Having had a degree of success on Saturday with 2 more year-ticks I decided I should get out and about again on Sunday. The early start I had in mind when I went to bed slipped a little though I was still up early enough to be able to catch most of the first buses to anywhere. I wasn't sure where to go but as it was Easter Sunday I wanted somewhere where I had a chance of seeing some good birds but wouldn't be inundated with people. I considered Letham Pools and The Wilderness, Riverside Nature Park and the Tay Reedbeds and lastly, Crail area again. In the end I chose the latter option.
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| Osprey |
The walk to the bus station was less productive than Saturday but I did see Woodpigeon, Feral Pigeon, Goldfinch, Herring Gull, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Collared Dove and House Sparrow. I didn't see much from the bus to St Andrews with Rook, Skylark and Starling all that I managed to add. The bus to Crail proved slightly more productive with Magpie, Grey Heron, Jackdaw, Pheasant, Chaffinch, Buzzard, Pied Wagtail, Swallow and Golden Plover all being noted. It was another sunny day with a slightly hazy outlook out over the sea and blue skies above.
Rather than do my usual route I decided I would see if the coastal path to the west held any promising areas for migrants - though without going too far as I did also want to try Kilminning again. Finding the track near the far end of the village, I wandered along the grassy track adding Dunnock, Reed Bunting, Linnet and Sand Martin but otherwise nothing too exciting. Offshore a few Gannets, Eider and Fulmar were seen. I headed back along the track after finding a promising looking area of Gorse bushes and a couple of ruined buildings that yielded nothing new. A brief stop in Denburn Wood added a Willow Warbler to the list along with a Wren and a Blackcap.
Continuing out along the road to Kilminning I was able to add Corn Bunting along with a few Meadow Pipits and Skylarks. On reaching Kilminning, a car stopped and the window wound down. It was Graham Ewen who I haven't seen for quite some time and we had a short chat before another car turned up. This one held Adam and Lainy McCormack and we spent the next couple of hours hunting around for new arrivals. Lainy wandered down to the bottom end while Adam and I remained around the top end. We spotted Ken Shaw coming up the road from the bottom end and I had a bit of a catch-up with him before he continued on with his walk.
In the area to the left of the entrance to the track I flushed a Pheasant from underfoot which gave me a bit of a fright as it exploded into the air! In addition we saw a few Yellowhammer, a Willow Warbler and a Song Thrush, before I caught a snippet of what I thought was Whitethroat song. A few seconds later I caught the bird in flight and it was indeed my first
Whitethroat of the year. Adam and Lainy gave me a lift back towards Guardbridge and despite the rather high tide I decided I would visit the Fife Bird Club hide rather than the Eden Estuary Centre. I was concerned that crossing the road might be tricky but it turned out to be amazingly easy as there was an immediate break in traffic in both directions just as I was about to cross.
I bumped into a Guardbridge regular coming from the direction of the hide where he said there was an Osprey on the post feeding. He did say that he'd been able to photograph it without scaring it off, from round the side of the hide, which suggests that the lack of waders near the hide when I got inside was a result of this foray into forbidden territory. This behaviour puts the continued use and access around the farm at risk as outlined on the FBC website. ( https://fifebirdclub.org.uk/access-to-edenside-hide/ ). There was indeed an Osprey feeding on a fish atop the post but the majority of other birds were rather distant with nothing within 100 metres, likely as a result of the Osprey photo attempt.
Scanning intro the light I was able to pick out numerous Black Tailed Godwit, plenty Redshank, a smallish flock of Curlew, Carrion Crow, 2 Sandwich Terns, a few Knot, Shelduck, Teal, Oystercatcher, Black Headed Gull, Great Black Backed Gull, Dunlin and Wigeon. A bird which had appeared a bit closer looked a lot like a Whimbrel and photos confirmed that it was another year-tick. A short while later it flew off and landed with another 3 of the species further up the partially flooded field. A nice surprise bonus bird. I added Common Gull, Cormorant, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Pintail, Little Egret and Mute Swan as well as a couple of Peacock butterflies before heading back to Guardbridge to catch the 1805 bus back to Dundee.
Another couple of new additions to the year-list (in bold) among the 59 species seen. Good to catch up with Lainy and Adam (thanks again for the lift!) as well as Graham Ewen and Ken Shaw. Also photographed a few species of bee while walking the coastal path section. Another good day's birding and again nothing too strenuous while enjoying the warm and sunny conditions.
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| Dunnock |
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| Corn Bunting |
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| Corn Bunting |
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| Skylark |
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| Reed Bunting |
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| Meadow Pipit |
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| Common Carder Bee |
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| Gooden's Nomad Bee (Nomada goodeniana(?)) |
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| Gooden's Nomad Bee (Nomada goodeniana(?)) |
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| Swallow |
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| Goldfinch & Woodpigeon |
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| Pied Wagtail |
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| Dunnock |
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| House Martin |
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| House Martin |
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| Willow Warbler |
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| Willow Warbler |
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| Blue Tit |
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| Osprey |
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| Sandwich Tern |
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| Whimbrel |
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| Whimbrel |
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| Redshank, Shelduck, Black Tailed Godwit?, Pintail?, Teal? |
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| Redshnak, Curlew |
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| Whimbrel |
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| Whimbrel |
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| Whimbrel |
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| Whimbrel |
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| Shelduck |
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| Redshank & Whimbrel |
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| Osprey |
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| Common Gull |
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| Osprey |
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| Osprey |
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| Peacock |
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| Whimbrel |
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| Lesser Black Backed Gull |
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| Osprey |
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| Whimbrel |
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| Shelduck |
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| Osprey |
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| Whimbrel |
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| Osprey |
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| Osprey |
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| Osprey |
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| Pintail |
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| Redshank & Black Tailed Godwit |
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| Whimbrel |
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| Shelduck |
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| Whimbrel |
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| Curlew, Oystercatcher, Teal & Little Egret |
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| Black Tailed Godwit & Redshank |
Species seen - Blackbird, Blackcap, Black Headed Gull, Black Tailed Godwit, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Cormorant, Corn Bunting, Curlew, Dunlin, Dunnock, Eider, Fulmar, Gannet, Golden Plover, Goldfinch, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Tit, Grey Heron, Herring Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Knot, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Linnet, Little Egret, Magpie, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Mute Swan, Osprey, Oystercatcher, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Pintail, Redshank, Reed Bunting, Feral Pigeon, Rook, Sand Martin, Sandwich Tern, Shelduck, Skylark, Song Thrush, Starling, Swallow, Teal,
Whimbrel, Whitethroat, Wigeon, Willow Warbler, Woodpigeon, Wren, Yellowhammer.
Butterflies seen - Green Veined White, Peacock, Small Tortoiseshell.
Other insects - Gooden's Nomad Bee (Nomada goodeniana(?)), Buffish Mining bee (Andrena nigroaenea(?)), Common Carder Bee, 7-Spot Ladybird.
