27 Oct 2010-up into real Scotland!

On October 27th, we drove up to Kirriemuir, where we stayed the night with my Uncle Danny, having a day in the Highlands (next post, prbably to be put on tomorra) before heading back down to Edinburgh the following afternoon...

We stopped off first at Fannyside Lochs, near Falkirk. Here were 160 TAIGA BEAN GEESE, in a faraway field with sheep onLuckenburn Farm. This, aside from being great birds, was the first time we've ever parked the car in one county (Clackmannanshire) and seen a bird in another (Falkirk)! The nearest place to the Bean Geese where we could park the car was in fact 20 yards over the border! A few flyover Redpoll and Siskin were also seen/heard. This was only the second time I've seen geese of this race, the previous time being in Feb 2008 in Suffolk.



Taiga Bean Geese, 27 Oct 2010, very distant photo!

The geese were my 190th birds of the year.

We later stopped off at Vane Farm RSPB. Here I had great views of 30 Whooper Swans, my 191st bird of the year. There were also about 300 each of Wigeon and Teal, several Tufted Duck, a few Pochard, 8 Goldeneye and a single male Pintail showing well on the water, and a flock of 80 Pink-footed Geese flying over the Loch fairly distantly, though still showing well until they dropped down on a marsh.



try and find the two Goldeneye and two Pochard in this photo!
The Whooper is a bit more obvious...

a lonely little Black-headed Gull

Whooper Swans, Mallards and a Tufted Duck

Grey Heron in the marsh

Driving along the small B-Roads to Kirriemuir, Fieldfares were in all the fields in brilliant numbers, and a few more flocks of Pink-footed Goose flew over, probably abut 300 overall.

24 Oct-Midlothian birding

In the interests of my sanity, I'm using as little thought in writing this post as possible. Just a list of birds and pics for a change...

Longniddry

• Several big skeins of Pink-footed Goose flew over, 1000+ overall
• waders on the rocky shore were approx. 15 Redshank and the same number of Curlew, 40 Oystercatcher, 40 Bar-tailed Godwit and 40 Turnstone (unbelievably, a yeartick!!)
• offshore were 20 Eider, 40 Common Scoter and a handful of Velvetines, and 2 redhead Red-breasted Mergansers

Oystercatchers and Curlew



a skein of Pink-footed Geese

Redshank

Curlew

Black-headed Gulls

and a few of my picks from the many Turnstone's I photographed

Next up was Aberlady Bay. Waders were the main feature here, with approx 300 Lapwing, 100 Golden Plover and Dunlin, 20 Redshank, Oystercatcherand Curlew and a single Grey Plover(yeartick 187 for Britain). The only wildfowl were 200 Pink-footed Geese, 100 Wigeon a few Shelduck and a single Common Scoter, picked out well flying well offshore...

Grey Plover and Redshank





scenic shots of Aberlady

The final stop was Mussleburgh Lagoons. Here, I had barely got out of the car when I saw a flock of 20 starlingesque birds, making a trilling call it took me a few seconds to recognise. The WAXWINGS gave us a flyby before landing by the lagoons. Out here were 400 Golden Plover, 50 Dunlin and a few Lapwing. As we went to check offshore, we saw a loose flock of 30 Velvet scoter in the distance, 5 Eider scattered accross the sea 3 female-type Goldeneye fairly close in, and 2 female LONG-TAILED DUCK flying west. Walking back, two more female Goldeneye were on the pond by the car park, along with 10 Tufted Duck.

As we drove back to Edinburgh, we saw 2 Roe Deer, in a field off the A720 near Tranent.

some of the Waxwings

various Golden Plover photos

No Rosy, but another Rouzel and a yeartick finch.

News broke through yesterday of a ROSE-COLOURED STARLING, in the scrub at the foot of Castle Hill, Newhaven. Dad wasn't home from work til late evening, and I couldn't face cycling through the human-infested sewage canal that is Newhaven, so I just hoped the bird would still be around today.

Thankfully it was, and, despite Dad having to drive his car through 'the town that God forgot', we arrived fairly opstimistic.

However, the bird hadn't been seen for a few hours, and, according to the whispered wisdom of the birders, it had last been seen disappearing over the clifftop. I took this as the cue to for a healthy scramble up the cliff. (for those who don't live nearby, Newhaven Cliffs are mercifully easy to climb, with a gradient barely steeper than any of the hills nearby and loads of footholds)...

This proved fruitless for the Starling, but there were plenty of Song Thrushes and a few Robins and Dunnocks in the limited scrub. Among the Song Thrushes was one all-dark thrush, giving an all-too familiar 'chack' as it flew away. I was already fairly confdent of it's identity, but it took another five minutes before I saw it again. It was a very nice male RING OUZEL, looking resplendent with his white breastband and scaly wings.
With no sign of the RCS up here, Dad and I hastily scrambled down the cliff and joined the other birders down at the bottom. We waited for another half-hour, but saw no sign of the bird, eventually giving up and heading home just before the sunset. However, the wait hadn't been totally fruitless. A BRAMBLING flew over calling (sussex yeartick 167 and brit yeartick 180), 20+ Swallows passed east along the cliffs, there were 2-3 Rock Pipits entertaining all. 45+ Curlew flew east, presumably going to roost somewhere on the undercliff between Newhaven and Brighton, and the Common Starlings were all flocking together in small groups as we left, though their rare relative was nowhere to be seen.

After a while, i got fed up looking for this non-existent bird, and went to photograph the well-posing gulls in the evening light. Cold fingers and tired eyes made using Manual Focus a bit of an arse, but I did my best. The shots are a bit out of focus, but still better than AF in my opinion.

in the end, two very good birds, even If I missed the best one. Driving back, two Cormorants roosting next to the enormous one at Newhaven (I really need a photo to describe this to non-locals!)

as a final note, very few birds in Seaford today. single figure numbers of Swallows passing over, but not a single mipit or chiffchaff.