Late Spring/Summer 2023. 

The second half of May into June proved hard work on my W Fife patches. 

Unlike 2022, the Kinghorn area didn't provide any quality birds flying in off the Forth this spring although it did redeem its self in July on that score. A couple of quality sea birds were recorded at Kinghorn on 19th May, a summer plumaged  Black Guillemot and a Roseate Tern feeding close in with Common Terns. The Guillemot was particularly pleasing, annually recorded in Fife but always uncommon and with most records from Fife Ness. Roseate Terns are always great to see as well, you get less records in the Forth in spring compared to the post breeding period in August when they are regular in small numbers. That said, we may struggle for them this year as the Coquet Island breeding birds have been, sadly, hit by Avian Influenza for the second year running. 

Kinghorn then provided a summer surprise with a superb dark male Honey-buzzard in off the Forth on 8th July. You can't beat seeing a scarce migrant raptor come in off and I got good prolonged views as it circled over Pettycur Bay. 

From late July autumn passage started to ramp up and it was time to start coverage at Ferry Hills to coincide with the start of Tree Pipit passage. The Tree Pipits had their first big push on 3rd with 71 birds SW, plus a good variety of other species including a locally scarce Marsh Harrier. Full list here [Trektellen.org] - Migration counts & captures 

A week off work allowed me to treat myself to a day trip to Fife Ness for some seawatching on 2nd. Always a great place, even on a quieter day there is always a steady flow of commoner seabirds. It wasn't the busiest day for this site, but with perseverance I was rewarded with a lovely adult Long-tailed Skua moving slowly north in perfect lighting conditions. 

Other Wildlife 

I tend to get very bird focused on the blog but I've  had great experiences with other wildlife within a short distance of home over the summer. Several sightings of Otters at Loch Gelly including 4 together, presumably a fem with 3 large cubs , while cetaceans in the Forth off Kinghorn in July  have comprised Minke Whale and Bottle-nosed Dolphin. A nice butterfly on the buddleia in our garden in Dunfermline was a Comma on 4th August, much scarcer up here in Scotland compared to down south. 

 

 Quality Day Out May 7th. 

Following some nice easterlies that brought the first drift migrants of the year to the Kilminning area including a female Red-breasted Flycatcher, I decided to treat myself to a day out over the bank holiday weekend.

But I did include a West Fife site on the itinerary, Loch Gelly and it proved to be a great start to a cracking days birding. 

A very atmospheric spring scene here with lots of hirundines (c100 sand martin, 70 swallow) low over the water in the cool cloudy conditions, fresh in singing Sedge Warblers, Garden Warbler and best of all, a male cuckoo, an uncommon bird in Fife. It gave a few low key calls but perched up nicely in the open, I suspect it was a migrant dropped by overnight rain. Not only birds to enjoy though with an otter showing well catching fish at the west end. Otters seem quite reliable here if you visit early in the morning. 

Despite Scotland being something of a stronghold for this declining species, its not easy to see one in Fife

Next stop was Letham Pools. Water levels were on the high side but not so high that there was no potential for waders. Awesome views of 2 Jack Snipe feeding out in the open, the best views I've had of this lovely species in a long time. 

Then Kilmining where with a little patience the Red-breasted Flycatcher and a lovely male Pied Flycatcher showed well. I got three species of flycatcher with my first Spotted of the year too. Throw in a few other migrants such as Lesser Whitethroat and a Whimbrel whistling overhead and an enjoyable days birding was complete. 

 First winter 2023-early May part 2 

Fife has experienced a phenomenal run of rare birds across this period.

The first big news was Grant Robertson's discovery of a 1st winter Pacific Diver off Leven on 24th January. Only the second for Scotland and the first to be accessible. The bird remained until 30th and I managed to see it on  27th. 

No photos from me so I've nicked one of John Nadin's fine record shots. 

Pacific Diver by John Nadin

West Fife got in on the act with the discovery by Ian Thompson of a Lesser Scaup at Loch Fitty on 14th April which I saw on the 16th, plus a bonus Little Ringed Plover flying through. 

There is a good chance that this bird is the 1st W male I found at Kinghorn Loch at the end of 2022. There is an established pattern of movement of rare ducks between waterbodies in this area. 

Then of course there was the incredible scoter fest in Largo Bay late April-early May, a gathering of rare seaducks not matched by anywhere else in the UK! Between the large number of observers present here, totals of five surf scoter, 3-4 White-winged Scoter were recorded in addition to the star of the show, Stejnegers Scoter. 

I was pleased with my little haul of a WW Scoter, the Stejnegers and a pair of Surfies on the 30th April (no pics of the Stej but the 'rino horn' on the bill showed well through the scope): 

 First winter 2023-early May 2023 Part 1 

2022 was a memorable year in Fife, but 2023 looks to be already surpassing it for rare birds. 

I've been trying to find under watched spots close to my home in West Fife this year but that's not to say I've haven't been tempted away at times by the superb array of quality birds out East. But first a bit on West Fife. 

