Another midweek and another outing with Nat was once again on the cards. With strong easterlies forecast I thought a wee spot of sea-watching at Fife Ness might prove productive. I arranged to meet Nat at Guardbridge some time after 0900 and after a quick check there we would head down the coast to hopefully a view of a lot of seabirds passing by offshore, and hopefully not too far out from the shoreline.
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| Gannet, Manx Shearwater, Guillemot & Razorbill |
It was around 0835 when I left the house to catch the bus into town and the bus station. Woodpigeon kicked off the list with an unexpected flyover Linnet next. Lesser Black Backed Gull glided round over the road as I waited a minute or so for the bus. Herring Gull, Blackbird and Feral Pigeon were added as I walked the remainder of the way to the bus station. From the bus to Fife I added Carrion Crow and House Martin before reaching Leuchars where Jackdaws and Collared Dove were on roofs on either side of the road in. A House Sparrow flew over as the bus picked up a few more passengers. A Grey Heron was seen just below the weir on the Motray at Guardbridge. Nat messaged me to say she had just left the house.
Walking in to through the small park to the hide I watched a family of Blue Tits in a tree, then Swallows and House Martins zipped low across the grass, as a Blackbird hopped around below them. The hide was empty but there was work going on just beyond the fence which was keeping the birds well away. There were a few Black Headed Gulls across the river, and a Grey Heron further downriver. A few Oystercatchers could be seen on the mud. There were plenty of Mute Swans on the salt marsh. A Great Black Backed Gull dropped in to join the Herring and Lesser Black Backeds down by the bend in the river. Further downriver a trio of Common Gulls were found.
There was a party of Goosanders near the gulls and a few Mallards down the far bank. One or two Curlews were seen. Nat arrived and I pointed out what little was around. There were a few Blue Tits, Great Tits and House Sparrows at the feeders. A small flock of Starlings could be seen across at the salt-marsh. Tree Sparrows joined their scruffier cousins at the feeders. I eventually found a Shelduck with a load of ducklings on the mud. I picked up a distant Cormorant then a pair of Buzzards hanging in the wind at Coble Shore. Much further out in the estuary I spotted an Osprey with a fish winging its way north. At the feeders were a Chaffinch and a Robin.
We headed out at around 0950 to head for Crail and Fife Ness. In the small park in addition to Blackbird there was a Song Thrush. Swifts were added near Kingsbarns, and a Skylark was seen flitting above a field. Crossing the golf course we added a Pied Wagtail to the list. Before we'd even got organised at the car to head the short distance along to the hide, we had added Puffins, Gannets, Sandwich Tern and Kittiwake. There was a lot of movement over the sea. Things looked very promising, as hoped.
I set up the scope in the hide and started looking. Although things had looked very busy without the scope, through the scope it was almost impossible to decide which group of birds to watch. I tried calling out birds but there was so much activity that it was almost pointless. We decided that I would only call out the really good stuff. The first group of Manx Shearwaters headed north low over the water. The first Common Scoters followed shortly after. There were plenty of auks, including Puffins, and there were mixed groups of Razorbills and Guillemots sometimes with the Puffins. A Fulmar glided by closer in to shore. Great Black Backed Gull and Common Gull flew by.
Both Common and Arctic Tern were seen as well as Shag and Cormorant. There were 100s of birds passing every minute, with more Manxies and Common Scoters being the main highlights in the first hour. I even managed to shoot some video of Manx Shearwaters. Nat decided to go for a walk and I kept scanning. She hadn't been gone long when I spotted a dark bird just above the horizon line but relatively close in. Skua! I grabbed the camera and fired off a sequence of photos. It appeared to be an
Arctic Skua, my first of the year, and this was confirmed later. A single Red Throated Diver passed close in a while later. A Curlew added a little variety. A female Eider was just offshore beyond the rocks and a pair of Oystercatchers flew past. At 1230 I headed back to Nat at the car. She was having some lunch but was about to do a bit more exploring.
