The choice for Friday's birding was between Loch of Kinnordy in the slim hope of seeing the Bittern or a spot of seawatching at Fife Ness. As the Wednesday afternoon stint had been relatively successful without being brilliant I decided I would try for a longer session and see what I could see. I wasn't expecting miracles or anything particularly unusual but with seawatching there is always the chance of something out of the ordinary showng up with Storm Petrels, Cory's Shearwater, Long Tailed Skua and White Billed Diver all appearing on my life list as a result of turning up during seawatches at Fife Ness.
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| Long Tailed Skua |
I headed out at around 0745 to catch the 0810 bus to St Andrews and from there on to Crail. Herring Gull, Woodpigeon, Carrion Crow, Feral Pigeon and Blackbird were seen on the walk to the bus station with a couple of Grey Wagtails, Siskin and Meadow Pipit heard passing overhead but not seen. From the bus I added Cormorant, Rook, Collared Dove, Starling, Jackdaw, Mute Swan and Black Headed Gull. En route to Crail things were a bit quieter with Magpie, House Sparrow, a flock of Canada Geese in a stubble field and a Buzzard all being seen.
Goldfinches showed at Denburn Wood before I headed out along the road to Fife Ness. A Pied Wagtail was seen by the houses and I had close views of a Collared Dove perched on a sign at the Hotel. A Red Admiral butterfly was seen on Buddleia by the caravan park driveway. Heading out I added a skein of Pink Footed Geese high overhead, a single Grey Heron in flight, Meadow Pipit, incoming Skylarks, a single Yellowhammer, a few Chaffinches, some feeding Swallow youngsters, a single Golden Plover and a pair of Stock Doves.
I had a quick look at the top end of Kilminning where Blue Tit and Great Tit were added but things were otherwise pretty quiet. I heard a calling Great Spotted Woodpecker as I headed out past the golf course so I stopped to look back towards the source of the call but couldn't see the bird in the mature trees by Balcomie Farm entrance. After a minute or so the bird flew off towards the house alllowing me to add it to the list. There is a possibility that the bird was an incoming migrant but there is no way of knowing for sure.
A quick look at Balcomie Beach added Oystercatcher and Redshank, while offshore Shag, Sandwich Tern and Gannet passed by as I headed down towards the hide. Out on the rocks were a few Great Black Backed Gulls. A Wren showed on the big rock by the cottage. Things looked relatively quiet offshore with a handful of Gannets moving at various distances, both adult and this year's youngsters. It didn't take long once I was settled in the hide to get a Red Throated Diver on the list. More Sandwich Terns and a Black Headed Gull were seen. A Curlew appeared on the rocks near a few Turnstones, and a Linnet flew over.
The first incoming skein of Barnacle Geese were spotted before a few more Red Throated Divers were seen passing. Eider and Kittiwake and some very distant unidentified ducks were seen before more single Red Throated Divers passed by. Ringed Plovers were picked up out on the rocks and a Common Scoter flew by. More Barnacle Geese passed over and a juvenile Herring Gull gave close views as it flew past the hide. A small flock of passerines arrived in off the sea and the photos I managed to get were very inconclusive, but surprisingly the birds proved to be Dunnocks, their flight calls aiding the identfication.
A small flock of 8 Wigeons headed north and Dunlin and Rock Pipit showed in front of the hide before a distant Common Gull was added to the list. A trio of Golden Plover headed towards the Isle of May from out over the sea and yet more Red Throated Divers and Barnacle Geese were seen before a larger flock of 16 Golden Plover passed by. Red Throated Divers and Kittiwakes, plus the ever-present Gannets and another skein of Barnacle Geese kept me occupied for the next wee while before a US Navy MH-60 helicopter heading up the Forth distracted me for a while. A Cormorant finally flew by. The sun was rather warm so I decided to head out for a seat on the rocks.
More Red Throated Divers, a few more Common Gulls and Kittiwakes, and more incoming Barnacle Geese plus a few Sandwich Terns helped pass the time until the sun disappeared behind a cloud. This prompted me to head back to the hide. I stopped to talk to another birder who was sitting eating her lunch by the pill-box. I told her what I'd seen and as she was a Fife Bird Club member she decided to join me in the hide. She'd left her scope at home, so I let her borrow mine as I wasn't using it. Her name was Pauline and apparently we've met before, but with my memory of faces and names I couldn't say where or when.
An extra pair of eyes and someone to talk to helped persuade me to stay longer though a pair of Common Scoters, a half dozen Razorbills, a few Red Throated Divers and Kittiwakes were all we had to show for our joint efforts before Pauline headed off to meet her husband again. All the Red Throated Divers had been distant while Pauline had been in the hide but as soon as she left, a single bird flew by very close in. A while later I picked up a relatively small and dark-ish headed Common Gull shaped bird flying towards me. I realised it was a skua quite quickly and that it could only really be a
Long Tailed Skua, but with both John Anderson and Will Cresswell having seen Pomarine Skua there the day before I had to double check my photos to make sure I had my ID correct. As a Pomarine Skua would have been a much heavier bird I was happy enough with another year-tick and a self-found one at that, after a wee run of twitching other's finds.
