The siskins have continued to visit the garden. I thought it was just a pair and so was quite surprised this week to see four of them on a feeder. One couple however fled before my attempt to record the moment.
Also visiting, apart from a few two- and seven-spot ladybirds, have been a number of buff-tailed bumblebee queens prospecting the garden for possible nesting sights. They were really tricky to photograph as they were either on the move or ferreting around in the undergrowth. I thought I was about to nail it when one of them disappeared down a crevice in the decking. I must have waited three or four minutes for it to come back into shot, which it never did. So either it escaped by another route without me noticing or hearing, or I can expect a bumblebee nest in my decking...
In the end I had to make do with a brief video of one visitor:
Buff-tailed Bumblebee Queen
Also heard but not seen in the garden and nearby have been a few chiffchaff.
Yesterday I was out for a walk at Geltsdale with V&A together with recent arrival E, who managed to sleep through the proceedings uninterrupted.
I soon saw a curlew on approaching the car park and found a couple of stonechat on arrival. Eventually we headed South nominally hoping to happen upon a whinchat but without much conviction. Instead we came across numerous chaffinches and a reed bunting pair.
Stonechat
Reed Bunting
Further sightings overhead were a couple of kestrel mobbing a buzzard and a possible pink-footed goose.
The weather was quite warm so there were also a couple of butterfly sightings - both peacocks.
Having covered the likely whinchat area, we set off back via the former quarry where short-eared owls have been turning up. We were probably an hour or two too early to be successful. Instead there were several lapwing and on the way a very distant roe deer
Lapwing
Roe Deer
The lapwing seemed to be on the verge of proving a display flight but never quite went through with it.
I always think the rockier sides of the quarry area look good for peregrine falcon, who would be due to nest about now, but none were seen.
On the way back we did however meet up with a decent flock of fieldfare. They saw us and kept on the move. Distracted by another bumblebee queen, I missed the best chance of a photo. They can't be with us for much longer this year.
Yesterday I had planned to head West to Parkhead on the bike, but the cycle path was closed and I didn't fancy the proposed hilly detour. Instead I took a more casual trundle along the banks of the Derwent, which did produce a couple of active goosander.
Goosander
Returning by the Tyne was less productive apart from a couple of cormorants and a brief check at the hide at Clara Vale produced nothing of note at all.
The long-tailed tits have continued their massed attacks on the relatively few suet balls still in the garden feeder. I reckon the maximum number seen at the same time was eight, though things can change pretty quickly as this video shows:
Long-tailed Tits
Elsewhere my third attempt at the grey-headed lapwing at East Chevington drew another blank. The trouble with this bird is it doesn't keep its appointments. Like an unreliable employee, it turns up three of four days in a row then throws a sickie and wasn't sighted at all on Friday. All the signs were good with a healthy clutch of twitchers peering over the suspect field but an hour later all had left bar me. All I got was a couple more distant fieldfare sightings and a suspected redwing that turned out (I think) to be a song thrush.
Fieldfare
Song Thrush?
It was bit hard to tell as the low sun was casting a lot of shadow and focusing was quite tricky.
In complete contrast to the absent lapwing the equally rare white-billed diver at Druridge Country Park proved highly reliable. Also one you will not find in your Book of British Birds, it has been described as the most photographed bird in Northumberland and ended up performing its stunts pretty much in front of the touristy cafe.
White-billed Diver
It's also a bird that generally does not favour fresh water lakes.
Apparently it doesn't get on well with cormorants and I noted that the male tufted ducks were going round together in solidarity.
The pattern over the rest of the festive period has been for restricted sightings but with the occasional bonus prize.
I did a quickish walk around the QEII with a friend when there was very little to see in the way of ducks or waders but a single herring gull turned up among the swans at the hotel end.
Herring Gull
For a while I did wonder whether it might be a different gull but the expert opinion was 'third winter herring gull.' So there!
I spent New Year with V&A in Crawford, driving there in pelting rain. We didn't get out the next day but Alex got a great shot of the Northern Lights!
Aurora Borealis
I hasn't to add I didn't get a thing and it wasn't even visible to the naked eye. But pretty good considering we weren't further North.
