Spectacular Skies, Dragons and more ........

On Wednesday, I had a super walk from Hogganfield Park LNR through Cardowan Moss LNR, ending at Frankfield Loch (a proposed LNR). The sun was shining, the sky was blue and there were some pretty impressive cloud formations .......

Hogganfield Park

Hogganfield Park

Cardowan Moss

Frankfield Loch

At Hogganfield, I noted that there were still two broods of Great Crested Grebes (B/2 and B/3). More importantly I managed to confirm that the 'BioHaven pair' were carrying at least one chick on one of the adult's back!

There were also a good few Little Grebes around and this one posed nicely ..

Moving on to Cardowan Moss LNR, I encountered a large 'mixed tit' flock moving quickly through the trees. This Long-tailed Tit was the only bird I managed to photograph!

 

Luckily, the dragonflies were more co-operative and posed nicely ....

 

Common Darter

Common Hawkers

 

This Roe Deer also seemed to accept my presence before it moved off slowly, deeper into the trees....

 

 

Reaching Frankfield Loch, I was pleased to see some mud and hoped for a few waders. There were clearly some present and after at least three attempts, I settled for a count of c200 Lapwing.

 

A few of the Lapwing flock and some Black-headed Gulls

 

Hopefully, other wading species will call in over the next few weeks.

 

So, a great walk, lots of wildlife including 38 bird species; just a pity about the vandalism at Frankfield Loch .

 

 

Recent Sightings in Greater Glasgow

An update on recent sightings in the Greater Glasgow Area, courtesy, in the main, of the SOC Clyde Grapevine:

Monday 22 August 2016
2 Black-tailed Godwits at Frankfield Loch at 14.45hrs (courtesy of Friends of Glasgow's LNRs Facebook site)
Two juvenile Yellow Wagtails with 25 Pied Wagtails in a field adjacent to River Clyde at Park Quay, Erskine.

Sunday 21 August 2016
A White Wagtail at Cathkin Marsh SWT Reserve.
Two Jays in Boylestone Quarry, Barrhead.

Wednesday 17 August 2016
A Ruff at Cathkin Marsh SWT Reserve.

Monday 15 August 2016
Two Whinchats at Cathkin Marsh SWT Reserve.

Video of Spotted Sandpiper

Following on from my last post 'More East Coast Birding', I've uploaded a short video featuring the Spotted Sandpiper. It can be viewed here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3H27rkdMQiQ

When viewing all my YouTube videos please click on the small 'wheel' and view at HD.

Meanwhile another photo of the Spotted Sandpiper!

More East Coast Birding

On Thursday, I travelled through to Dunbar by bus and train and then walked east along the coastal path to a spot known as Fluke Dub ..........

Fluke Dub

 

Here I met a few bird watchers and was soon looking at a Spotted Sandpiper, it however soon 'disappeared' before I got a chance to photograph it. This was compensated by nice views of an adult Yellow Wagtail and the number of birds that could be spotted whilst patiently waiting for the sandpiper to reappear. These included this Common Sandpiper that tried to confuse matters ...

 

 

Eventually, the Spotted Sandpiper re-emerged and I was glad that I had been patient as it gave amazing views .........

 

 

Happy, I walked back to Dunbar railway station and eventually reached the wader scrapes at Musselburgh lagoons. It was high tide so the scrapes were full of waders including Ruff, Greenshank, Black-tailed Godwit and Knot plus a distant group of Curlew Sandpipers. Turning my zoom to its maximum, I managed this record shot of five of these birds ...

 

 

Having left the house at c7.20am, I eventually reached home at c8pm after a great day's birding - it's amazing what you can do on public transport!



The Trossachs

On Wednesday, we had an excellent trip, with Mike and Judith, to the Trossachs and more specifically Stronachlachar (the Pier café is recommended) and Loch Katrine.

Loch Katrine

A pleasant walk resulted in a range of sightings including Redstart, Spotted Flycatcher, Blackcap and Osprey. There were also large numbers of hirundines including some Swallows still feeding young .....

We also saw a good few butterflies that tried hard not to be photographed but, eventually, I managed a shot of this Scotch Argus ......

