Lothian wildlife
A day out
The conference in Edinburgh had finished and I had decided to spend one more day there nature spotting. I read a tweet that the Puffins had arrived in numbers on the islands nearby, but I wasn’t sure if boats would be running as the weather was bad.
I hired a car and went South East to Aberlady. It was cold and windy so I decided to avoid the coast for the minute and found a small wood. It was rich in birdsong, but the birds were hard to see until I finally came to large pond. Here I saw a willow warbler. I had seen one in my garden already but this was the first time this year I had heard one and I love their song! I then stopped for another new sound: a Goldcrest singing. It was hard to see at first but when I finally did get a good view it was joined by a male who mounted it — its orange crest displaying like a mohican. What a fantastic sight! There were also House Martin there.
I moved on to Aberlady and parked to the west of the bay. It was low tide and I walked down on to the squelchy mud. There were two Eider ducks, some Redshank and a Grey Plover. It started raining at this point and the wind was so strong it was almost blowing me over.
I retraced my steps towards the car stopping for a final view across the bay. There were Sanderling, Dunlin, Shelduck, a few Black-tailed Godwit, Oyster Catcher, Teal and at least one Curlew. At this point I got a phone call from Scottish Sea bird centre to say they would be running boat trips to the islands. Yipee!
I carried on immediately to North Berwick where the boats departed from. I had some lunch in the cafe and took a look from one of the telescopes at Bass Rock. It was white with the number of Gannets. Unfortunately just as we were to board the boat the Skipper decided the weather was too bad and cancelled it. Apparently I would have seen Guillemots and Razorbills at close quarters, as well as Puffins. I was disappointed but please nonetheless to have come here.
I could see Gannets close to the shore…
..who were enjoying their diving.
I saw many many Eider.
I saw a Long-tailed Duck. A first for me although I couldn’t see its long tail.
Shags were speeding across the bay.
I went round to the East of the bay where I saw three Sandwich Tern who were also enjoying diving...
..and a Wheatear both of which were the first of the year.
I also saw some Rock Pipits, Linnet, Pied Wagtail, a Kittiwake and a male and female Red-breasted Merganser (the female was nesting).
At the north-east of the bay I got my closet view of Bass Rock and the Gannets. Between the waves I could make out Guillemot and I suspect, in one case, a Razorbill. The Guillemot and Razorbill were hard to see and kept disappearing once I lost view of them from my binoculars. I was so intent on getting a photo of them I almost got stranded on the rock on to which I had climbed to get a better view.
At this point I decided to return to Musselburgh which would be nearer to the Airport for my evening flight, but when I arrived it was high tide and there was little to see. I did stop at the river where there were nesting Swans and Canada Geese.
I also got a lovely view of two Grey Wagtails.
I then ventured back for my flight back home tired and content.
