My first outing of 2017 with Nat looked like being under threat owing to high winds. However, as things panned out it was only double decker buses that were stopped from crossing the Tay road bridge. Unfortunately a late change of plan meant that Nat had to be back home for around 1330-ish, so we decided on an earlier than normal (for this time of year) start so as to maximise the available time. A circuit of sorts around Fife had been the plan, so we went with selected highlights instead. Fingers were crossed that we would be able to add a few species to our year-lists along the way.
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| Pintail |
I headed out into the pre-dawn gloom and chill wind at around 0750. There were already Herring Gulls hanging in the wind as they seem to enjoy doing when the wind is strong enough. A Blackbird flew across the road as the bus arrived to take me into the city centre. Feral Pigeons were added on my way to the bus station. I managed to add a few species while waiting for a few minutes for Na to arrive. A Carrion Crow, a Black Headed Gull and a surprise Buzzard. We quickly formulated a vague plan of sorts and set off for Letham Pools.
Mute Swans were in a field about a mile on, while Jackdaws, Starlings and Rooks were added shortly after. When we arrived at the flooded fields they initially looked rather empty, but I spotted geese along the rear of the left hand pool so we stopped for a better look. They appeared to be mostly Greylags, though with the wind buffeting the car, it wasn't particularly easy to have a really good check of the flock. I retrieved the scope and tripod from the boot and set it up behind the car. It was cold and it was windy, and things were only marginally easier using the scope than they had been trying to scan from inside the car. I thought I'd seen a flash of white on the head of a goose among the flock but I couldn't find it again.
A few minutes later, I found a second bird that looked interesting. This one definitely did have whit around the bill. A
White Fronted Goose, a year-tick for us both. It then chose to put its head down again and went back to sleep, beside a second bird. As it turned out we eventually did manage to get slightly better views of both geese shortly before they took off and flew towards us before swinging back round and dropping into the next field over, but out of sight behind the grassy edges by the fenceline. The pink bills suggested that the birds were of the European subspecies, which given the extreme weather to the east isn't surprising. There may be more of these birds (and Bean Geese) arriving over the next few days.
More scanning of the actual pools found that there were actually birds around. Mostly ducks - Mallards, Wigeon, Teal, Gadwall, and Tufted Ducks. A Grey Heron landed. A few flocks of Redwings and Fieldfares passed over. Not unexpectedly we failed to see any Water Rail, and Snipe also seemed to be absent. We were on our way to The Wilderness when we discovered even more geese in the next field to the south. These were mostly Pink Footed Geese and a few Greylags, but more scanning failed to find anything more interesting. There were also Woodpigeons and Starlings around in decent numbers,
At The Wilderness, most of the ducks were of similar species to those already seen, though I did manage to add Goldeneye to our list here. Of more interest to Nat was the sole Lapwing hunched up against the cold. This was a year-tick for her. Her second of the morning. Common Gull was another addition here. A quick check of the second smaller pool just inside the entrance added Coot, Goosander and a few more Goldeneye, before we set off for Vane Farm.
A Kestrel was scanning the roadside verge for voles from the overhead wires around a mile or so from the reserve. We could see that the weather was looking likely to turn showery so we hurried to the first hide to scan across the loch and pools. Surprisingly, there weren't too many ducks in the small bay. There were a few Wigeon and Teal, and some Tufted Ducks and Goldeneye further out, but our hoped for Smew were nowhere to be seen. Neither were there any Pintail for my list. A few flypast Cormorants and a single Little Grebe were the only other additions before we determinedly set off for the furthest away hide.
As we entered the hide Nat pointed out the hoped for (for me)
Little Egret. It was also quite quiet here also, though there were a few Whooper Swans across the far bank of the pool. A number of Curlews flew in to join the ducks already around a small spit - mostly Wigeon and Teal. A brief stop at the second hide to let a shower pass didn't add anything, but did give a better angle on the Tufted Ducks and Goldeneye out on the Loch. As we walked back after the rain had subsided, I spotted a raptor cruising along above the visitor centre area. A Peregrine. A nice surprise, though not a year-tick for either of us. A Magpie near the road, kept up my record of having seen the species on every outing so far this year. Changed days for what used to be a tricky species to 'connect with' locally.
A small flock of finches and tits were feeding just to the left of us as we reached the top of the stairs back up from the underpass. Blue Tits, Great Tits, Chaffinches, Greenfinches and Goldfinches were all seen before the arrival of more rain had us hastening towards the visitor centre again. I successfully managed to not buy any books and didn't manage to find anything through the rain streaked windows using the centre's scopes. We discussed our options as to where to go next, with time increasingly against us. The places close by where we could expect to possibly pick up new species were likely to be hit by the same showers we had been avoiding already. I suggested going slightly further east, to Buckhaven, in the hope of finding Mediterranean Gull.
So, off we went. A quick check of some football pitches on the road into Buckhaven produced only the standard trio of Black Headed, Herring and Common Gulls. There were Herring Gulls and Black Headed Gulls on the grass at Shore Road along with a few Curlews and Oystercatchers. Offshore at the car park were a few Eiders, but overall it was pretty quiet. I got out of the car to check the shore over the breakwater. There were only a couple of Herring Gulls there. Disappointed I walked back to the car. Just a few seconds latter a gull glided over the top of where I'd been stood. I'd just finished saying "No
Mediterranean Gulls", as I raised my binoculars. I quickly added "...but that's one there", and quickly got out the car again to photograph the adult bird as it cruised past into the wind. Very fortunate timing.
