Having not had the best of weeks so far, for reasons I'm unable to go into on 'social media', I was really in need of having a good day out on Wednesday. However, I slept far longer than I should've - 3 and a half hours extra. My intention had been to get up at 6, and head out to Tentsmuir in the hope of finding Snow Buntings before there was any likelihood of disturbance from dog walkers. By the time I eventually decided to head out it was almost 1125. I wasn't feeling too great but decided to go for it anyway.
 |
Red Breasted Merganser
|
A Blackbird and one of the local House Sparrow flock were first onto the list, with a Herring Gull and a flyover Goldfinch added as I walked down the road on my way to the bus station. Feral Pigeon, Woodpigeon and Blue Tit were added on Dens Road with a singing Dunnock on a wall and a singing Robin in the tree above added as I neared the bus station. Carrion Crow and Collared Dove were seen as the bus headed through Tayport to the turning circle. Starling was seen when I got off the bus. It was quite misty over the Tay still though the sky was rapidly clearing. I scanned the mud adding Curlew, Redshanks, Oystercatcher and Shelduck. I had a brief chat with Ranald Strachan, the Fife Countryside Ranger who I sometimes see at Guardbridge hide who asked what I was hoping to find.
A Chaffinch sung loudly as I passed the old RAF weather station area. A female Wigeon flew past. Among the Herring Gulls were a few Common Gulls. A Meadow Pipit showed just before I turned to head into the forest. With the tide still well out there was little to be gained by following the shoreline to the end of the trees. There seemed to be plenty of birds active in the trees, with snatches of song and calls along most of the route. Goldcrests and Coal Tits were very visible and a Wren was spotted low in the vegetation. I heard but didn't see a Mistle Thrush and a flyover Pink Footed Goose. I did manage to see a Skylark flying over though. I had good views of a male Red Squirrel with a large mouthful of nesting material for a drey. He posed nicely for me, before shooting up the tree he was in at pace and out of sight behind the trunk.
From the end of the trees I scanned out across the river adding Eiders but there was nothing along the water's edge. A party of Long tailed Tits foraged in the trees just around the corner. Nearing the deciduous trees where I hoped to see Green Woodpecker I spotted a couple of Mistle Thrsuhes flying back to the forest. There were more Long Tailed Tits plus Blue Tits and Coal Tits and Goldcrests working their way along through the trees at a little over walking pace. There was also a small party of Siskins higher in the trees. No Green Woodpecker was seen, though I did hear one yaffling from the main forest.
I headed to the edge of the beach to scan. There was a single Ringed Plover facing me halfway down the beach, with a party of Grey Plovers further out on a sand bank. A Great Black Backed Gull flew past. I cut back in to check the small group of trees near the green metal shed on stilts. There were a few Linnets here, but not much else, though a small flock of Goldfinches were in the dunes nearby, along with another Meadow Pipit. The first Stonechat of the day perched up in customary fashion atop some grasses.
There were decent numbers of gulls on the 'lagoon' and I managed to find a way across the channel without getting too wet and without spooking any of the gulls. They were mostly Common Gulls and Herring Gulls but there was also a single Black Headed Gull with them. A Red Breasted Merganser female was actively hunting the pool. Out on the surprisingly wild sea (the Tay having been like a mirror) I could see more Eiders and a small group of 4 Common Scoters headed south low above the waves. A male Long Tailed Duck went in the opposite direction much closer in. A Reed Bunting flew ahead of me from the dunes. I stopped to scan the area where the Shorelarks had been in December and January but as most of their preferred feeding ground was now under water I wasn't expecting to have any luck. I didn't have any luck.
