1st April 2018 (Lothian and Northumberland)

An early start from Norfolk to get up to Scotland to finally tick white-winged scoter. As far as I'm aware, this is the most southerly occurrence of the species so far in the UK, so this was my best chance to go. The trip up produced a Barn Owl and a second dark owl, probably a tawny.

On arrival at Musselburgh, there were plenty of Goldeneye on the river. I continued along the sea wall until I reached the crowd which was already watching the AMERICAN WHITE-WINGED SCOTER, however it still took my a significant length of time to get onto the bird, as the shoreline was quite far out from the sea wall. We also had distant views of the Surf Scoter (my first adult drake), large numbers of Velvet Scoters (No common though!) and Eiders, a few Great Northern Divers, 2 adult male Long-Tailed Ducks and singles of Slavonian Grebe and Red-Throated Diver.

AMERICAN WHITE-WINGED SCOTER - Musselburgh

Surf Scoter - Musselburgh

Velvet Scoter - Musselburgh

Slavonian Grebe - Musselburgh

Long-Tailed Duck - Musselburgh

Stopped off at Newbiggin-on-the-Sea on the way to try and grip back an adult male white-spotted bluethroat. There was no sign when I arrived, and the tide was quickly approaching and cutting off the beach, however the White-Spotted Bluethroat eventually showed in flight. A few flight views later and bird gave good on-the-deck views. Another Barn Owl on the return trip was a nice end to the day.

White-Spotted Bluethroat - Newbiggin-on-the-Sea