Wednesday 24th May

Lesser Redpoll

Last Wednesday I had a lovely short run coming back over Troston from Beeswing.  On the way up the hill in the brief period of reasonable sunshine, there were green-veined whites and orange tips everywhere and on the top I reckoned I'd seen a couple of birds with a bit of white on their tails that I didn't readily recognise.  They flew into some young conifers and started to feed so I hung around and they turned out to be lesser redpolls - the first time I've seen one for four years.

I stopped a bit later to forage for willow warblers but instead there were three cuckoos singing simultaenously from different directions - not something I've ever heard before.

I was so pleased with that run I decided to repeat that part of the route again today.  This time I headed to Beeswing via Kirkconnel Flow and encountered a minor mystery.  Just past Mabie, I glimpsed what looked like a meadow brown over the grasses to my left. There were cars behind me just after a bend so stopping would have been unsafe and I couldn't investigate.  Annoyingly there were a couple of other brief flashes of brown between New Abbey and Beeswing but totally unidentifiable.

The problem about this is that the meadow brown isn't on the wing yet, and neither are the other species that it could possibly be mistaken for.  It wasn't a wall butterfly and too big for a small heath, so I have to record an open verdict.

Then there was a young red deer past Kirkconnel Flow that took a look at me before sprinting 300 yards across the pasture to get away.

The run back over Troston was unluckily during an overcast spell so today only one butterfly on the whole of the run to Whinneyhill. There was a bullfinch and a couple of willow warblers.  But my main hope was to see a cuckoo and, during a brief stop where a walking route crosses the road, I heard one that I managed to trace to a somewhat distant treetop.  So I finally managed to get a photo of a male cuckoo, albeit at a considerable distance.  Lesser redpoll however did not make a reappearance.

Distant cuckoo

Meanwhile I got a pleasant surprise while labouring away in the garden last Thursday, when I heard the first swifts chasing each other around the estate.  It may be my imagination but it struck me that it was early for them to be around - to be precise 18th May.  I must check this out.

16th May

On Sunday I took part in an organised walk with the local branch of Butterfly Conservation.  The key target was the pearl-bordered fritillary, generally rare but fairly frequent on the butterfly walk at Mabie Forest.

Pearl-bordered fritillary

The great advantage here is that the small pearl-bordered fritillary is not yet on the wing, so there are no possible identification problems. Plus the conservationists had permission to take cars onto the reserve cutting out the longish walk from the car park, so it seemed too good an opportunity to miss.

Everyone saw the pearl-bordered fritillary within minutes of arriving and, although a count was not kept, there must have been about 20 that I saw during the walk.  Apparently the success at preserving the pearl-bordered at Mabie is down to maintaining an open access along the paths with plenty of dry bracken.

Other main species encountered were clouded yellow moth, wall, small copper, small heath, green-veined white, orange tip (24 - I did count them) and a single peacock.

I also learned how small mini-moths can get and saw my first carpet moth.

As an additional bonus, one of the group who is also a birder flushed a female cuckoo that then spent a good while observing us from a distant tree stump.  Seemingly they mainly target willow warbler nests in the area.

Female cuckoo

It was certainly three hours well spent.

Monday 15th May

Then there was a slightly curious bike ride to Dalry last Wednesday.

Having decided to start at the car park above Glenkilns reservoir in beautiful weather, a bird I had never seen before landed on the remains of the stolen Henry Moore statue - a common sandpiper.

It was a day when I reckoned to watch and listen for cuckoos and so set of over Speddoch Hill in anticipation. there were green-veined whites and orange tips, but no cuckoo.

Heading up towards Loch Urr it was a good day for stonechats and pipits and I reckon I must have seen about five stonechats on the ride overall. On the run down to the loch itself there was a good view of a male wheatear, just when I started to wonder if one would turn up.

Then I flushed a roe deer out of the undergrowth of the moor on the right hand side.  So it stupidly decided to jump the fence onto the road in front of me and started trying to batter its way through the fence on the left hand side of the road as I slowed in the hope of stopping its panic. Eventually it climbed clumsily over.

