York Bird Club weekend trip to Fife, Day 1

It was the York Bird Club weekend trip to Fife last weekend and on Friday the 18th me, Andy and Mike headed north, we decided to do a spot of birding in Northumberland on the way up as Mike wanted to see the Greater Yellowlegs, me and Andy didn’t mind having a second bite of the cherry anyway, and there was also an Eastern Black Redstart on Holy Island. The Yellowlegs had become restless and had been moving around a bit over the last couple of days and as we got up there the last report had been from the Druridge Bay Country Park, we headed there but upon arrival there was no sign of it and we were told the bird had flown off towards East Chevington but birders arriving from there said there was no sign of it there neither, we went to Hauxley to see if it had returned there but it hadn’t although a Greenland White Fronted Goose showed well from the approach road, we had just decided to give it one last try back at East Chevington when news came over that it had returned to Druridge Bay, we got there and there it was in a lot better light and a lot closer than last weekend, a superb bird well worth the perseverance, there were also three Scaup on the lake and a Crossbill flew over. With time getting on we headed off to Holy Island and fortunately it didn’t take too long to find the Eastern Black Redstart, just a sub-species at the moment but a really distinctive and smart looking bird and we enjoyed great views as it fed along the beach, also a Short Eared Owl was hunting near the car park when we returned to the car, a good start to the trip. Then it was Northwards with a fight through the Edinburgh traffic and on to our Hotel at Lower Largo.

feasting on a fish

it was eventually flushed by two little old ladies