September 29th

The wind is still from the north-east and quite strong. Looking at a wind map, it looks like the conditions should blow seabirds past Fife Ness. But there wasn’t much evidence of this at lunchtime. The gannets and auks were passing close, but they were all birds coming out of the Forth, sheltering from the wind by keeping close to land until they turned the corner at the Ness. Anything heading south must have been very far out. There were only a few velvet scoters, sandwich terns and red-throated divers passing in that direction. Migrant wise there was a northern wheatear at stinky pool. It was really too windy at Kilminning to get grips with any other migrants although there were still yellow-browed warblers and chiffchaffs about. The barred warbler was seen today by a few people: I tried a couple of times briefly at the elder bushes without luck. I think it is averaging about a half an hour wait before you get a view of it. The many stonechats along the coast path between Fife Ness and Kilminning were much easier – a classic extrovert species in contrast.

A female stonechat at Fife Ness (JA)