Long Tailed Skua is a species which has eluded John Anderson at Fife Ness so I had to break the news that he'd just missed one by a few minutes to him gently when he and Dave Clugston arrived. As they were getting set up a diver flew over close in but above the rocks. Plumage wise it appeared to be a Red Throated Diver but the bill looked more substantial. I noted it as a Great Northern Diver but looking at photos at home I wasn't convinced it wasn't a Red Throated Diver missing the feathers around the base of the bill, making the bill look longer and heavier. I could easily be wrong though but haven't yet asked for a second opinion on the bird.
Purple Sandpiper, Grey Seal, more Barnacle Geese, even more Red Throated Divers, a few more Common Scoters, Sandwich Terns, Gannets, Kittiwakes, Razorbills, a definite Great Northern Diver, Guillemots, a pair of unidentified brifely seen Skuas (likely Bonxies but not seen well enough) kept things ticking along before we picked up a bird coming in directly towards us. We couldn't decide what it was from the head-on views though it became apparent that it wasn't a seabird as the bird got closer. John though Peregrine until the last minute when it revealed itself as a Kestrel. Having seen one head out over the sea on Wednesday afternoon, I wondered if this was the same bird returning but photos suggest otherwise. I've no idea where the bird had come from but it was certainly a good distance out when we spotted it, so it may have been a migrant bird.
It was back to the 'usual stuff' again after that until I picked up a definite Bonxie heading north. It was mostly Red Throated Divers and Barnacle Geese that kept our interest until John and I packed up at around 1635. John gave me a lift back to Crail to catch the bus for St Andrews and home. I added Mallards and Moorhens on the farm pond near Cambo and a low flying Merlin hunting over a ploughed field nearing Boarhills before I reached St Andrews.
All in all a pretty good day's seawatching with a good bit of variety to keep me interested, good numbers of Divers, and a bonus year-tick (in bold) and a total of 61 species seen, plus 1 butterfly and 1 mammal species. There were other good birds around in the area with Pomarine Skua and Sabine's Gull being seen from the Isle of May though disappointingly not close enough to where I was for me to see them. Maybe I'm just getting greedy...
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| Pied Wagtail |
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| House Sparrow |
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| Collared Dove |
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| Collared Dove |
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| Pink Footed Geese |
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| Grey Heron |
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| Yellowhammer |
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| Chaffinch |
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| Swallow |
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| Golden Plover |
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| Stock Dove |
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| Cormorant |
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| Blue Tit |
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| Pink Footed Geese |
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| Magpie |
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| Great Spotted Woodpecker |
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| Sandwich Tern |
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| Red Throated Diver |
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| Barnacle Goose |
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| Dunnock |
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| Eider |
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| Wigeon |
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| Red Throated Diver |
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| Herring Gull |
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| Red Throated Diver |
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| Barnacle Goose |
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| Diver sp. (possibly Black Throated Diver?) |
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| Golden Plover |
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| Red Throated Diver |
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| Black Throated Diver |
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| Red Throated Diver |
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| Barnacle Goose |
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| Redshank |
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| Redshank |
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| Red Throated Diver |
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| Red Throated Diver |
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| Common Gull |
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| Red Throated Diver |
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| Redshank |
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| Red Throated Diver |
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| Sandwich Tern |
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| Red Throated Diver |
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| Red Throated Diver |
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| Barnacle Goose |
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| Common Scoter |
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| Long Tailed Skua |
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| Long Tailed Skua |
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| Long Tailed Skua |
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| Long Tailed Skua |
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| Long Tailed Skua |
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| Long Tailed Skua |
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| Long Tailed Skua |
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| Barnacle Goose |
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| Diver sp. (possibly Red Throated Diver) |
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| Barnacle Goose |
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| Barnacle Goose |
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| Red Throated Diver |
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| Common Scoter |
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| Oystercatcher |
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| Turnstone, Ringed Plover, Purple Sandpiper, Dunlin, Oystercatche |
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| Razorbill |
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| Red Throated Diver |
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| Great Northern Diver |
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| Cormorant |
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| Ringed Plover |
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| Common Scoter |
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| Skua sp (possibly Great Skua) |
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| Kestrel |
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| Kestrel |
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| Great Skua & Kittiwake |
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| Sandwich Tern |
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| Gannet |
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| Razorbill |
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| Red Throated Diver |
Species seen -Barnacle Goose, Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Canada Goose, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Common Scoter, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunlin, Dunnock, Eider, Gannet, Golden Plover, Goldfinch, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Northern Diver, Great Skua, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great Tit, Grey Heron, Guillemot, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Kestrel, Kittiwake, Linnet,
Long Tailed Skua, Magpie, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Merlin, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Pink Footed Goose, Purple Sandpiper, Razorbill, Redshank, Red Throated Diver, Ringed Plover, Feral Pigeon, Rock Pipit, Rook, Sandwich Tern, Shag, Skylark, Starling, Stock Dove, Swallow, Turnsone, Wigeon, Woodpigeon, Wren, Yellowhammer.
Butterfly - Red Admiral.
Mammals - Grey Seal.
