Mipits and fog

Spent a short while freezing my tail off at Inverkeithing in the easterly wind this morning. A 2cy Kittiwake was about it for birds driven in by the wind, while passage Mipit numbers continue to rise. Took a look at the inner harbour area to see if I could pick up a scarce passage migrant./winter visitor in the shape of a Moorhen, but no luck. Also scanned the demolished mill area for plovers but again no luck

Goosander

A nice addition to the list this morning with a couple of female Goosander at round about the normal time. Weather appeared nice but a blustery easterly was cold and noisy, and didn't seem to (as yet) produce anything interesting birdwise. A few loitering Blak-headed Gulls didn't even pretend to be Med Gulls. I'll be seeing hundreds of them soon, but I still wouldn't mind one for Inverkeithing. Redshank and Dunlin are still around too, and one Goldeneye was still in the harbour yesterday.

Collared Dove

On a quiet but pleasant morning at the Divit not much was happening in mild SE winds. It occurred to me that I hadn't recorded Collared Dove. I went looking for one in the harbour area and lo-and-behold there's one displaying over the harbour. Splendid.On the other hand I have only recorded 56 spp in March, and am ten down on the year. I'll need to investgate what's been missed but that's a long way behind for March! I know at least last year I fluked into Tree Sparrows and Redpolls early on, and maybe also Reed Bunting. I'm not overly concerned about that type of stuff because I will get it no problem later. Still a few days left to snag a Grey Phal...

On a review of March records there's nothing of any concern missing. Sand Martin might arrive in March, still time for a "different" grebe, and many other species which I am pretty certain of. No worries.

I also found some nice Red Dead-nettles beside the path, and a White-legged Snake Millipede crossing it.

Divit mega! Pheasant!!

Biggest bird of the day on a beautiful sunny morning with moderate easterlies was a Pheasant calling from the hill/farmland. Since I dipped on it (!) last year it's worth having on the list. Not much by way of movement although a handful of Linnets may or may not hang around - some eventually will if not these. Linnet also quietly sneaked onto the Cullaloe year list on Saturday.

Shy Chaffinch

Aerial battle

Gulls love this "courting platform"

Cuckoo movements

Probably everybody except me ha seen this but it's really cool anyway - tracking of Cuckoos from UK back to Africa and shortly back to UK again: link

Cullaloe +Little Grebe +Water Rail

Takes Cullaloe to 60 species, slightly ahead of last year, when March finished on 59. Still not recorded any species that were not recorded last year though, so no real gain and I'm missing Merlin and Dipper. (edit: this isn't the case as I have recorded KESTREL!)

Mipit trickle

The Mipit trickle continued at Inverkeithing this morning, with four overhead in c.30 minutes. Also a Pied Wag going north. At lunchtime at Cullaloe a Grey Wag flew north, but was it a genuine migrant? Right time of year, so you never know. At Merlin Drive Skylark was singing away but the only sign of species that might be on the move was 17 LBB Gulls loafing on the pond