A bit further on, a ewe and lamb decided to jump out onto the road too and then ran on ahead in front of the bike for about half a mile until there was a gate across the road and they faded away through a gap to the left.

By that time I was running late and had to push the pedals quite hard for the rest of the day. During a brief rest, I spotted yet another flower I wasn't familiar with:

Greater Stitchwort

The last part of the trip was my old favourite cuckoo haunt between Bogle Bridge and the reservoir, but not a cuckoo to be heard.

Riding back up to the car park, I caught sight of two or three black swans on the reservoir and as soon as I got of the bike, heard a cuckoo singing from the hill right next to it!

Sunday 14th May

Well things really have taken off on the nature front over the past eight days!

After a full day stuck in the house last Saturday, I managed to get out for a teatime walk on the river by Threave Castle. The most striking thing on the way to the ferry landing was the number of red kites following the farm vehicles working on the land. There was actually a sign towards the end of the walk noting that they do this to catch insects and worms that get churned up, plus any small animals that might get killed.  It was certainly a spectacle!

Ospreys were then duly spotted in the distance in and flying over the nest.  I then spent a longish time confirming a view of a peregrine falcon that is now nesting on the castle itself.  At first the sun was a nuisance, then I ended up taking pictures from upstream, which meant it was mostly a rear view.  But the poor pictures I got confirmed the slate grey back and a hint of white at the neck.  Curiously a crow landed very near it as if looking for a chance to steal some eggs and the peregrine did nothing to chase it off.

Up by the weir there were numerous green-veined whites playing amongst the bluebells. Also sighted were willow warbler, blackcap a couple of lapwing, some orange tips and (as on previous visits) a cheeky robin begging for food. Oh, and another in the series of (for me) hard to identify pink flowers.

But the best photograph I got was of this swallow peering over the roof of one of the farm buildings. I don't think s/he meant to look as angry.

Swallow

As I left a couple of people arrived who were looking for otters.

Friday 5th May

The advantages of early rising were shown this Monday when I opened the curtains at 6.30 a.m. to

This really is common mallow!

see two goldfinches shredding the dandelion seeds right in the gutter opposite my house. Not something likely to happen later in the day.

Ironically in view of my false identification of honesty as common mallow last week, the latest pink flower I noticed was - yes, you've guessed it - common mallow.  It was growing out of a crack on the street just a few yards from the local shop, also on Monday.  Monday was the 29th April, so arguably a little early.

Since then the temperatures have risen in spite of a steady easterly breeze, and for a couple of weeks now no noticeable rain to freshen up the gardens.  By Wednesday I was confident that there would be butterflies around as I set off for Moniaive in bright sunshine.

I decided to go past Newtonairds to see if the spotted flycatchers had returned to the garden there but apparently they arrive at the end of the month and don't nest there until June.  On the way I took a photo to confirm a line of trees were common limes as the leaves looked  rather pale. About 11.00 a.m. I stopped for a snack on the small bridge over the Cairn where the road to Dunscore starts to rise.  By this time it was warming up and a small white and an orange tip fluttered among the trees on the far bank.

Peacock

There was also a single goosander on the river and a dipper, making a very good imitation of a rock with a bright patch on it as it was not dipping at all.

Throughout the day butterflies turned up at fairly regular intervals.  I kept a count and it totalled 12+ small whites, five orange tips and four peacocks, disregarding the ones that flashed by too fast to be properly identified. This peacock (see photo left) was obviously one that had overwintered and looked a bit scruffier than the ones I saw at the end of March.  There were thousands of dandelions around and only one peacock that chose to land on them but it does look like it was feeding rather than just warming up.

Later on I saw a female nuthatch near the river and caught glimpses of a few swallows, pipits and other familiar species, plus a couple of birds that might just have been redpolls.  Apart from one bird flying through a woodland clearing that was probably a buzzard, the skies were entirely free of birds of prey - surprising in view of the wind and the warmth.