Having missed out on any migrants of note on a rather depressing Saturday, I had a theory as to why no-one had managed to find any Bluethroats in Fife. I suspected that the birds had arrived on the Isle of May and Lothian coast via winds from the north-east meaning that we should have been checking along the north coast of the county rather than where we were hunting. The offer of another trip to Crail with Lainy and Adam would give me the chance to belatedly test that theory via a detour to Boarhills Pond on the way to Crail.
 |
| Garden Warbler |
As I waited for Lainy and Adam to arrive I noted Feral Pigeon, Jackdaw, Swift, Goldfinch, Carrion Crow, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Starling and Woodpigeon. From the restricted view of the back seat of the car I was able to add Pheasant before we reached Boarhills around 0920. Thankfully the weather was far warmer and drier than 24 hours earlier. The walk through the village gave us Dunnock, Tree Sparrow, Swallow, Blackbird and Pied Wagtail. A Corn Bunting sang from the wires to the cottages down the track. There seemed to be plenty Whitethroats around in the habitat I was hoping we might stumble upon a Bluethroat in. There were also hundreds of small Diamondback moths, which had apparently arrived along the east coast en masse. There were also lots of 7-spot Ladybirds among the track-side vegetation.
A Great Black Backed Gull drifted over and a few Skylarks headed skywards above the fields. A pair of Lapwings gave some Carrion Crows a hard time and a Linnet overflew before we reached the pond where a singing Reed Bunting greeted us. A Sedge Warbler sang from lower down in the reeds. Offshore we added Eider, Gannet, Curlew and Oystercatcher. Green Veined White and Small Copper butterflies were spotted but there was no sign of anything unusual. Heading back up the track we added Yellowhammer, Grey Partridge, Roe Deer, House Martin with a Greenfinch on wires by the end of the village and Blue Tit added as we wandered back to the car. Unfortunately if there had been any Bluethroats around they were either hiding or gone.
We headed next to Crail where we spent a large chunk of the afternoon near the bottom end of Kilminning watching a mix of migrants as they moved around among the leaves on the trees - Willow Warbler - 1 'normal' bird and 1 paler bird looking a bit Iberian Chiffchaff-like to me, a Wood Warbler which was rather skulking but did announce its presence by shoirt bursts of song which helped a lot, a female Pied Flycatcher which showed quite well at times and a Graden Warbler which also gave us good views at times. In addition a Great Tit shuttled in and out of a nest box while Magpie, Chaffinch and Whitethroat were also around. Lainy managed to see a Blackcap that I missed. Paul joined us for a while but wasn't able to add anything new to his year-list. Will Cresswell, Rob Armstrong and Kim Blasco all spent a little time persuing the migrant mix too. Angus Duncan showed up but as he couldn't get his camera to focus he headed off again rather than use the opportunity to study the mix of warblers that were on show.
Around 1400 we decided to do a spot of seawatching for an hour or so down at Fife Ness. A Red Throated Diver flew past as we wandered down from the car to the rocks. It was fairly typical passage though overall rather quiet. lainy and I sat out on the rocks while Paul and Adam scanned from by the hide and pillbox. Razorbill, Guillemot, Arctic Tern, Sandwich Tern, Kittiwake, Shag, Cormorant, Fulmar, Turnstone, Common Scoter, numerous Velvet Scoter and 3 Bar Tailed Godwits with a flock of Oystercatchers were all added to the list before we called it a day. Another Red Throated Diver headed north as we wandered back to the car.
Both weather-wise and bird-wise a much better day than Saturday though there were no new additions to the year-list among the 52 species seen, and disappointingly no Bluethroats either. It was good to try and ID the variety of Warblers from the parts of the birds just visible among the leaves, (mostly successfully). It also brought my week off work to a close. I managed to see 135 species of bird, 9 of mammal, 8 of butterfly, 1 damselfy and 3 moths during the 9 days off, including 1 lifer bird (Iberian Chiffchaff) and 1 lifer butterfly (Wall).
 |
| Diamondback moth |
 |
| Pied Wagtail |
 |
| Skylark |
 |
| Small Copper |
 |
| Grey Partridge |
 |
| Spider sp. |
 |
| Spider sp. |
 |
| Yellowhammer |
 |
| Swallow |
 |
| House Martin |
 |
| Greenfinch |
 |
| House Martin |
 |
| Pied Flycatcher |
 |
| Garden Warbler |
 |
| Garden Warbler |
 |
| Willow Warbler |
 |
| Willow Warbler |
 |
| Willow Warbler |
 |
| Pied Flycatcher |
 |
| Pied Flycatcher |
 |
| Willow Warbler |
 |
| Wood Warbler |
 |
| Wood warbler |
 |
| Willow Warbler |
 |
| Willow Warbler |
 |
| Garden Warbler |
 |
| Pied Flycatcher |
 |
| Pied Flycatcher |
 |
| Garden Warbler |
 |
| Red Throated Diver |
 |
| Arctic Tern |
 |
| Gannet |
 |
| Shag |
 |
| Bar Tailed Godwit & Oystercatcher |
 |
| Bar Tailed Godwit |
 |
| Guillemot |
 |
| Eider |
 |
| Herring Gull |
 |
| Eider |
 |
| Guillemot & Razorbill |
 |
| Arctic Tern |
 |
| Gannet |
 |
| Velvet Scoter |
 |
| Shag |
 |
| Eider |
 |
| Eider |
 |
| Velvet Scoter |
 |
| Sandwich Tern |
 |
| Shag, Cormorant, Great Black Backed Gull & Herring Gull |
 |
| Cormorant |
 |
| Cormorant |
 |
| Eider |
 |
| Common Scoter |
 |
| Red Throated Diver |
 |
| Eider |
Species seen - Arctic Tern, Bar Tailed Godwit, Blackbird, Blue Tit, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Common Scoter, Cormorant, Corn Bunting, Curlew, Dunnock, Eider, Fulmar, Gannet, Garden Warbler, Goldfinch, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Partridge, Guillemot, Herring Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Kittiwake, Lapwing, Linnet, Magpie, Oystercatcher, Pheasant, Pied Flycatcher, Pied Wagtail, Razorbill, Red Throated Diver, Reed Bunting, Feral Pigeon, Sandwich Tern, Sedge Warbler, Shag, Skylark, Starling, Swallow, Swift, Tree Sparrow, Turnstone, Velvet Scoter, Whitethroat, Willow Warbler, Wood Warbler, Woodpigeon, Yellowhammer.
Butterflies seen - Green Veined White, Small Copper.
Mammals seen - Roe Deer.
Moths seen - Diamondback.
Other insects - 7-Spot Ladybird.