Loch Fitty 

This large Loch is only 10 minutes from my house but I hadn't been there until this year! Its actually been off the radar of most Fife birders probably because in the past it was heavily fished. There is no organised fishing these days and an excellent path network takes you through a good variety of habitats surrounding the Loch including marshy grassland, deciduous woodland and grazing pasture. 

Regular coverage has already turned up some quality birds. A Greylag Goose flock in fields at the west end pulled in two Russian White-fronts and and a Tundra Bean Goose in the first winter period. The Greylag Goose flock was of interest on its own, as a bird found dead with a orange neck collar proved to be of Icelandic origin.

Best bird was a Great White Egret for several days in  February, still quite rare up here in Scotland although getting more frequent. Several quality raptors have been recorded flying through this spring-osprey, red kite and merlin. The loch has some really good breeding species for Fife too with grasshopper warbler, common sandpiper and snipe on territory. 

There was long staying adult Russian white-front which was joined by a second cal year bird in late March

A Tundra Bean Goose showed up for just one day on 3rd March.

 Autumn and  Second Winter 2022 part 3

October fall -Crail/Kilminning Area. 

Although I have been extolling the virtues of patch birding in W Fife, a classic forecast for an arrival of drift migrants was too tempting and the 21st October saw me head up to Kilminning/Fife Ness area. 

It was a very enjoyable day was had too, topped by a Red-flanked Bluetail: 

A good selection of back up birds were Barred Warbler, Yellow-browed Warbler, Ring Ouzel, eastern type Lesser Whitethroat and a late pale Willow Warbler. 

October 23rd saw me head back to the area for Jared Wilsons latest discovery-an Amur (Stejnegers) Stonechat near Crail. Following a split from Siberian Stonechat maurus this is a tough ID but there has been recent DNA confirmation from a poo sample collected from the bird. 

Late Nov/December-a strong end to the year in West Fife. 

27th November-presumed Pallid Swift Ferry Hills. 

Late October had seen an unprecedented influx of Pallid Swifts into the UK and many reached Scotland. Try as I might, I couldn't get one on the patch. I had written off the idea of seeing one as I made my way up the hill  on 27th November for what was likely to be my last visit of autumn migration season 2022. I was setting up in the half light when I looked up to see a swift flying low over my head! It was so close but silhouetted against the skyline due to the lighting conditions, I got the bins onto it and a had a decent view of it flying away. If it had been fully daylight the plumage tones would have been obvious at this range but unfortunately this wasn't the case. However, the relaxed flight style with longer glides between bursts of wing beats and subtle differences in shape to Common Swift (bulkier body, larger head) were noted. It wouldn't be enough to get it past BBRC but its going on my list. 

3rd December -12th December-Cetti's Warbler St Margaret's Marsh. 

12 years ago when I was still on the Isle of Wight Cettis Warbler was a familiar species at many of my birding haunts and could be described as locally common. Not so in Scotland where it is still a real rarity. 2021 saw a mini influx into Scotland with first records for several counties including Fife where the bird was only recorded by the finder. 

St Margaret's Marsh is another of those W Fife sites that doesn't receive much attention but always looked good habitat for Cetti's to me, comprised of scrubby reed beds. On 3rd December I went there with the intention of looking for Cetti's but how often do you get lucky when you target a species-not often in my experience. Making my way towards the NW corner of the marsh I was stopped in my tracks by what I was certain was a Cetti's call! Not the song but the short sharp 'pik' call. 

Thinking it might be wishful thinking , I needed to hear it again and I also started recording video on my camera to hopefully record the call. After a bit of silence I have to admit to playing a couple of bursts of song on my mobile phone to elicit a response. Very soon after I got a response -more pik calls and then an explosive rattle alarm call. At this point the bird also perched fleetingly in the open at close range leaving me in no doubt I had Fifes 2nd Cetti's. 

A recording of calls from my encounter on the first date here 

The bird was heavily twitched by keen Fife listers over the next few days and remained until 12th December when a severe cold snap with overnight temps of -8 in the Central Belt became established. 

Lesser Scaup 13th December into 2023? 

My last discovery of the year was probably my rarest; 1st winter drake Lesser Scaup moving between Kinghorn Loch and Beveridge Park Pond, Kirkcaldy. Although in a purely Scottish context, Cetti's is rarer! I went to Kinghorn Loch on 13th Dec looking for  a drake Ring-necked Duck. After getting distant views of this bird I turned my attention to a large cold weather influx of tufted duck and began scanning through them for anything else. A blotchy sliver and brown back stood out from the crowd and indicated a 1st W drake scaup type. 

Caution was obviously required with this subtle ID and a hybrid Aythya  duck needed to be ruled out. The head shape looked good from the start and eventually bill pattern and clinching wing pattern were all noted. This was only the second for Fife, the first was only seen by a couple of people so I was popular with Fife listers for the second time in 2 weeks! 

The bird showed at very close range at times, for me my closest views were about 40m away on Christmas Eve. 

