I was staying in
Edinburgh over the weekend (8th-10th September) as part of a Reroute residential meeting, the flights didn't work that well so I couldn't get back
home until the Sunday, a day after the meeting had finished so I
decided to head out to Musselburgh on the east side of Edinburgh as
there had been a good few birds (Red-necked Grebe, Black Tern and Spotted Redshank), that I wanted to see, in the area.
So the night before I
made a plan to visit the place by public transport, I had never
visited Musselburgh by public transport before so it would be one of
two adventures I'd be having that day.
I woke up at 0600 on
the Sunday and set off to grab a bite to eat before my bus, it took
me a while before I finally decided where to get on the bus but
thanks to the friendly barista in 'easycoffee' I was sorted and was
heading on the No.26 at 0730.
It took around 40
minutes before I reached Musselburgh and soon I was off to another
unexplored part of the city, the Musselburgh Train Station. It took
around 45 minutes to get there, grab my train ticket and then make it
to Musselburgh Lagoons/River Esk mouth.
It was great to be
finally doing some south birding after so long, and it was a real
treat seeing such big numbers of Mute Swan and Black-headed Gull that
you just don't see in Shetland, one treat that I did find was my
second ever Kingfisher sitting happily on a ladder, the last
Kingfisher I saw was just a blue streak so seeing it in its full
orange and blue glory was amazing!
Kingfisher!
Levenhall Links aka Musselburgh Lagoons
Next came the mouth of
the River Esk which was absolutely teeming with waders, ducks and
swans, it was such a expanse of ground it was difficult to see any of
the farther away waders, a couple of Bar-tailed Godwit and Dunlin
were only real birds of note that I could see and a young Herring Gull trying to catch
a Pipit was pretty odd.
Moving further along
the shore, I heard this strange squeaking noise which I had never
heard before, next thing I knew a winter plumage/juv Sandwich Tern
flies in (not exactly a Black Tern but good enough!), the first one
I'd seen in a while. A few more goodies were picked up while trying
to find Red-necked Grebe, a pair of Great-crested Grebes and some
possible Velvet Scoters were a good addition to the trip list, not
always easy birds to get back home!
Next it was time to go
to the Levenhall Links and check the wader scrapes, passing by some
woods yielded Great-spotted Woodpecker, Blue Tit, Magpie, Woodpigeon
and a pair of Little Grebes on the boating pond.
Arthur's Seat in the distance
The mouth of the River Esk
Finally reaching the
Links my main excitement grew, as I remember this place was amazing
for waders and geese, this time was no exception, there were a few
Greylags but there were good numbers of waders on a couple of the
scrapes with a Black-tailed Godwit and 3 Ruff making a nice find.
After a while I met a few birders who informed me of a Spotted
Redshank and a Semi-palmated Sandpiper that had been seen in the area that
day! Hearing that news certainly had me more excited and scanning the
pools for a good while, more birders came and went but one couple
came with a scope and I asked if they could scan the far away wader
flock for the Spotted Redshank as it would have been a lifer for me,
ten minutes later and I had my wish, the couple with the scope had
picked it out among some Redshanks!
Spotted Redshank is the bird on the right hand of the gulls, photo taken through a scope
I've been trying to
catch up with Spotted Redshank for a few years now, from
Northumberland to Shetland and now to Lothian I've been looking for
them but now I've finally landed one! this Spotted
Redshank was a beauty, the couple with the scope let me have a look
through it to get a better look and boy it was amazing! Its grey
plumage was great, the face notably whiter than a normal Redshank and
a much thinner bill as well, it was gorgeous. It wasn't long before
a Curlew Sandpiper was picked up as a well, a bird I have very rarely
seen before so that was a nice addition to the trip list. Time was
soon getting on though, with no Semi-palmated Sandpiper in site and
my time running ever shorter I decided to head off and go to the
train station, ending my day at Musselburgh.
A Bee sp on Creeping Thistle
It was an eventful day,
with a lifer and a few nice birds I hadn't seen in a while, I always
love exploring these new places and hopefully Musselburgh will become
a regular site for me once I go to University, but that's a story for
another time.
No comments:
Post a Comment