On the 2nd we managed a trip to Airds Moss, which looked very promising but seeing anything following the sudden temperature drop and in an almost total lack of wind was hard going.
A heron flew along the valley at one point and, thanks to Alex's supreme spotting skills, we picked out a flock of goldfinches feeding in some distant trees, although getting a decent shot of them was a different story as they hid behind the withering catkins.
He then managed to spot a good number of distant fieldfares feeding near a large collection of molehills. Again, getting at a decent view was difficult, this time as they were at considerable distance.
Goldfinch
Fieldfare
Just to prove there were more than one each:
Goldfinches
Fieldfares
This was however the first time I have seen any fieldfares for a very long time, so worthy of note. As far as I could detect, no redwing were present.
A couple of days ago I made a visit to Whittle Dene to check for a little owl but it looks to me that some of the cracks in the wall where it supposedly nests have been filled in.
The fishing lakes were pretty clear apart from a couple of mallard, gulls and a couple of tufted ducks a very long way off.
A little investigation up the back of the nature reserve proved fruitless.
Yesterday the snow came down heavily and there was a frenzy of birds at the feeders. At last the long-tailed tits participated fully and there were five of them at one point attacking a nearly empty suet ball feeder.
It wasn't the best photo, but the little things don't stay still for long!
On Saturday I joined up with Jennifer and Joe who are walking the Pennine Way in stages.
We met at Middleton-in-Teesdale to do the section to High Force. Unfortunately I 'hit the wall' at about four miles and only made it to Low Force, the easy access to High Force from the nearby hotel having closed about 15 minutes before I got there.
High Force
We saw surprisingly little wildlife during the couple of hours or so. We thought there was a flock of fieldfares in some trees and there were three butterflies, one of which was a red admiral and a few buff-tailed bumblebee queens. Birdwise there was the odd lapwing and curlew plus a few pied wagtails.
One surprise though was three completely white mallards that paddled their way across the Tees below Low Force. Apparently this almost certainly means they were escapees as mallards held domestically are often bred to lose their natural colours.
We actually saw more birds while driving around the moors from place to place: partridge, a possible cuckoo, red grouse and short-eared owl. And many skylarks.
A buff tailed bumblebee queen finally landed in my garden the other day. So far they hadn't settled.
Queen Buff-tailed Bumblebee
Due to poor weather I hadn't been out on the bike for a long time apart from a couple of short refresher rides. Again not much was seen but having got stopped at the level crossing at Wylam, I took a snap of the grey heron that frequently resides there.
Heron
Anyway, on Sunday I took advantage of what had been an excellent weather forecast for a ride up the coast to Cresswell and Druridge - except that the non-stop sunshine expected never happened and I was buffeted all day by a heavy onshore breeze that made me wish I'd taken my winter gloves!
On the Blyth estuary I got a couple of nice views of shelduck and redshank on the mudflats.
Shelduck
Redshank
I've always liked shelduck.
I did a detour around the Newbiggin area in search of Sandy Bay where rarities sometimes turn up - notably a bluethroat recently- but couldn't find it and made a quick exit to escape the Easter festivities.
At Cresswell and Druridge the most notable sighting was my first bar-tailed godwits, which turned up in both locations. The one of Cresswell has spilled some weed on itself.
Bar-tailed godwit
I had hoped for avocets, which have recently appeared at both locations but unfortunately no luck and the spoonbill at Druridge didn't show either.
Nevertheless there was a reasonable tally of further sightings recorded including a little egret in the corner at Cresswell, sanderling, lapwing, canada and greylag geese, shoveler, teal, wigeon, lapwing and several more shelduck
I returned to Prestwick Carr a few days later, hoping to pick up some more sightings towards dusk. Unfortunately it was already very dark an hour before sunset and visibility was poor. The hen harriers didn’t turn up but had been about and a willow tit appeared a couple of times, as did a sparrow hawk, stonechat and kestrel.
On the way back it was just possible to pick out a flock of redwings in the trees and this time they were accompanied by a fair few fieldfare.
Earlier on I saw a large brown bird taking refuge behind a clump of bushes. It might have been the woodcock reported by others but I really couldn’t say.
A trip to Low Newton as the weather deteriorated didn’t produce very much but it was fun to see hundreds of sanderling running up and down the beach and the waves came and went.
Sanderling
In the garden, a burst of snow a week ago heightened interest in the feeders. Repeated volleys of long-tailed tits has visited twice a day and all three other tit family members have been particularly voracious.
Long-tailed tits
What interests me is the fact that robins have been coming to the feeders over the past year. I don’t think this is particularly rare but I also can’t remember them doing that beforehand.
Robin
The occasional kestrel has been seen during the bad weather,looking out for prey in the cold.
There has been a surprise visitor to the garden last week - a chaffinch. Not the rarest of birds by any means but another example on one that isn't seen too much up here.
I was over in Dumfries at the weekend and did a walk round the Mersehead reserve. On a pretty cold and bright day, the low sunshine meant the scenery was beautiful but made it hard to identify and photograph the birdlife.
Heading for the beach there were some canada geese in the fields and a little egret flew past overhead. When we got there the tide was as far out as I've ever seen it and there was a clear view across to Skiddaw on the other side of the Solway.
Skiddaw across the Solway
Several flights of barnacle geese flew in from the West and landed on the reserve. It was also very still and the only bird of prey we saw was a buzzard on a dead tree who steadfastly showed his back to us.
We went along the coast towards Southerness some distance in the hope of spotting some merlin after small birds but in vain as there werfe only a few corbids in the fields. All we saw on the shoreline was one of several robins encountered and a wren.
On moving back inland we encountered the first of two groups of deer.
Roe Deer
Moving through the woodland strip we did see several throstles feeding in a field. It was hard to make them out properly but on careful observation they seemed to be mainly fieldfare and some mistle thrush. We didn't see any redwing in the group.
Tits and chaffinches were visiting the feeders on the way to Meida Hide but nothing more exciting. The hides were still closed and almost all the wetlands still frozen and the only ducks were too far away to be seen with binoculars. Nevertheless a very pleasant walk.
On a brief exercise bike ride today there were some nice bullfinches on the way to Greenside and by Blaydon Burn. Back home three long-tailed tits were on the peanut feeder at dusk.
It continues to be a period when I'm seeing more activity in the garden than on my trips out.
A trip to Holywell Dene only revealed a few tits and a walk at Wallington Hall some more tits and a single nuthatch.
Long-tailed tit
However my garden nuthatch still visits the bird table often, and several long-tailed tits often appear though generally just for short raids. Coal tits are still the most frequent visitors, ahead of blue and great tit and the larger birds. Wren, dunnock and blackbird have all turned up plus the 'not quite right' greenfinch (see previous two posts). The long-tailed tits have started feeding a good deal on the fatballs, which have been neglected right through the autumn period for whatever reason unless I had removed them from the feeder and put them somewhere else.
There has also been a surprising first - a goldfinch. Although common locally, I've never seen one in the garden before. Overall, it seems the shorter days and the need to feed intensively around the middle of the day is the main cause of the increased traffic.
The walk around Swinsty Loch is advertised as a gentle stroll on a gravel path. Unfortunately the youngsters had decided instead on a hike through the moors to Badger Dyke Loch, which unbenown to them proved to be a tour of the local swamp grounds and quite hard on both lungs and legs.
However we did happen on this couple of peacocks on the way.
Peacocks
They were wise to shelter in the little hollow as a full-scale pheasant shoot was underway at Badger Dyke Loch. Apart from dead pheasants we managed to see several score of wigeon at the peaceful end of the water and a handful of tufted duck on the way back down the other side. In the fields a few fieldfare and redwing were around without showing too well.
To be honest I was slightly disapponted by the wigeon as I had thought I had spotted some pochard in the group. At least I felt well-exercised and wholly justified in not doing any exercises at home the day after.
A variety of bits and bobs have caught my attention over the past week or so.
A bike trip to Stamfordham didn't reveal much except for a few long-tailed tits and a fleeting sighting of a reed bunting.
