January 1st-
Thought I'd get 2012 off to a start with a half hearted attempt at a bird race in Fife and Kinross. Started off fairly hard core, arriving at Rossie Bog just before dawn. Second half of the day was a bit different and mainly involved going to lunch with the missus at Crieff. The plan was then to go and have a look for some farmland and upland birds in Perth and Kinross but at this point it p****d down so we headed for home. Still my total of 56 species wasn't too bad considering I never went near the coast and didn't really do much birding past midday.
There was some quality too, connected with the 6 Bewicks Swans that have been around the area, 4 Ads and 2 Juvs amongst the Whoopers on Rossie Bog after first light for a while before departing south-west. A scarce bird up here and come to think of it probably the first time i've seen all three British Swans together. Another nice moment was on the way home this PM when it finally stopped raining, the sun came out and we stopped to watch a flock of just over 30 Fieldfare on a root crop along the Drum road. Looking superb in the excellent light and then buzzed by a Sparrowhawk.

Ropey images but given that it didn't get properly light until they departed I was lucky to get anything