With a Barred Warbler having been seen at Kilminning on Thursday and Friday, I decided I would get up really early and head for Crail. With a bit of luck the bird would still be there and hopefully some other migrants would also be around. At this time of year, almost anything could turn up, and Fife Ness/Kilminning/Crail have added quite a few good species to my life-list over the pas few years, including Red Flanked Bluetail, Radde's Warbler, Red Breasted Flycatcher, Yellow Browed Warbler and also as my first ever Barred Warbler. The weather forecast wasn't ideal for bringing in migrants but it did look like some pleasant birding weather.
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| Barred Warbler |
I was out the door at about 0640 to catch the 0705 bus to St Andrews and then connect with the 0750 bus to Crail. As it was still before sunrise there weren't too many birds to be seen, so the list on the walk down was very short with only Herring Gull, Lesser Black Backed Gull and Woodpigeon on it, and Feral Pigeon added at the bus station. I arrived early and waited. And waited, no bus came. A Carrion Crow was seen. The next St Andrews bus arrived around 0730, but this now meant that I would not make the connection to Crail and would have to catch the 0850 bus now instead. Not ideal.
It transpired that the bus on its way to Dundee had to stop at Leuchars as a passenger had apparently collapsed (though the way the driver told the story to a colleague, this did not seem to be a surprise). Jackdaw, Rook and Starling were seen through the rather steamed up windows on the bus. I debated walking out along the Fife Coastal Path and catching a later bus to Crail probably from Boarhills, but as I would still have a few miles of walking to do at Crail, I decided against it, instead settling for a walk to the harbour end of St Andrews to kill the time between buses.
This proved relatively successful with House Sparrow, Robin, Redshank, Ringed Plover, Rock Pipit, Eider, Black Headed Gull, Greenfinch, Oystercatcher, Gannet, Mallard and Goldfinch all added from the area between the castle and the harbour, as well as Pied Wagtail, Curlew and Great Black Backed Gull. Cormorant, Turnstone and Linnet were seen from the harbour wall before I wandered up to the road to wait for the bus to Crail. Clearer windows meant more birds were seen including a Sparrowhawk drifting over the road almost as soon as I had sat down. A Magpie was seen near the caravan park. A Swallow was next then the first of quite a few Stock Doves. There were almost as many of these as there were Woodpigeons seen. A Buzzard was in a tree on the outskirts of Kingsbarns.
Arriving in Crail, I headed first for Denburn Wood. There were Skylarks passing over and the local corvids were rather noisy. There is now a rather large weedy patch opposite the top end, and the prospects of it too picking up some decent birds must be quite high. Unfortunately all I managed were a flock of House Sparrows. A pair of Blackbirds were on the wall by the track and a Yellowhammer was in a tree. A few Blue Tits were around the top end of the wood, along with Wren, but the wood itself was a disappointment with nothing to add.
I decided to walk out along the back of the caravan park and along the path that bisects the fields and then meets up with the track to Wormiston past the B&Bs. There were more Skylarks seen along here as well as a Reed Bunting and a few Meadow Pipits. A Coal Tit was seen at the cottages, while Robin, Goldfinch, Yellowhammer and various corvids were in amongst the former airfield buildings. A large flock of distant Golden Plovers were seen as I walked out to Kilminning, along with 2 Lapwings. John Anderson stopped to chat as he was driving back to Crail having had a look for the Barred Warbler. Although it was still around, it wasn't showing very well - typical behaviour for the species. I decided there was no sense in rushing to see it, instead I would hunt around the top end and see if I could find anything first.
Will Cresswell and his daughter passed on their bikes, with Will updating me on the recent sightings as he rode past. Unfortunately despite plenty effort to find something good at the top end of Kilminning I found a few Blue Tits, some Goldfinches, a Wren and a number of Woodpigeons and Robins. Not much else, except a flypast Chaffinch. When I made it back to the road, Willie Irvine was talking to the visiting birder who had found the Common Rosefinch on Thursday. A Sparrowhawk circled round above us. Willie decided to have a hunt around and myself and the other birder wandered down the track towards the bottom end. More Goldfinches, Meadow Pipits, Skylarks and Blue Tits were seen but nothing exciting.
When we reached the area where the Barred Warbler had been seen, I moved round to a more raised viewpoint while Willie, the visiting birder and two others who had just arrived, lined up. Within 30 seconds I picked up movement in the bushes and got decent views of the
Barred Warbler as it moved through the bushes picking at a few Elder berries before disappearing again. A few Blackbirds and a Song Thrush as well as a pair of Yellowhammers proved rather distracting at times but the Barred Warbler gave only fleeting views though I did eventually get a couple of record shots. Myself and Willie hung around when the others wandered off after an hour or so. This proved to have been a good choice when the bird popped out into the sunshine to feed on Elder berries for almost a minute. I even managed a photo or two of the bird with a berry in its beak.
Another birder arrived, who I've apparently met before - George Jamieson, who it turned out is a leading taxidermist who had actually stuffed an Otter some years ago that Willie had found dead in Shetland. After that the sun went behind the clouds and the bird proved even more elusive than it had been previously. A couple showed up and I was able to get them onto the bird eventually as it actually perched on a branch and didn't move for around 5 seconds, probably the longest it had stayed in one spot doing nothing during all our brief sightings up until then. Willie had seen a Lesser Whitethroat and a Blackcap while watching the Barred warbler and the visiting birder had seen Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler earlier so I decided to hang around and see what I could find.
Not much turned out to be the answer to that. A male Pheasant and a Goldcrest and a flyover flock of 10 or so Ringed Plovers from the top end (as well as Robin, Blue Tit, Goldfinch and more Skylarks) was almost all that I managed, though on the walk back to Crail a Kestrel hovered over the fields to the south of the road, while opposite a few hundred Herring and Great Black Backed Gulls loitered in the field to the north. I did get a fright when a male Pheasant unexpectedly popped up on the wall beside me and then burst skywards in panic near the top of Kilminning. A pair of Collared Doves flew across the road near the hotel, but I couldn't find anything else between there and home to take my total for the day to 50 species, instead I stalled on 49. A Magpie was seen on the church weather vane from the bus station in St Andrews.
Despite the inconvenience of the bus not showing up and the subsequent change of plans I had a decent enough day's birding with some nice shots of my year-tick (in bold) to show for my efforts. I just need the good luck to continue....(though the insect bites on my legs from Wednesday were joined by others from today - looks like a bumper year for the wee biting things that lurk in the grassy areas). There were also still plenty of Red Admiral butterflies around and a dragonfly was also seen.
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| Robin |
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| Grey Heron |
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| Reed Bunting |
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| Golden Plover |
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| Sparrowhawk |
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| Yellowhammer |
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| Barred Warbler |
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| Barred Warbler |
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| Barred Warbler |
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| Barred Warbler |
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| Barred Warbler |
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| Barred Warbler |
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| Wren |
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| Yellowhammer |
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| Curlew |
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| Ringed Plover |
Species seen -
Barred Warbler, Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Collared Dove, Cormorant, Curlew, Eider, Gannet, Goldcrest, Golden Plover, Goldfinch, Great Black Backed Gull, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Kestrel, Lapwing, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Linnet, Magpie, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Oystercatcher, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Redshank, Reed Bunting, Ringed Plover, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rock Pipit, Rook, Skylark, Song Thrush, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Stock Dove, Swallow, Turnstone, Woodpigeon, Wren, Yellowhammer.
