Wednesday 18th February

The weather forecast for today looking poor, I decided to have another go at looking for goshawks yeaterday.  Started off to aforementioned forest in mid-Nithsdale but somewhat put off by "Private Keep Out" signs. In spite of  the fact that there is no privacy law in Scotland, more and more

Looking back along the path to Auchencairn Hill

"Private" signs are popping up in the countryside.

Anyway I relocated to Loch Ettrick to look over the forest area around Auchencairn Hill. For a long time I thought I was going to see absolutely nothing apart from a couple of crows, but a pair of crossbills briefly appeared in the trees above the road approaching to the hill.  One was certainly a male and the other probably female as well as I could tell in poorish light.  The paths in the neighbourhood of the hill itself are a very pleasant walk with a lot of baby conifers growing right next to them.  So I was a little suprised to spot an unidentified deer running through the forest on the way back to the loch.  Otherwise did not even see a bird of prey or a coal tit, though there were plenty of the latter to be heard.

A sudden improvement in the weather meant that I took a late decision to cycle to New Abbey today.  I had time for a brief excursion to Airds Point, another very pleasant run until the chemical storage tank comes into view.  This seems a promising area for birds as I quickly sighted grey heron, goldfinch, bullfinch and most pleasingly, a goldcrest. I'm not sure when I last spotted a goldcrest as they were certainly a species badly affected by the awful winters a few years back.

Wednesday 11th February

Managed the bike ride to Moniaive in very driech conditions, so again it was more about keeping warm than scanning the horizon but there were about forty greylag in a field shortly before the turn off from the back road.

More interestingly, one of the others thinks there are goshawks in one of the small forests in the area so it may be worth a dedicated visit in a few weeks time.

As far as I could see there were no winter visitors in the fields.

Sunday 8th and 9th February

The Wetland at Warkworth Beach

Away for a couple of days in Alnwick.  The high spot was a dog walk on Warkworth beach on Sunday, where a width of wetland lies behind the extensive beach.  Immediately on arrival a couple of male kestrels appeared, repeatedly flying close and low over the grasses and bushes.  At first I thought they might be sparrowhawks, as I haven't seen kestrels do this for any length of time before.

On the beach the sand is very thick but at the water's edge a number of sanderling could be seen scurrying about, which was a minor birdwatching first for me, though I'm sure I must have seen them on the Northumberland coast in younger days.

On the way back from the beach, a lady pointed out that a kingfisher was active above the main channel of wetland, and sure enough, you could make it out in the distance hovering above the treeline, then diving down into the water. Again, it was behaviour I hadn't seen before.

Then the kestrels returned and one hovered nearby before they resumed the previous low flying activity as other birds sought cover.

On the Sunday there were redshanks at Alnmouth beach and another kestrel plus a dead red-legged partridge at Hulne Abbey.

Saturday 7th February

Tricked by an over-optimistic weather forecast, I set out on a brief afternoon bike ride to Caerlaverock to check for egrets. In cold, foggy conditions with no hint of the promised sunshine, the emphasis was on staying warm but I did see another bullfinch before spotting four shelduck filtering the estuary mud like flamingos.  On peering through the binoculars, I could see that there were another ten further away as the fog lifted momentarily, so it would be hard to say how many might have been visible in better conditions but there were no egrets.

Later, unsurprisingly spotted a goosander on the Nith by Kingholm Park.

Wednesday 4th February

Bad weather has continued so decided to head for Dalbeattie Forest for latest goshawk forage.  Changed plans because of parking issues and eventually ended up going to Screel rather than faff around getting change to pay for parking in a totally empty car park!

Ironically did not manage to identify a single bird of prey during the walk.  One brown bird of prey was moving at one point but my attention was simultaeneously drawn to two red deer passing along the forest edge right in front of me.

In the end only saw another bullfinch, a mistle thrush, several coal tits and even more robins.  I noticed a large number of robins at this time of year once before. On a walk in nearby Doach Wood, now undergoing deforestation, every single bird was a robin - scores of them in just a couple of miles.

Nevertheless a pleasant walk in bright sunlight that was given an unexpected highlight when one of the aforementioned robins cheekily decided to share my apple with me!