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

Happy New Year and a Ring-necked Duck!

Happy New Year everyone!

It is likely that there will be fewer posts this year but I shall try and post updates when unusual species  turn up.

So I'll start with this drake Ring-necked Duck, a North American species, which I photographed at Bingham's Pond on 2 January 2022. It would be nice to think that it is the same bird that arrived at the pond in January 2021 and stayed until April 2021 before, presumably, migrating north. I've also included a photo of a drake Tufted Duck, also taken today, for comparison purposes.

Ring-necked Duck

Tufted Duck

The Start of another Birding Year and still in Lockdown

The year started with us all still suffering from the Covid pandemic alongside a necessary and changing 'lockdown'.

This restricted my January bird watching and once again I just visited three locations in Glasgow with a total of 63 species seen. I made 5 visits to Bingham's Pond (30 species); 3 visits to Dawsholm Park LNR (31 species) and 3 visits to Hogganfield Park LNR (45 species). 

The big thrill was finding a Ring-necked Duck on Bingham's Pond, a first for the Pond and the City of Glasgow. This is a rare duck in the UK and is usually found in North America. It probably arrived in Scotland in autumn following the storms and was seen in and around the lochs and reservoirs of Milngavie before arriving in Glasgow during a cold snap when many of the surrounding lochs and reservoirs froze over. Thankfully, Bingham's Pond and Victoria Park Pond, where it was also seen, rarely freeze over completely. This is probably thanks to the birds being regularly fed by locals and thereby creating a concentration of birds in a small area which helps keep some open water. 

Other highlights in the City included Smew and Iceland Gull as well as finding a few 'ringed' Black-headed Gulls and, thereafter, finding out where they had come from.

A few images follow, all copyright Jim Coyle:

Bingham's Pond

Ring-necked Duck 

Black-headed Gull - ringed in the Moorfoot Hills, south of Edinburgh

Common Gull

Sunset

Dawsholm Park LNR

Highland Cow

Ring-necked Parakeet

Song Thrush

Jay (in poor light!)

Sunset

Hogganfield Park LNR

Snipe

Stonechat

Whooper Swan

Black-headed Gull - ringed in Poland

Smew

Iceland Gull (centre)

Sunset

No doubt February will be much of the same, in the meantime stay safe.