September 24th

Some easterlies today but apart from a blackcap at Kilminning I didn’t find anything that had been brought in. A speckled wood butterfly was a highlight. They are getting commoner every summer but they are still unusual in this bit of Fife.

Speckled wood butterfly at upper Kilminning

The sea picked up during the afternoon, with manx shearwaters and a couple of arctic skuas past Fife Ness. There were a lot of kittiwakes passing and also out in big feeding rafts at the horizon. Mixed in with them were little gulls – some were passing too: it’s hard to assess their numbers, but there are probably hundreds visible from Fife Ness at the moment. Only one sandwich tern past, a few red-throated divers and one of the first red-breasted mergansers of the winter instead of the usual goosanders. On the way back I found a pink-footed goose sitting on the edge of the golf course. Hopefully just having a rest rather than on its last legs although it let me get within a few meters.

Pink-footed goose – you can see its serrated bill edge