Guided Walk - Hogganfield Park LNR and beyond!

I led a guided walk on behalf of the RSPB Glasgow Local Group yesterday (11 December 2013) and I was pleasantly surprised when 20 people assembled at the car park at Hogganfield Park LNR......................................

 

Before commencing the walk, on a quick scan of the loch, I noticed a Lesser Black-backed Gull loafing on the floating platform opposite the car park. What was so special about this? Well it had pink legs .....

 

............... so just a reminder that there is more to gull ID than looking at the colour of a bird's legs! It appears to be 3rd winter but I am willing to be corrected!!!!!

 

Having left the car park, we walked around the loch path in an anti-clockwise direction .....

 

 

..... whilst building our list of birds seen and admired. When we first arrived there were only 2 Whooper Swans present but over the next 45 minutes or so another 20 flew in - a wonderful spectacle. A sizeable flock of Greylag Geese also flew in to join the 100s of other wildfowl on the loch e.g. Goosander, Tufted Duck, Pochard, Goldeneye, Gadwall, Teal and Coot. We also found a solitary Wigeon which unfortunately flew off before everyone could see it!

 

With the weather being extremely kind most of the group agreed that we should visit Cardowan Moss LNR and Frankfield Loch. So we headed up the path that overlooks the wetland/marsh area adding Redwing, Fieldfare, Reed Bunting and Bullfinch to our list. We crossed at the 'Friends of Glasgow's LNRs' crossing and were disappointed that it still hasn't been repaired by the Council - the bollards and signs had been knocked over by vehicles a few weeks ago .....................................

 

 

In Cardowan Moss woodland we saw a few common species such at tits but the real aim of the walk was to show people how to reach Frankfield Loch from the extensive footpath network at Cardowan. This LNR is managed by the Forestry Commission (FCS) and many of the paths have been upgraded over the last couple of years. However, the footpath that links Cardowan with the new paths that have been recently completed around Frankfield was extremely muddy ...........................

 

 

.............. hopefully, FCS will upgrade this path in the near future.

 

Having climbed towards the viewpoint overlooking Frankfield Loch ............

 

Photo courtesy of Lynda Pritchard

 

............ and observing that with a high water level the loch appeared to only contain gulls and a sole Goosander ...........

 

Photo courtesy of Lynda Pritchard

 

we decided to head back to Hogganfield for a late lunch ............................

 

 

 

Following lunch we headed back to the car park but not before we spent some time observing a flock of 15+ redpoll. The majority were obviously Lesser Redpoll but two birds did look as if they could have been Mealy Redpoll, but unfortunately none of us felt confident enough to claim them!

 

Once back at the car park, we witnessed a feeding frenzy as staff from the park's 'hot food' van disposed of their remaining rolls into the loch much to the delight of the waiting swans .......

 

 

... and other species; this picture alone features seven species of waterbird.

 

I saw 38 species and with others in the group seeing another 6 species, we totalled at least 44 for the day.

 

Thanks to everyone that attended and I hope you all had a good time.