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Thursday 18 April 2013

One Swallow does not a summer make

But it is nice to see all the same!

Before I got out of bed this morning an Oystercatcher peeped it's way over my house, which is the 65th species for hill of Beath this year, and it maintains its slender lead over Cullaloe. I was happy to see a lack of rain and made my way to Inverkeithing in very blustery winds. The Forth Road Bridge was toying with closure to high sided vehicles. The sky was quite bright, and I tucked into a sheltered spot in front of Prestonhill Quarry. Looking out to sea was fairly fruitless due to the waves, although it was nice to watch the Fulmars gambolling around along with the odd gull.

Quickly I could spot migrating finches. These are a nightmare here usually because they pop up on the bushes singing and you're never quite sure if they were there all the time or they just arrived - I'm sure Greenfinches, Chaffinches, Goldfinches, Linnets all pass through, but in stealth mode.

This morning there was no doubt though, as trickles of these all, plus Siskins, battled west along the path into the teeth of the wind.Most came in small groups or twos, while Mipits came mostly as singles. In the middle of this came the nicest surprise of the day - my first Swallow of the year. For the second year in a row I have now seen Swallow before Sand Martin.


I took a brief trip to the south side of the harbour, where there is a Sand Martin colony, but there was no sign there either. There were Willow Warblers though, so two new species for the Divit takes it to 81 species, while Hill of Beath goes to 65 species.


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