July - the quiet (warm) month

July is normally a quiet month for birds but this year it has also been a warm one making bird watching even more difficult!

We have managed a couple of trips to the east coast which were extremely pleasant but with nothing too unusual to report. The highlights were 7 Red-throated Divers off Musselburgh Lagoons, a Greenshank and Mediterranean Gull at the lagoons and 2 Greenshank and 30+ Black-tailed Godwits at Kinneil Lagoons, but no year ticks.

Closer to home I've only visited Bingham's Pond and also wondered at the insect life in our garden.

Bingham's Pond:

Female Tufted Duck and duckling

Mute Swan cygnet

Small White

Our garden:

Hoverfly

Pond Skater

Red-tailed bee

Green-veined White

Based on reports from around the UK, waders are starting to move so now would be a good time to visit sites such as Frankfield Loch in Glasgow and Baron's Haugh RSPB Reserve, near Motherwell, as well as the usual wader hotspots in the east coast. Good luck!

From Cairngorm to Loch Leven AND Glasgow lochs

Firstly, remember you can click each photo to get a slide show and an enhanced view of each picture

The heatwave continues with the temperature in Glasgow reaching 31C!

To cool off, I headed to Aviemore, Glenmore Forest Park and Cairngorm last Monday, again courtesy of my travel pass.

Glenmore Forest Park

Cairngorm

Cairngorm looking down to Loch Morlich

There were only a few birds around with this pair of House Martins, building a nest at the ski centre, a highlight ….

Yesterday we travelled to Loch Leven, thanks to Peter, and for a change walked up the hillside path from the RSPB Visitor Centre to get stunning views over the reserve and loch

We also called in at the Tay reedbeds and were rewarded with views of a Marsh Harrier!

The rest of the week was spent in Glasgow, mainly in our garden where we had a garden first - Large Red damselfly…

……. but I also managed a visit on Wednesday to Hogganfield Park LNR, Cardowan Moss LNR and Frankfield Loch

Hogganfield Loch

Great Crested Grebe - Hogganfield Loch

Cardowan Moss

Ringlet - Cardowan Moss

Frankfield Loch

Lapwing resting  - Frankfield Loch

Remarkably, I saw more birds visiting the Glasgow sites (46 seen) than on the other two trips, proving that Glasgow is Wilds Better!