February finishes

A quiet, nice morning in the Divit, with nothing particularly unusual. LBB Gulls went into double figures and a Grey Wag was nice - probably a month tick although I haven't put it into Birdtrack yet. So endeth February, with an average number of spp. and no bonus birds to speak of. Hopefully some more spring action will come soon. Finishing Feb on 61 spp. means I am 6 sp. down on last year, although last year I nailed some spp. early on which were guaranteed later in the year. No worries - yet.

Tree Sparrow

Tree Sparrow over the harbour on the morning of 25th. No chance of a pic even if I had my camera with me. Chance of spring arrivals should be improving I hope - Sandwich Tern? Fulmars already here and LBB Gulls starting to pick up too

INK + Raven

After seeing Ravens almost everywhere else this morning's at Inverkeithing turned out to be the first in patch territory, taking the year total to 60 - about 50% of the number I hope/expect to get during the year. It was in hot pursuit of a Buzzard, which it chased off ni the direction of Lethan Hill Wood before returning over the harbour towards Carlingnose

Cullaloe + Greenfinch, Berlin + Stork

Few days break in Berlin with a nice bunch of Storks flying over, presumably northwards. Cullaloe on the 17th I had my first singing Greenfinch, taking the species list to 51 for the year

This morning (18th) in Inverkeithing - nice morning. Nothing really out of the ordinary, but a Turnstone was nice - an addition to my list of species recorded in February. A handful of species getting into song.

Swans on the river - only when the water is calm

Fulmars investigating the banks

Singing

Turnstone turning stones. And seaweed.

Mallards in the channels

Wagtail coming for a look

Divit Dabchick

Freezing morning with some snow lying from yesterday evening. A Little Grebe finally showed up at Inverkeithing, taking the year total to 59. A quick scan for Med Gull turned up nothing, and nothing more exotic was found, although since I had left my scope in the boot and it would be so cold it would glaze over all the time I didn't even bother to take it out.

Quiet weekend

Family activities, bad cold and poor weather meant a quiet weekend. Other responsibilities this morning meant only a brief stop-in at my local - Dalbeath Marsh LNR, where a Heron made a brief appearance on the walkway. Nothing much to report, with a short list of the usual suspects present

Half-century up at Cullaloe

Jay and Skylark (singing) at Cullaloe at lunchtime brings up the half-century. None of the species is unexpected, and all were seen last year.

Been a small number of Redpolls hanging about, which are nice.Usually they are just flying over my head, but this one managed to stand still for a minute while I took a shaky photo of it.

Strange morning

Foggy this morning despite a westerly wind, and a wind that chilled me to the bone. I could literally feel my bones. Razorbill added to the year list, and I'm still warming up a couple of hours later. the resident breeders didn't see unduly perturbed, with Great Tit, Coal Tit, Song Thrush and Greenfinch all in song.

Ordinary things

In between other jobs I had to do this morning I squeezed n a few mins at Dalbeath Marsh LNR. Nothing spectacular - just keeping a lookout for my local local reserve. It was pretty dark, and started to rain. Pretty sure I didn't add anything even to the yearlist. Only two Coot. I'll have a look at the Coot numbers chart when Birdtrack is back up and running - seems to be having a lie-in. (OK - peak last year was week 5 with 10 birds jousting for territories before settling down to two pairs)

Little and Large

Ravens at two different locations this weekend - first at Carlingnose Point, and then in the Cullaloe Hills. Only the beginning of February and I've seen Ravens at four different locations in fife this year. At the other end of the scale I managed to snag a wee Goldcrest at Cullaloe LNR. Not as nice as its exotic cousin in Dalgety bay, but nice all the same.