The weather put paid to last Wednesday's birding with the arrival of Storm Ali resulting in a gust of 102mph being recorded at the Tay roadbridge. Although that one was exceptional, there wasn't much venturing out in those conditions so I visited the V&A instead. However with another week off work on holiday beginning on Saturday I intended to get out somewhere. A lingering Woodchat Shrike at Barns Ness, near Dunbar was very tempting. A Rose Coloured Starling added into the mix meant that I really had to give it some serious thought, and a Buff Breasted Sandpiper meant I was going, even if it was likely to mean over an hour on a train followed by over an hour on a bus and then roughly 4 miles walk to get to the birds. Following a post on twitter, Ian Laird from Blairgowrie got in touch to very kindly offer me a lift down as he was intending on going anyway. I arranged to meet Ian at 0715 at Perth railway station.
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| Woodchat Shrike |
I had a train to catch at 0650 so I was out the door in the pre-dawn gloom. A Robin sang from a fence nearby. Herring Gull and Feral Pigeon were the only birds seen until I neared the railway station where a Pied Wagtail flew past. From the train I added Woodpigeon, Carrion Crow, Starling, Kestrel, Black Headed Gull and Blackbird. Mallard and Mute Swan were seen as we passed the angling pools near the Friarton Bridge. Blue Tit was seen as I exited the station and met up with Ian. Heading out through Perth we added Rook, then a Sparrowhawk. Near Loch Leven a skein of Pink Footed Geese flew over and Magpie was seen a few minutes further on.
Into Lothian and Jackdaw and Pheasants were added, including a rather dark, almost black, male by a traffic roundabout on the city bypass. We arrived at Barns Ness around 85 minutes after leaving Perth station.A flock of Linnets flew up from the beach and a Great Black Backed Gull glided by. A few Swallows swept over as we headed over towards a rather scrubby area which I assumed might be the "wire dump" where the Shrike had been seen. There was a photographer there and as we arrived we were joined by another birder who recognised me - Martin Scott. As introductions were made I spotted a pale bird flying off to our left away from us. Martin got onto the bird and thought that it might be the Shrike. He headed off for a better look and we waited where we were in case it wasn't.
A minute or so later and Martin's frantic waving signalled that it was indeed the
Woodchat Shrike so the 3 of us hurried over. We had good views of the bird before we changed position and got even better views and some rather nice photos asthe bird perched on a nearby bush. With lifer number 1 safely 'in the bag' we decided to try for the Rose Coloured Starling and headed towards the shore to walk round past the lighthouse to the area where the bird had been seen on Friday around lunchtime. Gannets could be seen moving offshore and a Golden Plover called as it circled round above us. Ringed Plover and Dunlin were spotted while Cormorants passed by over the water.
Grey Heron, Eider, Redshank, Curlew and Meadow Pipits were all seen as we hunted for Starlings. There was a charity abseiling event at the lighthouse which meant there was no chance of the Starlings perching atop the tower. A Shag was seen out on the water just beyond the rocks. A party of 5 Red Throated Divers hurried northwards and a Wheatear was seen down on the beach near the wreck. There were some Starlings rooting around in the seaweed on the beach but none of them were the bird we were hoping to see. Rock Pipits, a distant Guillemot, more views of Linnets and Pipits were had, as well as a 'bottling' Grey Seal but there was no sign of the Rose Coloured Starling.
We decided to walk along to see if we could see the Buff Breasted Sandpiper at Whitesands Quarry. House Martins and Swallows zipped around and another Wheatear was found on the way there. Tufted Ducks, Greylag Geese, Canada Geese and Coots were all visible at the Quarry as well as a selection of gulls. A car stopped and the birders inside let us know they'd just seen the Buff Breasted Sandpiper with a Dunlin and that a woman they knew had got them onto the bird. As they were west-coasters I suspected the woman would be Jacqui's pal, Fiona. It turned out that it was and with a little help from her we were also able to see the
Buff Breasted Sandpiper, albeit rather distantly. Before we met up with Fiona we had an attempt to see the bird ourselves but failed despite following the instructions we'd had from the car full of birders. We then made another attempt from the far end of the quarry.