This and the photo below taken on Christmas Eve when the bird showed at close range for me. Others managed a full open wing shot to confirm the wing pattern, but even with this partially open wing you can see the pattern of white secondaries contrasting sharply with grey primaries. The stretching posture also shows off the head shape really well with a distinct peak to the rear crown.  

Even on my initial, distant views of the bird asleep on 13th December the head shape was apparent and probably easier to assess than on an active, diving bird. 

 Autumn and second winter 2022-part 2

September-Leach's Petrel

A run of strong NE winds in early September had produced an excellent run of seawatching at Fife Ness including several Great Shearwaters but here in West Fife it was harder work. It was a tad annoying really; fair enough for more fully pelagic species like Shearwaters, but we usually do better than Fife Ness for skuas up here in the Forth. However the Ness was also getting very good counts of Long-tailed Skuas. 

I consoled myself with a single dark Juv Long-tailed Skua at Kinghorn on 4th but it was the 9th that delivered something even rarer in Fife terms at Kinghorn- Leach's Petrel. A very good record this far up the Forth and in fact, a difficult bird to get anywhere in Fife. 

September-Great Shearwater

By the end of the month I had to accept that if I was going to see a Great Shearwater in Fife I was probably going to have to make the trek out to the Fife Ness. I'm making this sound like a chore but don't get me wrong, its a lovely place with an awesome reputation for seabirds and arrivals of passerine migrants, its just if you live in W Fife its not the most convenient place to get to.

So on 29th September I had a 'treat day out' at Fife Ness and Kilminning and was in the seawatching hide when Jared 'the seawatching machine' Wilson picked up yet another Great Shearwater which myself and several other grateful observers got good views of. 

It was a good day all round with lots of sooty and manx shearwaters and a small arrival of land migrants including a Yellow-browed Warbler. 

September/October -Ferry Hills

These are always productive months on the patch. A long awaited patch first on 18th September was Juv Marsh Harrier moving W up the Forth:

A true record shot of Ferry Hills first Marsh Harrier. In my defence it was distant and it wasn't even fully light. Interesting to see a migrant raptor out so early, it must have left its roost site while still dark. 

Arctic Skuas migrating overland were pretty frequent during September and October. On the other hand, reflecting the population being hit by Avian Influenza, unfortunately Bonxies were very scarce this year with just five birds for the whole autumn. 

Two Juv Long-tailed Skuas were noted in September including this bird heading inland on 20th: 

In October Ferry Hills maintained its reputation as the most reliable site in Fife to get Hawfinch with three birds flying through together on 27th. One of these was captured for posterity below: 

 Autumn and second winter 2022-part one.

It was cracking second half of the year for a continuous flow of scarce and rare birds in Fife. What was especially pleasing was being involved with finding or twitching several quality birds in West Fife, the W part of the county doesn't get the observer coverage of the E. 

July-Bonaparte's Gull  East Wemyss 

A great find by Harry Bell while monitoring the late summer/early gathering of Med Gulls (The largest gathering in Scotland) was a lovely adult Bonaparte's Gull moulting out of summer plumage. Harry got some lovely close images of the bird resting on the rocks on the evening of 22nd. I was there with John Nadin first thing on 23rd. Unfortunately the bird wasn't at the roost but eventually I located it feeding offshore with black-headed gulls and resting on the sea. Despite not being that close, the truly black hood (rather than brown in b.h.gull), and black bill could be seen and in flight, the striking pale underwings and quicker flight than b.h gull were noted. After this relocation, a few observers got lucky when the bird flew back to shore and spent some time on the rocks. Then it flew off to the NE and was not seen again. 

July-Cory's Shearwater Kinghorn.

John Nadin found a Cory's off Kinghorn on 25th which hung around for a few days and provided amazing shore based views for this rare species in Scotland. That said, Fife has got form for this species and its not the first time for Cory's off Kinghorn. Of course, in 2020 there was the remarkable occurrence of both Cory's and Scopolis Shearwaters even further up the Forth near the bridges with John Nadin also finding these. 

I saw this Cory's early morning of the 26th and got this video of it in great light close to shore as it lingered around a raft of Shags. 

Ferry Hills vis mig late August 

My brother Jon was up to visit and we enjoyed some good mornings of migration at my main local patch at Ferry Hills. The highlight was a long overdue patch first in the form of  a Honey- buzzard on 27th. The main credit for this one goes to Clive McKay (on his first visit of the autumn!) who expertly spotted this in the distance. It's really surprising how long its taken to add this to the patch list given the decent breeding population to the north of us. The bird was too distant for pics but Jon's sketch captures the moment: 

Other highlights included a vis migging Green Sandpiper and some migrating Whimbrel flocks. 

August is normally the peak month for Ferry Hills signature species, Tree Pipit. This year was no exception with 146 birds on 25th. 

After Jon returned south, the very end of the month on 31st saw the start of a good influx of Long-tailed Skuas on the E coast and I had 2 Juveniles fly inland on that date at Ferry Hills.