Some rather unfortunate car trouble put paid to my original birding plans for New Year's Day 2020 with Paul, meaning I would have to resort to my usual walk to Broughty Ferry or Riverside Nature Park routine with somewhere between 50 and 60 species likely depending on how my luck played out. However, Jacqui got in touch to suggest an attempt to see as many species as possible on the 1st. She would do the driving if I would put together a plan. Although 100 species was the suggested target it was unlikely we would reach that given there would be less than 8 hours of daylight and we've yet to come close in either Angus or Fife to 100 species even in May, or September. I thought 75-80 was likely to be our limit if our luck held.
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| Smew |
The forecast was dry but quite windy with temperatures above freezing all day which was a plus. The tide state however wasn't in our favour with low tide around lunchtime meaning that there would be a lot of exposed mud to scan across to find birds. We decided on an 0800 pick-up and a route around Fife that we were unlikely to manage to squeeze in completely but which most of the end total would be made up of species seen in the first half of the proposed route. I headed out just before 0755 to meet Jacqui and off we went for Tayport having seen a couple of Blackbirds as my 1st bird species of the new decade.
Tayport Pond and the shoreline just over the sea wall gave us a decent start in the half-light pre-dawn. We then headed round to the area by the Foodmek factory to check from there. A Little Egret was the best find before we set off for Morton Lochs just after sunrise where we spotted Crossbills from the car along with a nice mix of species on the Loch and at the feeders with a few Jays and some Long Tailed Tits showing well, along with at least 3 Red Squirrels. We dropped into Guardbridge to add a few waders primarily with a Greenshank our best find there. Next stop was Out Head where we drew a blank on Snow Bunting but succeeded with Pintail, Slavonian Grebe and a single Brent Goose in Balgove Bay.
There were plenty of birders scanning from the edge of the car park at the Golf Museum and although we missed out on a Kingfisher we did add Scaup, Velvet Scoter and a Peregrine as well as a few Great Crested Grebes. We decided not to look for Purple Sandpiper along near the harbour as there was a chance of getting them at Fife Ness later in the day. Instead we stopped at the Kinness Burn where a Dipper was found easily. Cameron Reservoir was our next destination and we found a large flock of Yellowhammers and some Fielfares as we drove out there. We struggled to find the drake Smew from the far end but eventually managed to see it from a more sheltered spot out of the wind. A Grey Wagtail and a pair of Bullfinches were also seen at the reservoir.
We didn't spend much time looking for Black Redstart at Crail, deciding to try Kilminning which turned out to be very quiet instead and then down to the hide at Fife Ness. Unfortunately things were very quiet offshore too. Thankfully a flock of waders including around a dozen Purple Sandpipers flew up from the rocks and a wander along to Balcomie beach gave us one last species - a flock of Sanderling which were not being allowed to settle by a dog which chased every bird it saw while the owner wandered along behind quite unconcerned. The Sanderling took us to an unexpected 84 species for the day. A very good total for a 'normal' day out in Fife and really good for such a short day with both of us chipping in with sightings that added numbers to the list. I did take a camera with me but it stayed in the bag all day, so the photos illustrating this post are all 'stock photos' from my collection.
Species seen - Dundee to/and Tayport - Blackbird, Herring Gull, Mallard, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Carrion Crow, Pied Wagtail, Teal, Black Headed Gull, Cormorant, Oystercatcher, Grey Heron, Common Gull, Redshank, Bar Tailed Godwit, Wigeon, Curlew, Magpie, Woodpigeon, Knot, Pink Footed Goose, Little Egret, Shelduck, Dunnock.
Tayport to/and Morton Lochs - House Sparrow, Starling, Buzzard, Feral Pigeon, Pheasant, Tufted Duck, Little Grebe, Coot, Crossbill, Coal Tit, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Robin, Jay, Chaffinch, Siskin, Long Tailed Tit, Goldfinch, Gadwall, Wren.
Morton Lochs to/and Guardbridge - Rook, Mistle Thrush, Jackdaw, Collared Dove, Dunlin, Tree Sparrow, Black Tailed Godwit, Greenshank, Treecreeper, Goldeneye, Red Breasted Merganser.
Mammals seen - Red Squirrel.
St Andrews (Out Head, Balgove Bay, Bruce Embankment, Kinness Burn) - Linnet, Stonechat, Reed Bunting, Turnstone, Pintail, Long Tailed Duck, Slavonian Grebe, Eider, Great Black Backed Gull, Brent Goose, Ringed Plover, Common Scoter, Scaup, Velvet Scoter, Fulmar, Great Crested Grebe, Rock Pipit, Peregrine, Dipper.
Mammals seen - Grey Seal.
St Andrews to/and Cameron Reservoir - Yellowhammer, Fieldfare, Goosander, Grey Wagtail, Bullfinch, Smew.
Cameron Reservoir to/and Crail/Kilminning/Fife Ness/Balcomie Beach - Great Spotted Woodpecker, Shag, Sanderling, Purple Sandpiper.
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| Common Gull |
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| Sanderling, Dunlin & Ringed Plover |
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| Pheasant |
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| Tree Sparrow |
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| Grey Wagtail |
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| Long Tailed Duck |
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| Peregrine |
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| Great Spotted Woodpecker |
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| Slavonian Grebe |
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| Rock Pipit |
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| Moorhen |
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| Long Tailed Tit |
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| Stonechat |
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| Brent Goose |
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| Fulmar |
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| Chaffinch |
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| Bar Tailed Godwit |
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| Bullfinch |
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| Crossbill |
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| Dipper |
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| Velvet Scoter |
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| Grey Heron & Little Egret |
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| Purple Sandpiper |
Species seen -Bar Tailed Godwit, Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Black Tailed Godwit, Blue Tit, Brent Goose, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Common Scoter, Coot, Cormorant, Crossbill, Curlew, Dipper, Dunlin, Dunnock, Eider, Fieldfare, Fulmar, Gadwall, Goldeneye, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Crested Grebe, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great Tit, Greenshank, Grey Heron, Grey Wagtail, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Jay, Knot, Linnet, Little Egret, Little Grebe, Long Tailed Duck, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Mistle Thrush, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Peregrine, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Pink Footed Goose, Pintail, Purple Sandpiper, Red Breasted Merganser, Redshank, Reed Bunting, Ringed Plover, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rock Pipit, Rook, Sanderling, Scaup, Shag, Shelduck, Siskin, Slavonian Grebe, Smew, Starling, Stonechat, Teal, Tree Sparrow, Treecreeper, Tufted Duck, Turnstone, Velvet Scoter, Wigeon, Woodpigeon, Wren, Yellowhammer.
Mammals seen - Grey Seal, Red Squirrel.
