Wknd 24-25 July

In early hours of Saturday morning collected latest Barn Owl off A1 by Beanston; seems to be a juv female, first casualty of the new season [Correction - post mortem reveals adult female!]. More positively, two seen on hunting en route, one at Amisfield over the A199 verge near the A1 junction and one perched on the road sign by West Garleton House. Sandwich Terns (ad + juv) were also heard heading off south inland over Waterstone House, Aberlady.

Later on Saturday we got into Butterdean Wood for atlas top-up and found there families of Treecreeper, Chiffchaff and Wren. 2+ Jays heard. This brings up NT47 to an average of 19 confirmed in all land squares (summary analysis for Forth coast 10kms), with only NT47B below 10. Max species total is 93 in NT47P overlapping Gosford shore.

First thing Sunday went back to Fernyness Wood to check up on the Spotted Flycatcher seen earlier; negative, but after failing to prove Treecreeper breeding last time had the pleasure of watching a parent feeding a youngster right in front of me, plus Nuthatch heard.

Later we joined the Wildlife Information Centre outing to Lennoxlove and were educated about various plant and insect species - Joanne finding the fungus "dead man's fingers", plus mushroom Amanita spissa; we also found the escape Maltese Cross (Silene chalcendonica) on waste ground (right). Best bird was a Kingfisher on the Colstoun Water, we also heard at least 2 Nuthatches and saw a juv GSW by the main house, and Jays and Buzzards were about with vociferous juvenile of the latter very audible. A Spotted Flycatcher was also seen.

At end of the previous week an afternoon (work) outing to Glentress, Borders, produced 6+ Crossbill and a female Peregrine passing over. House Sparrow FF in the car park turned out to be first confirmed breeding in NT23!

Wknd 26-27 June

Overdue WeBS from last wknd found 3 cygnets at Drem Pools together with one stripey Little Grebe (new breeding record) and 2 fluffball Moorhens. Mutes had failed, yet again, at East Fortune but family of 3 juv Herons there, perhaps fledged from Balgone? At Knowes all three hirundine species were in the air, with Swifts too, I can't recall seeing this full set before but I guess it happens at Musselburgh.

On Aberlady mud flats 4 discrete families of Shelduck, largest group having 17 identically sized smallish young attended by a single pair of adults. This species lays typically 8-10 eggs so this may be an instance of two females having laid in same nest, apparent quite common (BWP mentions 35 instances of two or more from Kent studies, max 32 eggs in one nest, v 95 single female clutches). From Aberdeenshire studies is also the salutary statistic: 65% survived to day 12, 43% to day 18, 37% to day 25, 29% to day 33, 25% to day 43, 24% to day 50 and fledging. These looked to be less than a week old so on average only 4 will make it, perhaps less with only 2 active parents guarding.

A rare visit into Borders on Sunday, non-birding but noted in Eyemouth: one medium-sized bat flying over the river bank just upstream of the harbour at 12:20hrs; Mute Swans on nest there - mainly reeds but with a few bits of plastic bags etc for decoration; also one Curlew arriving in-off the North Sea from well offshore, presumably part of the current Curlew movement now underway post-breeding (see vismig yahoogroup).

Finally back in Longniddry, 35 Swift feeding over Fernyness Wood mid-evening; these I presume mainly non-breeders as we have only a handful regularly, the curious thing being I am yet to see the "residents" enter a possible nest; every year we have 2-8 daily and they regularly scream past low over the road just west of us, which is what they do past occupied nests at colonies, but the more I look the less I see them entering anywhere!