Stejneger’s Scoter – off Lower Largo, Fife, 30th April 2023
From bottom to top:
- Velvet Scoter, first seen at Spurn, Kilnsea, East Yorkshire, November 1984, when things were so simple;
- White-winged Scoter, Murcar Links, Blackdog, Aberdeenshire, June 2016, when I was slow to realise it was a full fat tick; and,
- Stejneger’s Scoter, Lower Largo, Fife, April 2023, after I had suffered attempting to see it in East Lothian in December 2022.
Or just five in UK terms. Although White-winged Scoter had very definitely become a ‘thing’, Stejneger’s Scoter failed to arrive on the British list, despite several close failures. It had tantalised ever since the record off Rossbeigh in County Kerry, Ireland in March 2011, but putative records off Mussleburgh in January 2014 and in Holkham Bay in Norfolk in November / December 2021 (a female!!) failed to make the grade.
But, as I say, surely it was only a matter of time? And better, I was close at hand should one be identified at what was undoubtedly ‘Scoter Central’ – the Outer Firth of Forth coastlines of East Lothian and East Fife.
So it proved. Late on the afternoon of Saturday the 10th December 2022, Lothian’s top two rarity finders, Keith Gillon and Calum Scott, made the mightily impressive discovery of one off Gullane Point. The bird was still present the following day but I (predictably / mistakenly?) opted to watch QPR v. Burnley in what was their first game after the World Cup break, in what was already shaping up to be a fantastic season. Oh, and I’d entered into a car sharing arrangement with Tessa which had been an incentive for her to pass her driving test. As she had done this successfully, we had shared my car for some months, which basically meant I filled it up and she drove it. Any twitch was dependant on getting my car back…… .
So it was that I planned to go on Monday the 12th December, subject to the return of my car. Meanwhile, during the evening of the 11th December, I responded to Matt Jackson’s request for a lift to Gullane when he posted it on the Birding Lothian WhatsApp group. Young Matt was a medical student, previously at St. Andrews University and now at Edinburgh University.
We arranged for me to pick him up from the Straiton Park and Ride Car-park at around 09:00 the following morning. This I did successfully, and we quickly travelled to the main car-park at Gullane Bents. It was a bitterly cold morning, with remnants of snow and ice around. Once at the car-park there was something of a faff as the ticket machines weren’t working, but more so, because a car full of birders (I use the term lightly) from down south appeared soon after we did, which included one Lee Evans. He was already in hyper overdrive mode and recognised and assailed me, adamant that we were at the wrong car-park and that it wasn’t possible to walk to Gullane Point from here, mainly because he'd seemingly attempted to do so along the coast when the tide was in in the past….. . He banged on about we should have been parked somewhere else (Aberlady Bay, but….) and ignored me when I tried to explain that Graham Clark, Christine Bennett, Gillian and I had on several occasions managed to walk from Aberlady Bay to where we were in Gullane via Gullane Point with two very young girls in the past… .
Anyway, he ignored me and I ignored him, and Matt and I made our own way to Gullane Point without too much difficult, despite the underfoot conditions being less than helpful for me.
On arrival at Gullane Point we were greeted by a gathering of some 30 or so birders, all gawping out to sea, but not in any coordinated or excited manner. It gradually emerged (perhaps only as a result of subsequent messages on Rare Bird Alert) that the bird had been seen, but only at 09:40, and it was now some good while after that.
It was hard work – made all the more so be the reappearance of LGRE who somehow, miraculously, had made his way to Gullane Point from Gullane Links without any problem. Obviously, no apology was forthcoming, and instead, given that there was no positive news and the Black-throated Thrush was showing in Haddington, he selected Matt and I as the ‘two most likely’ and asked us if we were staying, and if so, to make sure we got the news out if it reappeared.
We assured him we were staying, that we were there for the duration, and that, obviously, we would out any news out as necessary.
