Glasgow Patch Ticks plus more!

Despite yet more rain and dreich skies I've managed to bird watch near and far, since my last post.

Firstly, two days at Hogganfield Park LNR:

26 October 2019 - Whooper Swan family, Cormorant and Mistle Thrush

27 October 2019 - I helped at the Friends of Glasgow's LNRs Wildfowl Feeding event and managed to see and photograph 2 'rare' ducks - an eclipse male Ruddy Duck (my 72nd species for Hogganfield this year) and a very distant female Common Scoter (my 73rd for the year and a life Hogganfield tick for me, meaning I have now seen 108 bird species at this wonderful site). Thanks to Agnes, Karen and Lynda. As an aside, the scoter was the 143rd bird ever recorded at Hogganfield Park LNR!

28 October 2019 - a quick bus trip to Knightswood Park Pond to search through the many gulls for ringed birds. Luckily I managed to find two ringed Black-headed Gulls. 

31 October 2019 - our weekly birding trip with Judith and Mike and we headed to Troon.
On the south beach we found the Snow Bunting that had been reported and around the harbour we had good views of Purple Sandpiper (no photos) and Ringed Plover and Dunlin. We also saw the ringed Herring Gull which spends most of its time here - ringed on July 2013 on Lady Isle

1 November 2019 - a new month and a trip to Fife in heavy rain with Stephen. It actually stayed dry for around 1 hour in the Balcomie/Kilminning area but, thereafter, it poured down so we headed for the visitor centre/hide at Guardbridge. Despite the weather we managed c40 species including Little Egret, Black-tailed Godwit and Golden Plovers - but no photographs!

5 November 2019 - Yesterday and another good trip with Judith & Mike, this time to Ladies Pond, Dougalston, Milngavie - a new site for all of us. And then on to an old favourite of mine, the farmland at Millichen, Glasgow.

The walk to Ladies Pond proved to be very pleasant with Nuthatch seen along with other more common woodland birds. The pond itself played host to a small range of wildfowl including a drake Blue-winged Teal, probably the bird that spent much of the summer at Frankfield Loch in Glasgow.

From Ladies Pond we headed, after a civilised coffee stop, to the Millichen area where we saw Tree Sparrows, Yellowhammers and large numbers of Pink-footed Geese flying around and then landing out of view!

However, the obvious highlight was a 'Millichen' tick for me in the form of Ringed-neck Parakeet - two of them - which is the 105th species I've seen at Millichen.

So nearing the end of the year and still getting 'ticks' and some enjoyable days birding - thanks to our friends and other birders we met on our travels. Hopefully, there will be more to come over the next few weeks.

Spring at Last - any summer migrants?

Since my last post, I've visited a number of Glasgow's interesting birding sites plus enjoyed a visit to Eglinton Country Park, near Irvine.

Firstly, a visit to Knightswood Park where the area in and around the pond is of particular interest as there is always a chance of spotting a 'ringed' bird. And yes another 'successful' visit with this ringed Black-headed Gull...…

Black-headed Gull - Knightswood Park - 18/3/19

However, unlike other birds I've found here which have been ringed in Norway or the Netherlands, this bird was ringed by a local ringer at Knightswood Park pond in January this year!

On the 20th we travelled, courtesy of Judith and Mike, down to Eglinton Country Park and met up with the rest of Glasgow RSPB mid-week outings group (20+). It was the first time many of us had visited this park and it proved to have a wide range of habitats. Whilst the bird numbers were disappointing, a view of a Jay was most welcome.

I've since made a number of visits to Bingham's Pond hoping for a Chiffchaff or maybe even a Sand Martin but to no avail. However, I did find a female Blackcap on the 23rd.

Other visits have included Frankfield Loch ..

…. Cardowan Moss LNR ….

.. and Hogganfield Park LNR where this Long-tailed Tit posed for a second or two …

I also saw a colour-ringed Mute Swan and I've just heard that it was ringed as a cygnet at Dedridge Pond, Livingston on 16 August 2017.

Sadly, the day ended with a sighting of a Goosander with its bill entwined by fishing line/tackle ...