A considerable surprise this week was to see a couple of pigeons getting fruity with each other in the birches behind the garden. Surely they didn't think Spring had already arrived? It's been pretty mild.
I often wonder where all the food on the bird table goes to. Usually it disappears when as soon as I turn my back and I tend to blame the jackdaws. The other day I got a pleasant surprise when I witnessed eight or ten coal tits visiting in quick succession and departing each time with a few seeds. At one point there was half a dozen strung out between the clothes on the washing line. Usually it's just the odd one or two. Maybe I'm too hasty in blaming the jackdaws.
Last weekend I was in Dumfries and went with the family to RSPB Mersehead. The weather was questionable and sightings limited as a result. My son wanted to see the barnacle geese, which was as ever not a problem to arrange.
Barnacle Geese
From Bruaich Hide we could see a few teal and wigeon and one of the former was preening itself to reveal the green underwing patch. Unfortunately we had to wear masks which steamed up my glasses and when the young ones went outside for a clearer view, everything took flight.
We moved on to Meida Hide where there was just a few greylags but in time for the starling murmuration, which was pretty impressive and lasted for a good half hour.
Murmuration
I knew there was a murmuration at Mersehead but I thought it was considerably smaller. Comparing it to the one at Gretna/Rockcliffe, I noticed that the birds flew in a broader formation. It was almost as if they were hoovering up smaller groups of starlings. At Gretna, the formation was higher and did not cover such a wide area.
On the Monday I checked out St Michael's Churchyard for waxwings. As suspected, there weren't any yet though the yewberries have started to ripen and blackbirds were eating them. I was interested to see an unexpected nuthatch climbing up one of the walls, and later a song thrush.
On Thursday I took a bike ride from Kirkley to Abbey Mill near Morpeth, where hawfinches had been sighted several days in succession. I was very conscious of the sod's law of binoculars, which postulates that if you don't take binoculars, you will see something of interest in the distance. Sure enough approaching Saltwick, I reckoned I could see some visiting throstles feeding in the fields at about 300m range. Depending only on my camera, I took a few shots to see if I could identify them later - only to then find I'd picked out a group of starlings! From what I could make out from views in flight, I reckoned that the winter visitors were pretty much entirely fieldfares. Probably most redwings are still feasting on berries.
As to the hawfinches, my main aim was to establish precisely where they had been seen. After a bit of a wander I managed to find the twitchers who were looking for them. They reported that there had been no sightings so far. My immediate instinct was that the hawfinches had moved on and, sure enough, no further sightings have resulted. I hope it wasn't my high-vis cycling jacket that scared them... or maybe it was the high-vis leggings of the lady joggers who also passed through.
On Friday I did a walk at East Cramlington Nature Reserve with a friend in the hope of finding some crossbills. In the event it turned out to be more of a survival exercise as we ended up on a muddy track next to a drain. Afterwards we took a look at the well-stocked bird feeders nearing dusk, when I was surprised to see an unexpected bird coyly visiting the feeders. At first I thought it was a linnet but expert advice suggests it is a female reed bunting.
Reed Bunting
I've never seen either species on a feeder before.
The period over the last fortnight has been pretty flat. A couple of low flying kites near the house served to emphasize that poorer weather is on the way. In the garden the only item of note was the appearance of a male woodpecker, rather than the female and juvenile that were visiting in summer.
A promising walk around Featherstone and Lambley Viaduct only produced a heron and a chaffinch or two plus some large funghi and the most impressive sight was probably the viaduct itself.
Similarly little happened on two exercise bike rides to Belsay and on the Tyne Derwent Circular. Well they do say October can be a quiet time for birds that can readily find lots of berries to eat.
Not so however on the Northumberland coast where various rarities have turned up as documented at @NTBirdClub particularly on Holy Island and I finally managed a trip up there on Thursday despite an unpromising weather forecast.
Lapwing
After a much-needed visit to the facilities, I spotted a promising path heading North just after eleven. Rain duly arrived so I turned back as planned and had lunch in one of the village hostelries.