Anyway, soon afterwards Matt and I, dispirited by the lack of the bird, any coherent news and any warmth, also opted to leave for the Black-throated Thrush in Haddington, on the premise that we could always come back to Gullane Point should there be any more news.
We quickly found our way to Haddington and the site of the Black-throated Thrush twitch, which happened to be within about 200 m of where Nick and Kathy Smith lived in the middle of Haddington. We parked up and in doing so bumped into Alan Brown who was on very good form. I introduced him to Matt (knowing that Alan had offered Matt advice on getting to Gullane on public transport on the Birding Lothian WhatsApp group). We then also, predictably, bumped into LGRE who thankfully ignored that fact that we’d left our station….. . We then enjoyed seeing the thrush easily, chatting to Darren Woodhead and seeing Mark Holling in the process.
Having done so, we opted to go into Haddington town centre in search of a late lunch. Once we’d been successful in our quest the day sort of petered out; although there was apparent positive news from back at Gullane Point soon after we’d departed, we decided it was too late to bother going back / we just couldn’t face going back, and instead travelled back to Edinburgh where I dropped Matt off in student land before continuing on to South Queensferry.
News about the bird continued during the early part of that week, before it faded away to negative news on the Thursday and Friday. However, there was new (somewhat garbled news?) on both the Saturday and Sunday, when single messages suggested the bird was again ‘at the mouth of Aberlady Bay…….. viewable from Gullane Point’.
So it was I returned to the area on my own on Sunday the 18th December. This time I travelled to Aberlady Bay with the intention of parking and walking from there, but the car-park was full, and so I resigned myself to driving on to Gullane to park in the car-park at Gullane Bents again.
However, as I passed through the golf courses on either side of the road as I travelled towards Gullane, I noticed the gated track entrance of the track through the Gullane golf course to the sewage works on a sweeping bend. Therefore, I opted to park here and walked along the track and then cross-country to Aberlady Bay itself, where I eventually joined a few other birders perched atop the sand-dunes overlooking the bay.
This seemed like a good idea, but my optimism quickly dissipated as I was once again faced with vast expanses of sea with a few distant scoters and no definite ‘leads’. And there was still a very distinct lack of warmth. Although RBA reported the bird was present mid-morning there was no further reports subsequently.
So eventually, I conceded defeat and walked back a more conventional way, down onto the beach and towards the main path, partly because this offered an easier route back, but also partly as this involved coinciding with birders who had chosen to walk out onto the sand- and mud-flats off the ternery to view even more distant scoter flocks.
In doing so I coincided with Stuart Housden, Ken Shaw’s former boss at RSPB Scotland, with whom I then walked back towards Aberlady. When we reached the sewage works, I said my goodbyes and walked back to the car.
I was very cold and when I commenced putting my gear back in the car, taking off my boots and putting on my shoes, etc., I opted to make this easier by putting both my mobile ‘phone and the car key on the driver’s seat of the car, rather than lose them in the boot and / or to free up my hands. In doing so, fatally, and unknowingly, I pressed the ‘lock’ button on the key fob.
So, having changed my footwear, etc., I closed the boot, and instantly locked myself out of my car, with both the car key, and my ‘phone (complete with my debit card, etc.) there on the driver’s seat.
AAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Once the horrible realisation sunk in (and it became very apparent there was no way I was getting back into my car), I frantically considered my options.
With no ‘phone and no money I had one option. This involved getting the help of others. I began trying to flag down passing cars. But who was going to stop in the middle of nowhere for some mad man dressed in dark clothes late on a mid-winter afternoon? No one!!!
