One of my twitter followers, Roy, contacted me recently to ask if I could give him a few pointers with regards seawatching. As it is something I enjoy, unlike some who get bored quickly waiting for something to pass by that might never come, I agreed to meet him at Crail for a wee seawatching session. As things turned out the weather wasn't quite as hoped with relatively light winds from the south rather than the hoped for stronger easterlies. Still, as with most birding, nothing ventured, nothing gained.
 |
| Red Throated Diver |
Having arranged to meet Roy at Crail at 0920 I headed out at 0745 to walk to the bus station for the 0805 bus to St Andrews where I would have a 20 minute wait for the Crail bus. Only 4 species were seen on the way into town - Feral Pigeon, Woodpigeon, Carrion Crow and Herring Gull. The bus to St Andrews was slightly more productive with Starling, Swallow, Rook, Jackdaw, Mallard, Mute Swan, Curlew, Black Headed Gull and House Martin being noted from the bus. The journey to Crail however was a lot quieter with only Collared Dove and Buzzard seen.
Roy arrived in Crail almost exactly at the same time as I did and once we discussed options for the day we chose to head out to check Kilminning first. Roy was hoping for a Corn Bunting but there wasn't one in the usual spot by the pillbox in the field. The top end at Kilminning was very quiet with hirundines high overhead and only a Pied Wagtail and a Stock Dove new for the list. Next stop was the field halfway down the track. Here we found a flock of Linnets, Goldfinches and a few Skylarks. I thought I heard Twite among the small-ish flock but most views were of birds in flight and neither these or the resultant photos show a wholly convincing Twite so it appears I was mistaken.
A small group of 4 Golden Plover flew over us while offshore we could see a handful of Gannets passing by. There were a few Oystercatchers further down the field among some corvids. We popped into the bottom end for a quick look around. This was slightly more productive but was mostly common birds - Greenfinches, Robin, Song Thrush, Blackbird, Yellowhammer and Willow Warbler. As we walked down the edge of the airfield I spied a Sparrowhawk flying low over the grass behind the bushes. It didn't see us and I suspected it had landed in the small trees. As we got closer we spotted it perched with its back to us on the fence. We ducked down out of sight and managed to get reasonably close before the bird spotted us and flew off.
We headed down to Fife Ness. We decided to sit out on the rocks. The usual mix of Cormorants, Shags and Great Black Backed Gulls could be seen on the rocks to the north and a Fulmar glided by. A family party of Magpies, and a Silver Y moth were seen near the static caravans as we headed down to the rocks via a quick chat to Willie Irvine who was in the hide with another couple. Once we found somewhere suitable to sit we soon began to add birds - Common Gull and Goosander before the better stuff appeared. A distant Great Skua headed north and a pair of Red Throated Divers headed in the opposite direction.
A few distant Kittiwakes were seen and a few Redshanks showed down on the rocks in front of us. Sandwich Terns and a few Common Terns and Arctic Terns flew by and a Common Scoter gave Roy yet another typical seawatch species. Around 1210 our first Arctic Skua cruised by. A small group of Eider appeared offshore. We moved back off the rocks to up by the pillbox and hide. By this time we'd had further Bonxies, Divers and Arctic Skuas but there was no sign of any Manx Shearwaters, which Roy was hoping to see. One of the Diver pairs had announced their approach by a stream of contact calls, the firts time I can remember having heard this. A pair of Purple Sandpipers flew past and Small White butterflies flitted around among the wild cabbage by the pillbox.
A Turnstone landed on the rocks and a quick look at the Great Black Backed Gulls produced a trio of ringed birds, though only 1 adult & 1 juv were readable (yellow X:122 juv, T:044 adult), the 3rd being hidden among the seaweed. A single Teal flew low over the rocks in front of us and a Grey Seal was spotted offshore. We were joined by "Wild Crail" blogger, and birder, Will Cresswell. We added a few more Great Skuas, Arctic Skuas as well as Red Throated Divers. One Arctic Skua had a go at a Kittwake though rather distantly. A Whimbrel flew in and called as it turned, confirming the up till then provisional ID. Another Arctic Skua with a rather long looking tail flew by, relatively close in.
Will headed off, leaving myself and Roy to add a few more Divers and Scoters but still no Manxies or anything more exciting. Surprisingly, what was the first of this year's young Gannets appeared, alone, heading north. A pair of Goosanders flew by as we packed up. Roy dropped me off in Crail and John Anderson stopped for a chat as I waited for the bus to arrive. I added Moorhens and House Sparrows to the list on the way back to St Andrews. I debated stopping off at Guardbridge but chose to head for home instead of trying to add more species to the list in the 15 or so minutes until closing time at the hide.
A good day out, with a total of 8 Bonxies, 5 Arctic Skuas, 10 Red Throated Divers, 8 Common Scoters, 1 Teal and 1 Whimbrel plus the usual mix - though no auks. As introductions to seawatching go, it was relatively decent, with the action being steady rather than quiet and plenty of movement to keep us from getting bored. I ended the day on 53 species, as well as 1 butterfly, 1 moth and 1 mammal.
 |
| Linnet & Goldfinch |
 |
| Linnet |
 |
| Linnet & Goldfinch |
 |
| Golden Plover |
 |
| Greenfinch |
 |
| Willow Warbler |
 |
| Sparrowhawk |
 |
| Sparrowhawk |
 |
| Curlew |
 |
| Yellowhammer |
 |
| Pied Wagtail |
 |
| Golden Plover |
 |
| Cormorant |
 |
| Red Throated Diver |
 |
| Great Skua |
 |
| Kittiwake |
 |
| Sandwich Tern |
 |
| Common Gull |
 |
| Great Black Backed Gull |
 |
| Great Skua |
 |
| Shag |
 |
| Redshank |
 |
| Oystercatcher |
 |
| Arctic Skua |
 |
| Cormorant |
 |
| Kittiwake |
 |
| Great Skua |
 |
| Red Throated Diver |
 |
| Arctic Skua |
 |
| Common Scoter |
 |
| Common Scoter |
 |
| Red Throated Diver |
 |
| Purple Sandpiper |
 |
| Arctic Skua |
 |
| Great Skua |
 |
| Sandwich Tern |
 |
| Gannet |
 |
| Sandwich Tern |
 |
| Fulmar |
 |
| Common Tern |
 |
| Sandwich Tern |
 |
| Teal |
 |
| Great Black Backed Gull |
 |
| Great Skua |
 |
| Red Throated Diver |
 |
| Black Headed Gull |
 |
| Arctic Skua |
 |
| Arctic Skua & Kittiwake |
 |
| Red Throated Diver |
 |
| Arctic Skua |
 |
| Arctic Skua |
 |
| Whimbrel |
 |
| Fulmar |
 |
| Fulmar |
 |
| Sandwich Tern |
 |
| Fulmar |
 |
| Oystercatcher |
 |
| Gannet |
 |
| Red Throated Diver |
 |
| Goosander |
Species seen - Arctic Skua, Arctic Tern, Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Common Scoter, Common Tern, Cormorant, Curlew, Eider, Fulmar, Gannet, Golden Plover, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Skua, Greenfinch, Herring Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Kittiwake, Linnet, Magpie, Mallard, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Purple Sandpiper, Redshank, Red Throated Diver, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rook, Sandwich Tern, Shag, Skylark, Song Thrush, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Stock Dove, Swallow, Teal, Whimbrel, Willow Warbler, Woodpigeon, Yellowhammer.
Butterfly - Small White.
Mammal - Grey Seal.
Moth - Silver Y.
