Talks, Trips and East Coast Magic

On Wednesday (9th) I had a really enjoyable outing with the RSPB Glasgow Group to Rozelle Park and Doonfoot. We saw c60 species and had great views of Nuthatch as well as some real surprises at Doonfoot - Pintail, Whooper Swan and Bewick's Swan! I have passed the swan records to Angus Hogg (Ayrshire Assistant Bird Recorder) as it is too early for such species, perhaps they are injured/recovering birds from last winter.

Thanks to everyone that attended my talk at the Fife Bird Club on Thursday (10th). The next one is on 17 September 2015 at the RSPB Forth Valley Group.

Yesterday, I travelled through by train to Dunbar in the hope of seeing a few 'migrants, the weather forecast certainly looked promising.

I walked to Barns Ness via the John Muir link and although seeing a good few birds, nothing out of the ordinary.

At Barns Ness I bumped into Alan and Ian from the Renfrew RSPB group and managed to see a Redstart, a couple of Wheatear, Stonechat and Reed Bunting on the beach!

Alan and Ian kindly offered me a lift to Torness and Skateraw as well as promising to get me back to Dunbar for my train! At Torness it was very quiet so we headed off to Skateraw and stumbled on a 'twitch'. An hour later it was a happy threesome that left Skateraw as we all managed to see an ARCTIC WARBLER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I even managed some photographs but sadly am still unable to upload photographs for some reason - I have posted one on my personal Facebook site, two on the BirdGuides site and have also lodged them with BirdingLothian. I shall also be using one of them in my 'East Coast Magic' talk at the RSPB Glasgow Group on 1 October 2015.

Thanks again to everyone that reads my ramblings. Hopefully I shall be able to sort out the photos problem or, as previously posted, I'll create a Facebook version of this Blog.