Once Upon a December: Bird Report for 14/12/20 - 20/12/20

For once I'm going to start this week's post off chronologically, for on Monday we saw a nuthatch. These little birds are regular in the area but still manage to hide away in the treetops - despite all the noise that they are all-too-often making. Other small passerines (perching birds) that we have seen this week include a grey wagtail, 2 siskins, 3 greenfinches, a total of 3 redwings and approximately 1000 starlings (our highest flock so far this winter). We have had highest day-counts of 20 goldfinches, 3 rock pipits and roughly 60 twite. The latter species had better be on guard - for a male merlin was seen hunting last week.

A flock of twite

Moving onto our waterfowl and waders, the number of teal at Loch Connell increased to 274 while the pale-bellied brent goose flock at the Wig saw a highest count of 288. Our regular 3 bar-tailed godwits remained, whilst curlews saw a highest day-count of 79 and a flock over 120 pink-footed geese flew overhead. A ringed plover flock of roughly 50 blended in with the pebbles, 9 snipe made an appearance one day and later in the week we saw 5 purple sandpipers on the scar. These were certainly a nice surprise - we hadn't expected to see any more purple sandpipers after our previous bird disappeared.

This week we went out to Piltanton Burn to do our monthly WeBS (Wetland Bird Survey) count, so we have even more waterfowl and waders than usual. 174 dunlins were scattered along the shoreline, along with 58 redshanks and 4 little egrets. A flock of circa 200 golden plovers wheeled overhead before disappearing into the distance - perhaps they had been put up by the kestrel that had flown by earlier. Paddling about were 6 greenshanks, 34 knots, 5 lapwings, 84 teal and over 168 wigeon. 88 shelduck were on the mudflats while in the river itself were 3 cormorants, 16 red-breasted mergansers and a shag (unusual to see swimming up the river, normally they stay out on Luce Bay). Finally, just as we were packing up to leave, 2 little grebes appeared - not a species we see there very often.

Continuing on from Piltanton, we decide to do a loop around West Freugh before heading towards Soulseat Loch. On the prowl for geese, we stopped to scan a flock of greylags and found behind them a flock of Greenland white-fronted geese. These lovely geese are always a delight to see - they rarely make their way to the Wig or Loch Connell. Given that they were half hidden behind a hedge, we moved on and round the corner we were able to get better views. As a bonus - just a few fields over was another flock of Greenland white-fronts! This was obviously the spot to be at that day, for along with the two flocks of white-fronts (42 and 46 birds) a ringtail hen harrier was hunting above the fields - and it proceeded to put up a merlin who had also been trying to hunt in the same area. Yellowhammers flew up and down the hedges and further up a bullfinch and a magpie were perched in a tree.

Distant flock of Greenland white-fronted geese

After all that excitement, the light was beginning to fade when we got to Soulseat. Despite this, we were still able to count 3 cormorants, a coot, 17 goldeneyes (more than our highest day-count on Loch Ryan this week), 1 little grebe, 7 tufted ducks and 121 teals. There were also approximately 20 mallards, over 300 wigeon and a flock of greylag geese - unfortunately more accurate counts were interrupted by a low-flying aeroplane. Whilst not a bird, it was nonetheless very nice to see an otter sploshing about on the far side of Soulseat Loch.

It was a very exciting day out and appears to have stolen most of the show for this blog post! Fret not, all of our regular species are still present at the Wig and (the benefit of writing these posts a week late) I can assure you that there are some brilliant surprises to come next week...

[All photographs are taken by and belong to Stephen Grover, please ask for permission if you wish to use them.]

A Virtual Wander Round the Wig

In this blog post I hope to give you a better feel for what it is really like to "wander around the Wig". We'll be taking a virtual tour around the Wig, following the route I normally take. This post will heavily feature photographs, showing what the landscape and habitats around the Wig are like. The photos will show the Wig at all times of the year and I'll highlight what species you might look out for at each area.

Sunrise over the Wig, from my house.

I generally head for the Wig car park first, from here you have great views over all of Wig Bay and further out onto Loch Ryan. Looking out to the right you can see Marian Jetty, while the Scar is to the left. The car park is a great place to scan for seabirds: cormorants and shags, auks, divers, grebes and sea-ducks.

At the Wig car park, looking towards Marian Jetty at low and high tide (spot the ringed plovers!).

At low tide, a stretch of seaweed, sand, shingle and mud is exposed, proving popular with feeding waders. In the winter, species such as wigeon, brent geese and shelduck also can be found feeding on this area.

At the Wig car park, looking towards the Scar and Cairnryan.

Again looking towards the Scar but from further up the Wig track
(photo by my phone, hence the poorer quality!).

From the car park, a track follows the beach up to the Scar Hut (an observation post from World War II). Along here you can not only keep an eye on the shore to your right but also view the fields to your left. These fields may hold a range of species throughout the year, from swans and geese to waders, linnets and twite.

