I had a physio appointment on Wednesday quite early in the morning which meant a later start to the day's birding than is ideal at this time of year. It did also limit the time I wanted to take travelling, so in the end I decided to head for Leuchars to then walk round the coast to Tayport. Usually at this time of year, there is a nice selection of birds to be seen and there is always a chance of something unusual being around. I headed out around 1100. It was around 1135 when I reached Leuchars and set off out by Earlshall. There was nothing out of the ordinary seen on the walk - a few Redwings, a Stock Dove and some overflying Pink Footed Geese were the best.
 |
| Little Egret |
Mistle Thrush, Treecreeper and Bullfinch were seen as I wandered along the wooden boardwalk towards the forest, instead of my original intention to walk out to the beach and past the Goosepools area northwards. A Red Squirrel was the best sighting on the way. As I headed for the Lagoons a Little Egret flew over also going north. A little further on I found an ice-covered area in the dunes with a flock of around 40 Meadow Pipits feeding out on the ice. As a potential Red Throated Pipit had been seen with this flock relatively recently I took time to check through them as best I could with what was a rather flighty group but I failed to see or hear anything that wasn't a Meadow Pipit. At the Lagoons there were 3 Little Egrets, 2 Goldeneyes, a Little Grebe and 2 Red Breasted Mergansers. Looking to the south I spotted 4 Whooper Swans flying out from the Eden Estuary.
The wader roost just to the north of the Lagoons held a single summer plumaged Grey Plover among the Knot, Dunlin, Sanderling, Bar Tailed Godwits, Oystercatchers and other Grey Plover as well as a single Greenshank - I also found a similarly marked Grey Plover last year around this time of year. The tide was by now well in and the light was fading fast. Another Little Egret was roosting out at Lucky Scalp (the shingle island to the east of Tayport) with possibly the same bird also being seen near Tayport later. There were also thousands of gulls nearer Broughty Ferry all strung out on the river and an almost constant stream of birds heading out towards to join them from the Fife side of the river. As I neared Tayport I spotted a raptor being harassed by a couple of crows. I eventually got better views in the gloom of what turned out to be a Peregrine hunting over the saltmarsh before heading off to catch a bus home. A rather unspectacular mix of 55 species with the 3-5 Little Egrets and the Peregrine the main highlights of the rather long but relatively hurried walk.
Species seen - Dundee to Leuchars - Herring Gull, Magpie, Feral Pigeon, Black Headed Gull, Great Tit, Buzzard, Rook.
Leuchars and Earlshall Muir - Blackbird, Jackdaw, Pink Footed Goose, House Sparrow, Starling, Chaffinch, Redwing, Blue Tit, Robin, Carrion Crow, Stock Dove, Woodpigeon, Mistle Thrush, Treecreeper, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Lapwing, Wren, Bullfinch, Goldcrest.
Tentsmuir Forest to Lagoons - Little Egret, Stonechat, Cormorant, Little Grebe, Goldeneye, Red Breasted Merganser, Goldeneye, Common Gull, Whooper Swan, Oystercatcher, Greenshank, Dunlin, Grey Plover, Knot, Sanderling.
Mammals seen - Red Squirrel.
Lagoons to Tayport - Great Spotted Woodpecker, Goldfinch, Siskin, Linnet, Great Black Backed Gull, Eider, Mute Swan, Wigeon, Mallard, Shelduck, Rock Pipit, Curlew, Peregrine.
 |
| Lapwing |
 |
| Pied Wagtail |
 |
| Buzzard |
 |
| Stock Dove |
 |
| Reed Bunting |
 |
| Jackdaw |
 |
| Mistle Thrush |
 |
| Wren |
 |
| Little Egret |
 |
| Meadow Pipit |
 |
| Meadow Pipit |
 |
| Meadow Pipit |
 |
| Little Egret |
 |
| Little Egret |
 |
| Little Egret |
 |
| Little Egret |
 |
| Goldeneye & Red Breasted Merganser |
 |
| Little Grebe |
 |
| Little Egret |
 |
| Whooper Swan |
 |
| Little Egret |
 |
| Little Egret |
 |
| Red Breasted Merganser |
 |
| Goldeneye |
 |
| Red Breasted Merganser |
 |
| Grey Plover, Dunlin, Knot, Sanderling |
 |
| Oystercatcher |
 |
| Grey Plover, Dunlin, Knot |
 |
| Greenshank, Grey Plover, Knot |
 |
| Grey Plover, Dunlin, Knot |
 |
| Knot, Dunlin, Grey Plover, Sanderling |
 |
| Linnet, Siskin, Goldfinch |
 |
| Mistle Thrush |
 |
| Cormorant |
 |
| Great Black Backed Gull, Cormorant, Herring Gull, Black Headed Gull |
 |
| Eider, Oystercatcher, Curlew, Little Egret |
 |
| Gulls |
 |
| Common Gull |
 |
| Mallard |
 |
| Wigeon |
 |
| Little Egret |
 |
| Mallard & Wigeon |
 |
| Curlew |
 |
| Peregrine |
 |
| Peregrine |
 |
| Curlew |
Species seen - Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Common Gull, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunlin, Eider, Goldcrest, Goldeneye, Goldfinch, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great Tit, Greenshank, Grey Plover, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Knot, Lapwing, Linnet, Little Egret, Little Grebe, Magpie, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Mistle Thrush, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Peregrine, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Pink Footed Goose, Red Breasted Merganser, Redwing, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rock Pipit, Rook, Sanderling, Shelduck, Siskin, Starling, Stock Dove, Stonechat, Treecreeper, Whooper Swan, Wigeon, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Mammals seen - Red Squirrel.