Nosing around the village I happened on a couple of twitchers who told me where to find the brown shrike - further along the path I had been on before, so I duly retraced my steps into the marshland areas.
Here there were a few lapwing, the odd curlew and a single kestrel resting on a fencepost, but I also found another lone twitcher, who told me the shrike and just flown off somewhere. So I continued on the path until just before the dunes, checking every likely spot.
On turning back some frantic waving from the twitcher showed that it had reappeared and about half a dozen of us got a view of it on the other end of a wall from an unconcerned stonechat.
A considerable distance was involved and I certainly couldn't have identified it without assistance, though it did have a fairly characteristic 'jizz'.
Stonechat
Brown Shrike
It's over a hundred miles to Holy Island and back, but considering the shrike had come from Siberia, well worth the trip for only the third occasion I have seen any sort of shrike, let alone a rare one.
There were no further sensations after this but it was nice to see some early redwings and fieldfares on the way back.
Fieldfare
I checked out some noted hotspots around the village without success. A particular one is the Vicar's Garden, so much so that there is a birders' box for contributions to church funds on the outside wall.
I didn't see anything worth noting there either so did not contribute, though I did get a nice view of the Vicar's Cockerel.
Vicar's Cockerel
None of the other birders I spoke to had more to report either. On consideration it may be that some migrant birds were pushed onto the coast by several days of east wind, which have now ceased and so they have mostly departed. Shrikes however, having established a territory will tend to stay for a while.
Last Saturday I caught up with daughter Jennifer and fiance Joe at the Saltholme RSPB Reserve near Seal Sands - distinctly brownbelt country. The main purpose was to start off a complex exchange of Christmas and Birthday presents while fitting in some birdwatching and refreshments.
It was clear from internet search that there were a large number of fieldfare and a good few redwing present, and these were fairly quickly identified, including the leucistic fieldfare advertised, which actually showed up on two or three separate occasions and therefore was adjudged to be showing off just a bit. Just to confirm, it hadn't been snowing...
Fieldfares
Redwing
Leucistic Fieldfare
On moving to the first hide, we saw a few greenfinch, tits and tree sparrows and phenomenal number of
Peregrine Falcon
goldfinches crowding in around the feeders. At distance it was just possible to pick out a solitary peregrine falcon that remained static on a fencepost for all the time we stayed, halfway over to a line of factories to the north of the pond. I wondered if it was possibly a juvenile.
Walking over the scrub land, we saw a few kestrels and a large flock of lapwings moving back and forth. Things became somewhat quieter when we reached the Saltholme Hide, so much so that these wigeon obviously decided to take a wee nap.
Sleepy wigeon
Unfortunately we didn't see any peregrines hunting, nor the marsh harriers that have consistently been reported. This was for me the biggest disappointment as a pair were briefly spotted on the day and I had no idea that marsh harriers are regularly sighted as far North as the Tees Estuary.
"If you can't beat 'em, join 'em." or so I thought on deciding to head back to Ken Dee Marshes to get a few snaps of the greenland white-fronted geese mentioned in my last post.
In fact it wasn't as simple as that. On arrival at the RSPB car park, a returning couple reported that they had seen neither the geese in question, nor any willow tits - just lots of the usual tits, a woodpecker and some nuthatch.
Their evidence was proved partly correct when my first ever visit to the goose viewing platform revealed nothing but a couple of crows and some unidentifiable ducks in very distant flight.
There was a sign that prospects could be better when a small group of fieldfares took up station in a large tree near the main path. However at the first hide I saw exactly what they saw, with the bonus that, while Mr Woodpecker was attached to one feeder, Mrs Woodpecker arrived on the other.
On regaining the main path, I saw a young red deer turn tail and make into the undergrowth. Continuing bright, low sun and the first sight of this year's snowdrops made it a pleasurable stroll along through the trees to the furthest hide, where I settled down to eat, observing the feeder right next to the side windows.
It was only five minutes before a single willow tit turned up and made several nervous raids on the peanuts whiel evading the attentions of the other birds. This continued for a good twenty minutes or so.
