Saturday 23rd May

Yesterday took a trip to Ken Dee Marshes Reserve with my sister Hilary, and had some resonable luck in seeing one or two things that were new for her.

Having pursued a couple of bullfinches on the road to the reserve, we quickly saw some kites and two or three lapwings displaying, which again surprised me.  But Hilary thinks they may have been trying to scare off intruders from an area where they had already nested.

Approaching a wooded area, there was a consistent grumbling from the bushes, which I was able to attribute to a sole sedge warbler, a bit of a bonus sighting but one she hadn't experienced.

Further along we agreed on a fleeting sighting of a female blackcap, which however we both saw, plus a few willow warblers, which were around at most places we sampled.

In the middle hide, a nuthatch quickly turned up on the left feeder before we concentrated on trying to identify some of the ducks on the loch, some of the mallards not for a while appearing very mallard-like at a distance.  Then, to my delight a willow tit turned up a few times on the middle feeder, and I even managed a brief video of it (plus background music from a colony of black-headed gulls).  This was only my second willow tit sighting and I don't think Hilary appreciated how seldom they are seen these days.

Next we visited the main area for pied flycatchers with the various nesting boxes and did manage to see four or five birds fleetingly, although it was a touch disappointing in that visits to the boxes were infrequent and we could not get very clear views of any individual birds.

In the furthest hide another nuthatch turned up on the feeder, followed by various tit visits including several more from willow tits, some long-tailed tits in the background and eventually a greater spotted woodpecker. Apparently there were some garden warblers around but we didn't find them. In the meantime we managed to pick out a shoveler on the loch and agreed that there had been one or two amongst the earlier mallards.

On the way home there were several more red kites, including one very good view of one perching in a tree. Hilary says they perch when they are starting to nest.

One feature of trips with her is definitely that four eyes are better than two.  It makes you wonder how mch you miss when you are out alone.

Wednesday 20th May

Nothing really to report last week until last Saturday when I was driving to umpire a cricket game in Cumbria. Following the Hexham road past Houghton Garden Centre near Carlisle, a large, grey flecked bird of prey emerged from a line of trees and flashed off into the open country to the East.

It seemed to me too big to be sparrowhawk, peregrine or cuckoo. The body was sturdy and the wings large.  If it wasn't a goshawk I don't know what it was but, as so often with birds of prey, it flashed across my field of vision in a couple of seconds so there was no way of being certain.

On Wednesday, took a very long bike ride or the way to Gatehouse of Fleet.  Trying to keep up a tempo against the wind there wasn't much time to check sightings but I did see a bird hovering and singing just north of Shawhead.  I suspected a pipit but it came down in a blackberry bush and I was able to identify a whitethroat.  Later I heard a distant cuckoo in the Glenkilns and another way up in the heights past Laurieston Forest.

Kites Circling

Rather tired on the way back I did manage to stop to photograph the red kites (about 50 in total) above the Bellymack Farm Feeder Station. Then I briefly stopped by a stream and saw only my second squirrel since the end of winter.

Passing through the Glenkilns again, I heard and stopped to look for the cuckoo again.  Then I heard a second one near to the road ahead.  Sure enough, I saw it move off as I cycled towards it and spotted it's outline twice more before it found its way into a small conifer forest to the left.

Otherwise all I saw up there was a couple of pipits and a buzzard. Still no sign of a wheatear.

Sunday 10th May

Last week's weather was very mixed, but managed to sneak in a bike ride and walk around Caerlaverock Nature Reserve on Thursday morning, and even then conditions were a bit mixed.

It was quite rewarding however as apart from many skylarks a good number of willow warblers were about in Castle Wood as well as chaffinches and several reed buntings, though they stayed mainly out of site.  On the way to the hide I saw what I thought was a rook carrying nesting material but as it approached closer I realised it was in fact a buzzard - which was confirmed when a crow came and mobbed it.  I haven't seen a buzzard collect nesting material before.

From the hide I chanced to see a pair of lapwings caught at distance in the binoculars and still indulging in display behaviour.

On the way back there was a possible (not more than 50%) sighting of a whitethroat and a definite though brief view of a linnet close up in increasing rain.  Otherwise one white butterfly and a peacock

Carron Lynns

butterfly on the way back - but still no wheatear.

Also managed a quick run out past Carronbridge nominally looking for tree pippets, but in spite of a pretty walk only saw one dipper on the Lynn plus a curlew at the start of the moor - disregarding a number of swallows, which are now becoming more frequent.

The swifts have arrived back on the estate over the past few days and are already shrieking above the housetops.

Sunday 3rd May

Quite a busy week but one interspersed with interesting sightings.

Had to take new bike for service at Castle Douglas on Thursday, so wasn't much focussed on checking the surroundings on the way there.  There were the usual goldfinches and the odd skylark and after appropriate research I was able to confirm that the wagtails along the military road were not white but pied - today anyway.

Nuthatch seeks Peanut

With a little more time on the way back, decided to break at the place on the way up to the Glenkilns where the birdboxes are.  I mentioned in a previous post that I thought them too low.  As you can see however, it transpires they were probably not for nesting at all.  Someone had filled one of them with peanuts and this nuthatch took full advantage by raiding it repeatedly (see photo).  Several other tits and a tree creeper were also lurking with intent, but only one great tit was bold enough to steal a nut while I was around.

Moving on over the moors, there were a number of meadow pipits playing around on the walls and fences, probably in mating mode, and a fleeting hare, but no wheatears.

A pleasant surprise was to see that the sand martins have returned to their nesting haunt on the Nith just south of the cycle path.  It was a surprise because there was no sign of them when I rode through at 8.00 a.m.  However there were far more on the Wear at Chester-le-Street on Friday when Hilary and I paused during a househunting trip on my behalf.  We also fitted in a quick walk round Seghill Nature Reserve on Saturday where there were a few swallows and big numbers of skylarks, some at quite close quarters.