Mute swans in the fields.

We have given the different fields names to help us record birds in specific areas: towards Kirkcolm are the swan fields, next the Wig track are the twite fields and the field that frequently floods to form a soggy pool in winter is the flash field.

The winter 'flash' field... being enjoyed by brent geese and oystercatchers.

Once you get to the Scar Hut it is another great place to stop for a look. From here you can see out over the Scar and also towards the mouth of Loch Ryan and Ailsa Craig. Eiders can be seen hauled out on the Scar at any time of year and wader flocks and gull flocks sometimes gather there to roost. In the summer, terns may be seen bouncing by overhead and gannets soar by on their way to Ailsa Craig. Skylarks, ringed plovers and oystercatchers all breed here, so please don't walk out onto this area.

A flock of knot come in to land on the Scar, where brent geese, cormorants, shags, wigeon and a common gull are already resting.

Ailsa Craig, with Arran in the background.

From the Scar Hut, you may head straight back to the car park, however, there is a circular route around the Wig. As you head north along the path, in summer you can hear the sounds of whitethroats, stonechats, blackbirds and many other species singing away from the vegetation.

At the Scar Hut area, looking towards Corsewall Estate and the mouth of Loch Ryan. The sea radish along here looks gorgeous in the summer.

As you continue along the path, it meanders away from the shore slightly, opening out into a more grassy area. To the left is another field that floods in the winter: we've dubbed it the pool field (yes, I know, we're not a very inventive bunch!), which may be home to curlews, teal or a heron.

The grassland area in summer with eggs-and-bacon (common bird's foot trefoil) flowers in bloom. At the back of the right-hand picture you can see our only local patch of marram grass - a species more typically indicative of sand dunes (presumably an indicator of historic sand dunes in the area).

The pool field with a dusting of snow.

Just a little bit further along and Corsewall Burn meets Loch Ryan. We have given this area two names: Fisher's Lane outlet (the side meeting the loch) and Fisher's Lane pool (on the other side of the path). Often bereft of birdlife, it is nevertheless always a good idea to stop and look because we have had records of dipper, kingfisher, snipe, common sandpiper, water rail and more!

Fisher's Lane outlet at low tide.

Fisher's Lane pool.

Now we are coming onto the final stretch of our tour. There is a path that you can take that heads past the marsh (see our separate blog post on the marsh: A Smorgasbord of Surprise: The Marshes) and leads into a circular route through the woods of Corsewall Estate. However, I most often head back through a shorter stretch of woods leading onto Fisher's Lane and the bottom of Kirkcolm village by the school. Keep your eyes and ears peeled for roving tit flocks, treecreepers and goldcrests flitting in the treetops ahead. Once out of the woods, it's a short walk back along Fisher's Lane and a left turn to head back to the Wig car park. 

The woods by Tunnock's bridge look stunning in the spring when they are carpeted with bluebells.

That concludes our virtual tour of the Wig - I hope that you enjoyed it! At the very least, it's something a little different from our regular posts.

[Unless otherwise stated, all photographs are taken by and belong to Stephen Grover - please ask for permission if you wish to use them.]

Dark December Days: Bird Report for 07/12/20 - 13/12/20

It has been a bit dull and dark this week - winter is definitely on its way. We have seen some comparatively low counts this week and have finally broken our streak of seeing new species. However, this just makes us appreciate what we have seen all the more. We haven't been able to count the brent goose flock every day (we didn't see any brents one day) and our highest count was a comparatively low 161 birds. A single pink-footed goose was looking rather lonely sitting out on the scar and a single mallard was also present at the wig. We saw a flock of 5 adult whooper swans and mute swans also made it back onto out list this week (a flock of 6 individuals).

Small numbers of scaup were also present at the wig: first 2, then 4 and then back down to 2 again. We only ever see low numbers of scaup in wig bay itself - the main flock prefers to loaf around and feed at the other end of the loch. Great crested grebes also must have been hiding elsewhere this week, for we only saw a total of 5 individuals. Slavonian grebes, however, were still showing well with a highest day-count of 31. We also saw 2 razorbills, 2 different black-throated divers, 17 red-throated divers and a total of 6 great northern divers (although 4 of these were on the same day). On the diving duck front, we had highest day-counts of 22 red-breasted mergansers, 111 common scoters, 12 long-tailed ducks and 16 goldeneyes.

A female scaup

Another goldeneye was seen at Loch Connell, alongside a male and a female tufted duck and over 240 teal. The geese in the fields around Loch Connell numbered over 160 Canada geese, over 40 greylag geese and 1 pink-footed goose mixed in amongst them. Two herons were seen fishing and last week's moorhen and adult Mediterranean gull were both also still present at this small freshwater loch. The Mediterranean gull has almost become a regular there, perhaps it will spend the whole winter in this location.