Willow Tit and Blue Tit
I went to take a bit of a look out of the main windows to see nothing at all. On returning to the feeder I sat it out again for ten minutes, but tit willow did not reappear. I must have hit lucky.
After another fruitless visit to the goose viewing platform, I was asked by a couple of new arrivals if I knew the best place to look for the elusive Greenland white-fronted geese. I told them what I knew - but added that it must be their day off.
Then, taking a last look down the loch, there they were, a group of about thirty just visible in a fold in the landscape about four hundred yards away. I was simply pleased to get a good enough photo to be able to identify them for certain.
Greeland White-fronted Geese
There was another skein of geese feeding on the road back to Glenlochar, but they proved to be barnacles.
Set off for a bike ride today and wasn't even out of the town when I saw a white bird on the edge of the Nith at Nunholm. My first reaction was 'little egret' but on jumping off the bike it seemed too small so I decided to move on. Looking through a gap between the houses I caught another glimpse and started to have my doubts. So I stopped again on the cycle track bridge and looked back to see the same bird, having flown up onto the bank. This time I got the binoculars onto it and sure enough, it was a little egret, dangling it's black legs behind as it made off for cover.
This reminds me that I forgot to write about my trip to Northumberland ten days ago, when I saw two little egrets in successive days. One was wading in a pond at the back of Cresswell Beach and another on the River Aln. They must be getting common over there. Unfortunately I didn't have a camera ready on either occasion, which made today's spot even more disappointing as I was sure I'd have been able to snap it.
The rest of the ride to Castle Douglas was a struggle against the wind and I only noticed a red kite getting mobbed by a couple of crows.
I had decided to look out for redwing and fieldfare on the way back. I did see a large powder puff moving into the trees in MacAdam Woods, indicating the presence of a large deer but otherwise it looked as though I would be out of luck.
That was until I spotted just three or four birds in the trees going over a moorland stretch. I couldn't get particularly close but the poorish photo I took was just enough to show they were fieldfares.
Took my first nature walk for a long time and chose to go around the Threave Castle area.
On the way to the Stepping Stones hide I saw the first goldcrest for a very long time. It hung around obligingly but I could not get a camera shot that showed it up amongst the tree foliage. At the hide there was a score of corbids sitting on an island in the middle of the river, presumably rooks. One or two were stockier than the others and I wondered if they could be ravens. In any case I have never seen either bird behave in this fashion before.
Whooper Swans
Then three whooper swans flew up the river, not quite fully mature as they still had bits of grey on them.
In the trees just before the castle on the far side, there was a flock of birds foraging. I had a quick check to see if they were all blackbirds and indeed thought I saw several redwing, though the
Fieldfares and a couple of blackbirds
photo I took shows clearly they were fieldfares.
There were a lot of them in the woodland near the other two hides, but they weren't offering more than the most cursory sighting. From the upper hide, I saw a tree creeper but not much else and from the lower just a couple of roe deer and a pair of birds in the reed grasses I could not identify. They were behaving like whinchats and flicking their tails but surely it was too late in the season for them.
The weather was still very mild and lots of flies on the wing. Ducks and geese were not to be seen but apparently there have been some pink-footed geese very recently.
Heavy rain forecast for tomorrow, so decided to set off cycling on my own, this time not in the full biking clobber, so a bit more camouflaged than usual in the hope of seeing more birdlife.
It was pretty sparse over Amisfield Moor as just one or two pipits were around. However it was soon apparent that the crow family had decided that this is 'mob a buzzard' week and there were several such displays during the day, including one on a smaller bird of prey.
Theft by Squirrel
Very quiet through the edge of Ae Forest but the bird feeders at Castle Loch are already getting filled, so there were several tits around, at least when the feeders were not being robbed by a pair of marauding red squirrels. Nuthatch and woodpecker duly made an appearance but there was no sign of willow tit. Nearby a female bullfinch spent a lot of time gnawing the white berries on a separate tree that, in retrospect, I should have tried to identify. The whole lot dispersed just before a left when a medium sized bird of prey (presumably sparrowhawk) swooped in in high-speed pursuit..
