Exploring the Seven Lochs (Part 1)

I have mentioned the 'Seven Lochs Project' on a few occasions. So yesterday (21 March 2013) I thought I'd take advantage of the reasonable weather forecast to see what progress had been made on the ground.

Frankfield Loch is located just east of the University of Strathclyde Playing Fields at Stepps. Those 'in the know' have long known its wildlife value and hoped that one day it could be safeguarded as a Local Nature Reserve. The problem was that whilst the loch is, in the main, located within Glasgow City, the marshy wetland was within North Lanarkshire.

More recently the land was sold to a house builder and after much negotiation, planning permission was granted by North Lanarkshire Council for a housing development with the aim of preserving the wetland and loch. With the housing development well underway, the loch can now be easily accessed from Cumbernauld Road and the house builder (presumably) has erected bat boxes and created a footpath that allows you to walk around the loch and to also link with the Cardowan Moss LNR. On the loch there were four species of gull, Grey Heron, Tufted Duck, Coot, Mallard, Little Grebe, Teal and a pair of Mute Swans, well into nest building.

A photo montage - all taken 21 March 2013 - of what you can expect follows.............

East side of Frankfield Loch, from access road

Bat boxes

 

Frankfield Loch from mound along southern edge

Footpath

Path/Gate from loch area, linking to Cardowan Moss LNR

Muddy path from gate, linking to footpath at Cardowan Moss LNR

 

Unfortunately the link to Cardowan Moss LNR is extremely muddy although the Friends of Glasgow's Local Nature Reserves has been advised that this will be upgraded. The LNR is owned by Glasgow City Council but is being managed by Forestry Commission Scotland under a lease agreement.

 

In winter it can be a bit bleak, but also beautiful............................................

 

The Forestry Commission has clearly been hard at work with woodland management having been undertaken.......................................................

core footpaths improved................................................

 

and an entrance feature created opposite Hogganfield Park LNR and the traffic island erected through funding obtained by the Friends of Glasgow's Local Nature Reserves...

 

 



On leaving the 'Moss' I crossed over to Hogganfield Park LNR, one of my most favourite birding locations and almost immediately saw a Roe Deer.......................

 

 

By now it was becoming overcast and the wind was bitter. This also seemed to affect the birds with Greylag Geese feeding and loafing on the wildflower meadow to the north of the loch.........................................................................

 

 

Even most of the Whooper and Mute Swans had left their normally favoured spot close to the car park and could be found along the northern edge. In total, there were still eleven Whoopers present and it was good to see the youngsters starting to get a bit of yellow on their bills as they get ready for their long journey back to Iceland..............

 

 

Other wildfowl on the loch included Pochard, Goldeneye, Goosander, Great Crested Grebe and a solitary drake Ruddy Duck. 

 

Between the three sites, I saw 31 bird species for the day - not bad considering the weather made sure that I was constantly on the move in order to stay warm! I shall certainly revisit these 3 sites in spring, if it ever arrives.

 

I also hope to wander further afield over the next few months and report on Bishop Loch and Commonhead Moss LNRs, two other key sites in the 'Seven Lochs Project' area.

 

 

Dawsholm Park revisited

After my last visit to Dawsholm Park, I posed the question 'local nature reserve or dog toilet'.
I'll let you decide by guessing what is in these two plastic bags!

 

 

 

On a positive note, it is clear that since my last visit some improvements have taken place in the woodland, although many paths are still extremely muddy. The old 'depot' area is also being cleared.........

 

 

On the wildlife front, I saw 20 species of bird in a 1hr 30mins period, including Buzzard, Great Spotted Woodpecker and Stock Dove. A 'record shot' of a Stock Dove, taken in poor light, follows...

 

One of two Stock Doves - Dawsholm Park - 20 March 2013

 

The various bird and bat boxes erected by the Friends of Glasgow's Local Nature Reserves all seem to have survived the winter - remember technically it is now spring!

 

Two bat boxes - Dawsholm Park - 20 March 2013

 

And finally, a visit to Dawsholm would not be complete without a mention of the Highland cattle...

 

Highland cattle - Dawsholm Park - 20 March 2013

 

 

Med Gull still present!

Today, I decided to see if the Mediterranean Gull that I found on Monday was still visiting Bingham's Pond. I arrived at 14.00hrs and although there were around 35 gulls present, there was no sign of the rarity!

I had completed two 'laps' of the pond counting the Moorhen (23 in the end) and other wildfowl when the weather turned resulting in a series of hail storms! I took some shelter under some conifers and waited.........................................................

Bingham's Pond - in the hail - 15 March 2013

 

During the wait I noticed a few more gulls flying in, albeit favouring the hotel side of the pond. With my view partly restricted by the 2 islands I decided to leave my 'shelter' and walk back around to the gulls. Sure enough the Mediterranean Gull was showing well!

Two photos taken in the hail follow.........................................................

 

2nd winter Mediterranean Gull - Bingham's Pond - 15 March 2013

 

Having obtained these photos at 14.25hrs, I decided to walk home. Needless to say 10 minutes later the sun came out and it remained dry for the rest of the afternoon!