However, incredibly, a young Canadian couple going to see friends in Gullane did stop, and basically, refused to leave until I had been sorted out. This involved them using their mobile phones and/ or allowing me to use their mobile phones to initially log off their Facebook and onto mine so I could message Tessa (who had a spare key for the car but failed to respond, surprise, surprise). We then tried smashing one of the windows of my car with a wheel brace they provided, so that I could reach in and get the key (not a good look alongside a busy road). We ‘phoned my car insurance (after I deliberated about whether it was Tesco Bank Car Insurance or Ford Insure) and attempted to establish whether my package included breakdown cover. It didn’t. We then tried ‘phoning standard national breakdown organisations such as the AA, etc.. None were interested in coming out, as it wasn’t a dire emergency, and there were very high levels of demand nationwide due to the weather, etc.. However, one, Green Flag, were willing to come out, but for a ridiculous amount of money. I’d explained my circumstances (no ‘phone, no credit or debit cards, etc.).
Even so, when I was asked whether I was willing to pay £250, and I had said yes out of desperation, I was asked for my credit card details! I explained that I couldn’t provide these (and had no other means of paying – I could hardly ask my new Canadian friends for £250 could I?). When I said I couldn’t provide this the Green Flag operator said they wouldn’t be able to come out!!!
So, I was at my wit’s end, and I was sure my Canadian friend’s patience had been exhausted, when her ‘phone rang. It was a local car-lock specialist. He had been ‘phoned by Green Flag about a nearby job, and in the process, they had given him the number of the young Canadian woman. Cleverly, when they advised him the job wasn’t going ahead, he then ‘phoned her number and, in effect, said he could do it and could do so for £100 (i.e., without Green Flag’s £150 mark up for doing nothing at all!!!).
The necessary arrangements were made, and he was with us within 15 minutes or so. At this point I was finally able to convince my Canadian friends I would be fine, and so we bid our farewells and they left me and the car-lock specialist to it. He was originally from Darlington, but now lived in North Berwick. He explained that Ford locks were somewhat trickier than most others and necessitated a 10-lever device rather than the normal 8, and that with my locks being less than clean it might be trickier still, but all the same he was in within 5 or 10 minutes.
Having done so he intimated that I should just pay him when I could, but I said this wasn’t good enough, and followed him into Gullane where we went into the shop and I withdrew £100 and gave it to him, before we too said our farewells.
So, not a good experience twitching Stejneger’s Scoter.
The ill-fated Stejneger’s Stonechat twitch (the DNA sample had proved insufficient) compounded my angst, but then on Christmas Eve came the news that a last-ditch attempt to retrieve the necessary DNA had finally been successful and it was a Stejneger’s Stonechat.
So, ultimately, I was philosophical about the scoter. I remember thinking and saying it was a long game, and ultimately it would give itself up somewhere on the Firth of Forth.
So it proved on Friday 28th April, when Jared Wilson located a Stejneger’s Scoter off Lower Largo. The news came through early in the evening but I was writing a Preliminary Ecological Assessment (PEA) Report and so although I could have gone (and made it before it was too dark) I didn’t. Similarly, on the Saturday, I also bided my time to firstly complete the PEA Report and secondly arrange to post my Red-breasted Nuthatch new species account on my blog.
So it was that I was able to go en-route to Inverness on the morning of Sunday 30th April. I planned to coincide with Andy Williams, Al and Jenny McNee and Bob McMillan at Lower Largo at 10:30.
On arrival at the Temple car-park in Lower Largo I noticed Paul Baxter eating a snack on a bench in the car-park. I parked up and, having assembled my gear walked over to Paul to have the craich, He advised the Stejneger’s was viewable from the roadside opposite the car park so I wandered over to the group of birders there, which included John Dempsey. John advised that the bird had moved west and was possibly best looked for from the stone jetty in the distance, so I walked through the village, seeing Rick Goater and his friend as I did so.
As I walked west, I opted to walk along the beach rather than the main road, and as I did, I walked with another birder. He and I then met up with Kris Gibb and Andy Stoddart at the base of some stone steps down to the beach, and typically, Kris quickly and remarkably located the bird from here. However, it was apparent the it would be best looked for from the stone jetty.
