Monday 16 March 2020

Fisherrow

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.

drake Surf Scoter

2cy Glaucous x Herring Gull hybrid