On holiday, the sun was splitting the sky, so off down the coast to East Lothian. First stop Torness. I scouted round the cereal fields near the power station and saw 4 yellow wagtails feeding on the ground in 2 pairs. I got out of the car with my camera and was working my way quietly along the wall. I heard a car draw up behind me but paid little attention. I had just got into position to take a pic when the car let off one quick peep. The birds of course flushed and I turned round to let off a few flowers of invective. And of course it was my friends(not) the Torness police looking mean as usual with their submachine guns-different ones(police not guns) this time. And certainly no sign of Birdspotters fantasy female copper(beginning to think she is a figment of his fertile imagination). So the usual questions and a 10 minute wait whist they waited for a check on my car details and 'No they didn't want to see the nice wheatear I had in my sights thank you sir'. Apparently they now prefer anyone driving around the power station area and birding to check in at the gate house first with car details. Anyway back to the birding. At least 6 and maybe as many as 10 yellow wagtails were in the area, mostly males-very nice
Next stop was Presmennan Wood near Stenton. And very fine it was too. A nuthatch was by the car park and a second one was a couple of hundred yards further on. I flushed 2 squawking jays. After a mile or so I heard a redstartsinging intermittently. I couldn't locate it on the steep oak bank so sat down for a drink. Which was a good move. 2 treecreepers were barely 10 yards away. A third nuthatch appeared and the redstart started singing very close by. In fact I leant back and it was 30 feet immediately above me singing and displaying-fantastic
On next to Ormiston and the disused railway line-always a good place to test warbler song. 13wilow warblers,11chiffchaffs,7 whitethroats,5 blackcaps,3sedge warblers and a single garden warbler. Highlight however was hearing the rattling song of alesser whitethroat that then sat a top a hawthorn giving me my best ever views of this usually skulking species. A few hundred yards I heard and got brief views of a second bird
Final stop was Penicuik and the site where I saw breeding wood warblers last year. It was 2.30 and hot and at first I heard nothing. But after a while I got on to 2 intermittently singing male wood warblers A nice finish to a fine hot day