While we were in Lothian on Friday word had come through of a Wood Warbler and a Pied Flycatcher in Denburn Wood in Crail as well as another Pied Flycatcher at Kilminning. As both species usually require a trip to Pitlochry and Killiecrankie to see them, it was rather handy for both species to be at locations where they were eminently gettable. However, I would need for both species to stay put overnight into Saturday and for me to get to Crail as early as I could on Saturday. I didn't think that it was very likely that the birds would stay put but I knew I had to try, just in case.
 |
| Pied Flycatcher |
Another early start with a bus to catch at 0705 saw me out the door at 0645. Blue Tit, Woodpigeon, Blackbird, Magpie, Feral Pigeon, Goldfinch, Herring Gull, Carrion Crow and Long Tailed Tit were seen on the relatively productive walk to the bus station while Goldcrest was only heard. The bus journey to St Andrews produced Pheasant, Jackdaw, Rook, Starling, Mallard and Collared Dove. A Shelduck overflew the bus station while I sat on the bus waiting to leave for Crail. Swallow, Pied Wagtail, Buzzard, Curlew and Stock Dove were noted on the 3rd leg of the journey and I arrived in Crail around 0815.
I immediately headed for Denburn Wood where I expected to find a birder or two and hopefully at least 1 of the birds I was hoping to see. House Sparrow was spotted around the back gardens as I walked along and a Blackcap sang from a small tree in another garden. A few Chaffinches were also around. A Song Thrush sang loudly from a tree at the top end of the park, while a Coal Tit picked around among the bark on a smaller tree near the cemetery. A Dunnock sang loudly from yet another tree while a Woodpigeon posed nicely for me atop a gate.
I wandered slowly into the wood where a Wren was seen followed soon after by a Chiffchaff. From further into the wood I heard the distinctive song of a Wood Warbler and hurried in the general direction. After a bit of scanning from the 'upper path' I finally managed to find the
Wood Warbler flitting around among the branches of a couple of mature trees by the lower path. I was treated to some very good views though the light wasn't overly great for photos though it was improving all the time. While watching the bird I was joined by John Wilson who reads this blog (Hi John!) and managed to get him onto the bird before we were joined by John Anderson.
John Anderson told me that he had just been watching Pied Flycatcher at Kilminning, so I decided I would get out there as quickly as I could. John offered me a lift out which I gratefully accepted. There was no sign of the Pied Flycatcher where John had been watching it so we searched around for a while but things weren't looking too promising until we wandered round a corner heading back towards John's car when a bird flew up from the grassy slope in front of us and landed in a small tree. I almost wrote it off as a Chaffinch but realised quickly that it was actually a black and white bird - the
Pied Flycatcher. We both got some photos before the bird flew off again. While looing for the bird again a bird popped out in front of me, giving me my third year-tick of the day and it wasn't yet 1030 - a
Lesser Whitethroat.
We decided after getting more photos of the Pied Flycatcher to head up to the top end to see if we could find anything up there. As we stepped out of the car another Lesser Whitethroat gave a burst of song and we spent the next 5 minutes or so trying to get a reasonable view of the bird. Linnet, Yellowhammer and Skylark were all noted as well as a Common Whitethroat and Willow Warbler. We were joined by Angus Duncan and Grant Robertson and when John headed for home for a cup of tea (where he'd been going originally when he bumped into me) we managed to get reasonably decent views of the Lesser Whitethroat before Grant gave me a lift back down the bottom end to look for the Pied Flycatcher again.
When we arrived we found Lainy and Adam McCormack already there and with the bird having just been seen. Unfortunately it took a bit of time to re-find the bird again but it did eventually treat everyone to decent views. Birders came and went as the afternoon progressed and the Lesser Whitethroat eventually put in reasonably showy views with a second bird chasing it off its perch at one point as Ken Shaw and Sam Taylor looked on. Angus headed off and we were joined by Rob Armstrong and family for a short while. I chatted to Lainy and Adam and generally did some rather lazy birding in the warmer than expected sunshine though I did add Common Gull, Cormorants, Gannets, Sandwich Tern, Greenfinch and Great Black Backed Gull while we stood around or tried for better views of the rather elusive migrants. A trio of butterfly species were spotted - Peacock, Small Tortoiseshell and Green Veined White.
