It's Autumn - from a birdwatching point of view!

Since my last post, things are slowly beginning to happen with birds on the move.

The highlight for me was a Sooty Tern at the Ythan Estuary in Aberdeenshire - thank you bus pass. I also discovered you could get a bus to the Collieston junction and then walk to the Waulkmill Hide upstream of the estuary (allow c30 minutes). Here I saw 2 Osprey, a Little Tern and 6 Greenshank, a sign that waders are on the move.

Sooty Tern with Sandwich Terns - Ythan Estuary - 26/7/18

View from Waulkmill Hide, Ythan - 26/7/18

Closer to home, I spent a few hours at Hogganfield Park LNR on the 25th and noted that wildfowl numbers were starting to slowly increase with 19 Pochard present as well as 16 Gadwall not to mention this Little Grebe .. 

Little Grebe - Hogganfield Loch - 25/7/18

On Tuesday (31st) we travelled through to Baron's Haugh RSPB Reserve and with the water levels low there was plenty of mud exposed with a juvenile Little Ringed Plover and 9 Green Sandpipers being the highlights, with a total of 35 species recorded.

Green Sandpiper - Baron's Haugh - 31/7/18

Finally, through to Musselburgh Lagoons yesterday and 42 species recorded with Wood Sandpiper taking pride of place whilst managing to avoid the frequent swoops of a Peregrine! I also saw 22 Black-tailed Godwits one of which was ringed. I sent off the details late last night and a response was received first thing this morning! The bird is an adult that was ringed last autumn and is likely now returning from breeding in Iceland. 

It was ringed on 23/9/17 at Terrington, the Wash estuary, Norfolk; re-sighted on 26/9/17 at Snettisham, the Wash estuary, Norfolk with no further records until mine.

Finally, some records from the Greater Glasgow area courtesy of a trawl around the internet!

3 August 2018

Six Black-tailed Godwits, 11 Redshank, and a Common Sandpiper at Balgray Reservoir.

Six Common Sandpiper, 1 Green Sandpiper, 1 Redshank and 4 Black-tailed Godwit at Gartloch main pool, this morning. 

1 Common Sandpiper, 24 Black-tailed Godwit and 300+ Lapwing at Frankfield loch, this morning.

28 July 2018

1 Mediterranean Gull, briefly, in Victoria Park in the morning.