Whilst we might still be having the sunny days of summer, autumn is fast approaching, and beyond that, many birds are preparing for winter. This week we have had a noticeable amount of returning species, whilst our summer birds have become scarcer and scarcer. Whilst we are sad to see some species go, autumn and winter see the greatest amount of birds on our shores, and so we are looking forward to the interesting records we hope to get in the coming days.
I thought the last blog was bursting with raptors, but somehow we managed to record even more this week. Alongside our regular buzzards, we also had several sparrowhawks, including a female, and an adult-juvenile duo on the edge of the estate. Peregrines have been exceptionally active this week, with records of sightings (and calls) on five of the seven days. Many of these were likely the same juvenile birds from before, indeed one was seen practicing its hunting techniques as it repeatedly chased down birds around the Wig.
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| Golden Plovers are truly majestic birds |
It certainly had its choice of waders to hunt from, as this week we've had a variety that rivals our peak winter counts. Oystercatchers are present all year round, but we're also seeing our Curlew numbers rise up again, with small flocks of 20-30 birds recorded daily. Redshanks have only recently returned to the Wig; it was very nice to see three Greenshanks alongside them, as well as a lone bird up at Loch Connell. We also had some small flocks of Dunlin, Sanderling and Turnstone throughout the week. Ringed Plovers have also been building in numbers recently, with a peak count of 40 birds on Thursday. What was very exciting to see was the presence of some Golden Plovers. Whilst we have seen them at Piltanton previously, these were the first Golden Plovers recorded on the Wig this year, and we look forward to having several more when winter rolls around.
Last week we had the rare pleasure of seeing a Yellow-legged Gull, and I'm happy to say that individual bird may still be about since we had another record this week. We had many of our regular Gulls as well, including Black-headed, Common, Lesser Black-backed and Greater Black-backed Gulls. However one rarity just wasn't enough, and so we complemented it with an adult Mediterranean Gull. Normally we see juvenile birds, and once autumn is upon us we shall hopefully see more of these handsome birds.
Elsewhere on the loch Eiders have been gathering in large flocks again. This week our highest count was 393 males and 3 females, so it was easy to miss the small flock of Common Scoter that took an early respite here. Keeping up the larger numbers, the Greylag Geese have been starting to flock together, with 180 and 360 at Soleburn and Loch Connell respectively. These are tiny flocks compared to the many thousands we have had in previous winters, but they are a sure sign of more Geese to come. On both occasions, we also saw some Canada Geese mixed in. At Soleburn the small flock of 14 were likely traveling past with the Greylags, whilst the four up at Loch Connell (adult and 3 juveniles) are summer residents having successfully bred here.
As always we get loads of different records across the week, far too many to go over every species individually. Its definitely worth pointing out a few more though, such as the Jay and Great-spotted Woodpeckers we saw on the Corsewall Estate. We also had a Raven, whilst up at Loch Connell, we saw the illusive Moorhen. Finally, we rounded out the week with a Lapwing and a trio of Reed Buntings.
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| Hundreds of these Caterpillars can be found on Ragwort around the Wig |
Finally a quick look at our mammals and insects. This week was good for butterflies, and we saw a Small Tortoiseshell, Meadow Brown, Ringlet, Common Blue, Peacock, Small White, Red Admiral and a Green-Veined White. On the Moth side, we had several Six-spot Burnets, and hundreds of Cinnabar moth caterpillars. For mammals, we had Bottle-nosed Dolphins in the loch for the 4th week running, whilst closer to shore a Common Seal lazed in the receding tide. To top it all off we had a plucky Hedgehog venture into our garden, who would return later in the week under cover of darkness.
All in all its been another great week around the Wig. It won't be long till August is upon us, and with it, the seasons roll around into Autumn. This means another mass migration, and so hopefully amongst the passage of birds we will get some exciting species.
[All photographs were taken by and belong to Stephen Grover, please ask for permission if you wish to use them.]
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