On the Way Home

16th February and I am on the way home.  I ordered a take-away breakfast from the hotel in order to leave early.  The breakfast consisted of an apple, a tropical fruit drink (small) and a strawberry yogurt.  I won't be doing that again.

The main reason for leaving early was to get to Morton Lochs in Fife before 8.00.  The other reason was to avoid the on street parking charges of £1.80 an hour, the hotel did not have any parking facilities.

Morton Lochs is part of Tentsmuir National Nature Reserve located near Tayport, in the north east of Fife and is run by Scottish Natural Heritage.  The main part of the Nature Reserve is pine forest run by the Scottish Forestry Commission.  At Morton Lochs there are some trails through the forest.  The most interesting one the Wild Wood Trail was closed and a fellow birder I met told me it had been closed for some years.  Fallen trees that blocked to trail had not been cleared.  (Interestingly, like Balgavies, part of the path network follows an old railway line.  I wonder how access to these and other reserves would have been provided if Mr Beeching hadn't closed a lot of railway lines in the 1960's.  There is a long distance path that was an old railway line near where I live.  It is one of my regular walks and full of wildlife.  There is a lot of public pressure to reopen the line.  What will happen to the displaced wild life?  Where will the cyclist, walkers and dog walkers go for  safe off road exercise?).  The main interest at Morton Lochs was not the water birds, Mute Swans, Mallards (of course), Tufted Duck, Gadwall, Little Grebes and so on but the Red Squirrels

You will notice that the squirrels come in different shades.  There was an even darker one but it was too quick for me to get a photograph.

As this is a birding blog I had better put up images of some of the Morton Lochs birds

Grey Heron

Robin

Mute Swan

Little Grebe

From Morton Lochs I want to the small town of Tayport, mainly to find some food to supplement my take-away breakfast.  In the harbour there was a Red-breasted Merganser

Red-breasted Merganser

My next stop was the Forestry Commission Car Park at Tentsmuir Beach.  The only reason for this stop was to see the Scoters out at sea.  There were certainly Common Scoter but they were so far out it was impossible to see if there were any 'Velvets' or 'Surfs' among them and too far for any meaningful photograph.  So only one addition to the year list.

I then went to find the Eden Estuary (in Fife I hasten to add not Cumbria or Kent).  Trying yo find somewhere to park the car and get access to the estuary prove to be a problem.  A fortunate one as it turned out as on the road to St Andrews I came across a fills with Mute Swans and Light-bellied Brent Geese, the second year list tick of the day.

Mute Swans and Light-bellied Brent Geese

I turned round on the outskirts of St Andrews to see if I had missed a way of getting to the estuary and came upon a sign 'Eden Estuary Centre'.  They must be able to tell me how to get there.  The centre was actually a bird hide overlooking the estuary.  As bird hides go this on was at the top end of luxury.

Facilities included heating, comfy seats and a toilet as well as  information about the estuary.  Just outside were some well stocked feeding stations.  There wasn't a great deal in the was of bird life for the hour I was there.  Redshank, Curlew, Gulls on the mud and in the water,  Finches, Tits and a Great Spotted Woodpecker on the feeders.

Talking to the other birders in the hide I was shown, way out towards the sea, the two posts that are used by White Tailed Eagles to hang out.  They are not there on a daily basis and the hide log recorded them last seen on 19th January.   A kingfisher is often seen just outside the hide as are a variety of waders.  This is somewhere to return to if only to have lunch, as I did, talk to local birders and have the chance of seeing some interesting bird life in a degree of comfort.

There are a few other bird hides up and down the UK that offer more than just the wooden hut, wooden benches and slot style windows.  The visitors centre at the Loch of Strathbeg is another 5* hide.  The Gillian Hide at Leighton Moss is quite good.  I am sure there are others.  Someone should organise a 'Good Hide Guide' or open up a public vote to fine the top one hundred hides in the UK (or even the world).  Another list could be the 'Hides of Shame' for those at the opposite end of the spectrum.  It may even lead to improvements!

Total on list 121