Paul having been unavailable for birding on Wednesday was able to get out and about on Thursday and with a slight swing in the winds to a more easterly direction (at last!) it just had to be the Crail area once again to see if we could find any migrants at all. I was hoping for a Yellow Browed Warbler at the very least, as was Paul, for whom the species would be a lifer. We arranged to meet at Guardbridge at 0815 and then to head for Crail for the day.
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| Brambling |
I was out the door just after 0735 to catch the 0755 bus to Guardbridge. Herring Gull, Feral Pigeon and my first Redwings of the winter over Dens Road near Victoria Street plus Carrion Crow were seen before I made it to the bus station. It was rather overcast and visibility wasn't too great. A small covey of Grey Partridges were in the field opposite Leuchars railways station by the main road but otherwise the bus journey failed to add anything new, though a Redwing did fly alongside the bus and the bridge rails for a few seconds as we crossed the Tay.
When I arrived at Guardbridge, Paul was scanning from the wooden screen at the hide and the misty conditions made it pointless to even take the camera out of the bag. Binoculars however were a must. A flock of recently arrived Whooper Swans wandered across the mud before departing noisily upriver minutes later. A few Mute Swans, Black Headed Gulls, Grey Heron, Woodpigeon, Redshank, Curlew, a Goldeneye, a few Black Tailed Godwits, a Greenshank, and a Red Breasted Merganser duo were all noted relatively quickly. More Redwings were heard passing over in the glooom. Teal, Jackdaw and Cormorant were added before we set off for Crail. Rooks were the only new addition on the way there.
We noted Blackbird and House Sparrow on the short walk from the car to Denburn Wood and Blue Tit and Goldfinch in the wood but overall it was disappointingly quiet. Robins were heard but skulked out of sight. We headed out to Kilminning where a flyover Pied Wagtail gave us another day tick. There were a few Fife Bird Club members around and it sounded like a few common migrants too, though nothing too exciting, except a couple of Yellow Browed Warblers. We started searching and found a Robin. Oystercatchers flew over and there was decent movement of Skylarks with some appearing from out of the low cloud and milling around before continuing onwards inland.
A single Lapwing was seen over the airfield. Meadow Pipit and Chaffinch passed over a bit lower and we eventually found an obvious migrant, though it was only a Chiffchaff. A Sparrowhawk was seen hunting beyond the trees but with still no sign of any Yellow Browed Warbler we headed for the bottom end of the site. Here we had slightly better luck with a Brambling heard calling before it popped into view and showed nicely for us both. Magpie and Song Thrush were next and the first definite Fieldfare was seen overhead. A wander around added Great Black Backed Gull, Starling, Greenfinch, Linnet, Gannets over the sea and a Yellowhammer before we decided to try the top end again.
This produced a Great Tit and after a spot of lunch and a visit to Balcomie walled garden with a small party of Bramblings and a Chaffinch in the tall trees by the road the only thing of note we hunted around the top end again. Most of the other birders had headed off leaving just Paul and myself though conditions had improved to a hazy sunshine. As we were searching near the small ruined building I heard the unmistakeable call of a
Yellow Browed Warbler and we immediately hurried over to where the sound was coming from. Movement of the bird was seen in the bushes but no clear view was had. After lingering for a while with no further sightings we went back to searching nearby for other birds.
A Wren, Stock Dove and Goldcrest were all spotted before once again I heard the Yellow Browed Warbler and caught decent, if brief, views of the bird in the top of a Sycamore. Paul wasn't in a great position to see it from where he was standing and missed out on a better view. A small group of Roe Deer were noted crossing the field and road to the north and a Common Darter dragonfly was seen flying around. More searching gave us Reed Bunting, Common Gull, Golden Plover, Kittiwake and Pheasant. I wasn't feeling 100% and Paul was a bit tired so we wrapped things up early adding Buzzard and Kestrel as we headed back to Crail where Paul dropped me off. A Collared Dove was seen in Leuchars from the bus on my way home.
Although not quite as good as we had hoped it could be, we were pleased to get a year-tick (in bold)/lifer for Paul, among the 56 species seen. 1 species of mammal and 1 of dragonfly rounded things out a little.
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| Song Thrush |
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| Redwing |
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| Fieldfare |
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| Skylark |
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| Meadow Pipit |
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| Meadow Pipit |
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| Redwing |
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| Chaffinch |
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| Chaffinch |
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| Starling |
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| Greenfinch |
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| Skylark |
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| Redwing |
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| Chaffinch & Brambling |
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| Brambling |
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| Roe Deer |
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| Roe Deer |
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| Roe Deer |
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| Fieldfare |
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| Golden Plover |
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| Wren |
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| Feral Pigeon |
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| Skylark |
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| Redwing |
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| Pheasant |
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| Yellowhammer |
Species seen - Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Black Tailed Godwit, Blue Tit, Brambling, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Cormorant, Curlew, Fieldfare, Gannet, Goldcrest, Golden Plover, Goldeneye, Goldfinch, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Greenshank, Grey Heron, Grey Partridge, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Kestrel, Kittiwake, Lapwing, Linnet, Magpie, Meadow Pipit, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Red Breasted Merganser, Redshank, Redwing, Reed Bunting, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rook, Skylark, Song Thrush, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Stock Dove, Teal, Whooper Swan, Woodpigeon, Wren,
Yellow Browed Warbler, Yellowhammer.
Dragonfly - Common Darter.
Mammal - Roe Deer.
