I had arranged to get out and about on Thursday with Jacqui, with the Cocklemill Burn Water Pipit(s) the target as Jacqui hadn't seen the species in Scotland before. She wasn't confident she would be able to pick it out among the Rock Pipits and her previous attempt had been scuppered by the weather. I have been fortunate so far with good views of the bird(s) on my previous visits meaning that I hadn't really had to search through the other pipits to find it. Hopefully if the need arose I would be able to pick it out as easily as it seemed to have been previously. If we were successful I was hoping to squeeze in some out of season sea-watching from Fife Ness to try to add a few species to my year-list. We arranged to meet at Guardbridge for 0930. The weather was colder than Wednesday and icy road conditions were a possibility.
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| Rock Pipit |
I headed out at around 0835, which was a bit later than intended. A Magpie was first onto the list, followed by Herring Gull and House Sparrow. A Carrion Crow and Feral Pigeon were added before I caught a bus to the Wellgate and walked the rest of the way to the bus station. From the bus to Fife I was able to add Rook, Blackbird, Starling and Jackdaw. The hide was empty when I arrived just after 0915 and I scanned out over the river. Black Headed Gull, Grey Heron, Black Tailed Godwit, Lapwing, Teal, Redshank, Goldeneye and Great Black Backed Gull were noted. There was a large flock of Tree Sparrows at the feeders though a Blue Tit did sneak in and a Woodpigeon dropped onto the bird-table for breakfast.
Jacqui joined me slightly earlier than planned and spotted a Pheasant across the river. More scanning found Curlew, Common Gull, Dunlin, and Shelduck. Dunnock, Coal Tit and Robin popped in at the feeders. With little likelihood of any more additions we set off towards Elie. A few Buzzards in a field and some Redwings in a roadside tree were the only new birds seen as we headed south across Fife. We stopped off in Kilconquhar to check Barnyards Marsh in the hope of adding Jack Snipe. Fieldfare, Chaffinch and Goldfinch were seen in a tree at the marsh but there were no Snipe of any sort seen, probably due to the rather frozen ground.
Off we went to the nearby caravan park adding an Oystercatcher before parking the car. We soon found the flock of pipits around the area of the wooden bridges. Unlike previous visits the first bird I found wasn't the Water Pipit. There were plenty of Rock Pipits of which quite a few appeared to be Scandinavian Rock Pipits and I did photograph a ringed bird (yellow 346) which was ringed as a youngster last summer in Norway. Other than the Chaffinches the pipits were flocking with we also noted Reed Bunting, Pied Wagtail and Stonechat. There were also a few Meadow Pipits complicating things slightly. Mute Swans and Pink Footed Geese flew by. It was tough work constantly scrutinising every bird we could see and concluding that each wasn't quite right for Water Pipit once a good view of the front was had.
I was determined not to give up but with the time approaching 1300 Jacqui suggested we have lunch. I had a go at getting a bit closer to a small group of birds one of which looked relatively promising, though so had many others during the previous couple of hours. I took a number of photos and retrospectively identified the Water Pipit at home when my mind was a bit clearer. So mission accomplished, after all. A Great Tit scolded us by the trees as Jacqui headed back to the car for lunch and I had a quick run around Ruddon's Point to see if there was anything interesting offshore. Mallard, Wigeon, Teal and Eider were all on the water while Sanderling, Dunlin and Oystercatcher plus a few Redshanks were on the shore. Further out were a few Shags, a Red Throated Diver and some Long Tailed Ducks.
A flock of Knot and Dunlin flew around before settling near some Bar Tailed Godwits and roosting Cormorants out by the small 'island'. A Stonechat and a Rock Pipit were spotted before I joined Jacqui at the car and we set off for Elie harbour for a look at the Black Necked Grebe. A Red Throated Diver and a few Shags were around where the Grebe usually is, and a Red Breasted Merganser was spotted further away. The Black Necked Grebe was in the bay to the south of the harbour and relatively close in but we didn't bother with trying for close-up photos as the sun was behind the bird and time was against us for being able to fit in my hoped for sea-watching. Ringed Plover, Oystercatcher, Herring Gull and a Grey Heron were roosting on a rocky island further round.
