Wilson's Phalarope - Meikle Loch 2026

Wilson's Phalarope - Meikle Loch

18 September 2026

Meikle Loch

Today, my dad and I woke up and headed up to Meikle Loch, on the Ythan, since a rare Wilson's Phalarope had been seen there since Wednesday. When we arrived, we saw a large van leaving with the man driving giving us a thumbs up, without exchanging a single word, we know it was there.

We joined Phil Crockett and another birder, who gladly let us see the bird through his scope. Despite it being just a spec on the North side of the loch, we could clearly see that it wasn't the same as the lapwings it was with and that it was clearly paler.

Very, very distant Wilson's Phalarope

Since it was very distant, we decided to walk round to try to get a better view. I saw it fly very briefly, but it landed right behind a Canada Goose, and we couldn't see it thereafter. We decided to head back to the car and hopefully stop at the Snub Layby to check the waders there.

When we got back to the car, the other birder, who had stayed, pointed out that the Wilson's Phalarope was in the water, just next to the car park. We got great views of it as it fed along the bank, though the photos I got were less good.

Wilson's Phalarope

The Wilson's Phalarope is a New World wader that was first described by French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot, and named in honour of Scottish-born ornithologist Alexander Wilson (sometimes known as "the father of American ornithology"). The Wilson's Phalarope is one of 5 species of bird named in his honour and one of 3 species of Phalarope in the world - the other two being the Red-necked Phalarope and the Grey Phalarope, the former being a species we saw on Lewis in 2025.

Meikle Loch

We then stopped at the Snub, since Keith had seen Ruff and Curlew Sandpiper there the day before. We saw many Little Egrets, a few Ruff and many Greenshanks and Redshanks, but sadly no Curlew Sandpipers. Just as I had finished scanning, I spotted my first Whooper Swans of the autumn.

Whooper Swans

RSPB St Andrews Trip - September 2026 - Part 2

RSPB St Andrews Trip - Part 2

13 September 2026

Brownhills, St Andrews

Today, I woke up early to do a seawatch in Brownhills, where we were staying, since I had seen a good number of Gannets passing over previous days. I walked down to the cliffs, and found a good place to set up for a seawatch. Sadly other than Gannets, there wasn't very much activity, so I soon got distracted by a couple of Greenshanks at the rocks at the bottom of the cliff.

Greenshank

View of St Andrews

With my attention moving back to seawatching, I noticed 2 Little Gulls slowly flying south, a very nice species to get on a seawatch. Continuing, I saw some very noisy Coal Tits, and some singing Chiffchaffs, which reminded me of springtime at Girdleness. I was then joined by my dad, who wad gone for a run, we soon headed back, but we did see a Grey Squirrel on the way, luckily a species that isn't very common in Aberdeenshire.

Fife Ness

We then headed to Fife Ness, where we joined my friend Felix, from Edinburgh. We decided to go for a seawatch, even though the conditions weren't amazing. Before long, we saw a couple Arctic Skuas, and many Fulmars and Gannets. I then saw another dark skua, which had quite a long tail, flying quite close in. I first shouted out Arctic Skua, not having Long-tailed as an option in my mind, but the other birder in the hide soon confirmed my suspicions, it was an adult Long-tailed Skua! We watched it as it flew South, and I managed to get some record shots.

Long-tailed Skua

The activity soon died down, with just a Common Scoter passing and a Knot and Ringed Plover being down on the rocks. There were several butterflies though, mainly Painted Lady and Large White, but also Red Admirals

Crail Harbour

We then drove to Crail Harbour, just near Fife Ness, where we had lunch, a panini for Felix, Maya, and I, as well as an ice cream to top it all off. In the café, we saw a Sabine's Gull, though we couldn't count it for our lists!

Sabine's Gull

Guardbridge

Before parting ways, we had a final stop at the Eden Estuary, where we saw many of the same species, as well as adding Greenshank, that we hadn't seen the day before here. After a long wait, the Kingfisher finally arrived, though it was more distant this time.

Nonetheless, it was a great end to our weekend in Fife and St Andrews and I can't wait to visit again.

Distant Kingfisher (Little Egrets behind)

RSPB St Andrews Trip - September 2026 - Part 1

RSPB St Andrews Trip - Part 1

12 September 2026

Eden Estuary

Today, we went to the Eden Estuary, with the rest of the Aberdeenshire Local RSPB Group to see what we could find. As usual, we arrived late, and the others had already made their way around the reserve. We walked across the golf course, where we saw a Jay, of which we got a terrible photo.

Jay

We continued walking, until we caught up with the group. We scanned the estuary and mudflats, finding some Curlews, Bar-tailed Gowits, Dunlins, many Shelduck, and, strangely enough, a few Stock Doves, too.

 

We kept going, soon spotting a year tick for me, a Grey Plover.

Grey Plover

Soon after, we had to turn back, seeing many Rooks on the golf course around us.

Rook

West Sands Beach

After this, we went to West Sands Beach, to hopefully walk to Out Head. At first, we saw a Wheatear, and got some great views of a pair of Stonechats.

Male Stonechat

Male Stonechat

As we walked towards Out Head however, it started pouring it down, so we headed back to the car, spotting another Wheatear on the way.

Cameron Reservoir

After lunch, we headed to Cameron Reservoir, in search of wildfowl. On the drive there, we saw a single Grey Partridge in a field, a nice addition to our list. 

At Cameron Reservoir we didn't see too much of great interest, there were a few Goldcrests, as well as loads of Little Grebes and Great Crested Grebes, with both species feeding chicks. There were also a few Tufted Ducks, and we saw a female Reed Bunting.

Surprisingly, I also got a year tick: Bullfinch! For some reason I either forgot to add or just haven't been paying enough attention to have added Bullfinch to my list this year.

Guardbridge

Our final birding destination of the day ended up being the Eden Estuary Centre, in the town of Guardbridge, North of St Andrews. After a lot of traffic, we managed to arrive, though we realised that we just missed a Kingfisher!

We scanned the many waders but found mostly Redshanks, as well as a few Black-tailed Godwits, and a flock of Knots. Flying above us were a couple of Ospreys, and a single Buzzard sat on a fence post in the distance. Before long, we heard the call of a Kingfisher, which flew down stream and landed on a fence post in the water.

Kingfisher fishing from a wooden post

After that, we went back home, before going into St Andrews for dinner with the others at Zizzi's. It turned out this would be the only event during the whole weekend that we would be on time for!