February 11th

At last a chance to get out sea watching at Fife Ness and to enjoy the very strong north-easterly gale and wild sea. Getting out there took considerably longer than coming back – always a good sign. You have to work for the good birds when you cycle out to Fife Ness in a strong easterly. The tide was right in early afternoon today and the birds were passing close. A steady stream of guillemots, razorbills, red-throated divers, eiders, gannets and fulmars with occasional small flocks of long-tailed ducks. Nothing unusual and not very many gulls passing, only a handful of kittiwakes in the couple of hours I was there. Still the drama of the huge waves and the backdrop they provide makes even a guillemot flyby something special.

Eiders past Fife Ness in the gale

 

 

There was a nice male red-breasted merganser in the surf directly in front of the hide, occasionally being swamped by the spume. A flock of some more red-breasted mergansers headed over and I could see the merganser in front of me visibly react to them, checking them out before taking off rapidly after them, perhaps in search of some company or more likely for some guidance to a better fishing area.

The red-breasted merganser in the spume at Fife Ness this afternoon