I continued on, and having walked along the main road again, circumnavigated the hotel, and pushed past the ‘barrier’ blocking access to the jetty itself. The group of birders assembled at the end of the jetty meant that viewing places were limited, so I stationed myself as best as I could, and bided my time until a better place became free. In the process I saw Calum Scott and Keith Gillon, the original finders of the bird when it was on the Lothian side of the Firth, who were with Mervyn Griffin.
A mixed flock of scoters were reasonably close offshore, and it was amongst them, seemingly. It was hard work, despite the near perfect calm conditions which produced a flat calm sea. There were only one or two markers, including a nearby yellow buoy, and two distant oil rigs, one of which was scarcely visible in the murk of the haar.
Thankfully Keith Gillon got on the bird, and provided coherent directions to get others, including me, onto it. I was very grateful, and when Keith and Calum departed, I thanked him.
So it was that I had seen it. However, I wanted further views, so I stuck around. It was all a bit overwhelming, there weren’t huge numbers of birds, but the were constantly moving and diving and even though the sea was mirror flat, birds could still disappear in troughs between low waves.
Eventually though someone picked it out again, and I finally had a second look at it.
In between times Calum and Keith reappeared and advised everyone that a White-winged Scoter was out there two, just to add to the confusion. Oh, and I chatted to Shaun Coyle, an erstwhile fellow birder / bird surveyor on the Derbyshire – Yorkshire section of HS2 and Geoff Wyatt (who I had seen as I drove through Lower Largo) a fellow birder from our trips to Unst.
When I was able to get views of the bird, I obviously noted the weird ‘knob’ protrusion on the bill, and besides the bill profile the bill shade was noticeable different, involving a patch of duller, pinker and less extensive colouring on the lower central part of the upper mandible.
I was also able to note that when I initially saw it, it swam very low in the water, but whether this is an actual field characteristic is highly debatable.
Once I’d enjoyed my second views, I continued the ‘all our yesterday’s’ tour through names and faces from my birding past by speaking to Helena and Chris Craig, Mya-Rose Craig’s parents, who I last saw on the Mourning Dove twitch.
We quickly found our way to Haddington and the site of the Black-throated Thrush twitch, which happened to be within about 200 m of where Nick and Kathy Smith lived in the middle of Haddington. We parked up and in doing so bumped into Alan Brown who was on very good form. I introduced him to Matt (knowing that Alan had offered Matt advice on getting to Gullane on public transport on the Birding Lothian WhatsApp group). We then also, predictably, bumped into LGRE who thankfully ignored that fact that we’d left our station….. . We then enjoyed seeing the thrush easily, chatting to Darren Woodhead and seeing Mark Holling in the process.
Having done so, we opted to go into Haddington town centre in search of a late lunch. Once we’d been successful in our quest the day sort of petered out; although there was apparent positive news from back at Gullane Point soon after we’d departed, we decided it was too late to bother going back / we just couldn’t face going back, and instead travelled back to Edinburgh where I dropped Matt off in student land before continuing on to South Queensferry.
News about the bird continued during the early part of that week, before it faded away to negative news on the Thursday and Friday. However, there was new (somewhat garbled news?) on both the Saturday and Sunday, when single messages suggested the bird was again ‘at the mouth of Aberlady Bay…….. viewable from Gullane Point’.
So it was I returned to the area on my own on Sunday the 18th December. This time I travelled to Aberlady Bay with the intention of parking and walking from there, but the car-park was full, and so I resigned myself to driving on to Gullane to park in the car-park at Gullane Bents again.
However, as I passed through the golf courses on either side of the road as I travelled towards Gullane, I noticed the gated track entrance of the track through the Gullane golf course to the sewage works on a sweeping bend. Therefore, I opted to park here and walked along the track and then cross-country to Aberlady Bay itself, where I eventually joined a few other birders perched atop the sand-dunes overlooking the bay.
This seemed like a good idea, but my optimism quickly dissipated as I was once again faced with vast expanses of sea with a few distant scoters and no definite ‘leads’. And there was still a very distinct lack of warmth. Although RBA reported the bird was present mid-morning there was no further reports subsequently.
