Thursday 3rd March

It's really been a case of little to report over the past ten days.  Last week's bike ride was a 'saw nothing, heard next to nothing event' and, to my surprise, so was the walk I went on at the north end of Ae Forest last Saturday.  After four hours all I had seen was a couple of blue tits and a robin and was left wondering whether the new windfarm had anything to do with it.  Then, on the way back to way back to the car, a couple of dippers showed themselves briefly on the Ae Water, which was incidentally incredibly clear so that you could see straight down into a pool about 10' deep - and that it was totally empty of fish.

Yesterday I decided on a long bike ride down the west side of the Nith estuary and it was a similar story.  Even usual bankers like goldfinch and buzzard were not appearing. Then coming back over the moors, I saw two red kites being mobbed by a bunch of corbids a bit north of Fallgunzeon Farm. This is certainly not the furthest east they've been seen, but I haven't noticed them in this area before, which is a good way from their original haunt on the far side of Loch Ken.

Red Kites

Then on the military road just after Milton, there was a kestrel hovering - always good to see but these days you see one where a decade ago you would have seen ten.  At times I wonder if there's just less birds around than even two years ago.

Today however, as if to call me a liar, there was a small flock of goldfinches sitting in the hedgerow as I made my way along the cycle track after dropping the car off.  Then there was a row of dunnocks in the tops of the smaller trees, singing for all they were worth.  A lot of birds were singing in fact, and my thoughts turned happily to spring.