 

Leaving Loch Katrine we drove alongside Loch Arklet and this young Whinchat showed for a few moments before flying off ...

 

 

We finished with a well deserved ice cream in Aberfoyle; a nice end to a beautiful day out and amazingly, no midges!

 

Hogganfield Park LNR - Grebes and more

On Monday I travelled over to Hogganfield Park LNR to check out the Great Crested Grebes that had laid 2 eggs on one of the BioHavens installed by the Friends of Glasgow's LNRs. I arrived just after 3pm and watched and photographed the grebes with great interest. The following photos, which can be viewed as a slide show, detail what I found!

Success, one youngster had hatched, possibly whilst I was there! (I subsequently found out that another birder had recorded one of the adults turning the eggs in the morning, so it definitely hatched on Monday).

Two other pairs of Great Crested Grebes have been successful with broods of 2 and 3; this is one of the youngsters ...

In addition to the grebes there was still a brood of 11 Tufted duckling (record shot) ...

 

  In amongst the 100s of other gulls, a Great Black-backed Gull was a bit of a surprise ..

 

 

.. as was my second ever sighting of a Water Rail - poor cropped photo ........

 

 

Finally, there were good numbers of adult and juvenile Willow Warblers, which posed for me as I was attacked by swarming, flying ants ....

 

 

What a brilliant day!

 

 

East Coast Birding - Musselburgh

As well as some local birding - see the last post - I also visited Musselburgh lagoons over the last few days (on the 4th and 8th).

At this time of year this means waders, gulls, terns and wildfowl galore.

On the 4th, I saw 50 species and on the 8th managed 46, despite the strong winds. Overall, I saw 56 different bird species ranging from Wren to Mute Swan and everything in between.

Waders included Little Stint, Wood Sandpiper, Ruff, Black-tailed Godwit and Greenshank. Other birds of particular note were Little Gull and Red-necked Grebe.

A few photos, including poor record shots, follow:

Wood Sandpiper - 4 August 2016

Little Gull - 4 August 2016

 

Little Stint - 8 August 2016

Ruff - 8 August 2016

 

Other more photogenic birds included these two:

 

Blackbird - 4 August 2016

Curlew - 8 August 2016

 

I love Glasgow but I'll certainly be visiting the east coast at least once a week from between now and the end of October! You just never know what might turn up.

 

Glasgow Birding

This is the first of two updates concentrating firstly on Glasgow.

At the start of the month, I popped down to my local patch - Bingham's Pond. There are still 4 cygnets present and at least 3 Moorhen and 3 Coot youngsters.

The main interest, however, was 'human'. Firstly, a local managed to shepherd the male swan, who seemed to be intent on crossing Shelley Road, back to the Pond. I then had a brief interesting chat with a Council operative who clearly cares about parks and open spaces in the City. He managed to undertake a bit of much needed strimming whilst his colleague emptied the bins. But once the bins were emptied he had to stop strimming and head off to the next park on their rota. It appears there are now only 300 people doing what was once done by 1300 park staff - hopefully, I've got the figures right!

Some of the area strimmed - 1 August 2016

Still needing strimming - 1 August 2016

The next day (2nd) I was off to Hogganfield Park LNR to check out the Great Crested Grebes that had laid eggs on one of the Friends of Glasgow's LNRs floating islands(BioHavens). Thankfully she was still sitting and tolerating various other birds that chose to rest and preen on 'her' island, provided they didn't get too close! This had to be the cutest shot as she sat with 11 Tufted duckling ...

Great Crested Grebe and 11 Tufted duckling - 2 August 2016

 

At least two other pairs have successfully bred at the loch and the following image shows a well grown youngster...

 

2 August 2016

 

Pochard and Gadwall numbers are starting to increase and there were two other Tufted duckling broods, albeit of only one bird each. Other evidence of successful breeding included sightings of cygnets and young Mallard, Moorhen and Coot.

 

I recorded 36 bird species which included an encounter with my first 'tit' flock of the 'autumn'! And Autumn for me means the east coast - see the next post which will follow shortly.

 

Finally, other recent sightings from Greater Glasgow, courtesy of the SOC Clyde Grapevine:

 

Monday 1 August 2016
Three Stonechats at Cathkin Marsh.