Very mild night in Fife last night so the trap came out of the loft. I seem to have skipped the late winter stage and gone straight to spring. Shame, as I would have liked some Ushers.
(cat #26 on PSL categories 2021 - see tab)
 |
| Tortricodes alternella, terrible photo |
 |
| Pale Brindled Beauty |
 |
| Chestnut, one of 6 |
Very bored with snow covered ground inland and being "reduced" to birdwatching for days, I spent two nice sessions at the seaside, Basically I wanted to tick some PSL categories, but I forgot how nice it was to be rockpooling and rock-turning, even in winter. A selection of photos, Saturday a.m.
 |
| Butterfish, preceded by ... |
 |
| Shanny, with photobombing starfish |
 |
| Same starfish |
 |
| Onchidoris bilamellata, with eggs |
 |
| Not at its most photogenic - Beadlet Anemone |
 |
| An alga. Fucus serratus |
 |
| Idotea granulosa (pair), and an overlooked chiton |
 |
| Long-clawed Porcelain Crab |
 |
| Sea squirts |
 |
| Neoamphitrite figulus, a worm |
 |
| Pullet Carpet Shell (Venerupis corrugata) |
 |
| Balanus balanus |
 |
| Baby jellyfish ... I think |
So yesterday I bumped into someone who told me there was a Glaucous Gull at Burntisland Harbour. Hmm. That sounded like it might be within my 5MR area, but then I checked the directions it was 6.9 miles away. Damn! However, that was only the road distance, so it turned out the diameter of my circle exactly encompassed the harbour. Yay!
We had planned to go and feed the ducks with the boy at a nearby pond (Kinghorn Loch, RN Duck, definitely outside 5MR). On the way we passed a layby full of whale twitchers and I pulled into the last available space. 5 minutes later there was a spout and a fin broke the water - hooray!
Arriving at Burntisland station, adjacent to the harbour, I grabbed a couple of slices of duck/goose bread and flung a few bits to the edge of the harbour. 30 seconds later in come 20 or so gulls, one of which was the young Glaucous. Well, that was too easy! Very nice, though. I didn't even have my phone, so not even a sketchy pic of either, sadly. They're available online already if anyone wants a look.
 |
| A. Whale; B. Glaucous Gull |
Pack ice in the bay today. Last time I saw that was The Beast. There were a couple of Lapwings that I've been searching after for a while. Judging by their head plumage they've probably been forced off some breeding site in a nearby field.
 |
| Arthur's Seat and wader roost |
 |
| Pack ice |
 |
| Peewit, at last |
 |
| looking west |
 |
| blue sky between squalls |
 |
| chilly wader roost |
Met another Bay birder at lunch and was glad to hear that I'm not alone in looking for Little Auks with no luck. I have missed out on a RN Grebe and a couple of Little Gull, it seems. But then I had other things to do. Now I don't, since everything's under snow! Might try to get in a quick session tomorrow morning. Some nice Godwits were a welcome surprise in the high tide roost. Not a stormer, but a good one for here.
Thousands of Pinkies were heading south in a short time and Skylarks were flitting all over the place, too. A few Fieldfare and Redwings were also in the mix of movers. Not very comfortable weather for outdoor living.
 |
| even more chilly wader roost |
69 Grey Wagtail
70 Common Buzzard
71 Fieldfare
72 Bar-tailed Godwit
He may have made their tiny wings - but he didn't make them come far enough up the Forth, or at least near enough to me. No Little Auk in the Bay today. In fact the only auk was a nice Razorbill which I'd already seen. For all I know it's the same Razorbill. I'll try again later. I promised to stare pointlessly at the water for an hour but half an hour was enough in the shelter of the sailing club given the lack of mega movements. A few Kittiwake were bumping about and a couple of Fulmar. RB Merganser was the third addition but everything else was already on the list and fairly routine.
66 Kittiwake
67 Fulmar
68 Red-breasted Merganser
A few species still trickling onto the 5MR list, with Tree Sparrow and Cormorant the unsurprising additions from today's lunchtime walk along the Dalgety Bay coastal path. At 65 species still lots of commoner species to see and nothing that would count as a patch bonus.
Yesterday the news came in that just east my 5MR Kinghorn has seen the return of Humpback Whale. Bah. As if I'm going to travel more than 5 miles! I'll get up early tomorrow and spend an hour staring at the empty river just to spite it.
