The week off continues and plenty of interest. Some very promising looking overnight conditions on Wen didn't quite deliver the big fall of migrants everyone was hoping for but there were some nice birds to be seen.

Going back to Wen morning and feeling guilty for deserting the patch a bit this week, I was back up at Ferryhills where there some decent visible migration including 68 alba wagtails and 31 Lesser Redpoll.

Then to the big day, strong easterlies and rain overnight Wen gave way to calm, warm sunny conditions on Thursday- the perfect combination although the actual result wasn't as spectacular as hoped for. I started in the Boarhills Pond area where migrant highlights were 2 Yellow-browed Warbler, 2 Spotted Fycatcher, Whinchat, Wheatear while it was also good to see 8 Corn Buntings, the E of Fife holding onto a breeding population of this declining species.
After making the effort to cover a less well watched location I decided I could allow myself some dirty twitching at Kilminning where I got excellent views of the Barred Warbler that's been present for a few days while other migrants I saw in my time there included a Yellow-browed Warbler, 2 Brambling and 2 Spotted Flycatcher.

 Friday-it had been a while since I'd been to the Wilderness to check for passage waders. The water levels have made this the place to go to as far as inland Fife locations for waders have been concerned this autumn. It was all about one species- Ruff and I ended up with a very impressive count of 31 birds, the most I have ever had together anywhere in Britian. Although not a county record e.g. a count of 77 birds mentioned in Birds of Scotland from the Eden Estuary in 2000.

Whinchat at Boarhills

Barred Warbler showing well in the sun at Kilminning

Some of the impressive gathering of Ruff at the Wilderness

A feature of this week has been large numbers of migrant Red Admirals. These were particularly obvious at Boarhills in the sunshine on Thursday where flowering Ivy was the attraction.