Having had two early starts on Monday and Tuesday I decided to stay in bed for a bit longer on Wednesday but was still out of bed for around 0815. I decided I would head for Balgove Bay and sit in the hide while the tide came in, and wait until it had receded again afterwards. My main target species was Little Stint but I also hoped to see as much as possible without too much effort (excludiung the walk to/from the hide itself), though the chance of seeing a Stint was quite slim. The weather forecast was another reason to spend a chunk of the day indoors. Strong winds and possible heavy showers. Not really "outside birding" weather.
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| Osprey |
I headed out at around 1045 to catch a bus to the Wellgate Centre for the short walk to the bus station. Herring Gull, Woodpigeon, Carrion Crow and Feral Pigeon were seen on the way. From the bus to St Andrews I was able to add Cormorant, House Martin, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Robin, Swallow, Buzzard, House Sparrow, Rook, Collared Dove, Jackdaw, Starling and some Canada Geese. The walk out to the George Evans Hide got me Pied Wagtails, Blue Tit, Great Tit and Black Headed Gull as well as a few Painted Lady butterflies for the list.
The tide still had a bit to go when I reached the hide, which suited me fine. I found a pair of Ruff and they were joined by another 4 later to take the total to 6. There were lots of gulls out on the mud - Herring, Black Headed and a few Commons. Lapwing, Bar Tailed Godwit, Curlew and Redshank were all noted almost immediately along with Shelduck, Wigeon, Oystercatcher and some distant Ospreys on the posts over by the base. More scanning found Stock Dove, a pair of Pintail which didn't linger for long and a few Black Tailed Godwits. Grey Heron, Teal, Linnet and a Greenshank soon followed them onto the list as the tide rose and the amount of available feeding space dwindled.
A small group of Common Terns flew upriver and a single Dunlin flew by calling loudly. Mallards, Mute Swan and Sandwich Tern were all seen once the tide had covered all the mud. Goosander and Eider were found out on the main river. A Meadow Pipit flew past the front of the hide while a Great Black Backed Gull circled over the river. A few Ospreys had been seen hunting over the river by this time along with the perched birds meaning at least 5 birds were in sight at 1 time. I was distracted by a party of 7 Whimbrel calling as they searched for somewhere to land. One of the Ospreys eventually chose to hover near the hide and dived relatively close, coming up with a large flatfish which gave me a great set of photos, though the autofocus came off the bird as it neared the water due to the rather cluttered background of the base opposite.
For the next few hours I watched a few Ospreys fishing, with a total of at least 7 or 8 dives, some successful, some not. Unfortunately, the majority were rather distant as is usually the case with dives on the Eden. There were likely double figures of individual birds seen throughout my stay in the hide. A raptor over the base and out over the Eden turned out to be a female/immature Marsh Harrier. A Kestrel did a passable impression of a Hobby for around 30 seconds before it became clear that it was only a Kestrel. A few Sand Martins flew past along with Swallows. The Whimbrel flock reappeared with another 2 birds in tow taking the flock size to 9. I packed up just before 1600 and hurried back to catch a bus to Guardbridge for a short visit to the hide there.
This allowed me to add a few more species for the day - Little Egret, Goldfinch, Common Sandpiper, Tree Sparrow, Magpie and Kingfisher. I was able to get a rather nice flight shot of the latter as it flew back to its perch with a fish, lit nicely by the sun. There were once again lots of butterflies at the Buddleia - Peacock, Painted Lady, Red Admiral and Large Whites. A trio of Ruff and a Greenshank were also seen. The Ranger showed up a little later than usual meaning I was able to get an extra 15 minutes birding in before heading home, tired but very happy with the day's efforts. 57 species of bird were noted along with 4 of butterfly.
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| Swallow |
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| Swallow |
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| Swallow |
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| Herring Gull, Common Gull, Black Headed Gull, Ruff, Oystercatcher, Lapwing |
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| Lapwing, Ruff, Bar Tailed Godwit, Black Headed Gull |
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| Canada Goose |
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| Canada Goose, Shelduck, Herring Gull |
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| Curlew, Herring Gull |
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| Pintail |
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| Pintail |
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| Bar Tailed Godwit, Ruff, Black Tailed Godwit, Common Gull |
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| Stock Dove |
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| Black Tailed Godwit |
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| Mallard |
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| Black Tailed Godwit, Ruff, Bar Tailed Godwit |
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| Common Gull, Ruff |
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| Jackdaw, Lapwing, Ruff, Black Headed Gull |
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| Ruff |
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| Ruff |
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| Sandwich Tern |
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| Greenshank |
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| Whimbrel |
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| Ruff |
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| Teal |
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| Teal |
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| Ruff |
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| Common Tern |
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| Herring Gull & Ruff |
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| Shelduck, Common Gull, Black Headed Gull & Herring Gull |
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| Common Tern |
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| Common Tern |
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| Common Tern |
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| Shelduck & Osprey |
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| Marsh Harrier |
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| Ruff |
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| Canada Goose |
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| Black Headed Gull |
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| Shelduck |
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| Great Black Backed Gull |
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| Common Tern |
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| Osprey & Herring Gull |
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| Osprey & Black Headed Gull |
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| Osprey |
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| Osprey |
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| Osprey |
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| Osprey |
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| Osprey |
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| Osprey |
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| Osprey |
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| Osprey |
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| Osprey |
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| Osprey |
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| Osprey |
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| Osprey |
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| Osprey & Common Gull |
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| Osprey & Common Gull |
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| Osprey |
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| Osprey |
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| Osprey |
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| Osprey |
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| Osprey |
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| Osprey & Common Gull |
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| Osprey |
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| Osprey & Common Tern |
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| Teal & Wigeon |
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| Osprey |
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| Osprey & Common Tern |
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| Osprey |
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| Osprey |
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| Osprey |
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| Osprey |
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| Osprey |
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| Osprey |
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| Osprey |
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| Osprey |
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| Black Headed Gull |
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| Canada Goose |
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| Curlew |
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| Osprey |
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| Carrion Crow |
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| Sand Martin |
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| Whimbrel |
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| Whimbrel |
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| Large White |
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| Black Headed Gull & Wigeon |
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| Kestrel |
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| Lapwing |
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| Oystercatcher |
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| Lapwing, Shelduck, Common Gull, Herring Gull, Black Headed Gull, Ruff |
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| Lesser Black Backed Gull |
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| Common Gull |
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| Greenshank & Redshank |
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| Ruff, Redshank & Dunlin |
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| Ruff, Redshank |
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| Linnet & Goldfinch |
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| Common Sandpiper |
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| Ruff |
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| Kingfisher |
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| Kingfisher |
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| Kingfisher |
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| Kingfisher |
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| Kingfisher |
Species seen - Bar Tailed Godwit, Black Headed Gull, Black Tailed Godwit, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Canada Goose, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Common Sandpiper, Common Tern, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunlin, Eider, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Tit, Greenshank, Grey Heron, Herring Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Kestrel, Kingfisher, Lapwing, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Linnet, Little Egret, Magpie, Mallard, Marsh Harrier, Meadow Pipit, Mute Swan, Osprey, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Pintail, Redshank, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rook, Ruff, Sand Martin, Sandwich Tern, Shelduck, Starling, Stock Dove, Swallow, Teal, Tree Sparrow, Whimbrel, Wigeon, Woodpigeon.
Butterflies seen - Large White, Painted Lady, Peacock, Red Admiral.
