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Long Tailed Skua
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I had intended to head to the top of the Law on Saturday morning for some rather overdue vis-migging efforts. However, Ian suggested a trip to Fife instead, so Fife it was. Recently sea-watching there has been rather varied and has produced some very good birds. The winds were to be from the east meaning that there was also a decent chance of some nice migrants dropping in. Ian arranged to pick me up at around 0730 to head for Crail. A Meadow Pipit flying over as I waited for Ian to arrive seemed to bode well for our chances of catching up with a migrant or two.
Rook and Collared Dove were added as we reached Leuchars. Lapwings were seen from the car as we headed towards St Andrews as were a number of Canada Geese in the fields just before the golf course. We found the road to Crail was closed which meant a bit of a detour. This did mean we got Pheasant on the list for the day. Arriving in Crail at around 0825 we decided to check the relative shelter of Denburn Wood. Song Thrush, Blackbird, Grey Wagtail and Chaffinch were noted in the wood while there was a small mixed group of gulls in the fields to the north. A party of Linnets were feeding along the edge of the 'new' graveyard and a pair of Swifts were seen over the 'old' graveyard by the church.
After around half an hour we drove out to Kilminning to check for migrants there. Blue Tit, Great Tit and Wren as well as more Song Thrushes were in the bushes and trees at the top end. After 20 minutes or so of searching, Ian and I were on opposite sides of the concrete 'square' when Ian shouted across to me "Skua!". I looked up to where he was pointing, almost directly above me, and there was a rather slim looking grey-ish juvenile
Long Tailed Skua. Thankfully I managed to get some photos of the bird before it headed on over the trees in the direction of Balcomie. The bird had been seen over the airfield by Jared Wilson who had managed to get a few more distant shots.
Despite much searching we failed to find any obvious migrants around the top end, though I suspect the Song Thrushes were most likely migrants fresh in and there was a chance the tits may also have been too. We drove down to the bottom end and scanned out over the grey water. Our raised position helped to pick out a few species over the sea including Gannet, Goosander, Great Black Backed Gull, Shag, Curlew, Fulmar and Common Scoter. We then had a slow wander in search of at least something that we could tell was a freshly arrived migrant rather than a local. I watched a few Great Tits and Blue Tits working through the roadside bushes down the track to the car park. A Garden Warbler popped out in front of me briefly but it proved to be relatively elusive over the next 10 minutes or so as the feeding flock worked their way through the trees along the western side of the road.
A few Red Admiral butterflies and a very distant Buzzard were noted before we headed down across the golf course for some hopefully productive sea-watching. There were a few folk sat outside the hide including Tommy Ross. We had a short chat with Tommy while we got set up. It didn't take long to start seeing 'decent' birds with a trio of Red Throated Divers passing southbound. A small flock of 10 Wigeon had a single Teal tagging along with them. Our first Arctic Skua didn't take too long before putting in an appearance, nor did the first 3 Manx Shearwaters. Eider, Guillemot, Razorbill, Sandwich Tern and Arctic Tern were noted over the course of the next half hour as well as a single Great Skua. More Manxies passed by as well as a few more Red Throated Divers.
Ian spotted a small pod of Bottlnose Dolphins passing northwards. A flock of Teal went south and Black Headed Gull and Kittiwake were noted. Around 1245 it began to rain, so Ian and I decided to take advantage of the shelter provided by the hide. This did mean that keeping an accurate total of birds being seen by not just us, but also the other 2 observers - Darren Hemsley and Pete Carroll, would be impossible - as we wouldn't know for sure which birds we all saw. It was more of the same from the hide with more Arctic Skuas, Manx Shearwaters and Red Throated Divers in particular. Another Great Skua went south and a Puffin headed in the opposite direction. A few more Common Scoters passed by. There were a few waders around - Oystercatcher, Redshank and Turnstone in particular.
We packed up at around 1450 having managed a decent mix of species though without any of the more spectacular species seen recently by others from the hide (though we did get one of those species elsewhere). Ringed Plover were added as we headed for the car and homewards again. We managed to amass a total of 61 species for the day with a single year-tick (in bold) in amongst them. Unfortunately the light wasn't too great for most of the day so a lot of the photos taken turned out to be 'not very good'. Once again it was an enjoyable visit to Fife with another decent find to add to our list of 'goodies' found on our visits of the past few years. Hopefully there will be more before the Autumn is over....
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| Swift |
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Long Tailed Skua
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Great Black Backed Gull
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Common Scoter
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Great Tit
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Red Throated Diver
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Wigeon & Teal
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Manx Shearwater
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Red Throated Diver
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Bottlenose Dolphin
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Arctic Skua
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Arctic Skua
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Arctic Skua
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Common Scoter
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Red Throated Diver
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| Fulmar |
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| Gannet |
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Arctic Skua & Gannet
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Arctic Skua
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| Gannet |
Birds - Arctic Skua, Arctic Tern, Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Canada Goose, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Common Scoter, Common Tern, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunnock, Eider, Fulmar, Gannet, Garden Warbler, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Skua, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Grey Wagtail, Guillemot, Herring Gull, House Martin, Jackdaw, Kittiwake, Lapwing, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Linnet, Long Tailed Skua, Magpie, Manx Shearwater, Meadow Pipit, Oystercatcher, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Razorbill, Redshank, Red Throated Diver, Ringed Plover, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rook, Sandwich Tern, Shag, Song Thrush, Starling, Swallow, Swift, Teal, Turnstone, Wigeon, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Butterflies - Red Admiral.
Mammals - Bottlenose Dolphin.
