My original intention for this midweek's birding was to get up and head out just before sunrise to catch a bus to Tayport and from there do the long walk "round the outside", following the coast, mostly, round to the Leuchars military base and then back to the village. This usually delivers a good mixture of species along the way. My main target was to be Snow Bunting, a bird that proved tricky to find last winter, with no sightings after December that I'm aware of, and prior to that very few of the birds were seen at all, though the Shorelarks kept most birders distracted. However, I felt rather ill during the night and decided on a later start, with Nat who had messaged me to let me know she was available for a spot of birding this week. We would still search for the Snow Buntings but it would be a lot shorter distance to walk to try to find them.
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| Little Egret |
Nat picked me up at around 1030. I had seen Herring Gull, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw and Feral Pigeon in the minute or so of waiting for her arrival. A Blackbird feeding on rowan berries was the only other addition before we reached Fife. A male Pheasant flapped off a wall and into a field as we headed for the Kinshaldy road. As expected a Buzzard sat atop a telegraph pole staring intently at the ground for movement. A skein of Pink Footed Geese passed over heading northwest. A Pied Wagtail landed on an overhead wire. Heading in along the entrance road we were surprised to see around a dozen Collared Doves perched together near some farm buildings. A small flock of Chaffinches were in the fields at the edge of the forest.
A Carrion Crow was in the trees at the car park when we arrived and another Pink Footed Geese skein passed directly over us headed north. We set off through the dunes heading north before deciding to head along the seaward edge of the small dunes where the Snow Buntings tend to be found. Scanning the sea ahead of us I spotted a large flock of Common Scoters on the water, though the waves were far larger than expected which made keeping track of any particular bird rather tricky. Nat needed Slavonian Grebe for her year-list and I suspected we would find some in among the Scoters. Sure enough, I spotted some a quartet of the birds among the waves. There were Eiders further out on the sea, and among the Scoters were some Long Tailed Ducks and a single Red Throated Diver. Photos showed that I had not surprisingly managed to miss a Velvet Scoter among the rolling waves.
I sent off a text message to Fife Bird Club grapevine about the grebes and diver. The only waders we saw were Oystercatchers with a few shuttling around along the beach. More scanning found a Black Headed Gull flying past, a pair of Red Breasted Mergansers on the water and another in flight plus a Cormorant also flying low over the water. All expected birds at this time of year. I happened to turn round just as flock of finch sized birds flew past us above the dunes. The few I managed to see through binoculars turned out to be Greenfinches. There were around a dozen and they settled at the edge of the dunes for a short while before once again taking flight. A larger flock of birds further on turned out to be Linnets, though these were generally rather flighty and wouldn't settle for any length of time.
There was no sign of any Snow Buntings among the Linnets either and by the time we reached the 'lagoons' we had drawn a blank. We did add a trio of Curlews along the water's edge at the large tidal pool as well as a pair of Great Black Backed Gulls. The walk back to the car for lunch proved unproductive with only really a few sightings of the Linnets until we were almost back to the car park. I stopped to have one last look over the sea and picked up a single Velvet Scoter heading north at speed low over the water. Nat was able to get onto the bird too before it dropped out of our sightline behind the dunes. Coal Tits and Goldcrests were seen in the trees around the edge of the car park.
From the car, Nat spotted a pair of Stonechats ahead of us giving us another species for the day list. A van parked next to us had a large video tripod set up outside and we mused on what the owner might have been filming. As it turned out, the question was answered when I found a video of the Common Scoters on Twitter posted by @CameramanSam1. A quick question confirmed that he had been the van driver, and following him on Twitter provided the news that he found a few Snow Buntings in the expected area of the dunes today. So, weather permitting I may well be headed back there this weekend.
We decided after lunch to head for Out Head at St Andrews where Snow Buntings had been seen a few weeks ago. In fields as we headed into Leuchars we saw a Woodpigeon and some Rooks, while on the wires above there was a mixed flock of Chaffinches, Greenfinches and a Reed Bunting. We arrived at the end of the road for Out Head around 1345 and a Wren was glimpsed briefly among the weeds. Scanning out over the bay I found a flock of Eiders and some Scoters beyond them back towards St Andrews. Between them however were around 20 birds together on the water that weren't as dark as the Scoters nor as pale as the drake Eiders. A quick photo confirmed my suspicion, Scaup. With them was a single Great Crested Grebe. Another text message to the Fife Bird Club grapevine was sent reporting 20+ of these though photos showed at least 32.