I have reported it and hopefully the bird can be 'captured' and taken to Hessilhead for treatment.

Glasgow Birding

Note: please click on photos to create a slide show and enhanced viewing

The weather has not been conducive to birding but I've managed to avoid some of the showers and visited some local Glasgow sites.

Firstly, I travelled to Knightswood Park pond where, in poor light, I saw my first Goosander for the pond ...

Goosander - 7 March 2019

…. and another ringed Mute Swan. The swan had been ringed as a cygnet at Leyland Ponds, Wester Inch, Bathgate in September 2015.

On the 11th, I visited Hogganfield Park LNR and saw 35 bird species as well as clumps of primroses ..

Hogganfield Park LNR, with the Campsie Fells in the background

Primroses

Pair of Great Crested Grebes

Pochard

One of 20 Whooper Swans

I spotted BTO rings on two of the Whoopers and have since discovered that they had been ringed at the loch as 'juveniles' by the Clyde Ringing Group, one in November 2017 and the other in November 2018.

Centre bird - ringed November 2017

Ringed November 2018

I finished the week with a walk to Bingham's Pond. Here, the male Mute Swan was making it clear to his remaining offspring (two have already left) that they should be moving on soon!

Male Mute Swan in aggressive mode - 15/3/19

On the other hand, this female Mallard was proving to be attractive to a nearby male, although I'm not sure she welcomed his attention ….

So despite the weather, I managed to get out on 3 days for a few hours birding and picked up a nice selection of birds. However, hopefully, it won't be too long before the migrants start to arrive.

Mid-January Update

I've not managed out much other than an hour or so at Bingham's Pond plus a visit to Knightswood Park pond.

The year list for Bingham's currently stands at 26 which compares favourably with recent years - another advantage of using BirdTrack to record your bird species, you can quickly compare previous years sightings with your current efforts.

At Knightswood park, I concentrated on the pond and its immediate surrounds in the hope of getting some more sightings of ringed birds …

Knightswood Park pond - 11/1/19

There were three colour-ringed Black-headed Gulls present, all three of which I have already seen at the Pond ..

Ringed Ythan Estuary 3/6/14

Ringed Grange-over-Sands, Cumbria 4/12/18

Ringed Victoria Park, Glasgow 15/12/18

… but more interestingly, I managed to get photos of a metal ringed Black-headed Gull. Although only getting a partial reading from the photos, I do know it was ringed in 'Helgoland, Germania' or Heligoland, Germany. I am hoping that I shall get some more information from the ringers even though I only have a partial number ….

Finally, since I've not managed out much, a few interesting bird sightings from Greater Glasgow, courtesy of the SOC Clyde Grapevine:

Balgray Reservoir - a 2nd winter Iceland Gull and 3rd winter Yellow-legged Gull.
Clarkston - Ring-necked Parakeets from a few different locations.

(B)ringing in the New Year - Updated in Bold

I started the new year with some local birding at Bingham's Pond and Knightswood Park. And both locations turned up trumps on the 'ring reading' front.

I also met another ring reader who provided lots of information as well as mentioning he reads my blog - thanks Gavin.

So on to the ringed birds, all seen on 2 January 2019:

1. Black-headed Gull, Bingham's Pond - apparently ringed in Norway and awaiting more information

2. Black-headed Gull - Knightswood Park pond - ringed Grange-over-Sands, Cumbria 4/12/18

3. Black-headed Gull - Knightswood Park pond - ringed Ythan Estuary 3/6/14

4. Black-headed Gull - Knightswood Park pond - ringed Victoria Park, Glasgow 15/12/18

5. Mute Swan - Knightswood Park pond - ringed Castle Semple Loch 5/2/17

So, five ringed birds - a good way to (b)ring in the new year!

Moving further afield, five of us got together yesterday for a spot of birding along the River Leven at Balloch Country Park. Despite the dreich weather, we added to our year list with four Mandarin Ducks (3 males) being the highlight.

Three of us then moved on to the Croftamie area and we managed to locate the Greenland White-fronted Goose flock, or at least 120 of them, plus two Pink-footed Geese. The drizzle had now stopped allowing me to take this record shot.

