November 21st

One of my favourite walks, and perfect for 2-3 hours on a Sunday morning, is to do a loop starting from Kingsbarns Church, down the Drony road and along the coastal path to the mouth of the Kenly Burn, then back inland through Hillhead and Pitmilly. It’s important in the winter to do it this way round so the low sun is behind you along the coastal path. There are usually a lot of small birds along the way, particularly in the forage turnip and sheep fields of Boghall Farm, the wild bird seed mix field edges at Hillhead Farm and the new woodland at Pitmilly. Today, the twite that are often along the shore at Boghall must have been out of sight in one of the more inland forage turnip fields, although there were some, later, in the big stubble field on the west side of Kingsbarns. There was a small flock of corn bunting at Boghall at least. The best flocks were at Hillhead. There is a really nice stubble field just behind the coastal path as you reach Kenly Water. It has a wide fringe of wild bird seed mix, and this had a flock of over 100 – maybe 150 – tree sparrows, chaffinches, yellowhammers and reed buntings. It still feels like most birds have not really flocked up for the winter though. It was colder today, but still not winter cold. There did seem to be more skylarks about, with fifty or so popping up out of the big stubble field at Kingsbarns where I had the twite. And a surprising number of bullfinches. I had small groups in four places along the walk. Bullfinches are surprisingly inconspicuous considering how showy their plumage is, but their soft whistles and white rumps flashing as they fly give them away.

Male bullfinch (John Anderson)

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