Saturday 7 January 2017

Edinburgh and Musselburgh, 7th January 2017

Up in Edinburgh for a few days, Ingrid and I started the day with a quick pit stop at Dalry and our hopes were realised when 35 Waxwings suddenly flew in. They were very skittish and only settled on the berries for a few seconds before flying off to some tall distant trees. With a busy agenda, we had to move on.

Waxwings in Edinburgh
Next up was Musselburgh in a search for seaducks. We couldn't locate the wintering drake Surf Scoter but probably weren't quite looking in the right place. It was wonderful, though, to see Velvet and Common Scoters, good numbers Red-breasted Mergansers and Eiders, rafts of Goldeneyes, as well as a few Slavonian Grebes and Long-tailed Ducks.

adult ♂ Velvet Scoters off Musselburgh
Slavonian Grebes off Musselburgh
adult ♂ Long-tailed Duck off Musselburgh
Eiders off Musselburgh