Worth The Wait

On Sunday Alex, Vicki and I visited a certain location in Southern Scotland to see if we could catch up with some goshawks and ideally a better sighting than the very distant one I had at Kielder a few years back.

A location in Southern Scotland

Immediately on arrival we found the first thing we hoped to see - a man with a telescope.

It turned out he had come up from Derbyshire for the week and was able to give us all kinds of tips on goshawks and all kinds of other birds as well as butterflies.  He reported that goshawks were indeed about but that he hadn't seen any for the past half an hour.  So it was a case of waiting to see if anything turned up over lunchtime.

There were plenty of buzzards going up and I remembered being told at Kielder that looking for buzzards is a good start.

Eventually one goshawk appeared briefly but disappeared behind a nearby tree and only our expert companion got a view.

About half an hour later, a couple (I think) appeared but only Alex and the expert could see them.

Another half an hour and another bird was spotted over the treeline to the right and this time we could all see it clearly.  We noted its languid, slow-flapping flight pattern and shape in contrast to the gliding buzzards.  It was in fact the last bird to be identified although the three of us hung on for an hour or so afterwards.  

Certainly better than the Kielder sighting, it was still too distant for the couple of snaps Vicki managed to be usable.

The same could be said for the only other interesting event.   At one point I reckoned to have seen a brambling in the silver birch behind us and Vicki thought the same.  But it moved on sharply and the expert identified a bird landing nearby as a chaffinch.  Not necessarily the same bird though and Vicki and I reckoned the one we saw probably was a brambling.  It seemed to have a double white stripe on its flank and hints of speckling on the underside near the tail.

Apparently ospreys and peregrines can be seen at the same location and the scenery on the way looked fantastic in bright spring sunlight

Wednesday 25th October

Well into autumn now but daytime temperatures continue to hold up well.

Last Wednesday I stopped off at Lochfoot, where there was a flock of canada geese in the shallows.  It was quite a surprise as most geese at this time of year seem to be barnacles.

Canada geese

The other thing I always notice at the nice viewing platform at Lochfoot is the board with illustrations

Bream or perch?

by the local primary kids showing all the wildlife that can be seen on the loch. Unfortunately one of the illustrations appears to be the result of a confusion as the fish depicted is supposed to be a bream but very obviously has some features of a perch, notably the spiny dorsal fin.  Both fish are present in the loch but there wasn't a separate diagram devoted to the perch.

Anyway, I rolled on down the road and was heading towards Beeswing, when I caught sight of a large bird of prey flying skilfully in and out of the woodland.  It was too nimble to be a buzzard, had a pointed wing shape in flight and a palish appearance.  I suppose the commonsense answer is sparrowhawk but that wasn't my instinctive reaction.  I couldn't say it wasn't a goshawk, just that it would be very unlikely at this time of year.

Almost immediately after there was a fleeting sighting of a bullfinch and a female reed bunting. On the way home I saw a red admiral at Shawhead, but haven't seen one since.

This week, riding to Caerlaverock against the sun I cursed the lack of sunglasses and more especially binoculars as there may have been a few redwing in the trees before the Canine Rescue Centre.  There were however a couple of siskins going up the hill toward the Craigs and another female reed bunting.

Meanwhile back at home, my attempt to attract more interesting birds to the bird table misfired spectacularly, as did that of a young pussy cat.

Probably not the best way to catch a bird...

Wednesday 20th May

Nothing really to report last week until last Saturday when I was driving to umpire a cricket game in Cumbria. Following the Hexham road past Houghton Garden Centre near Carlisle, a large, grey flecked bird of prey emerged from a line of trees and flashed off into the open country to the East.

It seemed to me too big to be sparrowhawk, peregrine or cuckoo. The body was sturdy and the wings large.  If it wasn't a goshawk I don't know what it was but, as so often with birds of prey, it flashed across my field of vision in a couple of seconds so there was no way of being certain.

On Wednesday, took a very long bike ride or the way to Gatehouse of Fleet.  Trying to keep up a tempo against the wind there wasn't much time to check sightings but I did see a bird hovering and singing just north of Shawhead.  I suspected a pipit but it came down in a blackberry bush and I was able to identify a whitethroat.  Later I heard a distant cuckoo in the Glenkilns and another way up in the heights past Laurieston Forest.

Kites Circling

Rather tired on the way back I did manage to stop to photograph the red kites (about 50 in total) above the Bellymack Farm Feeder Station. Then I briefly stopped by a stream and saw only my second squirrel since the end of winter.

Passing through the Glenkilns again, I heard and stopped to look for the cuckoo again.  Then I heard a second one near to the road ahead.  Sure enough, I saw it move off as I cycled towards it and spotted it's outline twice more before it found its way into a small conifer forest to the left.

Otherwise all I saw up there was a couple of pipits and a buzzard. Still no sign of a wheatear.

Saturday 14th March

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.

Wednesday 11th February

Managed the bike ride to Moniaive in very driech conditions, so again it was more about keeping warm than scanning the horizon but there were about forty greylag in a field shortly before the turn off from the back road.

More interestingly, one of the others thinks there are goshawks in one of the small forests in the area so it may be worth a dedicated visit in a few weeks time.

As far as I could see there were no winter visitors in the fields.

Saturday 24th March

Very warm day with some sun.  Far too pleasant to stay in the house, so another bike ride to Poldivan, thinking it might be last chance to see great grey shrike.

Saw much less than I heard, but spotted first chiffchaff of the year in trees by
cycle track, then a few buzzards.  Thought I heard a skylark not far out from Locharbriggs.

Most productive area was a lovely run through Amisfield Moor, where the meadow pipits have returned and there were also two male wheatear and a number of what on checking were probably female reed buntings.

On the way past Ae saw the first butterflies of the season. The ones I got a view of were peacocks that have presumably over-wintered.  At Poldivan, the shrike was not in evidence, so headed up past Mitchellslacks hoping to see predators.  But there were just some more pipits, quite a few curlew and some lapwing starting to display.

On the way back, the shrike was back in position.  Hung around just to the south of the clearing as a bloke from Cumbria reckoned he had seen a couple of goshawks.  I may have heard them, sounded a bit like a pheasant though.  Nothing much on Amisfield Moor, but did hear another chiffchaff before the cycle track turnoff.

A notable absence was the swallow - must be a few in the country by now.