Secondly, a short update on Bingham's Pond which I visited yesterday (30 September 2014). There are still the same range of wildfowl and gulls present with the added bonus of a 'new' Mute Swan. I visited aiming to check out the 'Friends of Glasgow's LNRs Feeding Station' which was installed on 14 September 2014 and I am pleased to report that it was being used by Blue Tit, Great Tit, Coal Tit and Chaffinch ..
Female Chaffinch - Bingham's Pond - 30 September 2014
On Monday (29 September 2014) I travelled through to Aberlady, using the FirstBus X24 from Princes Street in Edinburgh, in search of a Ross's Goose. I arrived at c11.20hrs and made my way south past the village school to the bottom of Kirk Road to view a stubble field. There were good numbers of Pink-footed Geese and a few Barnacle Geese present but no sign of my target!
Geese were still flying in to the field so I decided to be patient and wait.
Just after 12 noon the Ross's Goose arrived!
I was at least 350 metres from the geese so apologies for the poor quality of the pictures but I did not want to risk disturbing the birds.
After another 30 minutes or so I headed off to the SOC's Waterston House, on the edge of Aberlady, to sit and enjoy my lunch and a nice cup of coffee courtesy of the SOC's Dave Allan - one of the good guys in the birding community. Here I managed my first ever Scottish photo of a Comma butterfly ...
Comma - Waterston House garden - 29 September 2014
So over the last few weeks I have encountered 3 butterfly species in Lothian that I would normally associate with our annual trips to Dorset - Wall Brown, Speckled Wood and Comma.
After lunch I jumped on another X24 to Gullane and undertook a pleasant walk from Gullane Bents back to the wooden bridge at Aberlady Bay ...
It was a beautiful, warm day with the Firth of Forth being flat calm allowing me to enjoy views of large flocks of Common Scoter and Eider, 5 Red-throated Diver, Guillemots and Razorbill, a solitary Long-tailed Duck, a Ruff and Black-tailed Godwit and my favourite clock-work toy - the Sanderling.
I encountered 40 bird species, with pride of place being given to the Ross's Goose, my 174th bird species for Scotland this year!
Finally, some more interesting sightings from the Greater Glasgow area, courtesy of SOC Clyde Grapevine:
30 September 2014
An eclipse drake
Pintail and ten Gadwall on Gartloch Pool. Glasgow.
29 September 2014
17 Shoveler on Frankfield Loch.
400 Pink-footed Geese at
Gadloch, near Lenzie.
28 September 2014
25 Gadwall, two Pintail
and ten Shoveler on Gartloch Pool, Glasgow.A pair of Ring-necked Parakeets at the Children's Playground, Botanic Gardens, Glasgow.
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