Sunday 28 September 2014

Hogganfield Park LNR

Yesterday I attended the City Council's 'Nature Reserve Celebrations' event at Hogganfield Park LNR with the Friends of Glasgow's LNRs.

We started with a wildfowl feeding session; I led a guided walk and we also undertook an informal litter pick ............

 
On the walk we spotted a good range of wildfowl including a very confiding male Gadwall ....
 
 
..and adult and juvenile Great Crested Grebes .....
 
 
We also had a quick glimpse of a Sparrowhawk and extended views of  this Buzzard ..
 
 
With 20+ species of bird seen, lots of Red Admiral butterflies enjoying the autumn sunshine and five bags of litter collected; it was a really nice positive way to spend a Saturday.
 
Finally, some recent sightings from the Greater Glasgow area, courtesy of the SOC Clyde Grapevine:
 
27 September 2014
Two Jays flying through the oaks at the southern edge of Gartloch Village, Glasgow.

26 September 2014
26 Gadwall, two Pintail and two Shoveler on Gartloch Pool, Glasgow.



 
 
 

Thursday 25 September 2014

Walking the John Muir Way - part 2

Following on from Saturday's walk, I travelled through to Dunbar once again on Tuesday (23rd) and this time walked west to Tyninghame/John Muir Country Park. I started by walking towards Dunbar harbour ..............

 
From the harbour wall, I had great views of common seabirds on the rocky islets and, in the distance, the Isle of May was just visible ......
 
 
In the harbour were a few Eider ....


.. and the usual Herring Gulls ...........

 
From the harbour, I walked westwards reaching Belhaven Bay just as the tide was beginning to come in. There were lots of common waders and gulls present with the best birds being Greenshank. From the bay I could also see lots of Gannets out at sea and their home, the Bass Rock, in the background ....


Walking along the well signposted path I came to this footbridge across the Biel Water

 
..and this led me to the saltmarsh at John Muir Country Park. The Council has constructed a wooden boardwalk on sections of the saltmarsh and a small flock of Starlings were using it as a resting place and vantage point before joining the large flock of Linnets and Meadow Pipits that were actively feeding.....
 
 
Further along the path the benefits of elder bushes could be seen with more Starlings enjoying the fruit .....
 
Having now reached the Hedderwick Hill Plantation ....
 
 
.... I soon had superb views of Speckled Wood butterflies

 
.. and encountered a 'tit' flock high in the canopy which included this Goldcrest, the UK's smallest bird!

 
I eventually came out of the woods and viewed the inner bay of the Tyne estuary ..
 
 
The tide was clearly coming in, so I made my way towards the innermost part of the bay as it can be a good place to see waders and wildfowl at high tide. As I approached this wooden bridge I was conscious of goose calls in the distance ....
 
 
... and sure enough there were hundreds of Barnacle Geese to be seen and heard!
 
 
 
There were also lots of Mute Swans, Wigeon, Teal ,Oystercatchers, Redshank and, more surprisingly, a juvenile Gannet ...
 
 
Having enjoyed the goose spectacle I made my way back thankful that the weather had brightened up again and noting the difference in the bay now that the tide was almost fully in ....
 
 
 
Walking back, I ventured onto the saltmarsh once again and came across this Wheatear ..
 
 
I retraced my steps to Belhaven Bay which now looked totally different ..
 
 
.. and the high tide allowed me to get close to this Curlew ...
 
 
I walked on past the Shore Road car park and along the edge of the local golf course pausing for this last shot before heading back to Dunbar railway station  ....
 
 
So another great day's birding with 54 species seen, compared to Saturday's total of 55, with the combined total for both day's coming to 72 different species.
 
 
 

Wednesday 24 September 2014

Forthcoming Event and Walking the John Muir Way

All photos on this web site have been shot at high resolution. Please click on a photo to create a slide show and to enhance its reproduction.

Firstly, news of an event at Hogganfield Park LNR on Saturday 27 September 2014. The City Council are hosting a Nature Reserve Celebration Event in the park from 11am to 3pm.

Their marquee will be located close to the sandy beach/children’s play area in the south east corner of the park.  Activities include wildlife counts, guided walks, stalls, displays and lots more. Phone the Council’s Countryside Rangers at 0141 276 0931 for details.

I shall be attending with the Friends of Glasgow's LNRs and we shall be handing out free barley to help feed the wildfowl from our stall on the viewing/feeding platform next to the car park. I also shall be leading a guided walk.

See http://friendsofglasgowlnrs.wordpress.com for more information. Please drop in and say hello.

Now some news of two excellent days birding in East Lothian when I walked part of the John Muir Way. On both days I travelled by public transport to Dunbar and on the Saturday (20th) walked east and on the 23rd walked west .......

On Saturday 20 September 2014, the weather was overcast as I left Dunbar ..... 

Fluke Dub - outward walk - 20 September 2014
 
.. but within an hour or so it had brightened up ...............
 
