The Friends of Glasgow's Local Nature Reserves have created a Crowd Funding page to help improve Hogganfield Park LNR for wildlife and people. See this link:
https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/foglnrhogganfieldhabitats?utm_medium=CF&utm_source=CL
I know the Group would be extremely grateful for any donation you can make. For more details of the works planned, have a look at their web site.
https://friendsofglasgowlnrs.wordpress.com/
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| Hogganfield Park LNR |
PLEASE DONATE IF YOU CAN
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.
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| 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.
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| Garganey - Bingham's Pond - 14 May 2024 |
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.
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| 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
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| Bingham's Pond - 25/1/23 - ringed 2022 |
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| Bingham's Pond - 25/1/23 - ringed 2019 |
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| Hogganfield Park - 25/1/23 - ringed 2020 |
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| 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
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| Little Egret |
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| Greenshank |
Finally, a trip through to Edinburgh on the 26th was rewarded with 29 Waxwings.
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| Waxwings |
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| Waxwing |
Hopefully, I'll get out and about more in February and will report back in c3 weeks.
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| Blackcap - Hogganfield Park LNR - 17/09/22 |
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| Hedgehog - our garden - 29/09/22 |
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| Buzzard - Millichen - 13/10/22 |
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| 3 Barnacle Geese with Pink-footed Geese - Millichen Flood - 13/10/22 |
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| Teal - Bingham's Pond - 16/10/22 |
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| Hoverfly (Syrphus ribesii) - Hogganfield Park LNR - 16/10/22 |
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| Jay - Hogganfield Park LNR - 18/10/22 |
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| Family of 7 Whooper Swans (plus 4 adults) - Hogganfield Park LNR -18/10/22 |
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| Ruby Tiger moth caterpillar - Hogganfield Park LNR - 18/10/22 |
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| Wryneck - Torness Power Station - 21/09/22 |
The last post proclaimed it was Spring and here we are well into autumn - apologies to those that follow this site, hopefully there are still some of you left!
The last few weeks has seen migration build up with birds moving south both into and out of the country. When this happens, surprises follow.
Firstly, we had two Whitethroats in our garden on 22 August 2022. Whitethroats are summer visitors that migrate south to spend the winter in Africa, and hopefully they will make it.
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| Whitethroat - 22 August 2022 |
In addition to smaller birds, we also are lucky to get a variety of wading birds on passage. This year Balgray Reservoir, Frankfield Loch and even Hogganfield Loch have had good records over the past few weeks. Birds such as Dunlin, Ringed Plover, Ruff, Black-tailed Godwit, Greenshank, Spotted Redshank and even Pectoral Sandpiper (a north American species) have all been recorded.
A few of my record shots follow:
Frankfield Loch
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| Black-tailed Godwit with 2 Lapwing - 17 August 2022 |
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| Ruff - 31 August 2022 |
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| Ruff - 2 September 2022 |
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| Pectoral Sandpiper - 5 September 2022 |
My first ever Ruff at the loch and for once bright sunshine!
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| Ruff - 5 September 2022 |
Autumn is also a good time to look out for unusual gulls, terns and wildfowl. Cardwell Bay in Gourock is a good spot for gulls and terns. I saw this Mediterranean Gull on 22 August 2022 and noted it had a colour ring. The bird was ringed in Poland in 2017 and remarkably I first saw it in the same location on 22 August 2018, exactly 4 years ago to the day!
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| This photo allows comparison with the similar Black-headed Gull on the right |
On the same day there were two Sandwich Terns also in the bay.
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| Sandwich Terns (top two birds) |
And finally, unusual wildfowl can be found within the City at Hogganfield Loch and Frankfield Loch with species such as Shoveler, Pintail and Wigeon all recently seen, as these record shots show.
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| Shoveler - Frankfield Loch - 2 September 2022 |
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| Pintail - Hogganfield Loch - 5 September 2022 |
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| Wigeon - 5 September 2022 |
So, get ready for the unexpected as we all look forward to even more surprises over the next month or so.
Apologies for the lack of updates.
Just a quick round-up of the last few weeks:
Most summer migrants have arrived - photos show Willow Warbler and Blackcap from Hogganfield Park LNR
Waterbirds are breeding and young hatched - photos show Mallard at Bingham's Pond and Coot and Moorhen at Hogganfield Loch.
Other birds included this Pied Wagtail, feeding two youngsters at Bingham's Pond, and there was also evidence of some success at the heronry at Hogganfield Loch
The LNR is one of my favourite places to go bird watching. I've recently prepared five short videos covering my sightings during 2021.
The link to these video (and others) can be found here Jim Coyle - YouTube
The Hogganfield 'videos' include footage and images of many of the 92 species, plus one sub species, I recorded at this wonderful reserve.
A taster
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| Mediterranean Gull |
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| Sparrowhawk |
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| Spoonbill |
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| White Wagtail |
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| Iceland Gull |
