Strathclyde Park & Heritage Loch

I had a quick visit to SCP this morning. All ice on the loch has now gone even although it was still bitter cold.

I finally saw a Song Thrush, for 2015, that was about the highlight.

The drake Scaup & at least 2 females were still at the Calder Mouth & there was a raft of 50 Cormorant. Now 3 Pochard & still good numbers of Goldeneye & Tufted Duck.

Buzzard, Fieldfare & Treecreeper were also noteworthy.

After fighting with Kingsgate Retail park I went to the Heritage Loch. The cafe was shut but the Scaup was still present along with 2 Pochard.

Musselburgh Lagoons

This represented my first visit  away from the local area this year & was well worth it on what was a cold but bright January day in East Lothian. In total I spent six enjoyable hours not seeing anything particularly out of the ordinary but just having a good day out.

I spent most of my time sitting & watching from the westernmost hide by the scrapes. My arrival coincided with high tide and as such there was a large roost of Oystercatcher & Godwit.

After lunch I walked along the seawall but the noth west wind meant that the Forth was choppy and I only saw a few Long Tailed Duck & Velvet Scoter.

It was blowing a gale at the Esk mouth & there was lots of vibration with the scope but nonetheless I picked out a few Grey Plover, Dunlin & Ringed Plovers.

In the last afternoon I went back to the scapes & had 7 Grey Partridge. I can't remember the last ones I saw in Scotland ! It might even have been at this site.

Bar Tailed Godwit venturing close to the hide

Cockenzie Power Station dominates the horizon

Common Gull in nice light

The 1st Grey Partridge I have seen in Scotland for many years

Just Landed

Flying towards the River Esk mouth

Nice contrast of colours going on here 

High Tide Roost

Redshank

On alert

Drake Teal & Winter sunshine

Flying Wigeon

Big Garden Birdwatch

I submitted my usual haul of single figure garden birds but was also surprised to log 4 Long Tailed Tits attracted on to the fat balls.

Great Tit - a maximum of only 2 at any one time

Suggesting Without Delivering

After the weeks freezing conditions I was hopeful that SCP might produce a goody or two. Starting at the Kelvin mouth it was obvious that Duck numbers were considerably up on last week as no doubt many had been frozen out of their normal patch. In particular there were now more than 200 each of both Goldeneye & Tufted Duck.

Scrutiny of the flock produced at least 3 Scaup, 1 1st winter drake & 2 females as well as a single drake Pochard. A Kingfisher was also seen.

After a coffee in M&D's I noticed a large frozen area at the north end of the loch with lots of Gulls on it. However, despite it being set up for a White Winger I was unable to score with one.

Small Bird Photography

There was a fresh covering of snow this morning & I spent some time in the photography hide at Lochwinnoch. This was the first time I had coped with a snowy background but by checking my histogram & with some help from photoshop it was a useful session.

I was freezing from sitting in the hide and by the time I had finished the wind had got up making it very cold outside.

I walked along the shore of the Barr Loch for about a quarter of a mile. There was lots of wildfowl on the loch mostly Wigeon & other common ducks. I also saw 2 or 3 Great Crested Grebe as well as Snipe, Sparrowhawk & Redwings & Fieldfare.

Snow & Ice

The weather has taken a turn towards winter this week with lying snow. I had planned to go to Dumfries & Galloway today but road conditions we're not the best so I decided to stay local & start at SCP.

Calling Redwing were indicative of hard weather movement as were Meadow Pipit and the 20+ Skylark going through. The Calder Mouth still held the female Scaup & Goldeneye numbers remained good.

Island Pond remained unfrozen and supported double figure numbers of Gadwall & a family party of Whoopers were being bossed around by the resident Mute Swan.

After a coffee at the Hamilton services I pressed on to Baron's Haugh & did a bit of the Dalziel Estate, failing to find any Nuthatches, before walking along the Clyde to Carbarns. Again, pickings were scarce with the best being a calling Jay.

More Feckin Rain

All it did today was rain. Constant, bloody rain ! I checked the forecast whilst still in bed & that's what it told me but nonetheless I still felt compelled to go out.

Low tide on the Clyde Estuary, so my idea was to drive to West Ferry & scan the mudflats from the car. That idea was quickly abandoned because the car was getting soaked even with the window just a quarter down. Anyway it was like night & I don't particularly like that sleazy layby.

Next idea was the Nature Centre at Lochwinnoch. That was at least dry & I had a nice chat with one of the staff. I saw a Great Spotted Woodpecker and a few Reed Buntings. The Aird Meadow had a couple of Whoopers & very little else. I decided it wasn't even worth getting soaked walking round to the hide so I went home & did the ironing.

A wet Reed Bunting through the glass at ISO2000

Gales & Rain

After 2 days of gales and heavy rain I headed over to Strathclyde Loch to see if it had perhaps brought in a Diver or something similar.

Although I just had binoculars I was pretty confident there was a female Scaup in with the Tufties but apart from that it was much as before. I counted the Goldeneye and got to 105 and there was probably as many as 20 Little Grebes present.

Over 100 present viewed from the Calder mouth

I walked from the Calder round to the sandy beach car park seeing only a Sparrowhawk, Bullfinch & Treecreeper of any note.

I drove round to the car parks at the WSC but failed to find anything of real interest. The Clyde was well over its banks emphasising how much rain there's been.

More Local Stuff

On a typically gloomy January day I started at the Heritage Loch where there were small numbers of Tufted Duck & Mallard. A drake Pochard was new whilst the female Goldeneye remained as did the Scaup which I think is a 1st winter male ?

Scaup

At the west end a typically cryptic Snipe & the usual small flock of Lapwings the latter of which allowed a surprisingly close approach:

Lapwing

I can see you

Down at Strathclyde Park I located the adult Ring Billed Gull on the water off the 3rd car park. It was just about close enough for a record shot:

Ring Billed Gull

No Sign of Gyr Falcon

Spent about 2-3 hours down at West Ferry this morning more in hope than expectation of seeing yesterday's white morph Gyr Falcon.

The tide was high and there weren't many birds at all. Best was c10 Great Crested Grebe, RB Merganser, Wigeon & Goldeneye.  

Scaup

Started the day at Heritage Loch & located the Scaup reported from the day before. A female Goldeneye, not very usual here, was also present. The Scaup was only close looking into the light:

Scaup

Went over to Strathclyde Loch in the afternoon. Started at the mouth of the Calder which had a few Goldeneye and a Kingfisher.

I could not locate the RBG so I walked over to the Island Pond that had Wigeon, Gadwall & Whooper Swan on it.

Ring Billed Gull

A good start to the new year catching up with the adult Ring Billed Gull on Strathclyde Loch. After I was put on it it was fairly obvious with the paler mantle, heavily banded bill, nape streaking, restricted white on the tertials & larger size than the Common Gulls.