Migrants arrive!

I spent seventy minutes at Bingham's Pond this morning on the look out for summer migrants and wasn't disappointed. Almost immediately the first birds I saw were 2 Swallows flying around the pond in rather windy conditions. Later, another Swallow appeared accompanied by a Sand Martin.

A Grey Heron stood motionless only a few feet from the path, its hunting technique proving successful as a frog (or toad) was successfully dispatched. Since my last visit, three Goosanders remained whilst the Tufted Duck flock had risen to forty nine.

Male Tufted Duck

Just as I was about to leave, I heard what sounded like Oystercatchers and sure enough two flew in from the north west, circled the pond, looked as if they were thinking about landing and then flew of towards Gartnavel Hospital. Whilst a relatively common bird it is always good to get a new bird for your local patch - so I was well chuffed!

It was a really good morning with 26 species seen or heard with the running total for the pond now being 38 species.

Elswhere in Greater Glasgow, courtesy of the SOC Clyde Grapevine, sightings of interest included:

Thursday 18 April 2013
2 Arctic Terns at Hogganfield Loch.
6 Arctic Terns, a singing Willow Warbler and 4 House Martins at Balgray Reservoir.
A Swift over Cartvale Road, Battlefield.

 

With high pressure moving in over the next two days who knows what else might turn up!