East Coast Magic 2017 - part 1

With a favourable weather forecast,  dry and south easterly winds, I travelled through to Torness Power Station yesterday - Borders Buses no.253 from Edinburgh Bus station to Thorntonloch Junction.

Even from the bus I could see small flocks of thrushes flying overhead, so things looked promising.

Having reached the stop at the Thorntonloch Junction and having crossed the A1, I was soon approaching the perimeter boundary of the Torness Power Station. Again I could see birds flying high overhead - thrushes and skylarks - when I noted this Wheatear sitting in a field quite close to the access road  ...........

 

When I reached the bushes and trees in the vicinity of the Visitor Centre car park, I bumped into two other birders. Remarkably, they had read this blog - thanks chaps! They were both helpful and we had an interesting chat about 'dogs and nature reserves'!

 

On the bird front there were lots of thrushes as well as a few common birds such as Wren.............

 

Blackbird

Song Thrush

Robin

 

A Chiffchaff was spotted briefly and also a Brambling ..........

 

Brambling

 

I also eventually managed a brief glimpse of a Yellow-browed Warbler before deciding to explore further ...

 

From the sea wall looking towards Thorntonloch

 

In the fields that lie between the Power Station and Thorntonloch, there were a variety of waders including 22 Golden Plover ...

 

Golden Plover

 

The bird list now stood at 30+ with the addition of species such a Tree Sparrow but no more migrants or rarities. As I still had an hour or so before catching the 3pm bus back to Edinburgh I returned to the bushes and shrubs where I had glimpsed the Yellow-browed Warbler

 

AND I got some excellent views and even a few photos ....

 

Yellow-browed Warbler

 

... a great end to the day.

 

Note: Just a reminder you can click on the photos to create a slide show. As it was overcast for most of the day, the photos aren't great but hopefully they give an impression of what you can see, if you are patient, when birding the east coast.

 

Finally, some recent sightings from closer to home, courtesy of the SOC Clyde Grapevine:

 

Thursday 19 October 2017
A Brambling and a Fieldfare in a Mugdock garden this morning.
Two Kingfishers and a Water Rail at the Firhill Basin, Glasgow.

 

 

 

Recent Bird Sightings in Greater Glasgow

Since my last post we have been on holiday up north for 7 nights and this will be the subject of a separate post. In the meantime, some recent sightings from the Greater Glasgow area, courtesy of SOC Clyde Grapevine:

Saturday 30 September 2017
A Yellow-browed Warbler in Millfield Hill, Erskine, this morning. The bird was working through gardens in the street between 08:05-08:10, calling frequently and showing occasionally. It then flew off into sycamores at the top end of the street.
A Peregrine being mobbed by a Raven over Battlefield, Glasgow.

Friday 29 September 2017
Three Ruff, 440 Lapwings and 19 Shoveler at Frankfield Loch, Glasgow.
A Peregrine flew low over Gardner Street, Partick, Glasgow.

Thursday 28 September 2017
At least four Ring-necked Parakeets in Bishopbriggs Park.

Monday 25 September 2017
A Greenshank with 238 Redshank at Bowling Harbour with a Guillemot swimming upriver.
A Jay in Linn Park, Glasgow.

Frankfield Loch

East Coast Magic and other tit-bits

After a hectic 8 days, I have some time to update the blog!

On Saturday (19th October) I led an RSPB Glasgow Group outing to the east coast - starting at St Abb's Head NNR then moving back up along the Lothian coast.

Whilst at St Abb's we concentrated on the Mire Loch and I was able to get everyone onto a male Sardinian Warbler - a UK/Scottish tick for everyone; and a life tick for a few. We also had good views of Yellow-browed Warbler and other passage migrants such as Goldcrest, Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Bullfinch, Redwing and Ring Ouzel. ID photos of both the rare warblers follow, although I would stress they weren't taken at the loch!

Sardinian Warbler (Gran Canaria)

Yellow-browed Warbler (Glasgow)

 

We left St Abb's and headed for Torness Power Station and Thorntonloch where we added Brambling and Tree Sparrow to our list. This was quickly followed by a stop at the Whitesands Quarry near Barns Ness. On a casual glance, the quarry didn't look too promising,  but when you looked closely there were a good selection of wildfowl, waders and gulls present - including Scaup, Shoveler, Pochard, Lapwing and Curlew.

 

The Glasgow Group scan the quarry

 

We then moved to the Barns Ness area. Although the light was fading we still added new birds such as Golden Plover and Stonechat.

 

Some of the Group at the top of the 'wire dump'

 

As the sun began to set we headed home with the ever reliable Karen Hill at the wheel. A quick count indicated we had seen 75 species of bird - a good start to the weekend!

 

On the Sunday we headed for Fife starting at Fife Ness before heading for Kilminning/Balcomie Farm. We spent a lot of time looking for 'rarities' and sadly we didn't manage to connect with them (albeit few people did!). Most of the Group did see Brambling, Blackcap, Chiffchaff and Long-tailed Duck and we finished with a 'day list' of 40 species and a weekend list of c85.

 

On Monday evening I travelled to Ayr and was made most welcome by the RSPB Central Ayrshire Group - a big thank you to all those that turned out on a foul night. A photo from my presentation 'In the Footsteps of Livingstone' follows:

 

 

So a WEBs count plus three day-long guided walks and three evening presentations in eight days - its a good job I'm retired!

 

Don't forget the Friends of Glasgow's LNRs talk on Thursday 24th - thankfully, I shall just be chairing the meeting rather than speaking! See earlier post for more details.

 

 

Forecast Comes True! (Recent Sightings)

I suggested in a recent post that you should keep an eye out for Yellow-browed Warblers in the city; well yesterday (5 October 2013) one was seen in Richmond Park!

Report courtesy of SOC Clyde Grapevine:

A Yellow-browed Warbler with a mixed tit/thrush flock in Richmond Park, Glasgow NS602631, also ten Redwing.

It is also good to see that the Seven Lochs Project Area continues to deliver good birds; again courtesy of SOC Clyde Grapevine:

The drake Blue-winged Teal still on Frankfield Loch, also a female Pintail.

Two Jays flying west and calling along the tree line south of Blacader Drive, Gartloch Village, Glasgow NS680669.

Yellow-browed Warblers and Recent Sightings Update

Over the past 5 days or so there have been good numbers of Yellow-browed Warblers arriving on the east coast from Siberia. Indeed we were lucky enough to see one at Fife Ness on Friday (27th) - thanks for the lift Fiona!

These birds have to move somewhere so keep an eye out in your local nature reserve, park or even your garden! One is known to have already reached the Clyde Area - reported from Baron's Haugh RSPB Reserve yesterday; and of course we had one in our Anniesland garden a few years ago (photo follows).........................

 

Good luck!

 

Moving on to recent sightings courtesy of the SOC Clyde Grapevine:

Saturday 28 September 2013

The drake Blue-winged Teal still on Frankfield Loch, Glasgow.

A Raven over Nithsdale Road, Pollokshields, Glasgow late afternoon.

 

Friday 27 September 2013

Six Redwings over Linn Park LNR in the morning, also a Nuthatch in the trees behind the mansion house.

A Common Tern flying with Black-headed Gulls at the River Clyde near Glasgow Science Centre.