With plenty photos of the Lesser Whitethroat and Pied Flycatcher we decided to have a look at the top end again in case we were missing anything but other than a Kestrel and brief views of the Lesser Whitethroat things seemed much quieter than earlier. I was offered a lift back to Dundee from Adam and Lainy which again was gratefully received though we decided to try for the Wood Warbler in Denburn Wood on the way. 3 Corn Buntings were seen on the drive back to Crail with Lainy enjoying nice close views of a bird perched in a small tree. A pair of Brown Hares were seen in the far corner of the field. We failed to find the Wood Warbler though we did get decent views of a Goldcrest, with Blackcap and Willow Warbler providing less satisfactory views before we finally headed back to Dundee.
A rather unexpectedly successful day with both target species seen as well as an outside bet for a 3rd also showing. A total of 47 species seen including the 3 year-ticks (in bold) as well as 1 mammal species and 3 of butterflies. A big thank you once again to everyone who offered/gave me a lift.
 |
| Coal Tit |
 |
| Woodpigeon |
 |
| Song Thrush |
 |
| Dunnock |
 |
| Woodpigeon |
 |
| Wood Warbler |
 |
| Wood Warbler |
 |
| Wood Warbler |
 |
| Wood Warbler |
 |
| Wood Warbler |
 |
| Wood Warbler |
 |
| Wood Warbler |
 |
| Wood Warbler |
 |
| Stock Dove |
 |
| Stock Dove |
 |
| Wood Warbler |
 |
| Blackcap |
 |
| Blackcap |
 |
| Chiffchaff |
 |
| Pied Flycatcher |
 |
| Pied Flycatcher |
 |
| Pied Flycatcher |
 |
| Pied Flycatcher |
 |
| Pied Flycatcher |
 |
| Lesser Whitethroat |
 |
| Lesser Whitethroat |
 |
| Lesser Whitethroat |
 |
| Lesser Whitethroat |
 |
| Lesser Whitethroat |
 |
| Whitethroat |
 |
| Stock Dove |
 |
| Lesser Whitethroat |
 |
| Lesser Whitethroat |
 |
| Lesser Whitethroat |
 |
| Buzzard |
 |
| Buzzard |
 |
| Dunnock |
 |
| Pied Flycatcher |
 |
| Pied Flycatcher |
 |
| Pied Flycatcher |
 |
| Pied Flycatcher |
 |
| Pied Flycatcher |
 |
| Lesser Whitethroat |
 |
| Lesser Whitethroat |
 |
| Pied Flycatcher |
 |
| Pied Flycatcher |
 |
| Chiffchaff |
 |
| Goldfinch |
 |
| Pied Flycatcher |
 |
| Pied Flycatcher |
 |
| Blue Tit |
 |
| Pied Flycatcher |
 |
| Pied Flycatcher |
 |
| Pied Flycatcher |
 |
| Pied Flycatcher |
 |
| Pied Flycatcher |
 |
| Pied Flycatcher |
 |
| Lesser Whitethroat |
 |
| Lesser Whitethroat |
 |
| Lesser Whitethroat |
 |
| Lesser Whitethroat |
 |
| Corn Bunting |
 |
| Goldcrest |
 |
| Goldcrest |
 |
| Red Admiral |
Species seen - Blackbird, Blackcap, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Coal Tit, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Cormorant, Corn Bunting, Curlew, Dunnock, Gannet, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Kestrel,
Lesser Whitethroat, Linnet, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Pheasant,
Pied Flycatcher, Pied Wagtail, Feral Pigeon, Rook, Sandwich Tern, Shelduck, Skylark, Song Thrush, Starling, Stock Dove, Swallow, Whitethroat, Willow Warbler,
Wood Warbler, Woodpigeon, Wren, Yellowhammer.
Butterflies seen - Green Veined White, Peacock, Small Tortoiseshell.
Mammals seen - Brown Hare.
