Another bike ride yesterday, about which my first reaction is to say I didn't see very much. In fact there was a couple of bullfinches, a few buzzards and just past Irongray Church a flock of finches that I took to be chaffinches. But they seemed a bit more nervous than chaffinches normally are and I noticed that some had some white showing in the tail rather than the wing area, so I think that at least some of them may have been linnets.
And on the way back there were a couple of medium-sized brown birds that I didn't stop to investigate as I was riding with someone. Later the flick of a very white, short tail that probably belonged to a stonechat. Another white flash of rump was almost certainly a jay and I certainly heard a couple.
Even so, I find myself reflecting that I invariably see more when I'm out than I actually report. I don't for example note sparrows other than tree sparrows, any gulls (which I mostly dislike), blackbirds, crows or rooks. Chaffinches and the commonest tits generally don't get a mention but goldfinches and coal tits often do, even though they are often more plentiful. Wrens, robins and dunnocks don't score much either and neither do mallards, coots or moorhens. Jackdaws might get a mention if they're doing something interesting, as might an oystercatcher. A thrush almost certainly would but starlings would need to be part of a murmuration, while buzzards have a chance if no other birds of prey are around.
The assumption is broadly that some birds are so common that you will always see them. Or is it that you always used to see them, even though this is no longer the case?
Friday 16 December 2016
Thursday 8 December 2016
Thursday 8th November
Malcolm was over so we did a little nature ramble on Monday, with the idea of ending up at Gretna for the starling murmuration around dusk.
A quick ferret around Dumfries for waxwings proved unsuccessful so we headed for Ae Forest. In retrospect we might have been better taking a walk along the River Annan as there was once again precious little to see at Ae Forest itself beyond a few tits and robins. It may just be down to bad luck
but I still have a feeling That the Hairstanes Windfarm Project has lead to a decrease of brid sightings in the forest.
However we did see a few redwings and thrushes in the village itself and, just as we were on the way back to the car there were nice views of two individual dippers on the Water of Ae.
Unsure of timing, we abandoned the idea of a coffee break and headed straight across to Gretna, arriving around 3.15 p.m. We could have sneaked a coffee as the first birds started to turn up about 4.05 p.m., 20 minutes after sunset. The location was just South of the Gretna turnoff from the M6 north, on the service road to Metal Bridge.
The birds were still circling the area as 4.40 p.m. when the dark and cold finally drove us off in search of a cafe. Without any real evidence we felt the display stopped almost immediately afterwards.
Here's a video from the later stages of the murmuration:
A quick ferret around Dumfries for waxwings proved unsuccessful so we headed for Ae Forest. In retrospect we might have been better taking a walk along the River Annan as there was once again precious little to see at Ae Forest itself beyond a few tits and robins. It may just be down to bad luck
 |
| A dapper Dipper |
However we did see a few redwings and thrushes in the village itself and, just as we were on the way back to the car there were nice views of two individual dippers on the Water of Ae.
Unsure of timing, we abandoned the idea of a coffee break and headed straight across to Gretna, arriving around 3.15 p.m. We could have sneaked a coffee as the first birds started to turn up about 4.05 p.m., 20 minutes after sunset. The location was just South of the Gretna turnoff from the M6 north, on the service road to Metal Bridge.
The birds were still circling the area as 4.40 p.m. when the dark and cold finally drove us off in search of a cafe. Without any real evidence we felt the display stopped almost immediately afterwards.
Here's a video from the later stages of the murmuration:
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