. A
Stonechat flew up nearby. A few folk from the RSPB who were attempting to track the eagles stopped for a chat. We discovered from them that the goosepools had all but dried out. With this information on board we decided to head out across the beach for a much closer look at the large group of Scoters again.
We put up a Skylark in the dunes on our way to the edge of the water. Scanning through the flock which wasn't too far offshore we found plenty of Common Scoters, Velvet Scoters, a couple of
Slavonian Grebes and a couple of Great Crested Grebes. Even better than those, Chris found a drake
Surf Scoter though it vanished from view when I looked through the scope. Thankfully, it showed well at my second attempt, and I even managed a few photos. (Amazingly a second bird was found on Thursday by John Nadin and by Friday the total was being reported as 4 drake Surf Scoters in the flock by Pauline McBride).
Chris decided to head back to his car, rather than walk for another mile and a bit on the off-chance that the eagles would be on the posts in the river, and then have to walk all the way back. He did offer me a lift back to Dundee but as there was still a chance to add a few more birds to my list, I thanked him for the offer but declined. We headed our separate ways, me south, Chris northwards. Things were very quiet until I hit a spot parallel to the runway at Leuchars when I encountered a large flock of mostly Coal Tits and Long Tailed Tits. Just as I was about to continue onwards, a
Treecreeper landed on a tree nearby and clambered up the trunk.
Redwing and Mistle Thrushes were in the field near the University Air Squadron hangar, and a Pheasant was heard but not seen. When I eventually made it back to the farm I found a Great Tit in the hedge. Approaching the outskirts of the village, I heard, and then spotted, a Jay in the oak trees to the south. While waiting at the bus stop back in the village, a Magpie overflew. House Sparrows and a Starling were seen in the trees and bushes opposite. A Kestrel was seen on the wires near Drumoig, taking my total to 61 species for the day, and rather tired legs. Despite missing out on some possible target species (Raven, Green Woodpecker, Crossbill, Woodcock) it was a very worthwhile walk.
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| Great Spotted Woodpecker |
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| Lesser Redpoll |
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| Mistle Thrush |
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| Shorelark |
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| Shorelark |
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| Shorelark |
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| Shorelark |
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| Shorelark |
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| Shorelark |
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| Sanderling |
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| Long Tailed Duck |
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| Great Crested Grebe & Common Scoter |
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| White Tailed Eagle |
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| White Tailed Eagle |
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| Slavonian Grebe & Common Scoters |
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| Surf Scoter & Common Scoters & Velvet Scoters |
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| Common Scoters |
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| Treecreeper |
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| Stonechat |
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| Redwing |
Species seen (15 year-ticks in bold) - Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Common Gull,
Common Scoter, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunnock, Eider, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Great Black Backed Gull,
Great Crested Grebe, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great Tit,
Greenshank, Grey Plover, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jay, Kestrel, Knot, Lesser Redpoll, Linnet,
Long Tailed Duck, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard,
Meadow Pipit, Mistle Thrush, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Pink Footed Goose, Red Breasted Merganser, Redshank,
Red Throated Diver, Redwing, Reed Bunting, Robin,
Sanderling, Shelduck, Shorelark, Siskin, Skylark,
Slavonian Grebe, Song Thrush, Starling,
Stonechat, Surf Scoter, Treecreeper, Velvet Scoter, White Tailed Eagle, Wigeon, Woodpigeon, Wren.
