Spring still struggling to arrive!

The weather since my last post has really been pretty poor apart from a few days. Most of the spring migrants have arrived but not in any great numbers. Hopefully, the next few days will see an influx.

Despite the poor weather, I've managed out on a number of occasions and had some excellent sightings. I say sightings because I have concentrated on bird watching rather than taking photographs but I do have a few to represent the diverse range of species and habitats seen on my travels.

On the 12th we travelled with Mike and Judith to the Loch Lomond National Park and more specifically the Loch Katrine area. Although the scenery was superb, we struggled to see 30 species, with overcast conditions and a strong wind causing us problems! However, I did have my first Sand Martins of the year and a Red-throated Diver was a bonus.

Then on to the Borders on the 15th with singing Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff being the predominant memory. The four of us then made our way north towards Aberlady Bay and then Musselburgh. We were pleased to see Ring Ousel, Black Grouse and Red Grouse plus displaying Snipe and a host of other birds before arriving at Aberlady Bay. Here we were rewarded with Green-winged Teal and Common Sandpiper. At Musselburgh most of the birds were far out in the estuary, probably because I carried my camera with me, but this Guillemot was incredibly close and I managed my only photos of the day ....

... from here we called in at Garnqueen Loch and saw a good number of hirundines, some common wildfowl and a Ruddy Duck. An excellent end to a day that saw us record 55+ species, many new for the year.

On the 19th, we travelled down to Ayrshire with Judith and Mike and started at Rozelle Park in Ayr. The weather was overcast to begin with and I left my camera in the car explaining 'we'll get stunning views of a whole range of birds if I do so' and I was right! We saw most of the common woodland birds up close and got incredibly good views of Blackcap with Nuthatch being another species of note. 

Despite the camera being in the car, I managed some landscape shots with my phone ..

Rozelle Park - 19/4/18

We then headed to Doonfoot, the weather became really pleasant and we added a good range of waders, wildfowl (including 2 Whooper Swans), Gulls (including Little Gull) and summer migrants to our list (3 Sandwich Terns and 3 Wheatears).

Doonfoot - 19/4/18

I managed to retrieve my camera from the boot and managed to photograph the Little Gull before we left - a great end to a great day!

Little Gull (top) with Black-headed Gull

I joined Stephen on a trip to the Lothians on the 21st and was surprised at the lack of migrants despite another reasonable day weatherwise. At Barns Ness, however, we did see 20+ White Wagtails, a Yellow Wagtail and this race of Yellow Wagtail (Channel or Blue-headed) ...

On the 22nd and 23rd I visited Hogganfield Park LNR - the 22nd to help with the Friends of Glasgow's LNRs event. The event was abandoned due to rain but not before we spotted a few Swallows. I returned the next day, which was really cold, and managed some more Swallows, my first House Martin of the year, a solitary Blackcap and c10 singing Willow Warblers. My favourite sighting, however, was of a pair of Great Crested Grebes that have nested on a Biohaven on the loch ...

In addition to the above trips, I have popped down to Bingham's Pond a few times with two fly-over Ring-necked Parakeets and a pair of Blackcap being my most memorable sightings.

So a great couple of weeks birding and over this period, from 12-25 April, I have seen 100 species!

With the weather hopefully getting better, who knows what will turn up in May.