April 5th

Yellowhammer

The wind has been from the east the last couple of days, so we had the haar in making it very dreich. Everywhere was very damp with the rain of the last couple of days, and the pool in the pasture field just west of Ribbonfield (by the B940 and B9171 crossroads) has a good lot of water in it. I am hopeful that it will attract some passage waders, like little ringed plovers in the next week or wood sandpipers at the beginning of May. Visibility out at Fife Ness wasn’t very good, although I could see the gannets, auks and kittiwakes shuttling back and forth indicating the start of another Forth breeding season. No terns yet, but there was an invisible chiff-chaff at the top of Kilminning calling mournfully in the fog. It doesn’t seem like there is an early rush of summer migrants yet, although there were some swallows and house martins reported elsewhere in Fife today, which is fairly early. The only literal bright spot today was a yellowhammer, glowing yellow at Balcomie despite the murk.

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