Black Redstart (Female)

Many thanks to gen2 for taking the time to comment and drawing my attention to this gorgeous bird. So today I headed down to Kirkcaldy Seafield to see whether I could find her for myself.

I've been to Kirkcaldy many times before, but generally it's been to view the Forth from the Esplanade, so Seafield was completely new to me. Apart from being a superb spot for bird watching it has a lot of historical interest too. I walked as far as the 16th century Seafield Tower passing the remains of an uncompleted deep water harbour from 1889.

It was around the harbour that I found the Black Redstart. After watching her for a while I chose a spot to sit and wait, hoping she'd come close for a decent photo. As you can see, she didn't disappoint. On the other side of the harbour wall I found the other birding highlight of the day a flock of six Purple Sandpipers feeding on the rocks right at the water's edge. Again I found a vantage point and spent a good twenty minutes watching them feeding while dodging in and out of the waves - superb!

With the addition of Eider, Purple Sandpiper, Cormorant, Oystercatcher, Bar-tailed Godwit, Redshank, Turnstone, Common Gull, Pied Wagtail, Goldfinch, Ringed Plover, Curlew and of course Black Redstart the year list has swelled to 50.