Saturday 11th February

How time is slipping by and there's not much to report really. Spottings over the last week have mainly related to waterfowl.

Last weekend I discovered that my sister is living but three hundred yards from a carp fishing venue - Burradon Pond, which may help to restimulate my lapsed interest in fishing.  A couple of people were actually fishing for them on a relatively mild day but the main wildlife activity for me was some minor aggression from this mute swan.  Judging by the muck on its breast, it may already have a nest on the go.

Mute Swan

I selected this week's bike ride down the Nith as a possible chance to see an egret but the weather was cold and the banks more or less deserted except for a small group of barnacle geese at reasonably close range.  It struck me that I haven't really noticed that barnacles have quite a pronounced eye stripe.  I wondered how much longer they will be hanging round before heading back to Svalbard. This one looked very well-feathered.

Barnacle Goose

The other side of Bankend there was another field full of pink-footed geese, now readily identifiable for me and also at reasonable range, so I took advantage of the opportunity of a photo in which, interestingly, the one on the left does seem to have strikingly pink feet.

Pink-footed Geese

After that I'd had enough of braving the chill wind, put the camera away and enjoyed a speedy run home from Ruthwell with it blowing from behind.

Thursday 2nd February

Not much happening on the last two Wednesday's bike rides to Gatehouse and Kirkcudbright, when weather conditions of various kinds made it difficult to identify anything beyond the odd bird of prey.

Yesterday there were birds areound but the whole of the morning was misty and driech until I actually got near Kirkcudbright itself, when it became brighter for a time.

Dee Estuary near St Mary's Isle, Kirkcudbright

Sparrowhawk imprint

However events in the garden have provided some compensation. At the end of last week, a massive thud from the sun room heralded a bird impact on one of the windows.  I assumed a blackbird or starling and went in search of a corpse but none was found.  Instead there was this large imprint on a central window that can only have belonged to a sparrowhawk.  From the right angle, I could even see the imprint where it's eye hit the window as it turned it's head to one side.  You can only wonder if it managed to survive.

The local estate is a good area for hunting sparrows and it's not the first time one has left it's mark on the sun room. A sparrowhawk was seen perching in the bush that holds the bird feeder some time ago, just a few yards from the house. My mother collected a similar tattoo on her kitchen window some years ago. They must be pretty filthy to leave so much muck behind!

I also noticed the local coal tit investigating a so-called bird box hung in the pear tree next to the sun room.  It gave it a good look over, but surely will be wiser than to try nesting there.

Yesterday, he was nosing round in the heavily prined silver birch in the front garden, so there must be a few insects around already.

Sunday 22nd January

I had to put my car into the garage in Locharbriggs on Monday. Having arrived ridiculously early, I took a little walk along the cycle track, spotting several tits clearly that were clearly unperturbed by passers-by. They must be used to all the dog walkers. I thought it would be possible to see a bullfinch at this time of year, and sure enough, just after I turned back to return to the main road, one turned up quite close by in the trees. It would have made a good photograph, if only I'd taken the camera!

On Wednesday's bike ride to Loch Arthur, I went via Beeswing and, again with time in hand, decided to take it really slowly and keep my eyes open for wildlife. Typically, there was very little to see beyond a couple of jays in the distance and some swans on the loch itself.

After lunch I cycled back along the road North of Kirkgunzeon with a couple of the others to come across a field full of hundreds of geese.  My guess was that they would be greylags but I wasn't totally sure.  This time I did have the camera and, on observing the photos this morning, started to have more doubts.  In fact others more knowledgeable than myself confirmed that they were pink-footed geese.

Pink-footed geese

Apparently one good tip is that, if the head and neck are noticeably darker than the body, the bird is likely to be a pink-footed goose. What started me wondering was the beaks.  If you look closely, you'll see there is some grey on them.

The conversation on cycling onwards turned to the subject of birds that are seen less these days,and as usual I mentioned the kestrel.

