Paul was otherwise detained so my Wednesday outing would have to be 'under my own steam'. Although this does limit my options a little, it doesn't stop me from getting out and about, so after a bit of thought I decided I would head for Crail and see what I could find. Unfortunately a dental appointment had to be attended to first. I had scheduled this for quite early so it would mean I could head out anyway.
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| Arctic Skua |
I headed out just after 0800 to walk to my dentist's practice. Feral Pigeon, Herring Gull and Carrion Crow were seen before a small skein of Pink Footed Geese transited over. A Blue Tit was seen near the city centre and I spotted a migrating Meadow Pipit as it called on its way westwards following the line of the river. A Red Admiral butterfly sunning itself on a shop sign was a surprise when I left the dentist's at around 0845. The bus journey to St Andrews added Jackdaw and House Sparrow. With around 25 minutes to kill on arrival at St Andrews I decided to check the bay from the Golf Museum roof.
A singing Robin and a few Starlings were seen on the short walk to the museum and a Peregrine was a nice surprise as it cruised over possibly headed for the Eden Estuary. Oystercatchers, Eider and Cormorants were see out on the rocks while well out in the bay was a large raft of Common Scoters. A Curlew was spotted on the beach before I headed up to catch the bus to Crail. Rook, Skylark and Woodpigeon were all seen from the top deck and Moorhens on the farm pond near Cambo were another addition.
Arriving in Crail around 1010 I headed for Denburn Wood. Coal Tits were feeding in the trees near the top end of the cemetery and Great Tit and Wren were seen in the wood, though it was rather quiet. Rather than head straight out along the road to Kilminning as I usually do, I decided to check Roome Bay then follow the coastal path through the caravan site then up through Kilminning. A Sparrowhawk glided over in the sunshine when I reached Roome Bay. A large flock of Golden Plover were spied over the fields to the east and I relocated them shortly after down on the rocky shoreline.
Further on towards Kilminning I watched Greenfinch, Goldfinch and Linnets on wires behind the caravans while offshore Great Black Backed Gull, Gannet and Shag were seen. A Common Gull was seen with a number of Black Headed Gulls just offshore as I reached Kilminning. A Grey Heron flapped slowly towards Crail over the airfield. Things were relatively quiet at the bottom end though I did find Magpie, Yellowhammer, Grey Partridge and Pheasant without too much trouble. Kestrel, Chaffinch, Willow Warbler, Dunnock and Reed Bunting were seen on the walk up through the site. With little evidence of much movement of migrants I decided to head down to the hide to do more seawatching.
Turnstones, Redshanks and Ringed Plover were seen on the rocks along with a few Dunlin, but no Little Stint. Kittiwakes, Guillemots, Red Throated Divers and Razorbill were spied offshore along with a number of Gannets. Rock Pipit and Pied Wagtails appeared on the rocks briefly. A Grey Seal swam by but dived every time I lifted my camera. I was joined in the hide by Steve Buckland and we chatted as birds passed offshore. Much discussion was had about skuas, mostly the variety of Arctics we were seeing and the possibility of Pomarine amongst them. Thankfully the Great Skuas were easily identifiable. Manx Shearwater was also easy to distinguish. Wheatear was seen out on the rocks again. I headed back to Crail in time to catch the 1655 bus adding Blackbird and Stock Dove between there and home but nothing else.
Although there was nothing too surprising seen, the weather was lovely and almost summery with blue skies and a bit of warmth to the sunshine and little wind adding up to a relaxing day's birding. 60 species of birds were seen along with 1 butterfly and 1 mammal species.
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| Sparrowhawk |
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| Golden Plover |
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| Robin |
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| Curlew |
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| Starling |
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| Curlew |
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| Golden Plover |
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| Greenfinch |
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| Greenfinch |
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| Skylark |
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| Linnet |
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| Linnet |
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| Kestrel |
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| Goldfinch |
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| Yellowhammer |
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| Meadow Pipit |
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| Skylark |
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| Pied Wagtail |
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| Grey Heron |
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| Golden Plover |
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| Gannet |
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| Manx Shearwater |
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| Great Skua |
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| Ringed Plover & Dunlin |
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| Gannet |
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| Skua sp. & Kittiwake |
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| Red Throated Diver |
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| Arctic Skua |
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| Arctic Skua |
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| Arctic Skua |
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| Carrion Crow |
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| Wheatear |
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| Skylark & Kittiwake |
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| Cormorant |
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| Cormorant |
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| Great Black Backed Gull |
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| Cormorant |
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| Shag |
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| Shag |
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| Black Headed Gull |
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| Skua sp. & Kittiwake |
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| Skua sp. & Kittiwake |
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| Black Headed Gull |
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| Cormorant |
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| Cormorant |
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| Gannet |
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| Ringed Plover, Dunlin & Purple Sandpiper |
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| Kittiwake |
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| Razorbill |
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| Gannet |
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| Gannet |
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| Manx Shearwater |
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| Cormorant & Eider |
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| Gannet |
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| Redshank |
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| Manx Shearwater |
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| Kittiwake |
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| Redshank |
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| Black Headed Gull |
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| Great Skua |
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| Kittiwake |
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| Shag |
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| Gannet |
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| Shag |
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| Gannet |
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| Cormorant |
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| Red Throated Diver |
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| Gannet |
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| Golden Plover |
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| Cormorant & Oystercatcher |
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| Great Black Backed Gull, Herring Gull & Oystercatcher |
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| Golden Plover |
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| Carrion Crow |
Species seen - Arctic Skua, Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Common Gull, Common Scoter, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunlin, Eider, Gannet, Golden Plover, Goldfinch, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Skua, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Grey Partridge, Guillemot, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Kestrel, Kittiwake, Linnet, Magpie, Manx Shearwater, Meadow Pipit, Moorhen, Oystercatcher, Peregrine, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Pink Footed Goose, Purple Sandpiper, Razorbill, Redshank, Red Throated Diver, Reed Bunting, Ringed Plover, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rock Pipit, Rook, Shag, Skylark, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Stock Dove, Turnstone, Wheatear, Willow Warbler, Woodpigeon, Wren, Yellowhammer.
Butterfly species - Red Admiral.
Mammal species - Grey Seal.
