Thursday 19th May

It's amazing how interesting species can turn up all of a sudden in quick succession.

Last Wednesday I deliberately planned a bike route through Laurieston Forest that would give me a chance of seeing a cuckoo.  A couple of years ago one of the guys that cycle on Wednesday got a really good view of one just on the Forest edge.

Once up there, a cuckoo was about and easy enough to hear but obviously at a fair distance. On the way back from Twynholm I saw an orange tip butterfly for the second time (first was on a brief ride on the previous Sunday) plus a couple of goldfinches.

Bluebells at Castramon Woods

This Tuesday there were clear signs that the dry weather that had prevailed for over a week was on the way out, I decided on a trip to Castramon Woods in the hope of a pied flycatcher, wood warbler or redstart...

Frustratingly there was plenty of birdsong around but everything was up in the tree canopy and not really showing.  No wood warblers calling at all. Apart from various tits, the birds  I saw most were male blackcaps and interestingly in greater numbers than I've seen before and no females. The disappointment for the lack of sightings was partly made up for by the beautiful spread of bluebells that covered virtually the whole of the woods. Stunning!

On the point of leaving, I heard a cuckoo calling up the valley, but once again at some distance.

Yesterday's bike ride was to Crocketford.  To allow a bit of relaxation time, I decided on the shortest
way their via Lochfoot, not the most obvious choice for potential spottings.

But just after crossing the A75, I noticed a constant churring and grumbling sound coming from the hedgerow and stopped the bike parallel with what I fairly quickly worked out had to be a reed warbler, singing away twenty to the dozen. Of course it took fright when I made to get the camera out no more than three yards away but I was most surprised for it to turn up on agricultural land a good mile away from the loch.  Apparently newly arrived migrants can do this sometimes.

At the loch itself I saw a reed bunting in the reeds.  Although nothing new, it is a while since I saw one.

Part of the thinking in setting out late was to take time on the way back in an attempt to see a cuckoo coming through the Glenkilns where I saw one for the first time.  I duly stopped at the Craigadam Woodland, scene of my last success, and heard nothing.  Moving on to the eastern end of the Craigadam area, I stopped at the far track and found I could hear a cuckoo, again in the distance.  I stayed and it seemed to be geeting a bit nearer, though still back up the forest path.

Eventually moving on, I reckoned I could hear it again.  Looking up I saw a bird in flight that might well have been a cuckoo, probably moving round after the ladies.

Female Whinchat - honest!

At this point I stopped and happened to see another bird, playing around on the dead twigs in the moorland.  It looked very light in colour initially, so, discounting a pipit, I got the binoculars out for a closer look. It hung aroud, retiring to the fence posts and I noticed that it had a strong head pattern and a reddish breast that only showed when the light was on it.  So it dawned on me it was a whinchat, no rarity perhaps but not a common sighting either.

At this point, I heard cuckoo noises again and turned around just in time to see him, settling in a tree just down the road. It was only a brief sighting as it also fled quickly when I got the camera out, but it was a bit closer than when I've seen them before. All I had for a souvenir was a photo of the tree, but never mind...  

  

This tree had a cuckoo on it - honest!