We did manage to add Goldfinches, Chaffinch, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Whooper Swan, Wigeon and Skylark, as well as a Roe Deer before we headed back to where we'd had a go and found Fiona. With no further word of the Starling we decided to head for Musselburgh where I hoped to finally catch up with the White Winged Scoter which had eluded me earlier in the year. There was also a Curlew Sandpiper reported from the scrapes which Ian needed for his life-list. A Buzzard was on a roadside fence post as we headed back to Musselburgh and we arrived there at around 1335. A trio of Buzzards circled over the car park before we wandered out to the seawall. A few Speckled Wood butterflies were seen by the track.
Eiders and a Red Breasted Merganser were seen out on the water but things looked very quiet. A pair of Sandwich Terns flew by. A Grey Wagtail called as it flew off past us. I spotted a few birders with scopes a few hundred yards further west so we set off to join them in the hope that they were watching the Scoter. They were. One of them kindly pointed out where to look and I quickly found a Velvet Scoter drake and duck and there alongside was the rather distinctive
White Winged Scoter. Lifer number 2 for me, though Ian had seen it earlier in the year. I took a few photos and a short video clip before we decided to pop into the scrapes for a look.
A Little Grebe was on the boating pond and when we arrived at the top hide we found a bit of discussion going on about a distant wader. A young birder, Gavin Woodbridge, got me onto the bird and I took a few photos which confirmed his suspicions that it was a Pectoral Sandpiper. Another lifer for Ian, and a nice bonus bird. I asked if the Curlew Sandpiper was still around and with an affirmative answer I soon found the bird out in the open and Ian had his 4th lifer of the day. In addition there was a flock of Bar Tailed Godwits, a few Teal, a number of Knot as well as Redshanks, Oystercatchers, Curlew, Shelduck, Common Gull and various other species we'd already seen. A Stock Dove flew past. A pair of dogs off the leash put up almost everything from the scrapes resulting in the discovery of Dunlin and a couple of other species that had been hidden from view until then. With the time now nearing 1500 we called it a day and headed for home.
A very successful day's birding for both of us with Ian managing 4 lifers and myself 2 lifers and a year-tick (in bold) among the 67 species of bird seen. 1 species of butterfly and 2 of mammals were also seen. Even failing to pick up the Starling didn't really dampen the spirits any.
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| Skylark |
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| Chaffinch |
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| Woodchat Shrike |
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| Woodchat Shrike |
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| Woodchat Shrike |
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| Woodchat Shrike |
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| Woodchat Shrike |
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| Woodchat Shrike |
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| Pink Footed Goose |
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| Golden Plover |
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| Red Throated Diver |
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| Wheatear |
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| Wheatear |
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| Wheatear |
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| Rock Pipit |
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| Redshank |
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| Greylag Goose, Canada Goose, Black Headed Gull, Common Gull |
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| Whooper Swan, Greylag Goose |
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| Buff Breasted Sandpiper & Dunlin |
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| Buff Breatsed Sandpiper |
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| Buzzard |
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| Grey Wagtail |
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| Oystercatcher |
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| Velvet Scoter & White Winged Scoter |
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| Velvet Scoter & White Winged Scoter |
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| White Winged Scoter |
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| White Winged Scoter |
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| White Winged Scoter |
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| Bar Tailed Godwit, Curlew |
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| Curlew, Bar Tailed Godwit, Pectoral Sandpiper |
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| Redshank, Curlew Sandpiper, Pectoral Sandpiper, Oystercatcher |
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| Oystercatcher |
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| Knot & Bar Tailed Godwit |
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| Oystercatcher, Knot, Dunlin |
Species seen -Bar Tailed Godwit, Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit,
Buff Breasted Sandpiper, Buzzard, Canada Goose, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Common Gull, Coot, Cormorant, Curlew, Curlew Sandpiper, Dunlin, Dunnock, Eider, Gannet, Golden Plover, Goldfinch, Great Black Backed Gull, Grey Heron, Grey Wagtail, Greylag Goose, Guillemot, Herring Gull, House Martin, Jackdaw, Kestrel, Knot, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Linnet, Little Grebe, Magpie, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pectoral Sandpiper, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Pink Footed Goose, Red Breasted Merganser, Redshank, Red throated Diver, Ringed Plover, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rock Pipit, Rook, Sandwich Tern, Shag, Shelduck, Skylark, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Stock Dove, Swallow, Teal, Tufted Duck, Velvet Scoter, Wheatear,
White Winged Scoter, Whooper Swan, Wigeon,
Woodchat Shrike, Woodpigeon.
Butterfly seen - Speckled Wood.
Mammals seen - Grey Seal, Roe Deer.
