Now at Ingrids' parents in Edinburgh, I took advantage of the relatively calm morning and headed to Fisherrow to scan the Firth of Forth for seaducks and such. I quickly picked out the drake
Surf Scoter, among a scattering of 30 or so
Velvet Scoters, but for the life of me couldn't find the White-winged Scoter in my 4.5hrs of scanning; it was reported later on but I'm confident it wasn't in my line of sight unless it was truly ridiculously distant. An adult
Little Gull flew up the River Esk and other highlights included four
Slavonian Grebes, 375
Eiders, 22
Goldeneyes, nine
Long-tailed Ducks, a
Common Scoter, a
Goosander, three
Red-breasted Mergansers, a
Red-throated Diver, two
Kittiwakes, a
Razorbill, two
Guillemots, a
Fulmar and four
Siskins overhead, along with 200
Bar-tailed Godwits, 750
Oystercatchers and a scattering of
Curlew,
Turnstones,
Redshanks,
Dunlin and
Grey Plover. Also of interest was an apparent 2cy
Glaucous x Herring Gull hybrid.
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| drake Surf Scoter |
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| 2cy Glaucous x Herring Gull hybrid |