So eventually, I conceded defeat and walked back a more conventional way, down onto the beach and towards the main path, partly because this offered an easier route back, but also partly as this involved coinciding with birders who had chosen to walk out onto the sand- and mud-flats off the ternery to view even more distant scoter flocks.
In doing so I coincided with Stuart Housden, Ken Shaw’s former boss at RSPB Scotland, with whom I then walked back towards Aberlady. When we reached the sewage works, I said my goodbyes and walked back to the car.
I was very cold and when I commenced putting my gear back in the car, taking off my boots and putting on my shoes, etc., I opted to make this easier by putting both my mobile ‘phone and the car key on the driver’s seat of the car, rather than lose them in the boot and / or to free up my hands. In doing so, fatally, and unknowingly, I pressed the ‘lock’ button on the key fob.
So, having changed my footwear, etc., I closed the boot, and instantly locked myself out of my car, with both the car key, and my ‘phone (complete with my debit card, etc.) there on the driver’s seat.
AAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Once the horrible realisation sunk in (and it became very apparent there was no way I was getting back into my car), I frantically considered my options.
With no ‘phone and no money I had one option. This involved getting the help of others. I began trying to flag down passing cars. But who was going to stop in the middle of nowhere for some mad man dressed in dark clothes late on a mid-winter afternoon? No one!!!
However, incredibly, a young Canadian couple going to see friends in Gullane did stop, and basically, refused to leave until I had been sorted out. This involved them using their mobile phones and/ or allowing me to use their mobile phones to initially log off their Facebook and onto mine so I could message Tessa (who had a spare key for the car but failed to respond, surprise, surprise). We then tried smashing one of the windows of my car with a wheel brace they provided, so that I could reach in and get the key (not a good look alongside a busy road). We ‘phoned my car insurance (after I deliberated about whether it was Tesco Bank Car Insurance or Ford Insure) and attempted to establish whether my package included breakdown cover. It didn’t. We then tried ‘phoning standard national breakdown organisations such as the AA, etc.. None were interested in coming out, as it wasn’t a dire emergency, and there were very high levels of demand nationwide due to the weather, etc.. However, one, Green Flag, were willing to come out, but for a ridiculous amount of money. I’d explained my circumstances (no ‘phone, no credit or debit cards, etc.).
Even so, when I was asked whether I was willing to pay £250, and I had said yes out of desperation, I was asked for my credit card details! I explained that I couldn’t provide these (and had no other means of paying – I could hardly ask my new Canadian friends for £250 could I?). When I said I couldn’t provide this the Green Flag operator said they wouldn’t be able to come out!!!
So, I was at my wit’s end, and I was sure my Canadian friend’s patience had been exhausted, when her ‘phone rang. It was a local car-lock specialist. He had been ‘phoned by Green Flag about a nearby job, and in the process, they had given him the number of the young Canadian woman. Cleverly, when they advised him the job wasn’t going ahead, he then ‘phoned her number and, in effect, said he could do it and could do so for £100 (i.e., without Green Flag’s £150 mark up for doing nothing at all!!!).
The necessary arrangements were made, and he was with us within 15 minutes or so. At this point I was finally able to convince my Canadian friends I would be fine, and so we bid our farewells and they left me and the car-lock specialist to it. He was originally from Darlington, but now lived in North Berwick. He explained that Ford locks were somewhat trickier than most others and necessitated a 10-lever device rather than the normal 8, and that with my locks being less than clean it might be trickier still, but all the same he was in within 5 or 10 minutes.
Having done so he intimated that I should just pay him when I could, but I said this wasn’t good enough, and followed him into Gullane where we went into the shop and I withdrew £100 and gave it to him, before we too said our farewells.
So, not a good experience twitching Stejneger’s Scoter.
