Arrived at Aberlady for 8:30 am and parked up at Kilspindie waiting for the tide to push the birds towards me. A calling Greenshank was a good start but despite the high tide there wasn't a great deal & certainly not a Little Stint. 3 Knot and some Grey Plover were about the best so I kept myself interested by trying to digiscope:
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| Sandwich Tern |
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| A few Lapwing were present |
I got bored by c10 am and so moved round to Longniddry where I quickly picked up 1 measly Red Necked Grebe amonst the throngs of Guillemots and Razorbills. As per normal Velvet Scoters were present but I could not turn any of them into Common for a year tick.
I walked East along the shore in the hope of seeing the Roseate Terns that were reported yesterday. There was no sign but there were plenty of Gulls and Terns again including Sandwich:
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| Adult Sarnie Tern - going bald |
A good selection of waders also:
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| Curlew with Redshanks |
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| Bar Tailed Godwits |
Back at the car park I noticed Kris Gibb scoping the Gulls and Terns on the West side of the Ness. He got me on to the Roseates. Not sure I would have found them by myself. He also told me what the diagnostic features were (and they checked out) so I'm confident they're genuine despite the rubbishy photographs coming up :
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| Right hand bird in the foreground. You can just see the metal ring on one of the legs. That's all you can see ! |
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| Roseate Tern - and if you really concentrate you can |
The top one is the juvenile with an all black bill and a dark forehead, Common Terns have a whitish forehead. Very cold grey mantle "no warm tones". Metal ring on each leg. The adult is the bottom one and is still showing a slight pinky wash on the breast and really pale mantle and wings.
2 sleeping Med Gulls were also present in the Gull roost making them almost inpossible (for me anyway) to find. 7 Red Necked Grebe in the West side of the bay and a Sparrowhawk completed the day before I headed home to face the dreaded ironing.
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