Mr & Mrs Eider

Mrs L felt up to going out today, so we planned a gentle day. A visit to Dalgety Bay for a short wander and maybe find the elusive Siberian Chiffchaff then on to Buckhaven to see what could be seen from the car park. Well that was the plan, but after the exertions of having a shower Mrs L felt all washed out and once again I found myself going out alone.

Mr & Mrs Eider were in the relative shelter of Dalgety Bay, but once again no Siberian Chiffchaff. On to Buckhaven and I set the scope up in the lee of a conveniently parked big red van. The Velvet Scoters were a bit closer in than on Sunday, but still pretty distant, but I set the camera up on a tripod and was snapping away when the wind changed direction and the telescope and tripod blew over. Both seemed unscathed. I travelled on to Methil where there's another car park beside the Forth. I scanned round with the binoculars and found what I thought was a flock of Common Scoters so got the scope out to check. It seemed very wobbly! The central ring that holds the tripod mount was broken. Optically everything is fine but a telescope's not much good if you can't fit it to a tripod.

It was getting late anyway, so gave up on the Scoters and headed home. Just found there's a Swarovski dealer in Perth, so guess I'll be paying them a visit tomorrow. Mrs L after her days rest, hopefully will make it out the door tomorrow too.