With lots of Pomarine Skuas being seen down the east coast on Friday as a result of strong winds blowing down the North Sea there was only one place I was heading on Saturday. To the coast. Although I did consider the Angus coast, I settled on Fife Ness for the relative warmth of the FBC hide which would at least provide a bit of shelter from the continued northerlies. My main hope was to finally get a photo of an adult Pomarine Skua complete with 'spoons', and anything else would be a bonus. I decided to try for the early start - which despite leaving home around 0645 would mean arriving at Fife Ness around 0900. Such are the joys of public transport.
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| Great Northern Diver |
I did succeed in getting up early and was out the door as planned in the dark at 0645. I made it to the bus station having seen no birds at all but having heard plenty of territorial Robins singing. Herring Gulls as the bus reached St Andrews were the first birds seen though Carrion Crow was seen from the bus station there. As sunrise drew nearer and en route to Crail I was able to add plenty of Rooks foraging on the empty streets of St Andrews. A Sparrowhawk flew over South Street and up over the rooftops just before the bus turned to head out of town.
Feral Pigeons and Woodpigeon were additions from the bus and a flock of Redwings passed overhead as the bus passed Boarhills. Starlings were seen at Kingsbarns and Mallards were on the farm pool behind the wall towards Cambo. Black Headed Gulls were spotted in the fields at the Wormiston bend along with more Rooks and Jackdaws. A larger flock of Redwings flew over. I got off the bus near the hotel and headed out along the road to Kilminning. Ahead of me tucked in the grass by the fence at the cow field was a Roe Deer. I suspected it was injured so slowly approached trying to avoid it panicking. I didn't get much closer before it dragged itself to its feet and across the road and into the field, limping heavily on a damaged hind leg. Given the excessive speed of the cars on this stretch of road the deer was probably lucky not to have been killed.
A few Fieldfares flew over and a small flock of Curlews lifted from the field. A Yellowhammer flew over and I made a quick detour into the top end at Kilminning where Blue Tits and a Blackbird were noted but not much else was evident. Looking for migrants wasn't really on my agenda with seawatching the priority so on I walked. Magpie, Pheasant, Oystercatcher and House Sparrow were all added as I headed across the golf course. A Reed Bunting was in the bush at Stinky Pool. Eider, Gannet, Cormorant and Shag were noted along with Great Black Backed Gull before I joined Ken Shaw in the hide where he'd been since 0700. He'd seen Arctic Skua and Bonxie as well as Great Northern Diver to add to the White Billed Diver he'd seen on Friday, along with a mix of wildfowl.
Within minutes of sitting down Red Throated Divers headed north and south though the southbound bird did look like a potential Black Throated but the photos were inconclusive. Wigeon, Common Scoter and Long Tailed Ducks passed by as did another Red Throated Diver and shortly after my first Great Nortehrn Diver of the day. More Wigeon, Long Tailed Ducks and a few Velvet Scoters were added before a few Rock Pipits showed out on the rocks and a Grey Seal swam by. A Goldeneye and then a Red Breasted Merganser sped by. We had been joined in the hide by Will Cresswell and 3 pairs of eyes made it slightly easier to spot birds. More wildfowl passed by before both Ken and Will headed off.
Around 1025 I picked up a diver heading north and noted it down as a Great Northern. Checking photos at home later showed it wasn't. The bill was pale yellow-ish in colour and large - a White Billed Diver. A really nice bonus bird. My second of the year, and my second bird at Fife Ness following on from one in October 2014, which was also retrospectively identified from the photos I'd taken. A Redshank called as it flew past the hide. A Red Throated Diver landed on the sea and the first Teal of the day were spotted low over the water. Wildfowl continued to make up a large part of the movements, much more so than during any other seawatch I remember.
A Mallard added to the duck haul before another Great Northern Diver was seen. I picked up a very distant dark bird and managed to get a few photos which confirmed that it was a Skua, and once at home I was able to confirm the shape as belonging to an adult Pomarine Skua. A Guillemot was my first auk of the day and a small flock of Linnets landed on the rocks before almost immediately taking off again. Common Gull was next onto the list for the day as a small group flew by. A Grey Heron lumbered by. There was always something to be seen with steady passage of ducks and divers in particular ongoing throughout the day.
A Little Gull was another nice bonus bird though quite distant. Most birds were rather far out with hardly anything coming in close to the rocks except the Shags as they headed out to sea. Although there were no really big flocks of birds of any species there were a few breaking the double figures mark. A pair of Knot sped by northwards. I was joined in the hide around 1400 or so by Rob Armstrong and his young son. By now it was beginning to cloud over which meant that the glare from the morning sunshine was no longer an issue but there was still, unexpectedly a bit of heat shimmer. Around 1450 I picked up another auk, quite close in and rattled off a few photos while trying to guide the others onto the bird. The photos showed a year-tick for me. A nice
Little Auk.
