Loch of the Lowes and Seafield (Kirkcaldy)

 We took a drive up to Dunkeld and the SWT Reserve at the Loch of the Lowes, bad planning though, we neglected to check if the visitor centre was open and it wasn't!! One hide was open though, so we spent some time in there, but also popping out to check the feeders from time to time.

It was a good job a hide was open because the weather was a lot worse than we expected, very drizzly! So as you can see the light was poor over the Loch, but the Wigeon didn't care,

neither did this Nuthatch,

or the Goldeneye.

Other highlights were Treecreeper and Great Spotted Woodpecker. Sadly the Red Squirrels we usually see there didn't put in an appearance.

A couple of days later we had some errands to run in Kirkcaldy, so went for a little walk along the sea at Seafield. The tide was way out, so all the birds were pretty distant and there was very little activity in the scrub on the other side of the path either. Having said that we were delighted to see three Long-tailed Ducks off shore always brilliant to see.

There were tons of Redshank about, these were a few of them catching the last bit of sun:

as was this Heron:

Other waders seen were Turnstone, some Purple Sandpiper, Oystercatcher, a couple of Black-tailed Godwit and a final flurry from some passing Curlew:

Finally on the way back to car this wild Rabbit posed nicely:

January 2024 in Fife and over the borders into Perthshire and West Lothian

 So It's a new year and it's already February before I have got around to posting anything!!

So a quick summary, in the first weeks of the year we have stayed very local and brought the species count up to 43 by the last week of the month, visiting Kinghorn, Lochore, Kinghorn, Loch of the Lowes, Loch Leven and Musselburgh.

Not many photo opportunities but here's the best of the bunch in some rather dodgy weather at times!

The wind was up at Fife Ness,

Fulmars claiming their nesting spots at Kinghorn,

The sun breaking through at Kinghorn,

Red Squirrel at Loch of the Lowes,

along with plenty of Goldeneye.

Pheasant on the run at Musselburgh Lagoons,

where there were plenty of Wigeon

and Oystercatchers.

The Wigeon were spooked by something, but couldn't see what.

The finally a Godwit fly by as the weather closed in yet again.

RSPB Loch Leven

 We paid one of regular visits to the RSPB reserve at Loch Leven this week. It was a nice calm bright day for a change, our last two visits it has been blowing a gale so the birds were keeping a very low profile.

This time was pleasingly different with lots going on, the Lapwings were very busy in front of the middle hide,

nice view of its bum!

and plenty of aerial activity too.

We saw our first Reed Bunting of the year

and the duck species count was high with Wigeon still around,

Teal, Goldeneye, Mallard, Gadwall, Tufted Duck, Shoveler and Shelduck

Great Crested Grebes were busy pairing up on the loch and also on the reserve pools, as were two Little Grebes. I have to say the improvements made in front of the middle hide to make it more suitable for the Lapwing are paying dividends, it looks great and seems to be attracting birds in numbers. The curlew seem to like it too:

We counted 75, but i'm sure there were more.

Then to cap it off a couple of Hare were spotted on the bee/butterfly meadow,

a great day.

Over 30 species in all!

Musselburgh

 We made another visit to Musselburgh last week as we were visiting our daughter in Leith. We started at Fisherrow Harbour: Redshank

and Dunlin were seen,

plus the odd Oystercatcher. We then moved on to our first ever visit to the Esk Mouth in search of various Scoter, but speaking to others there, they had drifted away into the Forth, so that was a shame. There were quite a few Goldeneye on the Esk and plenty of Curlew on the shore:

Also load of Corvids and Gulls, but we didn't stay long as the wind was spiteful and it was very cold, even though I had three layers on.

We carried on to Levenhall Links and the Lagoons, where there were Wigeon, Oystercatcher, Bar-tailed Godwit, Redshank, lawing and Curlew aplenty!

Curlew,

Oystercatcher,

Bar-tailed Godwit,

Oystercatchers,

Wigeon

and Lapwing.

We also had a good sighting of a Kestrel on the hunt, a single Shoveler put in an appearance, as well as plenty of Teal. But the big highlight for us was a very brief appearance of a Short-eared Owl. This is our mission for 2022, to see the three main species of Owl (Bar, Short-eared and Tawny) as we hadn't until then seen an owl for over two years! Not for want of trying I might add.

We left just before dusk, frozen solid. Never been more grateful for heated seats in the car.

The Annual Birding Visit to Norfolk - Part 1

The weekend of Storm Ciara we were booked to go to Norfolk, we drove down on the Saturday in glorious weather calling in at Salthouse before going to our digs to find the Waxwing that had been showing well there. We got there about 3pm and had a good a good wander along with a few other birders, but there was no sign, although looking at twitter etc. there were some nice photos of it from earlier in the day! It must have settled down somewhere to get out of the impending storm, which in retrospect we should have done the following day!

On the Sunday all the reserves were shut. So we ended up mooching along the coast and as a result, and a long story I got covered in mud and we nearly had the door of the car blown off, so we will consign that day to the rubbish heap as far as birding is concerned.

Monday was different story, we checked with the RSPB at Titchwell and headed there, it was still windy but nothing like Sunday. The birds didn't seem to agree though and the lagoons were very sparsely populated, with most birds staying in or near the reeds. So not many photos for what was mostly a dull day:
Blue Tit,

 Little Grebe,

 Avocet,

 Teal

 and Knot

We only clocked up 32 species for the day there. We did pop to Holkam in the off chance that some remaining Pink-footed Geese would turn up to roost, but again with the high winds and snow! The only geese seen were Brents and Greylag. Although a Barn Owl and the Marsh Harriers did brighten the evening up for us.

Tuesday saw us go to Snettisham for the day, again it was very windy, but a lot brighter. Cutting across country from Wells where we were staying, we saw plenty of Hare, which was very nice;

and Red-Legged partridge in good numbers;

At Snettisham it was very windy to say the least, so the hide windows facing the sea remain firmly shut! The pools on the other side of the hides were quite busy though. With plenty of Goldeneye;

Wigeon,

 Lapwing,

Greylag,

 Great Crested Grebe,

 Turnstone,

 Little Grebe,

 Cormorant,  Mute Swan, Tufted Duck and Shoveler. Two Peregrines put in an appearance that got the smaller Wildfowl excited;

There were brief visits by a pair of Egyptian Geese and a Little Egret that helped the day along nicely.

On the Seaward side on the mud were plenty of Shelduck, Knot, Dunlin, Golden Plover, Bar-tailed Godwit, Ringed Plover.
Grey Plover

and Redshank.

Most were much too distant to photograph. The sunset though was worth photographing:

This post is I think long enough for starters I will do the rest tomorrow!