Last week or so report writing has meant opportunities for early morning visits to Ferry Hills. Its the peak month for the site speciality Tree Pipit and they haven't disappointed with the third ever highest site count of 225 (13th) and another impressive count of 138 today (17th). It's still early in the autumn for most species but other bits and pieces have included a few Bonxie, the first 3 Arctic Skuas (17th) and a Merlin through (13th).
Also large  numbers of Sandwich Terns coming out east down the Forth, presumably leaving a roost, with a peak of 629 on the 15th.  The Firth of Forth holds internationally important numbers on passage, this count is even more impressive when you look at the citation for the SPA which gives the historic mean counts  during the five year period 1993/94 to 1997/98 of 1,617 individuals, 6% of the GB population.

Haven't got to many other places now I'm addicted to the patch but during a period of strong easterlies and rain on August 9th I got in a brief seawatch at Kinghorn. Good conditions to drive something in but a little quiet. One Arctic Skua and an 'intermediate ' Blue Fulmar were the highlights.

When I moved up to the E coast of Scotland I thought I might see 'blue fulmars' on seawatches more frequently but they are rare. This bird was seen alongside normal fulmars and was obviously darker on body and underwings but not a 'double dark' bird. 

Tree Pipit migration in full swing