Lots of Year Ticks in East Lothian

All my birding this year has been on the West coast. Time to go East and catch up with some some of the stuff over there.

I left drizzly Glasgow about 9am, but by the time I had reached Livingston the sky was considerably brighter & by the time I reached Musselburgh it was dry & relatively bright. I parked at the Esk Mouth end but headed back towards the boating pond covering the rough grassland in the hope of Grey Partridge but I was out of luck. It is 5 years since I last saw a Grey Partridge.

From the sea wall there were small numbers of the usual suspects, Velvet Scoter, Long Tailed Duck, Slav Grebe etc. There was a single distant Diver either Red or Black Throated, probably the former but I could not be sure. Also Red Breasted Mergansger, Shag & a single Razorbill. Later I had a Grebe that was probably Red Necked.

On reaching Esk Mouth I located a small flock of Knot and there were the usual Dunlin, Redshank & Turnstone present. Normally shy waders are fairly confiding and allowed for some shots:

Grey Plover

Bar Tailed Godwit

Curlew


Spent some time looking for the reported Snow Buntings without success.

In the afternoon I moved down to Barn's Ness. Here I had splended views of the Water Pipit. 2 Stonechat were also welcome.

Quick Check on Heritage Loch

My initial plan for the weekend was to go to Wales for the Yellowthroat but thought better of it at the last moment. Instead I went to the Heritage Loch this afternoon. 5 Oystercatchers on the island and 2 Canada Geese were additions to the Heritage Loch year list, if I was keeping such a thing !

There were also 12 Lapwing (big drop from 2 weeks ago), 40 Tufted Duck & 3 Little Grebe. Probable Fieldfares with Starlings in far fields but distant.

A Very Tolerant Wife

My wife is very tolerant, she let's me get away with an awful lot. Despite me being away all day yesterday in Ayrshire, she let me off with my family chores again today to indulge myself yet again, this time in Dumfries & Galloway. In my slight defence it is now 3 minutes to 10 and I have just finished 2 and a half hours ironing.

The indulgence today was targeted at the Red Breasted Goose at Loaningfoot with the added bonus of a Todd's Canada Goose to boot. On arrival at Loaningfoot there were hundreds of Barnacles circling in the sky but by the time I had driven on to the minor road and parked up they had settled again with several thousand of their kin in an adjacient field. An awesome sight, but where does one start to locate two single Geese in all that. After about an hour of scanning I had seen nothing. My only compensation being a year tick in the form of a small flock of wheezing Twite. I gave up and headed to Carsethorn for a look at the merse. Aside from a handful of Great Crested Grebe it was very disappointing and certainly no sign of an Scaup that in my experience are reliable from here.

Back at Loaningfoot the Geese had moved and were now largely out of sight down behind the farm. Moving on to Mersehead I scanned a few hundred Barnies from the approach road more in hope than expectation although there was a single leucistic bird present. From the Bruich hide a Drake Green Winged Teal showed well as did several pairs of Pintail, Shelduck and Gadwall.

There was nothing else for it other than to try at Loaningfoot again. The Geese were still below the farm but I noticed a road that I had previously thought was a farm track going down towards the Geese. 2 birders advised that both the Todd's and the RB Goose were present. Because of its brown back, the former was fairly easy to pick out in the huge flock. I was surprised how big it was in comparison to the Barnies ! Eventually after lots of scanning I saw the Red Breasted for all of about 5 seconds before it merged back in behind the Barnacles again. Despite now knowing the area it was in I could not locate it again. It was a very frustrating bird. With a bright red breast you would think it would stand out but it absolutely does not.

Think I'll be seeing these in my sleep tonight !

  

Ayrshire

Spent a pleasant day on the Ayrshire coast today. It was dry and bright apart from the odd light shower. There was however a cold brisk North West wind blowing.

I spent 2 sessions either side of luchtime at Loans with the telescope on the window mount scanning the Geese. There were at least 17 European White Fronted Geese in with a flock of Greylag. Additionally there was a flock of several hundred Pink Feet. The pools themselves held good numbers of Curlew.

After a quick stop at Barassie, where there was very little, I moved round to Troon Harbour where there was at least 1 juvenile Iceland Gull present:

Continuing the very good run of late

I went back to Barassie for 3:15 pm and set the scope up on the window mount and did some Gulling. I was at least hoping for a Med and possibly the Ring Billed that has been about of late. However,during the full hour I watched all I could come up with of interest was a leucistic Black Headed Gull.

A detour to Tarbolton on the way home failed to locate any more Geese.

Hogganfield

Very quiet today. C25 Pochard, C12 Whoopers c15 Goldeneye & c5 Teal.

Iceland Gull Again

Had another short day at work today and was able to spend about an hour up at the Heritage Loch early afternoon. Being half term it was like Sauchiehall St, but nonetheless a 1st Winter Iceland Gull was in with the main Gull flock.

The water was now almost completely devoid of ice and c70 Tufted Duck had returned. I wonder where they go when it freezes ?

The Lapwing flock in the field just West of the loch had increased to exactly 50 birds.

Smew

Twitched the Drake Smew at Lochwinnoch this morning !

Left Cambuslang at 11am in relatively clear conditions. However, on getting West of the airport the mist rolled in an visability was not good on the Barr Loch.

Nonetheless the Drake Smew was seen distantly. Sparrowhawk was also notable. 20% off bird food was a bonus !

Nothing Really to Report

Following the previous evening's late night meeting, I was able to finish work at midday and head up to  Hogganfield. The weather was very dull & dreary, although it was not particularly cold and there was little or no wind. The loch was largely frozen although there was a large area in front of the car park that was open. After devouring a burger from the van I turned my attention to birding.

There was a sizeable flock of gulls loafing on the ice but I could not find anything particularly out of the ordinary. 35 Pochard were present but photography was difficult given the poor light. Rather than just capture a bird against a grey loch I tried to experiment with composition & captured this female Goldeneye:

Blurred Pochards top & bottom balance the shot. Or that's the idea anyway !

After collecting my suit from the dry cleaners, I went to the Heritage Loch arriving around 3pm. The loch was largely frozen but there was up to 500 Gulls present. Surely, I'm going to find something good in here ? Nope................... nothing !

Several GBB were present

1st Winter Black Headed

 C20 Fieldfares with maybe around 75 Starlings was a site tick as were 2 Stock Doves with Woodpigeons in adjacient fields. The Lapwing flock had now reached 46.

Bitter !

Spent about 45 minutes at the Heritage Loch this morning. We haven't got any snow, nor is it particularly forecast, however there was a biting Westerly blowing that could cut you in half.

The loch was significantly unfrozen to have encouraged 30 Tufted Duck to return (only about a third of the numbers present in mid January). There were lots of Gulls on the ice including at least 10 Great Black Backed and a few Common. Lapwing numbers have been gradually increasing since the New Year and I had a record count of 42 in the fields just west of the loch.

What price a Golden Plover soon ?

 

It's Friday it's 12 O'Clock it's a Long Lunchbreak

Adhering to my New Year resolution I spent my elongated Friday luchtime up at Hogganfield. I even had the audacity to 'treat' myself to a cheeseburger from the burger van in the car park.

Hogganfield was largely frozen, the only open area being in front of the car park. Gulls were scruitinised for a goody but I had to make do with 30 Pochard, 20 Whooper Swan, 80+ Greylag and a single Great Crested Grebe.