A sudden rise in temperature to maximum 12C encouraged me to take a walk along the Nith south of Kingholm Quay on Monday, where I saw the sedge warblers and the redstart last summer.
Conditions were pretty boggy and the main things that made themselves noticeable were an immense number of oystercatchers, mainly in the fields on either bank. There must have been several hundred of them, far more than I have seen together at any one time before.
Further down there was another submerged field where there were a few whooper swans taking the air. On looking more closely at some corbids in front of them, I also noticed that there were a couple of shelduck too. I did not know they could be found on agricultural land but the RSPB handbook does say "visits farmland near the coast."
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| Whooper swans with preening shelduck |
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| Shelduck |
Two days later temperatures were falling but the sun was still bright, so I chanced the bike ride to Loch Arthur over Troston. There were a couple of song thrushes and a few redwing mixed in with a flock of starlings. Also a couple more whoopers and a small group of goldeneye (again!) on Loch Arthur itself. Three woodpeckers could be heard drumming but not seen.
I went back via Kirkgunzeon in the hope of yellowhammers but didn't see any and narrowly missed a flight of geese coming in from the west.
Later, there were also a couple of bullfinch pairs, one male showing well next to road up from the Lochfoot roundabout.
But the main thing about this trip was the tremendous effect the bright, low sun had on my new tinted lenses on the way out. The sky in the West looked turqoise instead of light blue and Loch Arthur looked blue rather than grey. The colouration of the trees was also much richer.
There were however some negative results as it was often harder to identify the birds - as well as the existence of potholes in shaded areas! It even had me wondering if I should leave the glasses off in similar conditions.
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