Mersehead

I started at Caerlaverock at 09:30 on a bright crisp morning. I was hoping to photograph some of the Geese but there were only small groups and none particularly close. Apart from the usual stuff there was a mobile flock of c300 Golden Plover & 1 Black Tailed Godwit on the Folly Pond. By midday it had got incredibly busy & I had had enough so moved on to Mersehead which had hardy any people & loads of close Geese.

Golden Plover

I stopped at Carsethorn for c20 mins but could find no Scaup.

There were hundreds of Barnies in the fields bordering the approach road & many others on the reserve all fairly close:

At the Visitor Centre I saw a handful of Tree Sparrow, didn't see them at all in 2015. Both hides face north and the light in the afternoon was really good.

Curlew

Mallards

Pintail

Pintails

Loch of Kinnordy

I stopped in at Loch of Kinnordy prior to taking in Thistle's Scottish Cup tie at Tannadice. It turned out to be a rather cold dreich day.

Lots of Teal on the reserve including a Drake Winged Teal but no sign of the hoped for Bittern in the time I was there.

Aberlady

The idea of another visit to the patch did not particularly appeal today so I decided to venture east where the weather looked the most promising.

Whilst it was dry, it was windy although not at all cold for January.

A deserted beach - not a Sanderling in sight

Off Gullane Point I had 3 Red Throated Divers, 3 Razorbill, Eiders, Common Scoters & the odd Velvet Scoter.

The tide was out & I scanned hundreds of Knot & Dunlin out in the bay.

Coming back over the salt marsh I had at least 1 Twite & a Sparrowhawk was playing havoc with the 100+ Fieldfare in the Buckthorn.

The Buckthorn certainly adds colour to a January day.

A Water Rail called from the Marl Loch & I spent a while scanning for the Long Eared Owl without success. I see this evening it was reported at 2pm.

By the time I got back to the wooden bridge the tide was right in & had pushed some of the birds including female Pintail quite close.

South Cathkin

Another visit to the patch allowed me to add Common Gull to the year list but aside from that it was dead. Heritage was largely frozen, Tufted Ducks had risen to 5. There were 31 Lapwing, 55 Greylag Geese & 1 Snipe.

Cathkin Marsh has 2 Buzzards and a few Yellowhammer. The SEO's appear to have moved on.

By the time I left it was snowing steadily & the first significant snow fall of the winter was upon us.

More Patch

Proper winter has finally arrived with 2 inches of snow & freezing temperatures. Furthermore there is now 1 Tufted Duck on Heritage.

Other signs of winter were approximately 5 Fieldfare feeding on berries on the island. Most notable today however were 4 confiding Redpolls feeding on Rosebay Willowherb.

By the time I got round to Cathkin Marsh the fog had closed in and it was snowing again. I managed 2 Stonechats through the gloom.

Confiding Redpolls:

 

No Little Auks

In the wake of thousands of Little Auk on the Scottish East coast over the past few days I was hoping that one might have 'wrecked' on my local patch. It was wildly optimistic & it also proved to be unfounded.

There had however, been 5 Little Auks on Strathclyde Loch yesterday & it was to there I headed next. Again no joy. The likelihood of birds surviving the Gulls on the Loch for more than a few hours are probably not very high, Lets hope they got off in time.

Duck Shortage

The mild dull drizzly weather continues unabated. Normally at this time of year 50+ Tufties on Heritage Loch. If it freezes closer to 100. Today Nil !

However, there was a single Goldeneye which at this site is considerably scarcer.