My Bird Sightings in Scotland - update

 Since my last update, records include:

• Ring-necked Duck at Bingham's Pond in Glasgow, presumably the returning bird.
• White-rumped Sandpiper at Skinflats.
• Marsh Harrier at RSPB Lochwinnoch.
• Bittern at RSPB Lochwinnoch.
• Spotted Redshank at Musselburgh Lagoons; and
• MARSH SANDPIPER at Mussekburgh Lagoons.

The Marsh Sandpiper was a UK/Scottish first for me, previous sightings having been in Africa, India and Sri Lanka. It is my 324th sighting in Scotland!

Also my year Scottish list now stands at 185. Is 200 possible?

A few record shots of some of the above birds:

Marsh Sandpiper - Musselburgh Lagoons 17/09/25

Spotted Redshank - Musselburgh Lagoons 17/09/25

Ring-necked Duck - Bingham's Pond 10/08/25

Marsh Harrier - RSPB Lochwinnoch 20/08/25

'Ringo' Returns to Bingham's Pond LNR!

A drake Ring-necked Duck, known locally as 'Ringo', has made an appearance at Bingham's Pond LNR, Glasgow on 16 January 2025 - see photos.

I first saw it at the pond in January 2021 - a first for Glasgow - and it has come back to the area every year since then. It is mobile and also spends some time at Victoria Park pond and the lochs and reservoirs in Bearsden and Milngavie. No one has been able to confirm where it goes in the summer!

Ring-necked Duck at Bingham's Pond

 Once again, I'm pleased to report that I found a drake Ring-necked Duck on Bingham's Pond LNR on Monday 2 December 2024. Presumably it is the same bird that I first found on 12 January 2021. The bird generally visits a number of ponds, lochs and reservoirs, mainly in north west Glasgow, over the winter and spring and then disappears in summer before returning in early winter. This is the first report for winter 2024.

Ring-necked Duck - Bingham's Pond LNR - 2 December 2024

A First for Hogganfield Park LNR and the City, plus a first for Bingham's Pond LNR

 The web site is still in 'cold storage' BUT thought these two sightings were worthy of some defrosting!

Yesterday I found a Reed Warbler at Hogganfield Park LNR. This was the first record of this species at the LNR and the City! Apologies for the quality of the photo but I was at full zoom.

Reed Warbler - Hogganfield Park LNR - 25 May 2024

Also of note was a drake Garganey at Bingham's Pond LNR on 14 May 2024. This was a first for the Pond.

Garganey - Bingham's Pond - 14 May 2024

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

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.

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.