Otter!

During a mediocre late mig watch with none of the expected seabirds I noticed Black-headed Gulls and Magpies all focussed on one spot. What on earth could they have as a common interest? I skirted round to see if maybe there was an Owl or something in the trees. To my surprise the focus of their attention was an Otter feeding on the rocks - not a bad result and maybe my best vismig result of the year!

Ducking and Diving

Started this morning off witha flock of largish birds coming through the mist from the east. I hoped that they would turn towards me rather than away, and lo and behold 42 Red-throated Divers emerged in a flock, calling and circling before disappearing again. The place was swarming with Swallows, with a few House Martins thrown in. Additional cast included first autumn Mistle Thrush, a smallish portion of Mipits, and a nice species addition to the year list in the form of Tufted Ducks.

Red-footed Falcon invasion in Poland

Worth a share I think:

http://birdingfrontiers.com/2014/09/09/invasion-of-red-footed-falcons-in-bonkers-numbers/

Skuas at last

First skuas of the year finally - thought at first they were Long-tailed but I couldn't persist in the belief and accepted they were Arctics in the end. Nice numbers of Mipits and Grey Wags, with both ahead of their normal numbers (see charts).

Goosander flypast

4th September - coming from the east they headed straight for the harbour

Ducky day

Should have got out earlier this morning but we were waiting for a delivery at home. Mercifully my lovely wife waved me off with a "Don't be late" and waited while I headed for the watchpoint.

In still air, perhaps the slightest of easterlies, there wasn't a lot doing, although there were steady Mipits and hirundines, as well as a lovely big flock of Goldfinches decisively moving for a change. There was, of course, a blogging flock that varied in size throughout the hour, presumably recruiting and leaking birds continuously.

A flock of Teal came off the river and flew inland north. Another flew around and settled in the bay, and a mixed flock of mostly Wigeon came up the river and went off west without hesitation. I love the duck season, though it always makes me wish I wasn't coming into work for 9. It doesn't last many days and it usually continues on through the morning at least. I still need Shoveler, so every flock gets as much grilling as I can to see if it has any interesting tag-alongs.

Ringed Herring Gull

I saw this Herring Gull  on the same small stretch of beach last April, which seems a very long time ago now. It was ringed in Northumberland, but I guess has found a home in Fife, or at least likes to holiday regularly

(Herring Gull with orange colour ring, 1214 was ringed on the 16^th December 2004 on Ellington Road landfill, near Ashington, Northumberland (grid reference NZ2589) as a second winter bird, with metal BTO ring number GN77243)

Green Sand at Cullaloe

Routine passage of Mipits at Inverkeithing this morning and one Kingfisher on rocks at Stone Marine. Dropped into Cullaloe to find a Green Sand - the same one? Maybe. Other than that nothing unusual to report.

Divit pics:

A good start to the month this morning with a nice collection of movers, mostly of the anticipated species. A good start to the Grey Wagtail season, although there are already a few on the scoreboard. Also finches could prove interesting with some nice Chaffinch and Greenfinch this morning. Also in the mix were a nice couple of Ravens, which I underexposed sadly - such a hard species to photograph.

Also of note, we are into September and still not a single Skua! Maybe the weather's nice up north and there's going to be a rush later on, fingers crossed.

Swallows over the water

Typical late summer Sandwich Terns in small numbers

 

Raven

Teal

Wigeon

Swallow flypast

Over the water, as most were

Chaffinch forging ahead

Spot Fly at last

A species I had always hoped/expected to catch up with at Inverkeithing, I finally caught up with it on Sunday morning. Two birds were present on the quarry rim, and I'm not sure whether they were migrants or local. Didn't see them before though and they weren't there today. Interestingly Lesser Whitethroat at Carlingnose on the same day - another species which is hard to determine in terms of status. They could easily both be local breeders. Species number 141 for me at Inverkeithing, just over three years since my first visit to the site.