Another Guillemot passed by relatively close in a bit later before my iPhone shut itself down despite there being plenty of life showing as being in it before it did so. This meant that Bird Journal, my recording app of choice was of no use. Thankfully I had been jotting down every movement of interest on a piece of paper, including numbers and direction. Some rather distant Kittiwakes were spotted. A small party of Starlings flew in off the sea. Ken Shaw arrived back sometime after 1500 and we added a Purple Sandpiper flying by close in. Rob picked up a few Skuas distantly but I couldn't find them with my binoculars or camera. Ken spotted a Scaup drake among a flock of Common Scoter.
Everytime I'd thought about heading for home something else had appeared so I'd stayed for another hour. As 1600 approached I had a decision to make. Should I stay till nearer 1700 or try to catch the 1655 bus. Both Ken and Rob offered to give me a lift back to Crail once they'd had enough seawatching. In the end I got a lift all the way back to St Andrews from Rob which saved me a long walk, a bit of a wait in Crail for a bus and a soaking from a rain shower that passed through when I would have been somewhere around Kilminning, as well as a good bit of time, so thanks again, Rob, if you read this. Ken stuck around until it got dark meaning we had a pre-dawn to dusk combined list for the day's movements. I added Lapwings near Drumoig on the way back to Dundee.
My own list for the day totalled 50 species of bird and 2 of mammals including 1 year-tick (in bold). between 0900 and 1630 I noted 1 White Billed Diver, 27 Red Throated Diver, 5 Great Northern Divers (also a possible Black Throated Diver among the 27 Reds), 1 Little Gull, 1 Little Auk, 1 Pomarine Skua. The ducks were made up of 98 Wigeon, 1 Scaup, 47 Mallard, 98 Long Tailed Duck, 16 Velvet Scoter, 158 Common Scoter, 11 Goldeneye, 13 Red Breasted Merganser and 11 Teal. All in all a very enjoyable seawatch, definitely in my top 3 of all time.
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| Feral Pigeon |
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| Roe Deer |
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| Roe Deer |
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| Curlew |
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| Yellowhammer |
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| Starling |
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Reed Bunting
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| Diver sp. |
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| Wigeon |
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| Great Northern Diver |
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| Great Northern Diver |
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| Common Scoter |
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| White Billed Diver |
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| White Billed Diver |
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| White Billed Diver |
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| Goldeneye |
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| Goldeneye |
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| Herring Gull |
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| Diver sp. |
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| Diver sp. |
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| Pomarine Skua |
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| Shag |
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| Goldeneye |
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| Guillemot |
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| Long Tailed Duck |
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| Great Black Backed Gull |
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| Common Scoter |
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| Mallard & Wigeon |
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| Mallard & Wigeon |
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| Grey Heron |
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| Velvet Scoter |
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| Velvet Scoter |
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| Mallard |
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| Red Throated Diver |
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| Black Headed Gull |
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| Gannet & Wigeon |
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| Long Tailed Duck |
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| Long Tailed Duck |
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| Mallard |
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| Common Scoter |
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| Eider |
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| Gannet |
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| Red Throated Diver |
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| Little Auk |
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| Little Auk |
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| Cormorant |
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| Red Breasted Merganser |
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| Herring Gull |
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| Guillemot |
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| Velvet Scoter |
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| Great Northern Diver |
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| Great Northern Diver |
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| Long Tailed Duck |
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| Common Gull |
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| Curlew |
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| Wigeon |
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| Common Gull |
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| Herring Gull |
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| Common Scoter & Scaup |
Species seen - Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Carrion Crow, Common Gull, Common Scoter, Cormorant, Curlew, Eider, Fieldfare, Gannet, Goldeneye, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Northern Diver, Grey Heron, Guillemot, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Kittiwake, Knot, Lapwing, Linnet,
Little Auk, Little Gull, Long Tailed Duck, Magpie, Mallard, Oystercatcher, Pheasant, Pomarine Skua, Purple Sandpiper, Red Breasted Merganser, Redshank, Red Throated Diver, Redwing, Reed Bunting, Feral Pigeon, Rock Pipit, Rook, Scaup, Shag, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Teal, Velvet Scoter, White Billed Diver, Wigeon, Woodpigeon, Yellowhammer.
Mammals seen - Grey Seal, Roe Deer.
