Last Full Day

A gargantuan breakfast - didn't eat again until 3.00 - it arrived on a plate mounded with 2 sausages, 3 rashers of bacon, fried potato, mushrooms, 2 fried eggs and black pudding. I've never eaten the latter and, one taste was enough to ensure I never would again. Pam rather liked it. She couldn't finish hers, so Fiona put it in a Tupperware to take away. This was after a choice from at least a dozen cereals after refusing porridge. And..Tesco's finest yoghurt. All at £25 each per night in an enormous bedroom plus bathroom with glass washbasin - once we'd found out how to work the tap thing.
We were at Inch Road lookout, Newburgh by 8.50. The bird hadn't been reported since it flew off yesterday but we're optimists. When I surveyed the hundreds of Common Eider sleeping on the far banks, climbing the dunes, paddling about in the many pools and swimming in the fast ebbing water, my heart sank a bit. I ploughed on, searching methodically from left to right. Pam moved the car so that I could see further and.....I saw a grey head amongst the sleeping ducks on the far shore. Only a short wait before a lovely adult male King Eider showed himself in all his splendour. Ten minutes later, he flapped his wings before flying strongly up river.
Next, a nostalgic visit to Crawton, now known as RSPB reserve Fowlsheugh. My first birding holiday was forty years ago, with George Crichton based in Brechin. Pam and I stayed on for a couple of extra days and George recommended a visit to the unmarked sea cliffs of Crawton. Then, as now, the sheer numbers of auks present is phenomenal. The sea below the cliffs holds thousands of Guillemots and Razorbills loafing about, even more on the cliff ledges and flying past out to sea. Pam walked the steeply stepped path down to the brook and up to the cliff path whilst I scoped from the car. The smell is quite something too....
The unusual sight of a herd of Belted Galloway including a bull and calves, filled a pasture on the lane out.



Only time for a few pictures from the car window - single track lane and cars kept coming.
St Cyrus wasn't worth the call but there are decent loos.
Vane Farm is another RSPB reserve on Loch Leven, famous for the thousands of wintering geese. The upstairs cafe has a bench and 4 telescopes, usable by the public, for scanning the extensive water. After a pretty ordinary soup and the sort of rustic bread they have to serve in thick lumps, we found an empty chair, a pair of nesting Great Crested Grebes and a single male Pochard for the trip list. The young Tawny Owls showing well until a couple of days ago, had disappeared, unfortunately.
We are now settled in our room in Glenrothes, both connected to the internet and intending to make an early start for the comforts of home in the morning.