Hen Harrier and more

With a dodgy weather forecast for most of Scotland, I started the week, on Sunday the 12th, down at the Caerlaverock WWT Reserve in Dumfries and Galloway, thanks to Stephen.

After driving through heavy rain we reached the reserve which was, as per the weather forecast, dry.

It was my first ever visit to the reserve in 'summer' with all previous visits being in winter to see swans, geese and other wildfowl. So it was strange to look out from the Peter Scott Observatory building and only see a few Mallard and Canada Geese - no swans whatsoever!

We were lucky to see a male Hen Harrier from the Merse Observatory Tower hide, as this record shot shows ….

.. and a variety of passerines including warblers from the Tower hide …..

Willow Warbler

Finally, we had good views of 3 Black-tailed Godwits at the Folly Pond …

In the end we saw c40 different species before returning home.

On Tuesday, it was a late wildfowl count at Bingham's Pond, with no surprises, and on Wednesday a trip down to the Fairlie area with Judith and Mike. Here we were pleasantly surprised to find 2 Little Egrets and 12 Greenshank on Hunterston lagoon. We also had flight views of a Kingfisher on the southern edge of Fairlie Sands. Later we moved to the Battery Park area of Gourock where I found a Mediterranean Gull off Ironotter Point as this distant photo shows .. 

In total, 67 species seen during the week and hopefully more to find over the next few months!