Fife Horizons

When I am up in Scotland I have a choice of rooms in which to stay. My preference is for the one with the window that overlooks some of the bird feeders, but also the empty weedy field adjacent to the house. From here I can also see the hillside above, a patchwork of agricultural fields with woodland on the crest. If I set up my scope (which now lives in Fife, I just don't use it in London) it's possible to see a fair way, and depending on the light many of the birds end up being identifiable.

I am here at the moment, and earlier today I managed to add two new species to the garden list, even though the birds in question were nowhere near the garden. From the garden is the critical distinction here. The first was before I started work this morning. I was scanning one of the fields on the hillside when I found some lumps in the short grass. Partridges! They were extremely distant, but there are only two kinds of Partridge in Fife, and one is a lot rarer than the other and it is not the one you think! Given the differences in plumage, and in particular head colouration, it is also straightforward to separate them at a considerable distance. Grey Partridge! A covey of eleven birds hunkered down, every so often one would stand up and have a look around, the head clearly being lighter and a bit orangy. And I could even see that the breast was two-toned, darker below even if I couldn't see the spot.

Just before my first after lunch meeting started I had another scan. On the far crest of the hill a small group of birds were sat in a small twiggy bush. Was it my imagination or did one of them look yellow? They flew a bit closer, still miles away in relative terms, first sitting on some tree tops,and then going back and perching on wires. This was a much better view, and even at this distance some of them were definitely yellow! And structurally they seemed perfect for Buntings as well when side on. Yellowhammer are very common around here, but they don't come to gardens and so were not on my list. I had no qualms about adding them.

I realise all this is highly tenuous but I am sure that most birders who maintain garden lists also all engage in these kinds of shenanigans. If you don't then your garden lists will be limited to the fifteen species that actually do visit gardens. The photo above is the view I have been talking about. The Grey Partridges were in the most central green bit, the Yellowhammers on the horizon over towards the right hand side, landing in the obvious treeline on the horizon before dropping onto some wires that are not really visible here. So my Fife garden list has risen to 71, not bad for a garden that I don't live in. I think Curlew is the most obvious missing species, there are tons of them around here so I fully expect to get that at some point. Ditto Lapwing. It is nice to have boring things to be excited about.