Although the weather forecast was anything but promising there was an opportunity to get out and about with Ian on Monday 7th October, so naturally it was another easy decision to make. We decided on another attempt at the Hooded Merganser at Kingoodie despite it not having been seen since Friday. After that we would assess the weather prospects and choose our destination(s) and target birds from there. Ian picked me up at 0800 and we tried Kingoodie but didn't waste too much time when we drew a blank. Instead we headed for Dalgety Bay to try for Red Necked Grebe again. A moulting Slavonian Grebe did its best to confuse the situation and another birder arrived and proclaimed our Slavonian Grebe to be the Red Necked Grebe though having once made that mistake with a Slavonian Grebe at Auchmithie I was conscious of the shorter bill length of our bird though overall size was difficult to judge as the bird was nowehere near anything else to compare it with. A Slavonian Grebe was reported the following day though the Red Necked Grebe has also been reported again since.
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| Grey Heron |
A Brent Goose, a few Sandwich Terns, a Little Gull, a leucistic Lapwing and a Long Tailed Duck were decent sightings there however. Congestion because of the aftermath of a road accident meant a change of plan after Dalgety Bay. Instead of Loch Leven we decided to head for Kilminning and Fife Ness again. A few hours in the Fife Ness hide proved less productive than Saturday though a Peregrine picking a bird off the water just offshore was probably the highlight of the day. A quick stop at Kilminning didn't produce any surprises though a Ring Ouzel in flight was a nice catch as we were leaving around 1545 and a mixed flock of Golden Plover and Lapwing were photographed from the car near Boarhills. 63 species were seen in total though unfortunately nothing new for the year-list among them and we thankfully managed to mostly avoid the forecast rain.
Species seen Dundee & Kingoodie - Herring Gull, Magpie, Black Headed Gull, Woodpigeon, Carrion Crow, Pink Footed Goose, Grey Heron, Curlew, Mallard, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Teal, Goosander, Kestrel.
En route to/and Dalgety Bay - Jay, Buzzard, Redwing, Brent Goose, Oysteractcher, Redshank, Wigeon, Great Crested Grebe, Slavonian Grebe, Long Tailed Duck, Shelduck, Knot, Dunlin, Rook, Jackdaw, Blue Tit, Grey Wagtail, Bar Tailed Godwit, Common Gull, Turnstone, Gannet, Cormorant, Little Gull, Eider, Lapwing, Sandwich Tern.
En route to/and Fife Ness - Feral Pigeon, House Sparrow, Velvet Scoter, Shag, Kittiwake, Red Throated Diver, Linnet, Razorbill, Peregrine, Common Scoter, Guillemot, Rock Pipit, Song Thrush.
Kilminning - Pheasant, Sparrowhawk, Mistle Thrush, Blackbird, Goldfinch, Goldcrest, Yellowhammer, Ring Ouzel.
Crail to Dundee - Golden Plover, Starling
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| Great Crested Grebe |
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| Slavonian Grebe |
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| Brent Goose |
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| Sandwich Tern |
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| Slavonian Grebe |
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| Shelduck, Black Headed Gull, Lapwing, Common Gull, Curlew, Woodpigeon |
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| Lapwing, Redshank & Dunlin |
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| Gannet |
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| Gannet |
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| Little Gull |
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| Razorbill |
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| Grey Heron |
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| Grey Heron |
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| Red Throated Diver |
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| Red Throated Diver |
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| Cormorant |
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| Gannet & Guillemot |
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| Song Thrush |
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| Red Throated Diver |
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| Peregrine |
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| Peregrine & Common Gull |
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| Peregrine |
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| Common Gull & Peregrine |
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| Common Gull & Peregrine |
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| Peregrine |
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| Linnet |
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| Sparrowhawk |
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| Mistle Thrush |
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| Kestrel |
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| Lapwing & Golden Plover |
Species seen - Bar Tailed Godwit, Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Brent Goose, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Common Gull, Common Scoter, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunlin, Eider, Gannet, Goldcrest, Golden Plover, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Crested Grebe, Grey Heron, Grey Wagtail, Guillemot, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Jay, Kestrel, Kittiwake, Knot, Lapwing, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Linnet, Little Gull, Long Tailed Duck, Magpie, Mallard, Mistle Thrush, Oystercatcher, Peregrine, Pheasant, Pink Footed Goose, Razorbill, Redshank, Red Throated Diver, Redwing, Ring Ouzel, Feral Pigeon, Rock Pipit, Rook, Sandwich Tern, Shag, Shelduck, Slavonian Grebe, Song Thrush, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Teal, Turnstone, Velvet Scoter, Wigeon, Woodpigeon, Yellowhammer.
