Some highly enjoyable short visits to Musselburgh over the last three days. A quick summary for each:
19th. A
Peregrine knocking a
Dunlin out of the sky was the biggest pulse-raiser of the day while the best 'rarity' value came courtesy of a fly-over
Wood Sandpiper, hesitant to touch down. A juvenile
Yellow Wagtail crept around the margins again, as did two
Grey Partridges, and two
Red-breasted Mergansers offshore were a site tick for me. Other birds on the Forth included two
Red-throated Divers, 110
Goosanders, 127
Mute Swans, 17
Common and just one
Velvet Scoter. Further waders included three
Greenshanks, two
Common Sandpipers, 109
Bar-tailed Godwits and, again a new site bird for me, a
Whimbrel. A party of
Shoveler and pair of
Shelduck were also site ticks.
20th. No time to look offshore. A stonking adult
Little Gull and an apparently different juvenile
Yellow Wagtail were on the scrapes, where waders included a
Knot (site tick), 10
Whimbrel, four
Greenshanks, two
Black-tailed and 135
Bar-tailed Godwits. Another site tick came when a
redpoll flew over.
21st. An afternoon trip revealed its highlight late on when a flock of 10
Manx Shearwaters flew east along the Forth. Two
Little Grebes on the boating lake must have always been there but it evidently took me eight visits to notice them! The adult
Little Gull was again on the scrapes, along with 13
Whimbrel, the
Knot again and 169
Bar-tailed Godwits. Other bits included 600
Eiders, 80
Goosanders, 17
Common and three
Velvet Scoters, a
Grey Partridge, two
Red-throated Divers, a
Turnstone and 110
Sandwich Terns.
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| A flock of Whimbrel heads out from the scrapes on the ebbing tide this afternoon |
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| the adult Little Gull on the scrapes yesterday |