We reached Crail around 1410 and spotted a flock of
Golden Plovers in a field as we headed out towards Fife Ness. A year-tick for me. From the hide things looked very quiet, though a Red Throated Diver flying north gave us some hope. As things turned out we saw a total of about 8 of these birds in addition to a distant
Great Northern Diver (another year-tick). A young
Kittiwake was another addition for the year. A Fulmar, a Razorbill, 3 Long Tailed Ducks, plenty Shags and Cormorants, a few gulls (Herring, Great Black Backed, Common and Black Headed), a pair of Mallards, a distant Common Scoter and a probable but unconfirmed Guillemot as well as a few Eider, 3 Purple Sandpipers, a Curlew on the rocks and a handful of Oystercatchers made it an enjoyable and productive hour or so.
A quick check at Kilminning found many more Golden Plover in the field halfway down plus a flock of Starlings. A Mistle Thrush was perched in a nearby tree. A Collared Dove was seen in Crail. Although I already had 3 year-ticks there was one other possibility before I got home. Grey Partridge had eluded me so far but the birds were being seen regularly around Leuchars railway station. Jacqui told me where she had seen them recently which was in the field across the railway line. She dropped me off at the corner of that field and I had a quick scan but drew a blank. I missed a bus as I wandered down the road towards the station car park and bus stop. I stopped to look at the field to the east and in the middle were a number of 'lumps'. Out came the camera and photos confirmed the lumps were at least 11
Grey Partridge. A nice way to end the day.
Although it did appear we had failed at finding the Water Pipit, thankfully photos showed differently and Jacqui got her Scottish tick. The sea-watching also proved more successful than I expected with more variety than I had suspected there might be. A total of 66 species (including 4 year-ticks - in bold) were seen despite spending 2 and a half hours looking at pipits. A good day out which never felt quite as cold as it was supposed to.
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| Curlew, Lapwing, Dunlin, Shelduck, Redshank |
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| Blackbird |
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| Fieldfare |
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| Rock Pipit |
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| Rock Pipit |
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| Rock Pipit |
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| Rock Pipit |
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| Reed Bunting |
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| Rock Pipit |
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| Rock Pipit |
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| Rock Pipit |
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| Pink Footed Goose |
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| Rock Pipit |
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| Rock Pipit |
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| Rock Pipit |
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| Rock Pipit |
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| Rock Pipit |
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| Rock Pipit |
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| Water Pipit |
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| Water Pipit |
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| Common Gull, Sanderling & Dunlin |
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| Eider & Herring Gull |
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| Knot & Dunlin |
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| Knot & Bar Tailed Godwit |
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| Stonechat |
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| Red Throated Diver |
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| Curlew, Oystercatcher & Ringed Plover |
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| Black Necked Grebe |
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| Golden Plover |
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| Red Throated Diver |
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| Cormorant |
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| Eider |
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| Red Throated Diver |
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| Herring Gull & Great Black Backed Gull & (?) |
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| Common Gull |
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| Red Throated Diver |
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| Red Throated Diver |
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| Kittiwake |
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| Curlew |
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| Fulmar |
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| Great Northern Diver |
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| Purple Sandpiper |
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| Red Throated Diver |
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| Long Tailed Duck |
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| Long Tailed Duck |
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| Mallard |
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| Red Throated Diver |
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| Razorbill |
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| Cormorant, Shag & Oystercatcher |
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| Golden Plover |
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| Golden Plover |
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| Golden Plover |
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| Grey Partridge |
Species seen - Bar Tailed Godwit, Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Black Necked Grebe, Black Tailed Godwit, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Common Scoter, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunlin, Dunnock, Eider, Fieldfare, Fulmar,
Golden Plover, Goldeneye, Goldfinch, Great Black Backed Gull,
Great Northern Diver, Great Tit, Grey Heron,
Grey Partridge, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw,
Kittiwake, Knot, Lapwing, Long Tailed Duck, Magpie, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Mistle Thrush, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Pink Footed Goose, Purple Sandpiper, Razorbill, Red Breasted Merganser, Redshank, Red Throated Diver, Redwing, Reed Bunting, Ringed Plover, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rock Pipit, Rook, Sanderling, Shag, Shelduck, Starling, Stonechat, Teal, Tree Sparrow, Water Pipit, Wigeon, Woodpigeon.
