For the third week in a row the weather forecast for Wednesday was less than favourable with heavy rain and strong winds from the east, just a month or so too late to be of any use in bringing in migrants. However, with the year rapidly approaching the final straight I still wanted to get out and hopefully see something new for the year-list which is already way past my previous ever best total. Paul too is also in uncharted territory for his year-list although he hasn't reached his target of 200 species, though being offshore for large chunks of the year has hindered more than helped this year with migration times being as unproductive as the local coast has been.
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| Long Tailed Duck |
We decided to see what we could find in Fife despite the hides all being eastward facing - not the best if it rains and I arranged to meet him at Guardbridge just after 0900. I headed out around 0825 having apparently just missed a heavy downpour. Herring Gull, Feral Pigeon, Carrion Crow and Woodpigeon were seen on the way to the bus station. From the bus to Guardbridge I was able to add a couple more species despite the mostly steamed up windows - Black Headed Gull and Rook. Arriving in Guardbridge the sky was filled with small parties of Pink Footed Geese coming from the direction of the estuary.
I headed in to the hide to meet Paul and found that there were plenty of Pink Footed Geese still out on the mud, probably as many as a few thousand. The light however was atrocious shading everything a rather dull grey. This didn't stop me from scanning around and adding Black Tailed Godwits, Redshanks, Dunlin, Great Black Backed Gull, Mallard, Shelduck, Oystercatcher, a Grey Heron, a single sheltering Lapwing and a flypast Common Gull. A Chaffinch, Blue Tit and Tree Sparrows visited the feeders by the hide. A small group of rather distant Cormorants were picked out rather distantly.
We decided to head for Crail and what I suspected would be a rather wild sea at Fife Ness. A Mistle Thrush flew over the park as we headed out to the car. We detoured into the car park at the golf museum in St Andrews but the sea was rather wild here and birds were noticeably absent except for a few Oystercatchers on the grass opposite the toilets. Magpie and Blacbird were seen in Crail. Surprisingly John Anderson's car was parked near the static caravans and we found John in the hide though as he didn't hear us enter the hide he got a bit of a fright when I said "good morning" (sorry, John!).
The sea was as wild as I'd seen it here previously and birds were difficult to pick out against the waves and easily disappeared into the troughs never to be spotted again. Thankfully not all did and some stayed above the waves with the sky behind them though the light wasn't great for photos. I did attempt to keep a note of the birds passing and in which direction but the wind made keeping my piece of paper from blowing away difficult and I abandoned the idea within about 20 minutes. Guillemots made up the bulk of the birds we saw moving but there were also Common Scoter, Eider, Kittiwakes, Long Tailed Ducks, Razorbill, Velvet Scoter, Fulmar, Cormorant, Shag, Red Breasted Merganser, Gannets and Red Throated Divers seen in the 90 minutes or so we spent seawatching.
One heavy rain shower meant we closed the front shutters and viewed out a side window but an impending heavy shower gave us a reason to give up and head to Kilminning for a brief look. A Pheasant ran across the road in front of us at the golf course and a Curlew picked around on the empty fairways. A Starling flew over. At Kilminning things were very quiet though a Buzzard and a Kestrel were both seen. Heading back towards Crail a pair of Yellowhammers moved along the fenceline in front of the car. We made a quick stop at Kingsbarns beach but there were only a mixed flock of gulls to be seen. Jackdaws were added on the way to St Andrews and the last parking space at St Andrews harbour was taken by the car in front of us so we decided to call it a day and Paul dropped me off at the bus station to head for home.
We managed to see a total of 43 species which considering the weather, was decent enough, though disappointingly there was no Grey Phalarope for me (a slim possibility) or Little Auk for Paul (a slightly better possibility). The weather improved almost as soon as I made it home but by then there wasn't much useable daylight for birding left.
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| Pink Footed Goose |
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| Pink Footed Goose |
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| Pink Footed Goose |
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| Great Black Backed Gull |
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| Mallard & Black Headed Gull |
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| Black Tailed Godwit |
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| Grey Heron |
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| Pink Footed Goose |
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| Redshank |
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| Black Tailed Godwit |
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| Redshank, Dunlin & Black Tailed Godwit |
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| Pink Footed Goose |
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| Pink Footed Goose |
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| Guillemot |
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| Guillemot |
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| Common Scoter |
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| Gannet |
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| Guillemot |
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| Eider |
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| Gannet |
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| Gannet |
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| Guillemot |
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| Red Throated Diver |
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| Herring Gull |
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| Gannet |
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| Shag |
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| Kittiwake |
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| Common Scoter |
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| Gannet |
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| Guillemot |
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| Gannet |
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| Red Throated Diver |
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| Red Throated Diver |
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| Kittiwake |
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| Gannet |
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| Eider |
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| Shag |
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| Kittiwake |
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| Kittiwake |
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| Razorbill |
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| Red Throated Diver |
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| Common Scoter |
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| Red Breasted Merganser |
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| Gannet |
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| Kittiwake |
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| Buzzard |
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| Mixed gull flock |
Species seen - Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Black Tailed Godwit, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Common Gull, Common Scoter, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunlin, Eider, Fulmar, Gannet, Great Black Backed Gull, Grey Heron, Guillemot, Herring Gull, Jackdaw, Kestrel, Kittiwake, Lapwing, Long Tailed Duck, Magpie, Mallard, Mistle Thrush, Oystercatcher, Pheasant, Pink Footed Goose, Razorbill, Red Breasted Merganser, Redshank, Red Throated Diver, Feral Pigeon, Rook, Shag, Shelduck, Starling, Tree Sparrow, Velvet Scoter, Woodpigeon, Yellowhammer.