The ill-fated Stejneger’s Stonechat twitch (the DNA sample had proved insufficient) compounded my angst, but then on Christmas Eve came the news that a last-ditch attempt to retrieve the necessary DNA had finally been successful and it was a Stejneger’s Stonechat.
So, ultimately, I was philosophical about the scoter. I remember thinking and saying it was a long game, and ultimately it would give itself up somewhere on the Firth of Forth.
So it proved on Friday 28th April, when Jared Wilson located a Stejneger’s Scoter off Lower Largo. The news came through early in the evening but I was writing a Preliminary Ecological Assessment (PEA) Report and so although I could have gone (and made it before it was too dark) I didn’t. Similarly, on the Saturday, I also bided my time to firstly complete the PEA Report and secondly arrange to post my Red-breasted Nuthatch new species account on my blog.
So it was that I was able to go en-route to Inverness on the morning of Sunday 30th April. I planned to coincide with Andy Williams, Al and Jenny McNee and Bob McMillan at Lower Largo at 10:30.
On arrival at the Temple car-park in Lower Largo I noticed Paul Baxter eating a snack on a bench in the car-park. I parked up and, having assembled my gear walked over to Paul to have the craich, He advised the Stejneger’s was viewable from the roadside opposite the car park so I wandered over to the group of birders there, which included John Dempsey. John advised that the bird had moved west and was possibly best looked for from the stone jetty in the distance, so I walked through the village, seeing Rick Goater and his friend as I did so.
As I walked west, I opted to walk along the beach rather than the main road, and as I did, I walked with another birder. He and I then met up with Kris Gibb and Andy Stoddart at the base of some stone steps down to the beach, and typically, Kris quickly and remarkably located the bird from here. However, it was apparent the it would be best looked for from the stone jetty.
I continued on, and having walked along the main road again, circumnavigated the hotel, and pushed past the ‘barrier’ blocking access to the jetty itself. The group of birders assembled at the end of the jetty meant that viewing places were limited, so I stationed myself as best as I could, and bided my time until a better place became free. In the process I saw Calum Scott and Keith Gillon, the original finders of the bird when it was on the Lothian side of the Firth, who were with Mervyn Griffin.
A mixed flock of scoters were reasonably close offshore, and it was amongst them, seemingly. It was hard work, despite the near perfect calm conditions which produced a flat calm sea. There were only one or two markers, including a nearby yellow buoy, and two distant oil rigs, one of which was scarcely visible in the murk of the haar.
Thankfully Keith Gillon got on the bird, and provided coherent directions to get others, including me, onto it. I was very grateful, and when Keith and Calum departed, I thanked him.
So it was that I had seen it. However, I wanted further views, so I stuck around. It was all a bit overwhelming, there weren’t huge numbers of birds, but the were constantly moving and diving and even though the sea was mirror flat, birds could still disappear in troughs between low waves.
Eventually though someone picked it out again, and I finally had a second look at it.
In between times Calum and Keith reappeared and advised everyone that a White-winged Scoter was out there two, just to add to the confusion. Oh, and I chatted to Shaun Coyle, an erstwhile fellow birder / bird surveyor on the Derbyshire – Yorkshire section of HS2 and Geoff Wyatt (who I had seen as I drove through Lower Largo) a fellow birder from our trips to Unst.
When I was able to get views of the bird, I obviously noted the weird ‘knob’ protrusion on the bill, and besides the bill profile the bill shade was noticeable different, involving a patch of duller, pinker and less extensive colouring on the lower central part of the upper mandible.
I was also able to note that when I initially saw it, it swam very low in the water, but whether this is an actual field characteristic is highly debatable.
Once I’d enjoyed my second views, I continued the ‘all our yesterday’s’ tour through names and faces from my birding past by speaking to Helena and Chris Craig, Mya-Rose Craig’s parents, who I last saw on the Mourning Dove twitch.
Stejneger’s
Scoter, Lower Largo, Fife, April 2023 (photograph credited to Steve Nuttall).
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