Thanks to Peter, Judith, Mike and Lynda.

Ring in the New Year!

Happy New Year everyone, but still some time to reflect on 2018 from a bird watching point of view. I'm a sucker for statistics so here's a few:

During 2018, I saw 206 species (plus 4 sub-species) throughout Scotland. And, closer to home, I recorded 82 species at my favourite Glasgow site, Hogganfield Park LNR.

My City of Glasgow life list increased by three - Glaucous Gull, Jay and Shelduck - and now stands at 147 - and this just shows what can be found in the City if you look hard enough.

I also started to take a keen interest in 'ringed' birds and with the improvements of recent years to binoculars and cameras it is now easier to 'read' these rings than ever before.

It is also easier to report your sighting via the links on this web page https://app.bto.org/euring/lang/pages/rings.jsp  and you can sometimes get a response by return!

Hence the title 'Ring in the New Year' but first a few from last year in Glasgow featuring conventional metal rings and also colour coded rings.

Mute Swans are possibly the easiest species to find, read and photograph a ring:

Seen Knightswood Park 23/11/18 - Ringed Irvine 21/1/15 (2nd year)

Seen Knightswood Park 23/11/18 - Ringed Rothesay 21/8/12 (as cygnet)

Seen Knightswood Park 29/10/18 - Ringed Puddledub Pond, Fife 1/9/12 (as cygnet)

Gulls are also popular with ringers and I've found a few Black-headed Gulls in the City sporting rings;

Seen Hogganfield Park LNR 27/12/18 - Ringed as a chick Elvanfoot 24/6/14

Seen Knightswood Park 23/11/18 - Ringed 16/1/17 (2nd calendar year), Hilversum, Netherlands 

Seen Hogganfield Park 6/11/18 - Ringed 18/6/18 (pullus), Geitholmen, Norway

These are just a few of my sightings from 2018 and they show that birds are not stationary but they move around and in some cases make exceptional journeys!

Perhaps you might get hooked on this as part of your general birding.

In any case have a Happy Birding New Year!

Yet More Birding and it is still dark and dreary!

The last post seemed to work well with the latest news coming first so I will start with today's news: a small flock of around 20 Waxwings in Westerlands, Anniesland although I only had flight views.

Yesterday was our weekly trip with Judith and Mike and we travelled to Baron's Haugh RSPB Reserve. We managed to see a good range of birds and timed our departure to coincide with the rain arriving! The highlight was a Little Egret which was a reserve first for all of us ..

Little Egret - 27/11/18

On Saturday (24th) we travelled with the RSPB Glasgow Group down to he WWT Reserve at Caerlaverock. The weather was excellent and it only started to rain shortly after leaving the reserve. As expected we had excellent views of wildfowl …

Barnacle Geese - 24/11/18

Wigeon - 24/11/18

Scaup with Tufted Ducks - 24/11/18

We also had a glimpse of a Great White Egret and up to 9 Little Egrets but the highlight for me was a Merlin perched on a post, seen from the Salcot Obervatory Tower.

On the Friday, I travelled to Knightswood Park and Bingham's Pond, both in Glasgow. I was looking for 'ringed' birds - which will the subject of a separate post - but was also struck by the fact that a small flock of Greylag Geese can be seen grazing at a Glasgow Park …

Greylag Geese - 23/11/18

Moving on to Bingham's Pond and I added to my year Pond list with a Raven flying over, 'cronking' and being harassed by gulls.

I also visited Hogganfield Park LNR on Saturday 17th to help with the Friends of Glasgow's LNRs wildfowl feeding event. There wasn't any time to do much birdwatching other than from the viewing/feeding platform. However, this Great Black-backed Gull stood out …..

Great Black-backed Gull - 17/11/18

However, the real surprise turned out to be a group of 3 Shelduck which were a personal first for me for both Hogganfield Park and Glasgow.

Distant record shot - 3 Shelduck - 17/11/18

So, my Hogganfield list now stands at 106 (including feral/introduced species) and my Glasgow list 147.

So despite it still being dark and dreary, all in all it was a good week. 

Roll on December!

PS remember to click on the photos to produced a slide show and enhanced viewing.