With winds from the east over the past few days I was keen to do a day over on the east cost. My appetite had been whetted by the finding of an Arctic Warbler at Skateraw on Friday but which wasn't seen after 9am on Saturday.
I decided to go first to St Abbs. I couldn't get into the space at the boathouse end so parked at the north end and worked my way back south. Initial indications were good with Wheatear, Whitethroat and Chiffchaff quickly seen. Soon I was seeing both Stonechat & 2 Whinchat.
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| Whinchat |
Further along the Mire Loch I heard a Yellow Browed which called loudly and frequently but still took a bit of seeing since all the trees are still in full leaf. Around the boat house there were 2 Pied Flycatcher.
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| The Mire Loch in the Autumn sunshine |
I went back along the east side of the loch seeing another Whinchat & back up on to the cliffs for a bit of sea watching. There were hundreds of Kittiwakes off shore and 2 flocks of maybe 20 Brent Geese going south suggested that winter was not too far away. I was now back in pager range, the Mire Loch is a complete 'not spot' and noticed that the Arctic Warbler had been refound at Skateraw. Its amazing hat a bit of sun can do.
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| St Abbs Bay |
Skateraw is less than half an hour away, but it was a full 2 hours before the Arctic Warbler showed. The long thin supercilium flaring behind the eye. I have seen two before, both on Scilly, so this was a Scottish tick :).
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