A flock of birds lifted from in the dunes and circled around. Rather than the hoped for Snow Buntings, these were Linnets. They were joined by another small group which weren't Snow Buntings either. This group were Chaffinches. A Cormorant headed north as I trekked south along the edge of the dunes. Ahead of me I could see that there were lots of people walking, so I figured that rather than continue on, Although there were no Shorelarks there did saeem to be plenty of Skylarks, with birds lifting from among the dunes at regular intervals. Photos showed that one of them had been ringed but the photos weren't clear enough to read anything from the ring. I would double back on myself as the search for Snow Buntings was looking increasingly futile. There was now a pair of Mergansers and a few young Great Black Backed Gulls at the lagoon as well as a Redshank.
Stonechats, Linnets, Meadow Pipits and Goldfinches were seen on the way back to the small wood but again there were no Green Woodpeckers. I did manage slightly better views of the Siskins this time and a small flock of Lesser Redpolls flew over. With the sun having dipped behind the clouds again the light wasn't great and with the time around 1530, there was only an hour or so of daylight left anyway. With high tide around the same time as sunset I chose to walk along the beach isntead of through the forest. There were huge numbers of Eiders out in the river, with thousands of them out in mid-river and others hauled out on the large shingle island, along with Cormorants and Oystercatchers.
I scanned out across the river as a ship headed upriver towards Dundee docks. A bird closer in than the Eiders was clearly a diver but was surprisingly not a Red Throated. It was however an unexpected year-tick for me, in the distinctive shape of a
Great Northern Diver. Once again, something showed up late in the day to lift the day's mood. Ahead of me I could see there weren't too many birds on the way back to Tayport. A small group of Mallards were the exception. As I neared the end of the track however I could see that just offshore from the burn and all along in front of the caravan park were hundreds of gulls, mostly Common and Herring Gulls. I scanned through them as best I could in the fading light but failed to see anything that was Iceland/Glaucous or even Mediterranean looking.
Beyond those and in a line out from around the harbour were even more Eiders. Given the calm conditions, a scope would've been handy for scanning through them for a King Eider hidden amongst them. There are records of the species here from the 90s I think. I cut off the track to check the ploughed field by the gate to the weather station. There were crows out on the poles and wires and a rather nice female Sparrowhawk stood on the fence post at the corner. She spotted me and flew low along the fenceline and into the base. Despite the low light I managed some passable shots of her.
At the mouth of the small burn I spotted a pair of Little Egrets roosting with the Shelducks and Curlews. The setting sun briefly broke through the grey sky and illuminated the Egrets nicely for a few seconds. I had another scan through the gulls but failed again to find anything unusual before I heaed off to catch the bus back to Dundee. Not as successful a day as I'd hoped but a year-tick (in bold) kept me still around 7 species ahead of last year's total at the same time. The lack of wind and the sun shining made it feel more like a Spring day than February and the bird song certainly added to the effect.
 |
| Red Squirrel |
 |
| Meadow Pipt |
 |
| Ringed Plover |
 |
| Goldfinch |
 |
| Chaffinch |
 |
| Skylark |
 |
| Common Gull |
 |
| Great Black Backed Gull & Herring Gull |
 |
| Red Breasted Merganser |
 |
| Meadow Pipit |
 |
| Stonechat |
 |
| Stonechat |
 |
| Cormorant |
 |
| Linnet |
 |
| Meadow Pipit |
 |
| Siskin |
 |
| Wren |
 |
| Goldfinch |
 |
| Redshank |
 |
| Great Northern Diver & Eider |
 |
| Great Northern Diver |
 |
| Carrion Crow |
 |
| Mallard |
 |
| Curlew |
 |
| Sparrowhawk |
 |
| Little Egret |
 |
| Curlew, Little Egret & Shelduck |
44 species seen - Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Common Scoter, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunnock, Eider, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Great Black Backed Gull,
Great Northern Diver, Grey Plover, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Lesser Redpoll, Linnet, Little Egret, Long Tailed Duck, Long Tailed Tit, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Mistle Thrush, Oystercatcher, Red Breasted Merganser, Redshank, Reed Bunting, Ringed Plover, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Shelduck, Siskin, Skylark, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Stonechat, Wigeon, Woodpigeon, Wren.
