Skateraw to Barns Ness

By far the warmest day of the year so far provided the perfect setting.

The first bird I saw at Skateraw was a Wheatear. This is a bird I incredibly failed to see at all last year.

Wheatear

My first Sandwich Terns of the year were offshore & I my first Whitethroat was in sub song in the dry burn area. A Whimbrel called from the shoreline.

The seaweed area was positively full of Wagtails. Mainly White Wagtails, some Pied & 1 Yellow.

This Meadow Pipit also posed nicely:

I finished the day at Musselburgh failing to see any of the rare Scoters. 4 Long Tailed Duck, 1 Common Scoter, several Razorbills & Kittiwake were about the best.

Hogganfield March 2018

About 8 pairs of Great Crested Grebe on the loch at the moment

Little Grebe - their trilling calls are a feature at the moment

Slavonian Grebe - was present for about a week. This taken just before it departed.

1st Winter Glaucous Gull

American White Winged Scoter - ~Musselburgh

Despite the choppy sea conditions & the rain, this was a far better view of a White Winged Scoter than the one I 'saw' at Murcar in 2011. Also the added bonus of a drake Surf Scoter too.

What wasn't such a bonus was the car breaking down and a new clutch & gear box required.

Fife

Started at Ruddons Point on a bright but very cold & breezy morning. Sanderlings & Barwits at the Cocklemill burn were nice but the sea was very choppy and made the sea duck difficult although even at range I still managed to get on a drake Surf Scoter. There were also Velvet Scoter & Long Tailed Duck present.

Kilconquhar Loch was next up. I could not see all of the north side of the loch &  I think that was where the drake Red Crested Pochard was so I did not see it. However, there was a nice selection on the loch including Pochard & Shoveler.

Lochore Meadows was similarly disappointing as I could not locate the female Smew. Finished at Vane Farm which was pretty quiet.

Goldfinch at Vane Farm

Hogganfield & Strathclyde Park

Hogganfield in the morning had lying snow from the past few days snow fall but otherwise was bright & crisp. Unfortunately, I could not find anything out of the ordinary.

After lunch I went to Strathclyde Park by 3pm and found a 1st winter Iceland Gull in the roost.

South Ayrshire

Started at Dipple Shore about 8:30 am. Had 2 Purple Sandpiper with a small Turnstone flock, Rock Pipit, Stonechat & Eider. No sign of any Wigeon and so no sign of the American Wigeon.

I moved up to Balkenna and had 6 Wigeon, Curlew, Redshank, Turnstone and c30 Linnet.

At South Girvan I had both Red & Black Throated Diver and Razorbill and at Girvan Mains a Great Northern Diver another Red Throat & about 30 Twite. I could not find the reported Black Redstart.

The wind was increasing as the morning progressed & by the time I got to Troon in the afternoon it was pretty strong. I managed a Med Gull at Meikle Crags but no Iceland Gull at Troon Harbour.

Musselburgh & Aberlady

Minus 5 on the way through this morning & still below zero when I arrived at Musselburgh at 08:30. The light was good but disappointingly the sea was pretty empty with only small numbers of Velvet Scoter, Merganser, Goldeneye & Long Tailed Duck and no sign of the Surf Scoter. A few Great Crested Grebes and 1 Red Throated Diver were present.

At the Esk Mouth the tide was going out & despite sifting through the Gulls I couldn't find anything interesting.

Bar Tailed Godwit

Grey Plover

Next stop was Aberlady. A roosting Long Eared Owl roosting in the Buckthorn at the Marl Loch was by far the best. Also loads of Fieldfare feeding on the berries. A tramp over the salt marsh got me c40 Twite & proved that my boots are far from waterproof.