With Paul back onshore and a rather unfavourable weather forecast for Wednesday, I had to come up with a plan that gave Paul a chance at adding to his year-list (and possibly mine too) while also avoiding getting soaked. There was nothing around on Tuesday that could be guaranteed to still be around on Wednesday. I suggested we start at Balgove Bay as the tide receded - a chance of Ruff and Curlew Sandpiper, possibly Little Stint too, then to Kingsbarns to check for Black Tern among (hopefully) other terns offshore. From there we would then spend a couple of hours in the hide at Fife Ness to let the forecast heavy rain pass through - Shearwaters the main target here. Then we would head back inland - trying for White Tailed Eagle on the Eden then down to The Wilderness and Letham Pools in the hope of seeing the same species of waders as we hoped to see in Balgove Bay.
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| Cormorant |
I arranged to meet Paul in the Balgove Bay hide around 0800 (the
earliest I could get there without getting out of bed in the middle of
the night). It did mean catching the 0705 bus, so I headed out at around
0645. Herring Gull, Feral Pigeon, Goldfinch, Blue Tit, Woodpigeon and
Carrion Crow were seen on the way to the bus station. The bus journey
added Lesser Black Backed Gull, Cormorant, Swallow, Rook, Jackdaw, House
Martin, Grey Heron, Starling and Canada Geese. As I was trying to get
to the hide as quickly as I could I decided to leave my camera in the
bag (which meant that I would likely miss photo opportunities that don't
come along too often). Curlews were on the rugby pitches and Meadow
Pipits were passing overhead. Large numbers of Swallows and Martins were
around the Old Course Hotel.
Black Headed Gulls were
also seen on the rugby pitches along with a few Woodpigeon. A Great
Black Backed Gull glided over as I headed out past the car park. A
Common Gull was seen on the fairway before a Stock Dove flew up and
landed in a nearby tree. On another fairway I counted 7 Wheatear feeding
relatively close together. A few minutes further on and they flew past
me, low over the grass in a tight flock (missed photo opportunity
number1). I scanned ahead to see if I could determine the tide state -
still well in. An Osprey was hunting somewhere near the hide so I messaged
Paul who had let me know he'd already arrived as I was still on the bus.
A
few Mallard flew over the bay near where a large number of Curlew were
roosting along the shore. As I walked parallel to the bay a small gull flitted by close to me.
The flight style was very tern-like and a quick check confirmed my
suspicions - a Little Gull (missed photo opportunity number 2). More
Meadow Pipits and Swallows were passing over headed west as I neared the
hide. A Moorhen was heard from the pond and a Pied Wagtail was wandering around on the
course nearby. I found Paul inside the hide with water still lapping at
the bottom of the seawall and lots of gulls out on the water.
A
small flock of Wigeon were noted and I found a trio of Pintail nearby.
There were plenty of (mostly young) Shelduck around. Oystercatcher and
Curlew were seen further out to the east in flight. The tide finally
began to recede visibly after around 30 minutes. This did bring a bit of
movement with Ruff appearing (6 eventually) - a year-tick for Paul.
Redshank, Bar Tailed Godwit, Black Tailed Godwit and a few Dunlin were
spotted over the next 30 minutes or so as the mud reappeared. There were 3 Ospreys visible on the 3
obvious posts in the estuary and a few others were seen hunting. Sand Martin and Linnet flew past. I picked
up a very distant flock of Pink Footed Geese out to the west as 2
Apache helicopters took off from the base.
I found 4
Ringed Plover and a single Lapwing and Paul added a Knot and a
Greenshank to our growing list. A Peregrine roared through at low level
chasing a Dunlin, which luckily managed to escape. By now it was around 0930 and the tide
was now far enough out that our chances of adding much was dwindling and
the sky was looking a good bit greyer out to the west - the direction
the rain was forecast to arrive from. A Kestrel and some more Wheatears
were seen as we walked back across the golf course. The rain started as
we drove out of the car park. We then caught every set of traffic lights in
St Andrews but made it to Kingsbarns a relatively short while later.
A
Painted Lady butterfly was flying around as we wandered along west from the
car park scanning out over the beach and the sea. Gannets were diving
for fish and there were a few Eider on the water. A Red Throated Diver
headed east at speed well out over the sea. A Sandwich Tern pair flew past. A few Linnets were on the beach and a bird that flew off quickly was thought to have been a Wheatear but photos seem to show a Whinchat. The rain seemed to
be closing in again so we headed back to the car to try to get to Fife
Ness before it. A Collared Dove and House Sparrows were seen in Crail
and a Corn Bunting landed in a roadside bush as we drove slowly by. We decided
to have a quick check around the top end of Kilminning, Goldcrest, Blue
Tit, Great Tit, Willow Warbler and Magpie were noted. The bottom end was
a lot quieter so we headed for Fife Ness.
