As Ian and I were both off work on Monday we arranged for another attempt to see the birds we'd missed out on in Fife 2 days earlier, when the Cattle Egret that had been reported in Aberdeenshire failed to linger long enough to make it worth our while to try to catch up with it. An earlier start of 0730 was arranged which would hopefully mean we would catch the receding tide and see the wader species we were hoping for before they moved further round in the river making them harder to pick out.
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| Peregrine |
We arrived at Guardbridge around 0750 and headed to the wooden shelter next to the hide, spotting a Sparrowhawk on our way in. The mud was already largely exposed but fortunately for us the waders were mostly strung out along the shore opposite. Scanning through them I quickly found a few
Curlew Sandpipers (there were at least 6 in total, possibly more) and Ian found a
Ruff. Those were 2 of our target sppecies. In addition there were a few Black Tailed Godwits, 3 Turnstones, plenty of Redshanks and Dunlin as well as a few Curlew and Oystercatchers. A single Pink Footed Goose took off before landing back beside another 4 of the species over towards the base. There were still a few Canada Geese dotted about and I picked out a quartet of Brent Geese in the distance at Coble Shore.
There were lots of hirundines - House Martins and Swallows, passing over, as well as Meadow Pipits and Siskins with some of the latter dropping into the trees on the other side of the hide. Ian found an Osprey on the mud and later I found another, before Ian picked up a third fishing. A Buzzard was on a fence post over at the farm, and a young Peregrine caused a bit of havoc by aqttempting to catch some breakfast but failing, though we did get a rapid pull-up just in front of us as it chased a flock of Dunlin upriver. There were a mixture of gull species around - mostly Herring and Black Headed but also a few Common and Great Black Backed. There were also at least 5 Grey Herons and 9 Little Egrets which flew off eastwards towards the outer estuary. A party of 4 Mute Swans were picked out distantly.
We found some Mallard and Wigeon as well as two pairs of Pintail and a few Goldeneye, but strangely no Teal were seen. It took a while to get Goosander on the list too. Just after 0905 I heard an unfamiliar call just as a wader landed opposite. It had to be a Spotted Redshank, and it was - a bird Ian was hoping to see. We had decent views and were joined by a few other birders around 1000 before we set off for Crail. We decided to check Denburn Wood when we arrived there. Although areas have been cut back - improving the view a bit for potential Autumn visitors - we failed to find anything more interesting than a couple of Stock Doves and young Song Thrushes.
Kilminning was our next stop and I added my third year-tick of the morning when a single
Golden Plover flew over. Things were relatively quiet at the top end though I did eventually find a single Goldcrest. Otherwise it was fairly standard fayre though there was a good sized flock of Goldfinches with a few Linnets feeding on the seed heads on both sides of the road down towards the karting track. I found a Silver Y moth and a larger flock of maybe 50 Golden Plover flew over before we headed down to the bottom end. There were a couple of Roe Deer in the field but birds were few and far between. We headed down to Fife Ness around 1235.
Angus Duncan and another photographer were sat on the small wooden bench so Ian and I stood between the pillbox and hide to scope out over the sea. As with Saturday it was largely Gannets that were moving. A single Common Scoter headed past northwards - a species we hadn't seen on Saturday. Otherwise it was mostly a mix of fairly common species - Fulmar, Cormorant, Razorbill, Shag, Guillemot, Sandwich Tern and Kittiwake. Waders were similar to Saturday though a pair of Bar Tailed Godwits did add some variety. I picked up a distant Common Tern heading northwards around 1310 and a single Red Throated Diver high southwards around 1325. A small group of 7 Brent Geese passed northwards too.
Ian picked up a Skua low over the water heading south about half-way out. It had to be either a young Arctic or a Pomarine, and after checking photos against books at home I settled on it being an Arctic. Well out on the horizon I picked up a bird which was arcing up rather high, compared to the Gannets and Fulmars and at a much lazier pace and trajectory (more "bowler hat" curve shaped than a gentle arc). The bird didn't appear 'black' on the topside but there was quite a lot of heat shimmer and there was only really flight style to go on. It reminded me of my only Cory's Shearwater but checking the recent Shearwaters book and video Great Shearwater seemed a better fit for the flight style. As no-one elsewhere picked up a 'large' Shearwater, it will have to be one that got away. Another Common Scoter passed going south.
A Small White butterfly flitted by shortly before Ian picked up a distant Swift to the north around 10 minutes before we called it a day at 1530. The Swift was hawking around the car park area with House Martins when we drove past. A Kestrel was seen near the Fairmount golf course and a small covey of Grey Partridges flew over into a field as we neared the 5 roads roundabout. A Lesser Black Backed Gull was atop a lamp post at the Dundee end of the roadbridge taking the total for the day to 75 species including 3 year-ticks (in bold). All in all a rather good day out, despite the slight disappointment of the one that got away. Had one of the more experienced Fife sea-watchers been with us the outcome may have been different but given how successful we had been with the waders in the morning we can hardly complain.
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| Ruff & Redshank |
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| Redshank, Turnstone & Dunlin |
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| Pink Footed Goose |
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| Redshank, Curlew Sandpiper & Ruff |
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| Redshank & Curlew Sandpiper |
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| Peregrine |
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| Dunlin, Redshank & Ruff |
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| Dunlin |
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| Little Egret |
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| Dunlin & Turnstone |
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| Grey Heron |
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| Spotted Redshank |
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| Spotted Redshank |
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| Ruff |
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| Curlew |
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| Spotted Redshank |
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| Peregrine |
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| Peregrine |
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| Redshank & Dunlin |
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| Dunlin |
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| Magpie |
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| Redshank, Spotted Redshank & Dunlin |
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| Pink Footed Goose |
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| Grey Heron |
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| House Martin |
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| Goldfinch & Linnet |
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| Golden Plover |
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| Swallow |
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| Goldfinch |
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| Linnet |
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| Golden Plover |
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| Golden Plover |
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| Goldfinch |
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| Woodpigeon |
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| Grey Heron |
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| Cormorant |
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| Red Throated Diver |
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| Arctic Skua |
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| Arctic Skua |
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| Arctic Skua |
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| Arctic Skua |
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| Arctic Skua |
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| Arctic Skua |
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| Dunlin, Knot, Turnstone & Bar Tailed Godwit |
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| Common Gull |
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| Sandwich Tern |
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| Sandwich Tern |
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| Eider |
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| Grey Heron |
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| Grey Heron |
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| Grey Seal |
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| Gannet |
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| Gannet |
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| Swift |
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| Cormorant |
Species seen -Arctic Skua, Bar Tailed Godwit, Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Black Tailed Godwit, Blue Tit, Brent Goose, Buzzard, Canada Goose, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Common Sandpiper, Common Scoter, Common Tern, Cormorant, Curlew,
Curlew Sandpiper, Dunlin, Eider, Fulmar, Gannet, Goldcrest,
Golden Plover, Goldeneye, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Grey Partridge, Guillemot, Herring Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Kestrel, Kittiwake, Knot, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Linnet, Little Egret, Magpie, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Mute Swan, Osprey, Oystercatcher, Peregrine, Pied Wagtail, Pink Footed Goose, Pintail, Razorbill, Redshank, Red Throated Diver, Ringed Plover, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rook,
Ruff, Sandwich Tern, Shag, Siskin, Song Thrush, Sparrowhawk, Spotted Redshank, Starling, Stock Dove, Swallow, Swift, Turnstone, Wigeon, Woodpigeon.
Butterflies seen - Small White.
Mammals seen - Roe Deer.
Moths seen - Silver Y.
