Nat was available to go birding on Thursday again, but unfortunately not for an early start, so I decided that I would get up and out early rather than waste the more productive early morning hours when birds tend to be on the move and generally more active, or at least more noticeable. So I arranged to meet her at around 0915 at the Guardbridge hide and as she hadn't yet been to the George Evans hide at Balgove Bay we would head there and see if it was as productive as it had been for me on Tuesday. I decided that I would head to the Fife Bird Club hide at Guardbridge first to watch the birds being pushed in closer by the tide, then at Bagove Bay we could watch the tide recede and hopefully a good mix of birds.
 |
| Curlew Sandpiper |
I was out before sunrise to catch the 0635 bus over to Fife. Only a Herring Gull was seen at that early hour as I walked into town, though a few more species were heard only (Robin, Blue Tit, Blackbird etc). A Kestrel was seen on the wires just a little further on from Drumoig where it is seen regularly. Rooks and Jackdaws were added at St Michaels. Woodpigeon, Carrion Crow, Black Headed Gull and Starling were all spotted in Leuchars and Guardbridge.
The short-ish walk to the hide at the farm was quite productive with birds seen on the river in particular adding a few extra species to the growing list. House Sparrows were in the brambles by the bridge. Greay Heron, Curlew and Goosander were viewed from the bridge, along with a few more gulls. Walking up through the village added Robin, Swallow, Goldfinch and Pied Wagtail. Once I reached the hide and got organised I was able to add a few more without trying too hard with Lapwings in particular, relatively close to the hide. A Common Gull glided over, and a small party of Cormorants flew in to the estuary. Dunlin and Redshank picked around on the mud.
Further out were a number of Mute Swans and a Great Black Backed Gull dropped in. Feral Pigeons flew westwards towards Guardbridge. There were a few ducks visible out on the river, a single female Eider, a pair of Pintail and a larger group of Wigeon. As the amount of mud available lessened, birds flew in from further away. An Oystercatcher with a yellow mud-splattered ring wandered along not too far from the hide and a party of four Golden Plover dropped in. The temperature was colder than expected and I was rather glad that I had popped a pair of fingerless gloves, a free gift from a photography magazine, into my bag. They did make a wee bit of a difference to the comfort levels though the wind being from the north didn't help.
A Meadow Pipit flew over, and a pair of Canada Geese dropped in. A small group of Teal were next to fly in. A pair of Stock Doves circled the hide briefly, before the first few Black Tailed Godwits landed alongside the other waders now occupying a small area of mud. A flock of around 8 Skylarks headed west. A large flock of Goldfinches circled over the salt-marsh a few times before landing on the fence and the weedy plants below for a feed. A much smaller group of Linnets were briefly in view before they dropped out of sight among the grass in the field beside the horses. A Sandwich Tern was heard out over the estuary and after a bit of searching was added to the list successfully.
Nothing else was seen between then and 0855 when I decided I'd better head round to meet Nat. When I'd arrived the gate into the stables had been locked so I'd climbed over the fence to reach the hide. The gate was being unlocked as I was leaving, so I asked what time it normally gets unlocked and checked to ask if it was ok that I'd gone to the hide so early. The latter was no problem, and the gate gets opened at whatever time the guys get there to open it, sometimes early, sometimes later. One of the guys chatted about birds for a few minutes and as he did the Canada Geese flew past. As I had a look at them, I noticed much higher in the sky, a skein of arriving Pink Footed Geese (the first having been seen on Tuesday arriving back in Scotland).
I made it around to the hide at around 0915 and found a few more species around at the feeders to add to the list - Blackbird, Dunnock, Chaffinch and Blue Tit. When Nat arrived we decided not to linger as it wasn't a particularly high tide and we had around half an hour before we would make it to the George Evans Hide. At the golf course, Pied Wagtails, Meadow Pipits, Skylark and Swallows were seen but there was nothing new to add. Arriving at the hide just after 1000, we got organised and started scanning.
There were plenty of Shelduck again, along with Lapwings, Curlews, Black Tailed Godwits, Redshanks, Grey Herons as well as Woodpigeons, Jackdaws and Rooks. An Osprey was out on one of the posts. A few Mallards were found within the throng of birds further round the bay to the west. Gannets were easy to see out over St Andrews Bay, their white plumage catching the light as they circled. Nat was feeling the cold from the northern wind coming in the windows, so we improvised a way to keep her ears a bit warmer which seemed to work quite well as she spotted the four Curlew Sandpipers flying in and landing not too far from the hide. We were then treated to much closer views than I'd had on Tuesday, and the opportunity to get some decent photos and videos.