There was
steady passage of Gannets but not too much else though eventually we
were able to add a few other species including Shag, Cormorant,
Kittiwake (66 - including 1 flock of 49), Great Skua (2), Fulmar, Common Tern (5), Common Scoter
(9) and a Red Throated Diver. Rock Pipits, Wheatear and Pied Wagtails
were feeding among the rocks out front. Great Black Backed Gulls,
Curlew, Oystercatcher, Redshank, Dunlin and Turnstone were also around.
We spent around 90 minutes sea-watching in total while waiting for the rather heavy
rain to pass. We were going to head back to Out Head to check for White
Tailed Eagle but realised that we would be able to see the posts the
birds might be on, from the Guardbridge hide anyway. I also decided there was
no great reason for me to continue on to Letham Pools and The
Wilderness. I would instead spend the rest of the afternoon at Guardbridge when Paul headed for home.
We had the hide to ourselves when we
arrived at Guardbridge. There were 2 Little Egrets visible by the river.
Tree Sparrows were at the almost empty feeders. A single Goosander swam
past. There were some rather distant Mute Swans quite far downstream. A
few Ospreys were visible and the Kingfisher landed on the post out
front but flew off again soon after. A Robin and a Dunnock showed at the feeders
before Paul headed for home via Ladybank and Letham. A Wheatear on the fence opposite was a surprise. A larger skein of Pink Footed Geese than the one seen in the morning passed southwards down the coast. I was joined by
Harry and another couple and we all had views of a Mistle Thrush at the top of one of the
conifers. A Great Spotted Woodpecker was heard calling from the same general area but stayed out of sight. A Chaffinch was seen out to the left and a pair of Collared
Doves visited the feeders. There were lots of Red Admirals around the
Buddleia. Most of the waders were far downriver but a flock of Lapwings
dropped in and a few Redshanks joined them. Nothing new was added in the
last hour before I called it a day and headed home.
A decent haul of 73 species in spite of the weather, and 2 of butterflies. Only 1 of the target bird species was seen but we've had less productive day's birding. Lots of evidence of migration with Meadow Pipits, Pied Wagtails, Swallows and Wheatear in particular clearly on passage.
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| Canada Goose |
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| Black Headed Gull, Pintail & Shelduck |
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| Black Headed Gull, Shelduck, Pintail & Mallard |
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| Pink Footed Goose |
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| Wigeon, Shelduck & Black Tailed Godwit |
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| Black Tailed Godwit |
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| Bar Tailed Godwit & Black Headed Gull |
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| Ruff, Mallard & Black Headed Gull |
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| Ruff, Herring Gull & Shelduck |
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| Ruff |
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| Black Headed Gull, Oystercatcher & Dunlin |
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| Dunlin & Oysteractcher |
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| Jackdaw |
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| Black Headed Gull |
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| Woodpigeon |
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| Bar Tailed Godwit |
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| Greenshank |
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| Peregrine & Dunlin & Curlew (& gull sp.) |
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| Peregrine & Jackdaw |
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| Kestrel |
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| Wheatear |
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| Wheatear |
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| Red Throated Diver |
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| Meadow Pipit |
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| Linnet & Whinchat |
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| Whinchat |
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| Willow Warbler |
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| Gannet |
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| Gannet |
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| Meadow Pipit |
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| Common Tern |
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| Pied Wagtail |
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| Wheatear |
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| Wheatear |
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| Fulmar & Shag |
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| Common Tern |
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| Red Throated Diver |
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| Wheatear |
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| Common Scoter |
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| Wheatear |
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| Herring Gull |
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| Rock Pipit |
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| Eider |
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| Fulmar |
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| Common Scoter |
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| Kittiwake |
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| Great Skua |
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| Great Skua |
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| Turnstone |
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| Osprey |
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| Wheatear |
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| Kingfisher |
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| Lapwing |
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| Little Egret |
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| Collared Dove |
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| Little Egret |
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| Cormorant |
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| Pink Footed Goose |
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| Mistle Thrush |
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| Cormorant |
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| Swallow |
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| Lapwing |
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| Osprey |
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| Osprey |
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| Osprey, Herring Gull & Curlew |
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| Red Admiral |
Species seen - Bar Tailed Godwit, Black Headed Gull, Black Tailed Godwit, Blue Tit, Canada Goose, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Common Scoter, Common Tern, Cormorant, Corn Bunting, Curlew, Dunlin, Dunnock, Eider, Fulmar, Gannet, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Skua, Great Tit, Greenshank, Grey Heron, Herring Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Kestrel, Kingfisher, Knot, Lapwing, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Linnet, Little Egret, Little Gull, Magpie, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Mistle Thrush, Mute Swan, Osprey, Oystercatcher, Peregrine, Pied Wagtail, Pink Footed Goose, Pintail, Redshank, Red Throated Diver, Ringed Plover, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rock Pipit, Rook, Ruff, Sand Martin, Sandwich Tern, Shag, Shelduck, Starling, Stock Dove, Swallow, Tree Sparrow, Turnstone, Wheatear, Whinchat, Wigeon, Willow Warbler, Woodpigeon.
Butterflies seen - Painted Lady, Red Admiral.
