Fife
Saturday 29 June 2024
St Andrews
On Saturday morning, we drove down to St Andrews in Fife to explore the town an get a few more species for my Fife list (currently 4 species!). Just after leaving our house, we stopped at Girdleness to quickly meet up with Raymond. We saw a Kestrel and a Common Sandpiper before we left to Fife. Once we arrived we had a quick walk around the village seeing a few species such as Swift and Rook. After visiting a jewelry shop in town, we went to the St Andrews Museum to learn more about St Andrews. After finding out about the village's past, we found a pair of Bullfinches near the entrance of the museum as well as a singing Chiffchaff in the tall trees. Later, we walked along the beach enjoying the view and seeing many Oystercatchers as well as a couple of Fulmars. Once we had explore St Andrews, we drove to Fife Ness to find a few more species for my list.
eBird Checklist
We arrived at Fife Ness at 2pm. We decided that my two sisters (who were sick) would stay with our mother while my father and I would go birding. We went on the Fife coastal trail passing the bird hide (which is for Fife bird club members only) and the lighthouse on the way. We did find a singing Yellowhammer and a couple Stonechats before having a quick chat with some local birders. We noted the many Gannets flying past and a pair of Whitethroats further down the trail. We found a distant pair of Curlew and another Yellowhammer. It was starting to get a bit late and apart from a few Linnet and two Cormorants we didn't see much birdlife. However when we got back to the car, we found a male Greenfinch singing from a wire as well as hearing a Redshank. We also caught a glimpse of a Pheasant and saw a Grey Heron fishing between the rocks.
A view of the Isle of May from the ness.
On the way home, we stopped at the famous Eden Estuary. We got out of the car and found a "Volery" of Long-tailed tits. After a quick walk we got to the hide where there was a platform looking over the estuary. We found 2 Little Egrets a bird that has been expanding its range across the UK. We got a couple nice sightings in the form of a Common sandpiper and a few Lapwings. We got to scanning the large flocks of birds in the distance finding Shelducks, Bar-tailed Godwits, Black-headed gulls, Curlews and a Greenshank. We also heard a Song thrush on the way back to the car. This stop added a nice few species for my Fife list since we didn't find many waders at Fife Ness.
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