22 November 09 Barons Haugh

After several days of heavy rain the Haugh resembled a large loch with all of the islands and several of the hides under water. C25 Grey Lag Geese flew over low towards Carbarns.

The Causeway Hide

Small numbers of Wigeon, Teal & Gadwall remained despite the high water. There were also a few Tufted Duck, Pochard & Goldeneye.

A large party of Redwing with some Fieldfares flew from adjacient fields. Small numbers of Siskin were heard together with Goldcrest, Treecreeper & Long Tailed Tits. A single Buzzard circled overhead.

Some Wigeon remained.
Cormorants on the raft.

15 November 09 Lochmaben

After yesterday's heavy rain, that was particularly bad in Dumfries & Galloway, the boardwalk to the hide at the south west end of the Castle Loch was submerged. A Kingfisher however, gave good views and small parties of both Siskin & Redpoll were evident. A Red Squirrel showed well close to the car park.

A female Long Tailed Duck showed from the hide and there was a good selection of wildfowl including plently of Tufted Duck & Goldeneye. A large flock of Greylag Geese were on the loch together with smaller numbers of Canada Geese.

Drake Gadwall on Castle Loch.

Female Long Tailed Duck from the hide.

There are several other smaller lochs in the Lochmaben area & Kirk Loch had been hosting a drake American Wigeon for over a month. True to form it was there showing distantly, & mostly asleep with its European counterparts.

Yankee Wigeon (always distant).

A sprawk was also seen adjacient to Kirk Loch.

In the afternoon I went back to the Castle Loch in the hope of seeing Willow Tit & Nuthatch but saw neither. There were some Pochard & 3 Great Crested Grebe. A Jay was seen from the car on the way home.

14 Nov 09 Musselburgh Wader Scrapes

My last (an 1st) Wilson's Phalarope was in Norfolk on 03 July 1983 some 26 years ago !!!

News of one in East Lothian & me with some time on my hands on a rainy Saturday afternoon in November persuaded me to go and have a look at it.

The right hand hide was rather crowded when I arrived and it took some time for me to even see out of the hide never mind see the bird. However, eventually I did, it showed well for several minutes. Attempts at photography however, proved fruitlesss as soon it flew off high to the west with 2 Redshank.

BH Gulls on the scrape were easier to photopgraph than the phalarope:

08 November 09 Tyningham & Belhaven Bay

A bright crisp day in East Lothian with absolutely no wind.

A sizeable mixed flock of Linnet & Greenfinch were on the eastern end of the saltmarsh with a couple of Reed Buntings and probably some Yellowhammers.

3 confiding Snow Bunting were on the beach and a possible 4th was seen in flight over Spike Island. There was up to 100 Twite on the western saltmarsh. A flock of c40 Pink Feet went over and 1 Greenshank and several Grey Plover were the pick of the waders on the estuary.

The juvenile Baird's Sand was reported as still present mid afternoon & I found it in fading light on the short grassy area above the mud flats.

1 of 3 Snow Buntings on the beach.

Some of the Twite flock.

Stonechat against the sky.

Juv Baird's ....honest !

07 November 09 Barons Haugh

Spent c2 1/2 hours in the Causeway Hide with just me & the ducks. Hardly saw a sole on a still dry mid afternoon in decent November light.

18 Lapwing flew over & several parties of Redwing "seeeped" and Siskins & Redpolls called to announce their presence.

c25 Goldeneye & lots of Teal & Mallard. Small numbers of Wigeon & 1 Pochard. A single Buzzard was on the top of a bush on the far side. A Water Rail squealed from cover.

Lots of Teal around today.

Drake Goldeneye 1 of c 25 present.

2 Mute Swans.

04 Nov 09 Aberlady

A Red Rumped Swallow had been reported just south of Aberlady the previous afternoon & despite thinking that it would disappear overnight I took all my gear to work just in case. This proved to be wise as it was still reported as "showing well" at 8:30am next morning.

I 'slipped' away from work by midday & with clear roads I was on site by 1:30 pm. No sign but it had been seen about half an hour earlier. Soon a Swallow was reported over adjacient farm buildings c 1 mile away. Infact there were 2 "Swallows" but just silhouettes against the sky and distant. Closer approachs proved equally inconclusive until about 3pm when the bird banked against the sun and showed a very obvious pale rump & collar. It showed reasonably well for c10 mins.

25 October 09 Trow Quarry & Saltholme Pools

News of an Eastern Crowned Warbler, a 1st for Britain, broke late on Thursday 22nd October but given work commitments on the Friday & a previous promise to take the kids shopping on the Saturday meant that the Sunday was my only option to see this bird.

The weather on the Saturday evening looked clear on the east coast with a strong wind coming from the west. Good conditions for the bird going overnight I thought !

Dawn on the Sunday found about 500 birders looking into a small quarry with several sycamores & a few elders which aside from a couple of Blackbirds & a Dunnock was completely birdless. It quickly became fairly obvious thay the quarry in the quarry had gone together with its accompanying Yellow Browed. I had well and truly dipped !

I carried on about 45 mins down the road to Saltholme Pools with its new state of the art visitor's centre set amongst industrial Teeside. Views from the hide overlooking Back Saltholme Pools were impressive & included several hundred Golden Plover & Lapwing on the saltmarsh. Their uneasyness suggesting that danger was not far off and the appearance of a female Merlin confirmed this.

A Slav Grebe was an unusual visitor & 3 Goldeneye had just joined for the winter.

In the afternoon I went round to the pools that can be seen from the road and saw the eclipse drake Blue Winged Teal that had been there since September although there wqas no sign of the Pec Sand.