With the target species on the list I suggested quickly checking out the mouth of the river Leven. As the tide was already in, the gulls were roosting. A quick check for any white-winged species from further north drew a blank. I did find a Black Headed Gull with a yellow leg ring but none of the photos show enough detail to read it properly. There were a few Goldeneye on the river with Red Breasted Mergansers and Eiders further out. I spotted a couple of Rock Pipits across the far side and Nat found another year-tick for her - a Grey Wagtail. With the time approaching 1230 we set off for St Andrews. I decided I was going to try Balgove Bay for Pintail, with Jacqui having had good views of them there the day before. It would mean a walk into the cold wind, but hopefully it would be worthwhile.
A quick check from the car park by the golf museum added the Common Scoter raft to our list. Nat saved me a bit of walking by dropping me off near the start of the cycle path to Guardbridge. This meant that I could cut along the track rather than the longer more exposed route across the golf course. I did wonder whether I would run the risk of flushing birds from the stubble field as I approached the George Evans hide, but as it turned out, with the golf course practically empty of golfers, I was able to cross the course to reach the hide instead. A few Blue Tits and a Robin wqere seen along the way, as well as a Goldcrest in the small trees behind the hedge. On the golf course were a large flock of Curlews, and a Redshank flew in to the reed-edged pond near the hide. A quick check of the stubble field found it empty.
From inside the hide I scanned out across the bay. Shelducks were strung out in lines across much of the bay, but there didn't appear to be too much else around. A single Pink Footed Goose approached from the north, but with daylight a limited commodity in January I decided to leave the shelter of the hide and go in search of Pintails. A pair of Mistle Thrushes flew out from the trees as I left. Rather than head along the track I cut into the area used by the greenkeepers and ventured slowly up the banking to view the bay from a higher perspective. Not too far away I could see Brent Geese feeding. I ducked down as they had noticed me and showed signs of wariness. I didn't want any of the birds to flush, so by keeping my profile to a minimum and my time in their view also minimal, I succeeded in not flushing the birds and they returned to feeding. Also among them were a few Wigeon, and it didn't take too long to find my target bird.
Pintail, a nice drake too.
As the golf course was quiet I decided to try for a few more photos of the Brents. The lie of the land around the green meant it should be possible for me to peer over the rise and hopefully get a few photos. This worked out reasonable well. Some of the Oystercatchers that had been roosting along the edge of the fairway had taken off as I'd appeared on the track anyway, so I didn't have to worry about them causing panic among the geese and ducks. A Linnet flew over as I lay on my belly, mostly hidden by the ridge. After a few minutes, I edged backwards down the rise and back to the track. I had to wait for a few moments till one of the few groups of golfers out took their tee shots. Unfortunately, their approach lifted more of the Oystercatchers. I peered out from some gorse bushes at a few more Pintail close in to shore, but as they seemed even more wary than the Brents, I quickly ducked back out of sight, before heading along the edge of the course towards Out Head.
I was hoping that I might find Snow Bunting there but there weren't even any small waders. On the way there I almost got blown off the dunes by the gale and managed to be in just the wrong place when a large wave hit the edge of the golf course, soaking me down one side, and giving the camera an unwanted 'wash'. Thankfully, I was able to dry it off quickly using my gloves. Birds were at a premium, with only a possible Reed Bunting seen dropping into the reeds at the point, and a pair of small waders heading low over the water on the eastern side of West Sands seen.
A pair of Pied Wagtails flew over as I trekked back along the road. A quick stop to scan the bay for the Scoter flock found a Stonechat perched on a fence post. Eventually as I got closer to St Andrews I was able to see the Scoter flock out in the bay. There was quite a bit of activity with small groups coming and going. Most, if not all appeared to be Common Scoters, though photos showed a couple of Velvet Scoters among the flock, but only very low numbers. The low sun picked out the birds once or twice and as it did so I was able to see the white patch on the nape of a Surf Scoter, and managed to take a few photos of the bird again.
Also among the flock were a few Long Tailed Ducks and Eiders, and closer to the golf museum were a larger number of Scaup than I had seen last week in the same area. I also picked out 3 or 4 Great Crested Grebes on the water a bit further out than the flock, as well as a Cormorant or two. A Great Black Backed Gull picked at something on the shore as the sky grew moodier to the west with another shower approaching. I scanned through the gulls opposite the toilets before packing up and heading along to the second hand bookshop where again I managed to not buy any books before calling it a day and heading for the bus station and home.
Another productive day out with an unexpected 4 new additions (in bold) with the White Fronted Geese being the unexpected highlight, among the 63 species seen.
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| White Fronted Geese |
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| White Fronted Geese |
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| White Fronted Geese |
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| Pink Footed Goose & Greylag Geese |
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| Pink Footed Geese |
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| Little Egret |
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| Whooper Swans |
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| Peregrine |
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| Mediterranean Gull |
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| Shelducks |
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| Brent Geese |
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| Brent Geese |
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| Brent Geese |
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| Pintail |
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| Pintail |
Common Scoters
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| Common Scoters & Surf Scoter |
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| Common Scoters |
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| Scaup, Goldeneye, Common Scoter, Herring Gull & Cormorant |
Species seen - Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, (Pale Bellied) Brent Goose, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Common Gull, Common Scoter, Coot, Cormorant, Curlew, Eider, Fieldfare, Gadwall, Goldcrest, Goldeneye, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Crested Grebe, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Grey Wagtail, Greylag Goose, Herring Gull, Jackdaw, Kestrel, Lapwing, Linnet,
Little Egret, Little Grebe, Long Tailed Duck, Magpie, Mallard,
Mediterranean Gull, Mistle Thrush, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Peregrine, Pied Wagtail, Pink Footed Goose,
Pintail, Red Breasted Merganser, Redshank, Redwing, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rock Pipit, Rook, Scaup, Shelduck, Starling, Stonechat, Surf Scoter, Teal, Tufted Duck, Velvet Scoter,
(European) White Fronted Goose, Whooper Swan, Wigeon, Woodpigeon.
