When Wednesday came around I was still feeling rather jaded after having had such a busy (& productive) weekend twitching with Ian. This did mean that I stayed in bed much later than I intended to which had a knock-on effect on my plans for the day. I had intended on an early start at Balgove Bay targetting Brent Geese and then a trip to Morton Lochs for Gadwall and maybe Brambling and then walking out at Tentsmuir for Green Woodpecker. With high tide around 1100 or so there was little point in going for the geese first when I left the house at 1030, so the route needed rearranging.
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| Blackbird |
A Redwing in a tree round the corner was first onto the list followed by a Herring Gull seen from the bus into town. Cormorants were seen as I crossed the Tay, with Carrion Crow, Curlew and Oystercatchers seen between the bridge and Tayport. Woodpigeon and Starling were seen before I got off the bus near the Fire Station to walk round to check the shore and the duck pond. A Common Gull drifted over. Blackbird and Chaffinch were noted in the trees as was a small flock of Collared Doves which flew up from the ground when they saw me. Mute Swans, Mallard, Wigeon and Moorhen were on the pond or around the edges.
Goldfinch and Robin were added as I wandered over to check offshore.A Pied Wagtail flew by and I spooked a Turnstone when I looked over the seawall. Further along I could see Redshank, Dunlin and a large flock of Knot. A Great Black Backed Gull towered over nearby Black Headed Gulls. A white ringed Black Headed Gull was probably a Norwegian ringed bird but was too distant to read the code. A group of Feral Pigeons flew over the houses behind. I could see more birds on a muddy spit beyond the caravan park so I headed in that direction. House Sparrows, Blue Tits, Coal Tit and Long Tailed Tits were seen on the walk through the caravan park. A single Bar Tailed Godwit, some distant Shelduck and Eider even further out were picked up as I scanned over the river.
Dunlin made up the bulk of the nearby birds with Knot further out. Rock Pipit was the only addition as I headed out along the shore to Tentsmuir Point a bit further behind schedule than before. I decided to walk right out to the beach and then head in to my Green Woodpecker site after a quick look offshore. A Grey Seal fished just off the beach but swam off when it saw me. There was very little movement out over the sea so I headed inland to look for my first Green Woodpecker of 2019. A Mistle Thrush flew up and landed in one of the bare trees at the southern end of the line of deciduous trees. A Stonechat was spotted among the dunes as I wandered northwards through the trees. A large-ish bird was spotted flying behind the trees and I quickly got onto it with my binoculars. The hoped-for
Green Woodpecker. I watched where it landed and slwoly moved in that direction. The woodpecker then flew again seeming to drop to the ground among the dunes but I failed to re-find it.
With 1 target species in the bag I headed through the main forest to try for Brambling and Gadwall at Morton Lochs. Despite a lack of energy I knew I had to make good time to maximise my chances of getting to Balgove Bay before sunset. As usual the forest was largely quiet though I found a flock of Chaffinches feeding in below the trees just in from the track. They were rather wary and would fly up into the trees when they spotted me on the track. After 10 seconds or so a bird would drop down again to feed and others would follow. A flock of Chaffinches at this time of year is always worth looking at properly and this one was no different. A female
Brambling was seen feeding on the ground but flew back up into the trees before I was able to get the camera to focus through the branches between me and the bird.
A Siskin flew over and Coal Tits were seen higher up in the trees. There were also small flocks of Crossbills both heard and seen in the same general area. Rather than hang around in hope of getting a Brambling photo I pushed on again. A Great Spotted Woodpecker was seen nearer Morton Lochs. There were lots of people around at the reserve when I arrived including dog-walkers but it had changed a lot since my last visit with huge swathes of trees now missing. Great Tit was seen on the walk to the railway hide where a Mute Swan was the only bird seen. A Grey Heron, some Canada Geese, Coot and Teal were seen on the other Loch along with Mallards. A few Crossbills were seen high in the trees. I wandered out along the access road to scan the fields.
There was a flock of Pink Footed Geese in the fields to the south but not much else. I headed back in to have a look from the hides. Lots of birds were feeding close in at the Squirrel hide - Blue, Great and Coal Tits, Blackbird, Robins and the day's first Dunnock plus a few Chaffinches. Little Grebe and Goldeneye were seen on the water in front of the hide before I headed for Tayport to catch the bus to St Andrews. Unfortunately it was going to be around sunset before I made it to Balgove Bay. On the plus side the golfers should all have finished their rounds, though the lack of daylight was going to hinder things with the tide out and the majority of birds likely to be distant.
Pheasant and Rook were seen from the bus. A Magpie was seen near the Old Course hotel. There was a possibility of Grey Partridge on the golf course but I failed to see any as I hurried along the road towards the bay. Pintail and Mallard were seen in the gloom on the mud, as well as some Teal. More distantly Redshank, Oystercatcher and Curlew were noted but cloud cover put paid to my chances of finding the geese with the light rapidly diminishing. A Kestrel did hunt along the edge of the golf course but I had to admit defeat and make the long walk back to the bus stop and homewards.
I managed a total of 55 species of which 2 were year-ticks (in bold), though I failed to get photos of either. Had I given myself more time by getting up early as planned I would have had more time to spend trying to photograph them and probably would have had better luck with the Brent Geese too. A self-inflicted wound that one.
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| Black Headed Gull & Wigeon |
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| Wigeon |
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| Moorhen |
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| Moorhen |
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| Dunlin |
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| Black Headed Gull |
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| Knot & Oystercatcher |
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| Dunlin |
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| Mallard, Herring Gull & Dunlin |
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| Turnstone, Oystercatcher & Dunlin |
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| Chaffinch |
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| Common Gull |
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| Shelduck |
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| Carrion Crow |
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| Mistle Thrush |
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| Stonechat |
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| Mallard |
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| Great Spotted Woodpecker |
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| Pink Footed Goose |
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| Canada Goose, Coot & Wigeon |
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| Crossbill |
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| Crossbill |
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| Blue Tit |
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| Coal Tit |
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| Robin |
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| Blackbird |
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| Great Tit |
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| Great Tit |
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| Coal Tit |
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| Great Tit |
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| Robin |
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| Dunnock |
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| Pintail |
Species seen - Bar Tailed Godwit, Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit,
Brambling, Canada Goose, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Coot, Cormorant, Crossbill, Curlew, Dunlin, Dunnock, Eider, Goldeneye, Goldfinch, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great Tit,
Green Woodpecker, Grey Heron, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Kestrel, Knot, Little Grebe, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Mistle Thrush, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Pink Footed Goose, Pintail, Redshank, Redwing, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rock Pipit, Rook, Shelduck, Siskin, Starling, Stonechat, Teal, Turnstone, Wigeon, Woodpigeon.
Mammals seen - Grey Seal.