White Sands Bay -20 September 2014
 
My aim was to reach Barns Ness, a famous east coast birding location ...
 
Barns Ness - 20 September 2014
 
Here I visited the 'wire dump' where common species were seen, some feasting on elderberries ..................
 
Yellowhammer - Barns Ness - 20 September 201
Blackbird - Barns Ness - 20 September 2014
Whitethroat -  Barns Ness - 20 September 2014
 
I also visited the 'old caravan park' where this Kestrel posed long enough to allow me a quick shot ...
Kestrel - Barns Ness - 20 September 2014
 
On my return it became really quite warm and the contrast can be seen with this photo of Fluke Dub compared to the one above ...
 
Fluke Dub - return walk -20 September 2014
 
The improved light also meant reasonable photos of the two Ruff that had been present on the outward journey ....
 
Ruff and Dunlin - Fluke Dub - 20 September 2014
 
In the end, I saw 55 species of bird including Red-throated Diver, Brent Geese, Gadwall, Greenshank, Whimbrel, Kingfisher, Garden Warbler, Spotted Flycatcher and lots of Wheatears ......
 
Wheatear - 20 September 2014
 
Tomorrow I shall report on my second trip.
 
 
 
 
 

 

Friday 19 September 2014

Another East Coast Trip plus Illustrated Talk

On the 17th we travelled through to the east coast once again, thanks to Mike & Judith. The weather was overcast and became really misty as the day developed. As a result the photographs are generally awful, at least that is my excuse!!! So much so that some of them remind me of the days of black & white film.

We started at Torness and it was clear that there were a lots of birds in the bushes and shrubs, as I had predicted. Sadly they were mainly Robins and Blue Tits with the odd Goldcrest and Chiffchaff plus good numbers of Greenfinches and House Sparrows ..

Part of the House Sparrow flock - Torness - 17 September 2014
House Sparrow - Torness - 17 September 2014
 
A few Swallows were flying around and this Wheatear was the only other 'summer migrant'
 
Wheatear - Torness - 17 September 2014
 
Moving on to the beach and walkway we encountered good numbers of common waders including this Golden Plover flock ...
 
 
As you can see, the mist was rolling in from the sea so we headed of to Skateraw where we had lunch and I took this 'atmospheric' photo of the Power Station in the distance ..
 
Skateraw, with Torness Power Station in the distance - 17 September 2014
 
With visibility getting worse we made the short journey to Barns Ness. Initially, whilst walking around the old camp site there didn't seem to be any birds present. However, we persevered and around the famous 'wire dump' we started to hear and see a few birds including this Whitethroat ...
 
 
and this Garden Warbler .........
 
 
Other birds found in and around the dump included Spotted Flycatcher, Song Thrush, Blackbird, Dunnock and a Woodpigeon, still on a nest with young!!!!
 

 
Inspired by this we returned to the old camp site and found another Spotted Flycatcher ....
 
 
..and finished with a male Stonechat and a Kestrel as we returned to the car. We travelled on to Dunbar and walked along the John Muir Way looking for more waders but the visibility was now down to just a few yards so we called it a day and headed home via a local hotel.
 
Last night, I was speaking at the Hamilton RSPB Local Group on 'Zambia and Botswana'. Thanks to everyone that attended and hopefully you enjoyed it. To give you a flavour of the talk, one of my photos follows ....
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Monday 15 September 2014

Events Round-up

It has been a busy few days, so apologies for the lack of updates.

On Tuesday 9 September 2014 I paid a quick visit to Baron's Haugh RSPB Reserve ...

View from Marsh Hide - 9 September 2014
 
There was lots of mud but surprisingly few waders with only 4 Curlew and 6 Black-tailed Godwits in addition to the normal Lapwing flock ..
 
Record shot of Black-tailed Godwit - 9 September 2014
 
A more acceptable photo of a Black-tailed Godwit follows, albeit photographed in Dorset .
 
 
On the plus side I managed a glimpse of this juvenile Water Rail that only showed for about 20 seconds, so apologies for this awful shot!!!!!
 
Juvenile Water Rail - 9 September 2014
 
Moving on to 10 September 2014, the guided walk on behalf of the RSPB Glasgow Local Group, went well with 17 people attending ...
 
 
We saw in the region of 60 birds with Little Gull, Red-necked Grebe, Ruff and a family of Grey Partridge being some of the highlights. This Peregrine put on a terrific show, at the end of the day, as it swooped and stooped over the wader scrapes ...
 
Video grab - Peregrine - 10 September 2014
 
Finally, on Sunday 14 September 2014, along with 20 other volunteers, I attended the Friends of Glasgow's LNRs CSV Action Earth supported event at Bingham's Pond in Glasgow ....
 
 
It was a great success, with bird and bat boxes being erected, a bird feeding centre created and lots of overhanging branches, shrubs and vegetation trimmed back
 
Before
After
 
Before
After
 
A job well done by everyone concerned. For more information and photos see http://friendsofglasgowlnrs.wordpress.com