Dunbar (1 Viewer)

[LittleBitOfBreadNoCheese]

Braved 40mph+ westerly winds to visit Dunbar today, main hope was to see some Purple Sandpipers. The SOC app suggested the best sites lay NW of the station so I set off that way not surprisingly making very slow progress - some of the cliff edge paths felt decidedly unsafe. In the water were plenty of Eider and Goldeneye, a pair of Red Breasted Mergansers and some Shags on the rocks. Rock Pipits plentiful everywhere. The usual common waders were there and eventually (after checking photos) I managed to get my first Scottish Purple Sandpipers, a bird that has frustrated me for some time. I wonder if I've overlooked them in the past.

 

[Green Sandpiper]

I try to time my Dunbar trips with the arrival of the Kittiwakes and (with luck) fulmar. I also try to combine them with a 'jaunt' along the coast to Torness which on its day offers pretty good birding and the possibility of siring three- headed children in the future.

 

[Stonefaction]

St Andrews can be good for Purple Sandpiper. They roost on a man-made ledge below the cathedral ruins at high tide, which can be seen by looking over the wall near the side entrance into the grounds of the cathedral. Another good spot for them is at Arbroath, just west of the harbour. At high tide they can often be seen in a roost with other waders on the slope by the track towards the football ground, or out on the breakwater.