March 5th

I walked along the coastal path between Cellardyke and Crail this morning. There was a female pintail amongst the wigeon and mallards in the pools below the former pig farm. It is a more elongated and elegant duck compared to a mallard with a longer neck and tail even if plumage wise it is superficially just another brown duck. It’s a good Crail record – only my 3^rd or 4^th I think even though they are quite common on the Eden and at Kilconconquhar loch. Again it’s the lack of local freshwater. I was sufficiently excited to text the county bird recorder – his reply was “Oh yes there’s a female there every winter, has been for the last few years…” Oh well, I know better now; I usually walk past the ducks when I’m down at Cellardyke and check the waders and gulls instead. Number 101 for the Crail year list though so I’m happy regardless- it will be the pintails and bean geese that will make all the difference to whether I hit the record 160 by the end of the year.

Female pintail – no. 101 for the Crail list this year

Along the coastal path it was occasional redshank and oystercatchers, a few red-throated divers, a couple of common scoter and a lot of gannets. There was a single lesser-black backed gull – this could be a migrant coming back for the summer to breed or just the adult that has been resident at Cellardyke this winter. The cold north wind was keeping things quiet inland although there was a big flock of yellowhammers and skylark in a stubble patch at Caiplie Caves; as the skylark flew up one or two of them started singing as if to make best use of the disturbance – they sing their territorial song while flying anyway.

Skylark