Hogganfield Park Local Nature Reserve

 Note that the Hogganfield Park LNR page has been updated and additional photos posted.

Glasgow's Wilds Better: Hogganfield Park LNR (glasgowswildsbetter.blogspot.com)

As a taster - 

Waxwings at Bingham's Pond, Glasgow

Whilst the web page is still in 'cold storage', I thought this was worthy of another post - 12 Waxwings at Bingham's Pond, Glasgow, 6 December 2023.

Waxwing, Bingham's Pond - 6/12/23

Waxwing, Bingham's Pond - 6/12/23

Lesser Whitethroat in our Garden!

 Although the page is in 'cold storage', I thought this was worth reporting. We have had a Lesser Whitethroat in our garden 16-17 October 2023!

Lesser Whitethroat - 16 October 2023

Also a reminder about my YouTube channel which features birds and other wildlife from Glasgow, Scotland and the Rest of the World (2) Jim Coyle - YouTube

July Update

 Hi

As you may have guessed, I have decided to put this site into 'cold storage', at least for now.

Over the last few months, my birding has been limited to a few sites in Glasgow and details and sightings from these are covered on other pages.

So please feel free to follow and/or support the following:

(3) Facebook

Friends of Glasgow's Local Nature Reserves | A voluntary Group passionate about Glasgow's wildlife (wordpress.com)

I'll finish with a photo of a species I once thought I'd never see in Glasgow, never mind at Dawsholm Park LNR.

Jay - Dawsholm Park LNR

Birding Review March 2023

We started the month with a short visit to Mull. The weather was mainly dull and overcast. However, we did record 53 species including White-tailed Eagle, Golden Eagle, Hen Harrier and Great Northern Diver.

Pair of White-tailed Eagles

Pair of Golden Eagles

Female Hen Harrier

Great Northern Diver

I also made a few other trips to places further afield, such as Scone Palace where a Hawfinch was photographed.

Hawfinch

However, in the main, my birding trips were limited to regular visits to my local patch - Bingham's Pond - where I saw 30 bird species.

These included sightings of Goosanders, the drake Ring-necked Duck and, at the end of the month, an adult Iceland Gull!

Drake Goosander

Drake Ring-necked Duck

Iceland Gull

Despite the limited number of birdwatching trips, other than short walks to Bingham's Pond, I saw 99 species during March 2023, including the first proper summer migrant in the form of a Chiffchaff.

 Hopefully, April will prove to be a better month.

Birdwatching walks in Ibiza (part 2)

Here is a link to a short video I produced to illustrate the habitats and some of the birds that could be seen on the three walks that Lynda and I are leading at the Costa Music Festival - here

Also see previous post.

Birdwatching walk 2022

Birdwatching Walks in Ibiza

I am pleased to say that Lynda and I will be leading three birdwatching walks at the Costa Music Festival in Ibiza in late April.

Details of the Festival and how to book can be found here Costa Del Folk Ibiza | Folk Music Festival in Ibiza | Book Now (costafestival.co.uk)  

Details of the planned walks: 

Wednesday 26 April 2023 - Walk 1

We shall explore the local woodlands, farmland and countryside looking out for birds such as Turtle Dove, Woodchat Shrike, Mediterranean Flycatcher (similar to ‘our’ Spotted Flycatcher), Serin, Cirl Bunting and Stone Curlew.

Thursday 27 April 2023 – Walk 2

We shall visit an area of ‘park land’ and thereafter, if time permits, countryside and woodland. Here we hope to encounter some local species as well as birds migrating through the island. These could include Sardinian Warbler, Corn Bunting, Western Bonelli’s Warbler, Kestrel, Wood Warbler, Pied Flycatcher and Redstart.

Friday 28 April 2023 - Walk 3

On our final walk we shall follow the coastline and look for birds in amongst the rocks, cliffs and scrub. Possible birds include Blue Rock Thrush, Thekla Lark, Whinchat, Mediterranean Shag, Audouin’s Gull and Wheatear. We may also be very lucky and see some shearwaters offshore.

Some images of the birds we hope to see:

Blue Rock Thrush

Turtle Dove

Stone Curlew

Woodchat Shrike

Birding Update - February 2023

 Once again my birding was limited to two trips down the Clyde coast plus a few visits to two local sites.

Clyde Coast:

On 7 February 2023 we travelled to Cardwell Bay and Greenock Esplanade with the highlight being close-up views of Red-breasted Merganser and Black Guillemots.

Red-breaster Merganser (drake)

Black Guillemot (still in partial winter plumage)

Black Guillemot

On 13 February 2023, we travelled further down the coast to Maidens and Troon/Barassie and were rewarded with sightings of 42 bird species including Brent Geese and a Mediterranean Gull.

Brent Geese with an Oystercatcher - Maidens

Mediterranean Gull (right) with Black-headed Gull

Local Sites

Bingham's Pond continued to play host, off and on, to the drake Ring-necked Duck and a Cormorant also paid a few visits.

Ring-necked Duck and Tufted Duck

Cormorant

My first proper visit of the year to Dawsholm Park LNR resulted in good numbers of common birds plus a Jay and a number of Ring-necked Parakeets, not to mention a Magpie behaving like an oxpecker!

Jay

Ring-necked Parakeet

Magpie and Highland Cow

Despite not birding as much as I would have hoped, I still saw 64 species during February and hit the 100 mark for 2023.

Its almost Spring so hopefully some good weather is on the way along with a lot more birds! 

Birding Review - January 2023

 I didn't manage out much this month for various reasons. However, the Ring-necked Duck continued to frequent Bingham's Pond and Victoria Park Pond in Glasgow.

Ring-necked Duck - 15/1/23 - Bingham's Pond

The month was dominated by other types of 'rings' with the following birds seen:

Black-headed Gulls 

Bingham's Pond - 25/1/23 - ringed 2022

Bingham's Pond - 25/1/23 - ringed 2019

Hogganfield Park - 25/1/23 - ringed 2020

Mute Swan

Hogganfield Park - 25/1/23 - ringed 2015

Away from Glasgow we travelled down to Fairlie on 19 January 2023 with these two birds being rather special

Little Egret

Greenshank

Finally, a trip through to Edinburgh on the 26th was rewarded with 29 Waxwings.

Waxwings

Waxwing

Hopefully, I'll get out and about more in February and will report back in c3 weeks.

Happy New Year

Five days into the new year and I've made 3 visits to Bingham's Pond (30 species already) as well as catching up with some local specialities.

Bingham's Pond

Ring-necked Duck with Tufted Duck (right)

Wren

Partially frozen pond - 2/01/23

Common Gull

Goosander with Black-headed Gulls

Ring-necked Duck (centre top) with Tufted Ducks & Black-headed Gulls

Greylag Goose

Tufted Duck

Bingham's Pond - ice free 4/01/23

 Elsewhere, to the north west of Glasgow, I caught up with a nice range of species, thanks to Stephen.

Black Grouse

Snow Goose with Greylag Geese

Common Crossbill

Lesser Redpoll

Greenland White-fronted Geese

Mandarin (drake)

So, a nice start to the new birding year with more adventures to come.