RSPB St Andrews Trip - Part 1
12 September 2026
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, stragely 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
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.
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 to 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.
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!
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