Lothian list: February update

Another month passes with little birding time under my belt sadly. Only just managed to scrape together a meager nine county year ticks over the four weeks to bring me up to a running total of 97 species. This low total is about twenty five to thirty species below the current front runners on Bubo listing (TO'C: 124 species; MH 121 species). On that site a total of 139 species have been logged in the county since the beginning of the year.

I do fear that I will need a lot of luck to catch up with Shorelark, Great Grey Shrike or Green-winged Teal in the county in the next 10 months. On the other hand, most others will be easy to see - I have yet to catch sight of Sanderling, Razorbill or Jay this year, for example...

Here is my latest addition, two of the five Goosanders that I found a couple of days ago at Alnwickhill Water Treatment works. This is also a site tick for me - I am sure they must drop in fairly regularly but most ducks do not seem to hang around for long on these filter beds. Of course they are quite hard to see as the gap between the wall and the metal gate is only just wide enough for the scope or camera and panning left or right is just not possible!



Another notable sighting was this flock of 14 Waxwings from the back door yesterday. I am glad they decided to visit just as I popped outside to hang out the washing...