 

First for Bingham's

I have been birdwatching at Bingham's Pond since 2001 and have often hoped that I would find a 'rare' bird. I have found unusual birds, or birds that would not be normally associated with a small pond in an urban area e.g. Iceland Gull, Shoveler and Skylark. However, today was the day when I found a 2nd winter Mediterranean Gull in amongst the Black-headed Gulls! Three photos follow:

 

Mediterranean Gull - Bingham's Pond - 11 March 2013

 

Many birders say you need some luck and in some ways I was lucky today. Yesterday was the day allocated to undertake the monthly wetland birds count (Webs). However, I had agreed to help out at Hogganfield Park with the monthly wildfowl feeding (see previous post). So rather than visiting the pond yesterday I paid a visit today and the rest, as they say, is history. 

 

The wildfowl count resulted in  21 Tufted Duck, 16 Mallard, 6 Coot, 24 Moorhen, 4 Goosander and the 3 domesticated /cayuga birds. Surprisingly there were no Mute Swans.

 

Drake Mallard - often ignored - Bingham's Pond - 11 March 2013

 

The gull numbers kept fluctuating as birds flew in to feed and bathe. However, I had settled on a final count of 3 Herring Gulls, 5 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, 2 Common Gulls and 142 Black-headed Gulls when something made me recount the Black-headed Gulls; AND there only a few yards away was the Mediterranean Gull - a first for Bingham's Pond!!!

 

In addition to the wetland birds, there were a pair of Long-tailed Tits and a Goldcrest flitting among the conifers.

 

In total, I recorded 18 bird species between 13.30-14.45hrs.

 

 

Hogganfield Park - back to winter!

After last Tuesday's visit to the park in glorious sunshine, unfortunately the RSPB Glasgow Local Group's last wildfowl feeding session for the season fell foul to wintery showers!

Thanks to those that braved the weather, there was the odd sunny period that lasted for around 10 minutes before the next wave of snow showers blew in; 'atmospheric' photo follows!

Hogganfield Loch - 11 March 2013

There were  still 11 Whooper Swans present and Goosanders and Goldeneye gave close-up views...............................................

Goldeneye (in poor weather) - Hogganfield Loch - 11 March 2013

 

However, in the end, the weather won.

 

A big thank you to all those that attended and/or helped at the wildfowl feeding events.

 

Hogganfield is a great place to visit at anytime, so keep an eye on this blog for sightings updates over the year AND get yourselves along and see for yourself; you won't regret it! 

In the Footsteps of Livingstone

Tomorrow night (7 March 2013) I shall be at the RSPB Glasgow Local Group with my new talk entitled 'In the Footsteps of Livingstone'.

Despite rumours to the contrary, it isn't about Livingstone New Town but features the wildlife to be found in Zambia and Botswana, two of the countries visited by David Livingstone on his epic journeys across Africa.

The talk takes place at Adelaide's, Bath Street, Glasgow with a start time of 7.30pm. See www.rspb.org.uk/groups/glasgow for more information.

A couple of illustrations from the talk follow:

Victoria Falls

 

Nile Crocodile

 

When not pop along a say hello?

Hogganfield Park - almost Spring!

I managed 2 hours at Hogganfield Park Local Nature Reserve today with the highlights being 1 male Ruddy Duck, 2 Gadwall and 18 Whooper Swans. The Whoopers will be leaving shortly so why not pop along to the RSPB Glasgow Local Group's last winter wildfowl feeding session on Sunday 10 March 2013 from 12 noon to 2pm and get really close to these wild swans before they fly back to Iceland - more details at www.rspb.org.uk/groups/glasgow/events

Wildfowl (including 6 Whooper Swans) - Hogganfield Park - 5 March 2013

 

Other highlights included two pairs of Great Crested Grebe offering close views as well as Moorhen and Coot clearly disagreeing with each other!

 

Great Crested Grebe - Hogganfield Park - 5 March 2013

In total, I saw 32 species of bird; not bad for the time of year.

Finally, the previously reported loch edge improvements appear to have been completed and are certainly a vast improvement on what was there previously......................

 Hogganfield Park - 5 March 2013

Bingham's Pond

At long last I managed a bit of birding in Glasgow today, visiting Bingham's Pond.

The Pond itself was flat calm..............................................................................

Bingham's Pond - 4 March 2013

 

...........and there were fewer birds than normal although the usual range of wetland species were present - 2 Mute Swans, 5 Mallard, 5 Tufted Duck, 6 Coot, 18 Moorhen, 18 Black-headed Gull, 1 Herring Gull, 2 Lesser Black-backed Gull and 3 cayuga/domestic ducks.

There was a bit of argy-bargy between 2 pairs of Coot but the main surprise was provided by 2 Moorhen up a tree!

Moorhen - Bingham's Pond - 4 March 2013

Thank You & Catch-up

A big thank you to all the 'Friends of the Botanic Gardens' who came along last night to my talk on the 'Wildlife of Glasgow'. Your kind words and hospitality was much appreciated.

I've not been able to birdwatch in the Glasgow area for a few weeks so here is an update of what I have been missing, courtesy of SOC Clyde Grapevine:

Thursday 28 February 2013
A flock of 1,234 Pink-footed Geese in a field at Boclair (NS563728) at 16.40hrs.
100 Linnets and 80 Yellowhammers in a stubble field on the northside of the road at East Millichen Farm.

Saturday 23 February 2013
A female Ruddy Duck on Hogganfield Loch.

Saturday 16 February 2013
49 Goosanders on Balgray Reservoir.

The count of 80 Yellowhammer at East Millichen Farm is particularly welcome and once again shows how important the area is for farmland birds. A photo taken a few years ago follows.............

Yellowhammer - Millichen area