Four birds on the Forth

Sea watching at Lower Largo:

Slavonian Grebe
Red-necked Grebe
Red-throated Diver
Surf Scoter

The plan was to head to Ruddon's Point for a bit of sea watching (or should that be Forth watching), but as the road to Shell Bay Caravan Site was being resurfaced and was closed for the week we ended up on the other side of Largo Bay at Lower Largo.

Meeting another birder there, we heard the Surf Scoter had been reported further up river at Kinghorn, but that wasn't our target for today, although always nice to see such a rarity, it was Black-throated Diver & Red-necked Grebe that we were after. An initial scan round and I found no Divers or Grebes, but plenty of Knot & Sanderling feeding along the shore, so I headed off with camera leaving Mrs L with the scope. Check out RCB for Knot Line Dancing.

Back with Mrs L we found Slavonian Grebe, Red-necked Grebe, Red-throated Diver, Long-tailed Duck, Common & Velvet Scoter, before we headed off for a walk along the beach where we added Dunlin, Redshank, Turnstone & Red-breasted Merganser, although the highlight for Mrs L was undoubtedly the fact we didn't get cut off by the incoming tide as I chose a few inappropriate points to stop and view the sea en-route.

Anyway we survived and back at the car park set up the scope for a final look round and there right in front of us was the Surf Scoter, probably the closest and best views we've ever had. Not a bad end to our day at the seaside.