A nice male Stonechat perched on the fence and I was about to take a photo when a dog walker's dog spooked the bird. I wandered ahead and had another chance at a close-up. This time the dog-walker herself decided to spook the bird as I pointed the camera at it. I gave up after that and we hurried ahead of her. Unfortunately there was no sign of any Snow Buntings at the end of the dunes either. A bit of scanning found a White Tailed Eagle on one of the posts in the estuary and seconds later I happened to look round and found the second adult in flight upriver. It finally displaced the other adult bird from the post it had been perched on and I was able to get a couple of distant photos of both together.
A Common Gull flew past and I managed to spot a couple of Dunlins and a Curlew further round into Balgove Bay. With the sun starting to get low to the horizon we headed back to the car. Another Reed Bunting was seen, and a pair of Rooks flew over. A Dunnock was in the weeds in front of the car when we made it back to where we were parked. Nat decided to call it a day after a short detour to the Golf Museum car park where we added House Sparrow and Starling to the list. I decided I might as well make use of the last of the daylight at the Guardbridge hide and maybe bump the list up a bit for the day. A Robin was seen on the way in.
I was surprised to find the hide empty though the sun was by now well behind the trees and most of what I could see were silhouettes. Out front was a Redshank on the mud and a Little Grebe just offshore. A couple of pairs of Mallards were mid-channel. A Great Tit and a Blue Tit were on the feeders. A Grey Wagtail was spotted flying over the river towards the former paper mill buildings. More scanning produced a few Lapwings and a Greay Heron. There were a number of Shelduck out on the mud with more Redshanks and Curlews nearby. I found a Little Egret further downriver in company with a Cormorant. A second Egret was seen a few minutes later much closer. Gulls flew into roost and a skein of Pink Footed Geese looked like they might stop off but instead returned back south in the direction they had come.
A pair of Black Tailed Godwits were spotted much further downriver before the first Tree Sparrows for the day showed up at the feeders. I could hear a Great Spotted Woodpecker calling loudly nearby and finally spotted it on a tree trunk further back from the feeders on the north side of the hide. A Buzzard showed up opposite the hide and a large flock of a couple of hundred Golden Plover were put up from the military base before settling back down. With the light by now rapidly fading, I packed up and hurried out to catch a bus, just making it across the road in time to avoid a further ten minute wait.
Despite the lack of Snow Buntings it was a pretty decent day out with some very good birds among the 55 species seen, with the Slavonian Grebes, Scaup and the White Tailed Eagles probably the highlights. Drawing a blank on the buntings just gives me a reason to try again, so fingers crossed for next time.
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| Pink Footed Geese |
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| Slavonian Grebe & Common Scoter |
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| Red Throated Diver |
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| Greenfinch |
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| Linnet |
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| Scaup & Great Crested Grebe |
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| Stonechat |
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| White Tailed Eagle |
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| White Tailed Eagle & Oystercatchers |
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| Redshank |
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| Curlew |
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| Shelduck |
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| Little Egret |
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| Golden Plover |
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| Little Egret |
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| Little Egret |
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| Little Grebe |
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| Little Egret |
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| Pink Footed Geese |
Species seen - Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Black Tailed Godwit, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Common Scoter, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunlin, Dunnock, Eider, Goldcrest, Golden Plover, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Crested Grebe, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Grey Wagtail, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Lapwing, Linnet, Little Egret, Little Grebe, Long Tailed Duck, Mallard, Oystercatcher, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Pink Footed Goose, Red Breasted Merganser, Redshank, Red Throated Diver, Reed Bunting, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rook, Scaup, Shelduck, Slavonian Grebe, Starling, Stonechat, Tree Sparrow, Velvet Scoter, White Tailed Eagle, Woodpigeon, Wren.