I decided to try a spot of viewing from the rocks, but not before I'd added a Yellowhammer as I chatted to Nat. As things turned out either things had quietened down offshore or it seemed harder to spot the birds from my rocky seat. It was more of the same though I did have to wait quite some time for the first Manxies. Final total was at least 500 Common Scoters, at least 100 Manx Shearwaters, over 1000 auks (Puffins/Guillemots/Razorbills), over 1000 Gannets, 1 Arctic Skua, 1 Red Throated Diver, a few Sandwich Terns and maybe 20-30 Common and Arctic Terns. A few Fulmars and a few hundred Kittiwakes, though surprisingly few Shags and only 1 or 2 Cormorants. A few Eiders, Great Black Backed Gulls, Herring Gulls and Common Gulls as well as a single Curlew and a small number of Oystercatchers completed the list for the seawatching. There may well have been more but it was impossible to watch everything that was going on.
On our way back to Crail I spotted a Magpie on the grass and a Corn Bunting flew off the wires and alongside the car briefly, near the B&B track. We decided to try St Andrews Bay on the way back to Guardbridge. Nat needed to be home for about 1500, so it was to be a very short visit. An American tourist told us she'd seen a Puffin near the castle. We scanned out across the bay finding a few Fulmars on the water and a flock of Common Scoters further out. I got a few glimpses of a young Guillemot or Razorbill but couldn't catch it on a photo. With time increasingly against us, we headed for Guardbridge where Nat dropped me off shortly before 1500.
There was still a lot of noisy activity going on to the left of the hide and birds were mostly very distant. I did succeed in adding a Sand Martin to the list before watching the birds on the feeders, where a family of House Sparrows vied with a few Tree Sparrows and young Blue Tits for space to feed. A young Greenfinch also attempted to crash the party. After an hour I decided to head for home.
A pretty decent day's birding with some of the most intense sea-watching I've experienced with too much activity going on to be certain we weren't missing good birds as we were watching whatever we happened to be watching. A few more pairs of eyes/scopes in the hide would have helped but 55 species including a year-tick (in bold) wasn't bad when so much time was spent on solely sea-watching (though Nat did see a few more species that I missed out on).
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| Buzzard |
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| Osprey |
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| Manx Shearwater |
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| Common Scoter, Puffin, Guillemot & razorbill |
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| Guillemot, Puffin, Common Scoter & Razorbill |
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| Gannets & Puffins |
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| Common Tern |
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| Kittiwake |
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| Shag |
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| Manx Shearwater |
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| Manx Shearwater & Guillemot |
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| Manx Shearwater |
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| Common Scoter |
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| Guillemot |
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| Fulmar |
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| Puffins & Guillemots |
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| Arctic Tern |
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| Common Tern |
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| Common Scoter |
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| Razorbill, Guillemot, Puffin & Common Scoter |
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| Arctic Skua |
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| Arctic Skua |
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| Arctic Skua |
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| Arctic Tern |
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| Manx Shearwater |
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| Manx Shearwater |
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| Manx Shearwater |
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| Cormorant |
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| Manx Shearwater |
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| Manx Shearwater |
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| Puffin |
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| Kittiwake |
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| Red Throated Diver |
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| Red Throated Diver |
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| Gannet & Manx Shearwater |
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| Gannet & Manx Shearwater |
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| Gannet & Manx Shearwater |
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| Manx Shearwater |
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| Manx Shearwater |
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| Arctic Tern |
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| Puffin, Guillemot & Manx Shearwater |
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| Gannet |
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| Gannet |
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| Shag |
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| Arctic Tern |
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| Curlew |
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| Razorbill |
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| Gannet |
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| Sandwich Tern |
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| Razorbill & Guillemot |
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| Arctic Tern |
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| Gannet |
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| Kittiwake |
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| Arctic Tern |
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| Gannet |
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| Gannet |
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| Common Scoter |
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| House Sparrow |
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| House Sparrow & Tree Sparrow |
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| House Sparrow |
Species seen -
Arctic Skua, Arctic Tern, Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Common Scoter, Common Tern, Cormorant, Corn Bunting, Curlew, Eider, Fulmar, Gannet, Goosander, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Guillemot, Herring Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Kittiwake, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Linnet, Magpie, Mallard, Manx Shearwater, Mute Swan, Osprey, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Puffin, Razorbill, Red Throated Diver, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Sand Martin, Sandwich Tern, Shag, Shelduck, Skylark, Song Thrush, Starling, Swallow, Swift, Tree Sparrow, Woodpigeon, Yellowhammer.