All quiet again until the Brow Well, where a stray greenfinch turned up in the hedgerow. So I scanned more carefully suspecting redwing plundering the hawthorns in the distance, but I think they were actually fieldfares (see below).
Probably Fieldfares note the grey head on the right-hand bird
On the way back a kestrel on the telegraph wires appeared not to notice the tit sitting on the same wire close by. Disturbed by me and a lady cyclist passing in opposite directions, it wheeled off. Must have been intent on looking for voles.
Overall I saw 18 different species of bird today and heard four or five more. An additional bonus were three red admirals and two small tortoiseshells, testament to the fact that there has been no frost yet.
In an attempt to finally see a goshawk, joined the goshawk walk offered at Kielder Forest and led by ornithologist Martin Davidson.
Unfortunately, it wasn't a very good day - generally cold and not much breeze to encourage birds of prey to go on the hunt. Eventually we managed a few circling buzzards, a kestrel and a couple of ravens.Technically we did actually see a male goshawk too but it was at a range of about a mile and the bird soon disappeared into the clouds. I managed to spot it as a dark silhouette in the binoculars for about three seconds and had absolutely no idea what it was beyond the evidence of others. It certainly didn't fit the images one has of birds displaying above a nest or flying adroitly through the trees.
At least there was plenty to learn about goshawks. It seems there are better chances of seeing them if there is a breeze and that they are seldom seen in the afternoon and hardly at all after the end of March. Displays are actually quite rare and only result if other birds threaten the nesting territory. Apparently the best plan is to look for buzzards rising above the horizon and look for birds that are stockier, lighter in colour and have longer tails.
Other birds seen were crossbills, siskins, tits, a jay and mixed flock of starling, redwing and fieldfare that was seriously disturbed by the appearance of two army helicopters - though apparently birds of prey take no notice of military operations. Sightings were virtually all at distance and left me feeling a little disappointed as I had seen all but the redwing at closer range on my recent tours around Dumfries and Galloway. The main learning in this respect was that, in spite of upgrading my binoculars a couple of years back, others have far better equipment and can identify birds I can only view in outline.
I don't think I'm keen enough to upgrade my gear still further but it is clear that I have about 15 days if I decide to improve on that fleeting goshawk sighting.
After reporting that trips out were drying up, a break in the weather made a run out possible. I decided on a rather ambitious uphill bike ride from Lochmaben to Eskdalemuir, hoping perhaps to see one or two interesting things in the forests and moors. In the end I turned back just a mile or two after passing Castle O'er Forest.
In fact all was very quiet up on the moors apart from one red deer crossing the road, but I did spot one or two things on lower ground. While driving to Lochmaben, there was a fluffy looking young buzzard perched very low on a beech hedge, so that I wondered if it was in some distress.
Just past Sibbaldbie, there was a sheep with a magpie on its back and I was just thinking of attempting a photo when a cyclist came from the other direction and scared the magpie away. It turned out my camera battery was completely flat anyway!
On the way back beside the Dryfe Water, bullfinches were about on three occasions and I was pleased to identify the white rump of the first one, which was a rather undersize female.
Right at the end of the trip between Fishbeck and Millhousebridge, a flock of birds flew from the trees and made for the field and as suspected turned out to be the first fieldfares I have seen this winter, though they have been about for several weeks. I soured the field carefully for redwing but could not see any.
There were more just north of Lochmaben an hour before dusk plus one bird that must have been a redwing, though it had so much red and brown around the area of its upper body and head, it looked more like a snipe without the beak or even an out-of season nightjar - but I think we have to put it down to a trick of the light.
Walk at Threave Castle yesterday, nominally looking for willow tits. Sort of broke the bind of hearing but not seeing birds as saw redwing, possible woodpecker and fieldfare in the high trees, several wrens, whooper swans, a couple of dunnock (are they another species that has gone down in numbers? - haven't seen one for ages) as well as blue tits and chaffinches. Detoured back through the wood and also saw jay that had been screeching earlier. No suspect willow tits. One bench near stepping stones hide is almost out of view of passing birds. Several blackbirds went very close to me on way to tree nearby.