Later I stopped at Lochrutton Loch, disturbing a number of ducks that I couldn't identify as a result, and saw a couple of cormorants and a heron in flight.  Then, heading to the A75 roundabout, what should I come upon but a kestrel, flapping and hovering around the trees.

On the train to Carlisle on Friday, I noticed another flock of geese in a field, behaving in a similar manner to those pictured.  I wonder if they were pink-footed geese too. 

Wednesday 11th January

A rather windy bike ride to Castle Douglas a week ago did not produce much.  The most interesting sighting was two red kites playing around right above the town garden centre just as all the cyclists arrived.  Otherwise, the predominant bird was the robin.  Also wrens, a few goldfinches, and a couple of young buzzards sitting close to the road.

Redshank Steps Out

Malcolm in Northumberland is getting more interested in birdwatching, so there were more interesting results on my latest visit last weekend.  A dog walking trip to Alnmouth Beach on Sunday soon produced redshank, turnstone, sanderling, pied wagtail and rock pipit.  A visit to Warkworth a couple of days later also provided a brief sighting of a seal.

Later on Sunday we visited the pond at Low Newton in somewhat fading light and quickly managed to sight a pair of tufted ducks away from the coots and mallard.  A number of ducks on the far side looked like wigeon to me but an experienced bird watcher from Yorkshire thought they were teal. The photographic evidence isn't conclusive.  Just before the onset of dusk there was a single litle grebe (a first sighting for me) and some whooper swans feeding on the farmland opposite.

The Monday found us trying new pastures at Stag Rock just North of Bamburgh.  This time it was the

Purple Sandpipers - I hope!

brightness that caused some confusion and we spent some time trying to identify a group of birds that we eventually decided were just some unusually quiet and rather plump oystercatchers.

My identification skills with ducks and waders are still somewhat uncertain but I'm fairly confident I managed further first sightings of common scoter and purple sandpiper.  Also apparent were turnstone, sanderling, curlew, herring gull and a couple of stonechat on the edge of the beach.

There wasn't much more swimming further out in the sea apart from a small number of eider and one slight disappointment was the non-appearance of any long-tailed duck. Nevertheless, a rewarding visit to the area for both of us.

Later we briefly went to Fenham Flats opposite Lindisfarne around twilight, just as the geese moved off en masse to roost. They were probably pink-footed geese but far to far off to allow any identification.  So the only new thing we saw was several groups of shelduck, but always a favourite of mine

Monday 2nd January

I managed a mid-festive season walk last Thursday and decided to try one of the walks between Moniaive and Dalry I have noticed while cycling.

Unfortnately the experience was marred by the weather, which although reasonably clear around Dumfries, turned to light drizzle and a fairly substantial mist at my eventual selection, the Margree Circular.

In any case there seemed to be fairly little to see and all I managed to spot in the first hour was one large buzzard disturbed in trees near a lochan and a couple of wrens. As I continued round the forest path, a coal tit started an amusing game of hide 'n' seek as it kept fleeing along the trackside ditch and trying to hide behind any vegetation it could find.  But every time it lost nerve when I drew level and flew on again.

Then there was a small flock of finches in some sparse trees, though the light was so poor it was not possible to pick out any colouration on them at all beyond the white rump in flight.  I supposed that they were bullfinches, though brambling may have been a possibility.

Shortly after this it became apparent that the occasional signposts for the track had become completely non-existent, so there was no way of confirming whether I was on the right road at junctions.  With conditions deteriorating and darkness approaching, I decided to retrace the whole of the route covered so far, at which point the walk became a minor safety exercise and all attempts at spotting were abandoned.

Although the walk was a relative dissapointment, there was one noteworthy feature of the day.  On the drive towards to Moniaive I saw a red kite hovering over the road just a mile or two out of Holywood. Kites have been seen in the Lochmaben area but this is definitely the furthest East I have ever seen them.

Thursday 16th December

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?

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

A dapper Dipper

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: