Blustery, but just good to be out.

The recent dreary weather got me looking at weather forecasts for somewhere reasonably close to home that might be dry and bright. The only place that appeared okay was East Lothian and so that is where I headed.

At Barns Ness, I quickly found the Water Pipit but digiscoping it successfully in a very stong wind proved beyond my limited capabilities:



Dodgy photo 1

Flaring Supercillium & Wingbars just about visible.

A Meadow Pipit - keeping low in the gale.

After this I concentrated my efforts on the lighthouse:

The only other birds of note were a single Stonechat and a few Linnet.

 

I moved on to Aberlady by which time the wind had intensified.



Wooden Bridge at Aberlady
 

Aberlady Beach looking West



Sanderling on Beach

 



Gullane Point

 

Rounding Gullane Point I took shelter from a heavy shower. On a very rough sea I picked out c10 Common Scoter, 1 Velvet Scoter, 2 Shag and 1 Red Throated Diver. 

Heritage Loch - still quiet

Nothing of real interest yet this winter so far. I guess it's just been too mild.

This morning only 45 Tufted Duck were present along with 1 drake Pochard and 1 drake Goosander.

30 Lapwings still present. 1 adult Great Black Backed was the only Gull of interest.

I thought I heard Crossbill calling and 2 distant flying birds may have been them.

Local Waxwings

At least 12 birds coming to berries in the hedges at Tesco in Burnside this morning.

Wet Wet Wet

Almost continuous rain for 3 days now. When will it stop ? The rain coupled with the short days make it hardly worth going out and as regards a camera you can forget it. And with no camera there was a missed opportunity today at Tesco in Burnside when I discovered c40 Waxwing present.

Heritage Loch earlier had produced 65 Tufted Duck, 20 Lapwing, 2 Greater Black Backed Gulls and at least 1 Argentatus Herring Gull. Siskin, Reed Bunting & Grey Wagtail were also of note along with iced ginger bread & cappuccino.

Tufted Duck in better weather

Weekend in Fife

We were at the Craw's Nest Hotel in Fife this weekend for a party night, something I had organised as part of Patricia's big five O.

Stopped at Lower Largo on the way home today for a quick look. Small numbers of Velvet Scoter, 1 Long Tailed Duck, 1 Slav Grebe, 1 Red Throated Diver and c30 Knot were notable.

Anstruther Harbour in the winter sunshine:

In the Deep Midwinter

Short days and few birds:

Aberfoyle - mid afternoon - all is silent

River Forth at Aberfoyle - short cold days

More Scenery & A Few Birds

December is one of these 'nothing' kind of months. Nothing much new on the bird front and the days are short making it hardly worth travelling any distance. It will be different in January ofcourse when the year list kicks off again.

It was however another bright crisp morning and I wanted to get out and make the most of it. The kind of morning that is infinitely better than the dreary ones that are inevitably still to come. As such I headed down to Newshot Island just North of Erskine on the Clyde Estuary.

The marked paths at Newshot just take you down to a viewing platform overlooking the Clyde. From here any birds on Newshot are at best distant and I spent most of my time just looking at scenery.

Cormorants on the river

Looking East upriver towards Glasgow




The opposite direction towards The Erskine Bridge

There was nothing else for it, in order to see birds I had to get on to Newshot Island itself. Actually fairly easy but involving crossing a barbed wire fence. Never easy for an out of shape 50 year old and I didn't find it easy either.

Once over it is a short walk to the teaming wildlife on the river. Good numbers of Wigeon & Teal, a big flock of Grey Lag Geese. Lapwings, Redshank, Dunlin & Snipe, calling Water Rail and a marauding Sparrowhawk.

Small numbers of Redwing & Fieldfare and Yellowhammer.










A Sunny Day in Glasgow

Maryhill via Bridgeton on a cold crisp day in Glasgow. A very pleasant 2-3 hours prior to the football. Pity the Jags didn't complete a perfect day.

Queen Victoria at Glasgow Green

Bridgeton Rowing Club

The Brewery in the Gorbals

Clyde Footbridge between Glasgow Green & The Gorbals

River Clyde at Glasgow Green

People's Palace & Winter Gardens

Waxwings in Maryhill

Part of a flock of c80 birds

A single bird against a blue sky

..... and finally

Crossbills & More Waxwings

There was quite a sharp frost this morning making the path round the Heritage Loch treacherous. Best today was 2 male Crossbill high over the boatshed. The alders at the West end also held 3 Lesser Redpoll.

The crisp morning produced ideal light for the camera:

Boating Shed & Cafe

Black Headed Gull & Reflection

Lapwing & Tufted Duck numbers had risen to 29 and 61 respectively. There were at least 3 Snipe in the marsh and 5 or 6 Fieldfare were on tops of the trees in the island.

In the afternoon there was at least 100 Waxwing at Queen's Cross on the way up to the Thistle game. A good precursor for a hard fought 2-0 win !

Juvenile Lesser Black Backed Gull on the Heritage Loch

Going Downhill into the Winter.

With increasingly shorter Winter days now upon us opportunities for travel is much more limited and local birding is the better option.

The weather in Glasgow over the last 5 days has been dreary but Saturday morning was brighter and I spent about an hour at the Heritage Loch. Very little change from last week with still C50 Tufted Duck and C15 Lapwing present. There was also 13 Fieldfare in the fields to the West. I haven't been lucky with opportunities to photograph any Waxwings yet although there have been several fairly large flocks flocks in the Glasgow area and indeed I saw a flock of c40 over Rutherglen Cemetery on my way to work on Friday.

Spent considerably longer at Baron's Haugh on Sunday afternoon and I spent some time trying to get some scenery shots of the various early winter scenes:

Chestnut Walk now that most of the leaves have fallen

River Clyde looking South

Bird wise there was nothing of particular special interest. However, there were 31 Whooper Swans, that spend most of their time in the fields around Merryton, on the Haugh and I spent some time from the Phoenix hide trying to get some shots:

 

Duck numbers were also buiding with good numbers of Wigeon and Teal and a few Gadwall.

Taiga Beans

Managed a few hours birding this afternoon out at Slamannan to see if I could locate the Taiga Bean Geese. There was no sign in the fields around Luckenburn Farm but further East at Slamannan I located a distant flock of 67 in the fields just North West of the playing fields.

Driving around I managed to get a bit closer and discovered another flock of 92.

Some birds with neck collars

 

Other birds of note were a few Ravens and a small flock of Bramblings feeding in beeches by the main road

From here I headed back down the M80 and walked round Hogganfield Loch. Lots of Swans & Gulls milling around the car park area but very little on the North side of the loch and certainly not the hoped for Ruddy Ducks. Wonder if I'll ever see these beautiful Ducks again ? I was reading recently that they are now virtually wiped out in the UK. Seems such a dreadful waste to me !

Male Goosander

Whooper Swan

Winter Patch

I spent a good deal of time at the Heritage Loch last winter but stopped going in the Spring once the boating commenced and all the birds were scared off.

Now that boating has stopped for the winter, I had my first look at it this morning. The most numerous duck was Tufted with c50 present. There was also c30 Lapwings:

Best however was c40 Waxwing that flew over and alighted briefly in trees at the West end. With very good numbers both North & West of here I'm hopeful of getting some good images over the next few weeks.

Teeside

Louise was on an RSPB Phoenix practical conservation course centred around the RSPB Saltholme reserve on Teeside, so naturally I had to take her down and spend the weekend birding.

Since there was a strong North West wind blowing it seemed logical to spend Saturday morning at Hartlepool Headland. Initially the weather was horrendous and I spent periods sheltering in the car from the hail. Eventually it dried up sufficiently to allow a decent sea watch. Several large flocks of Common Scoter were present both on the sea and passing. 4 Velvet Scoter, 3 Long Tailed Duck and a Goldeneye were about the best but frustratingly I was unable to connect with any Little Auks.

By midday I headed for Saltholme. It was generally quiet with the best being 49 Barnacle Geese in with the many Canada Geese. Ducks included lots of Wigeon and a few Shoveler and Pintail. The Kestrel trail produced an obliging Kestrel:

Goldfinch were frequently seen:

By 4pm the light was excellent from the Saltholme Pools hide allowing some nice shots of various things:

Grey Heron

Little Egret



Golden Plover

Next morning I headed back to Hartlepool Headland and in a 1 hour seawatch connected with c30 Little Auks heading back North. This is only the 2nd time I have seen this species so I was chuffed.

There was also 1 Great Crested Grebe and 1 Red Throated Diver and still some Common Scoter. There was an adult Med Gull nearer the harbour and after a bit of searching I caught up with 2 Purple Sands:

Purple Sand - a year tick.