Very similar result re willow tit today on bike ride through Castle Wood - in fact only saw another jay, some wrens and incidental curlew on way back. This area looks very attractive with lots of fallen trees, dead wood and damp patches for willow tit, but haven't seen much on several visits. Perhaps it hasn't settled down yet after recent makeover, although this is now two years ago.
Longer than planned bike ride. The plan was to continue along the Cairn valley past the Dunscore turn off, following the road (not a recognised cycle route) up into the moors to check for birds and see how steep it got, then turn back with a view to doing a circular next summer via Drumhumphry, Crocketford and Milton and home via the Military Road.
I knew it was only 10 miles to Corsock from the Dunscore turn off, and when the uphill proved to be a fairly gentle affair, it was just too tempting not to attempt the whole lot - so I ended up missing Drumhumphry and doing near on 30 miles while hurrying it a bit to make sure I was back in town before dusk.
Once again there were long-tailed tits all over the place. As soon as the Cairn sidled up to the road, they were around but also again spotted a linnet (getting good at linnets!) in the top branches of a tree. Shortly after there were a couple of jays.
After that there was nothing extraordinary all the way to the Dunscore turn apart from long-tailed tits and a young red deer I startled near the estate past the Shawhead turn off, which ran parallel to the road for a hundred yards before making an escape over the pheasant wiring. I checked for dippers in the shallower bits of the Cairn but didn't see anything more than a heron startled by a farmworker crossing a bridge. And of course a volley of long-tailed tits in the scruffy hedgerow past one of the farmhouses.
By now the road was in the middle of farmland that looked like it would offer more traces of pesticides than wildlife. Once I topped the rise into the moorland proper, it was a brilliant downhill ride and looked superb - except that it was stunningly silent all the way to the T junction for the Corsock turn.
I may have sighted a couple of meadow pipits on the way into Corsock (where have all the meadow pipits gone?) but otherwise that was it! What would it have been like in summer?
However the Law of Irregular Returns was again proved on the road to Crocketford, when I first saw a buzzard and then two pairs of red kites circling the area near Mawhirn Cottages. This is the furthest I've seen them from their release point on the other side of Loch Ken. Then just five minutes later, I saw my first fieldfares of the winter, a little group of six on a farmer's field.
Even the unpromising stretch along the military road had a couple of surprises with a lttle series of junior buzzards, and, just East of Lochfoot, another lonesome kestrel patrolling the young trees that have started to grow there, rather as if they were part of some conservation project.
Walk round Geltsdale reserve. Amazing how often a few birdwatching sightings occur in a short space of time, while long periods on the same trip remain barren. This phenomenon needs a name so I shall call it provisionally the Law of Irregular Returns.
Immediately I arrived a bird of prey flew over that wasn't a buzzard. It had the build of a harrier but flew too high, too steadily and too fast. All I could make out in the binoculars before it disappeared was some black and some grey. It wasn't the white-tailed eagle sighted there in October (which was probably one of the juvenile passage birds that come down from Fife from time to time) so I don't know what it was. Maybe harriers do fly more purposefully sometimes, when looking for new venues?
Moving on, three ladies immediately stopped me to see if I could tell them what birds they had just seen in a farmer's field. After consulting the RSPB guide, we agreed fieldfare and redwing were the most likely and, sure enough both have been reported at the Information Centre.
As soon as they left I was pleased to sight a male kestrel perched on top of a tree as they've become a rare sight the last couple of years. But after that - nothing!
Well, there were a few sparrows by the farm, some coots on the tarn, a couple of blue tits and a few crows, but nothing noteworthy, nothing that you set out to actually see. The Law of Irregular Returns - QED.
So I spent a couple of hours vainly hoping for a one-off ring ouzel or the reported crossbill (surprisingly reported since there are only a couple of small swathes of conifers). I was also feeling increasingly tired, having not been out walking for several months and drove off early - just as a heavy downpour moved in.
Meanwhile, I have been noticing quite a few long-tailed tits around the estate and there was a coal tit on the bird table. Glenys was lucky enough to see a sparrowhawk in the garden after she put some bread out for the numerous sparrows.
