I went to a new reserve today – Morton Lochs in Tentsmuir Forest at the North-East corner of Fife.
There are four hides at Morton Lochs, three overlooking the lochs themselves and a fourth one which looks into woodland and has feeders set-up to attract small birds – and squirrels!
I visited two of the the lochside hides and watched a number of assorted waterfowl, several Herons and a distant Buzzard. A Kingfisher, not a very commonly-occuring species in Scotland generally, had been seen recently and there were a number of keen-eyed birders in the hides today hoping for a glimpse of the bird.

A cheeky Red Squirrel at Morton Lochs
Morton Lochs, being located within the boundaries of the vast Tentsmuir Forest (50 square miles!) has great birding-potential; the woodland walk between the hides being a superb example. I’ll certainly be visiting here again. Furthermore, Tentsmuir beach is renowned for its wide range of (often exotic) passage-migrants – definitely an area to return to.
After visiting Morton Lochs, I decided to visit Victoria Park in Arbroath. The park runs alongside the seashore and leads to Arbroath Cliffs. On previous (non-birding) visits I have seen a large variety of seashore birds and I thought it might be worth a look. Wow did my hunch pay off!

A pair of Turnstone from a flock of about a dozen birds wary of the incoming tide

A beautiful Ringed Plover