A Chiffchaff sang from outside the hide and as I opened the door to look for it, it flew off across the estuary, though Nat's directions allowed me to catch a rear view of the bird. A Willow Warbler was heard a bit later but not seen. With the expanse of mud getting larger by the minute I looked for some of the species that I'd seen on Tuesday but hadn't yet seen today. This proved successful with Ba Tailed Godwit, Grey Plover and Ringed Plover all found within a few minutes. There was no sign of any Ruff or Knot however. We decided to head back to the car while discussing the options for the early afternoon.
Unfortunately, with Nat having to be finished birding sometime around 1400 or so, our options were rather limited. With Fife Ness, we would barely have time to scratch the surface, and The Wilderness was a bit too far away, so we were rather limited as to where we could get to, and have time to actually see things. We eventually settled on Morton Lochs, as it wasn't too far away and we might add a few more birds that we hadn't seen yet owing to the different habitat types. House Martin was added on the way and a skein of Pink Footed Geese were seen coming in, struggling into the wind.
We arrived at around 1245 and immediately added Great Tit and Goldcrest in the trees surrounding the car park. With the car park busy I figured the likelihood was that the Railway Hide would be full of Kingfisher photographers so we went the other way. There were lots of Common Darter dragonflies around, while above us in the trees we were able to see Coal Tits and Siskins. From the top hide overlooking the Loch, we added a selection of waterbirds and wildfowl - Moorhen, oot, Little Grebe and Tufted Duck. We heard the Kingfisher before we saw it fly low over the water and along to the left and out of view.
Heading back to the car, the trees seemed to be alive with Long Tailed Tits, but it took almost five minutes before we actually managed to see one, though there had to be at least 15-20 birds within a small area. A Wren popped up as Nat was photographing dragonflies. On the way to Nat dropping me off at the bus stop a pair of birds flew off from wires ahead of us. From the very brief glimpse I had, I thought they were Mistle Thrushes. Round the next bend in the road, we spotted two birds perched up on wires - Mistle Thrushes. Possibly the same birds. The arrival of a funeral cortege along the single track road meant we were held up for a few minutes, though having just missed a bus by thirty seconds or so, the wait did produce the first Buzzard of the day as one drifted slowly over the road.
Decent views of the Curlew Sandpipers was the highlight of the day though overall it didn't feel like a particularly productive day's birding somehow - perhaps over-familiarity with the Eden Estuary lately. 66 species were seen, though nothing new for the year, though a few additions to the list for my holiday week were made.
 |
| Dunlin |
 |
| Pintail & Curlew |
 |
| Goldfinch |
 |
| Redshank |
 |
| Oystercatcher |
 |
| Golden Plover |
 |
| Golden Plover & Curlew |
 |
| Golden Plover |
 |
| Canada Goose |
 |
| Carrion Crow |
 |
| Woodpigeon |
 |
| Grey Heron |
 |
| Skylark |
 |
| Curlew, Lapwing & Canada Goose |
 |
| Lapwing |
 |
| Grey Heron |
 |
| Jackdaw |
 |
| Black Headed Gull |
 |
| Curlew Sandpiper |
 |
| Curlew Sandpiper |
 |
| Curlew Sandpiper |
 |
| Curlew Sandpiper |
 |
| Curlew Sandpiper |
 |
| Curlew Sandpiper |
 |
| Curlew Sandpiper |
 |
| Curlew Sandpiper |
 |
| Curlew Sandpiper |
 |
| Pink Footed Geese |
 |
| Common Darter |
Species seen - Bar Tailed Godwit, Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Black Tailed Godwit, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Canada Goose, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Coal Tit, Common Gull, Coot, Cormorant, Curlew, Curlew Sandpiper, Dunlin, Dunnock, Eider, Gannet, Godcrest, Golden Plover, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Tit, Grey Heron, Grey Plover, Herring Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Kestrel, Kingfisher, Lapwing, Linnet, Little Grebe, Long Tailed Tit, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Mistle Thrush, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Osprey, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Pink Footed Goose, Pintail, Redshank, Ringed Plover, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rook, Sandwich Tern, Shelduck, Siskin, Skylark, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Stock Dove, Swallow, Teal, Tufted Duck, Wigeon, Woodpigeon, Wren.