Back at the wig, our regular gull species of black-headed, common and great black-backed gulls all made frequent appearances and we made a count of approximately 200 herring gulls. Waders often mingle amongst the gulls on the scar and the highlight this week was 46 golden plovers, which we were only able to see because they were frightened into flying by a peregrine. Raptors certainly have their uses in putting up well camouflaged birds! Other raptors seen this week include a sparrowhawk and a buzzard.

A brief flyover from a sparrowhawk

As you walk around the wig, it is always a good idea to keep looking to the fields and woods, not just at the shore and the loch. This way you can see many more species that are unlikely to be sitting on the beach. This week we saw 3 meadow pipits, 22 skylarks (all in 1 day) and 2 fieldfares. An increase on last week, we saw 8 siskins and although we only saw 1 redwing we heard others flying over at night.

I'll finish off this bog post in the same place that all of my outings finish: my house. Our garden has again been performing well, with over 50 house sparrows cheeping away from the hedge and a single goldcrest (not particularly common in our garden) braving a rainy day to search for insects. Over 800 starlings were wheeling through the skies and - on a different day - a total of 734 were perched on the electricity wires.

It just goes to show that you can see birds anywhere; you just have to keep looking.

[All photographs are taken by and belong to Stephen Grover, please ask for permission if you wish to use them.]

A Splash of Purple: Bird Report for 30/11/20 - 06/12/20

We may now be in the last month of the year but by no means does this mean that there are less birds to see. During the winter months, gulls come together to form large mixed-species flocks. Especially large flocks form when the gulls come together to roost in the evening and while we haven't counted any particularly big flocks of late we did see over 300 common gulls one day. In amongst these were 3 adult great black-backed gulls and 1 adult lesser black-backed gull. Lesser black-backed gulls typically winter further south, so this one either came back early or hasn't left - perhaps preferring to spend the winter here with us.

Gulls were also a prominent sight at Loch Connell this week, with over 170 black-headed gulls and an adult Mediterranean gull being counted. Despite 20% of Loch Connell being covered with ice this week's visit still produced some good counts. In the surrounding fields 79 curlews, 34 lapwings and over 200 and 530 Canada and greylag geese (respectively) were feeding. A little grebe and 16 goosanders were diving in the loch itself, while an elusive moorhen crept around the outside. Scattered around the loch were 28 mallards and 108 wigeon (more wigeon than were present at the wig this week). Two whooper swans - an adult and a juvenile - were seen (I wonder what happened to the rest of their family?). Teal numbers remained fairly constant, with 144 individuals being seen this week.

However, Loch Connell was not the only place that we saw teal this week; 4 birds were sighted at the scar. The number of shelducks at the scar and wig increased to 10 and the flock of pale-bellied brent geese went back up in number to 256 (36 of which were juvenile birds). Other waterfowl seen include a flock of approximately 100 pink-footed geese and yet another small flock of teal (34 birds) - this time paddling about on a pool in the marsh.

Purple sandpiper at the wig.

The marsh also provided views of a grey heron and 6 snipe. It was nice to be able to add the secretive snipe to our wader list this week, for it's been quite a good week for waders at the wig. We had highest day-counts of 238 oystercatchers, 16 redshank, 52 turnstones, 66 curlews and 4 bar-tailed godwits (the highest number of bar-tails we've seen in a single day this winter). Other slightly less regular species included 6 grey plovers, 3 golden plovers, a dunlin, 40 ringed plovers and a single knot was seen twice (although it may not have been the same bird). That's still not the wader list finished (…drumroll...)! It was a surprise to find a purple sandpiper at the wig this week. These lovely waders prefer rockier habitats and so we don't often see them at the wig. Fortunately, this individual showed off for the camera and even hung around for another day for us to enjoy it. Our final wader, seen on the same two days as the purple sandpiper, is equally exciting: another American golden plover. I say 'another' but given that it is also a first-winter bird it is very likely to be the same individual. A pleasure to see, nevertheless!

This brings us onto our 'sea-going' species. A single black-throated diver was again seen twice during the week and highest counts of eiders were approximately 200. We saw highest day-counts of 16 Slavonian grebes, 34 shags, 8 cormorants and 12 black guillemots. Many of the shags and cormorants are already in full breeding plumage and one black guillemot was well on it's way to being the same - looking noticeable darker all over than its winter plumage counterparts. Only small numbers of great crested grebes were seen this week (highest day-count of 6) but the number of long-tailed ducks is still increasing. We've seen a high of 21 long-tailed ducks so far and most of these have been adult male birds.

A winter plumage black guillemot that was fishing off Marian jetty.

Back at the shore, we had a highest count of 5 rock pipits this week. 6 linnets were spotted and the twite flock stood at approximately 80 individuals, providing plenty of potential targets for the peregrine and male sparrowhawk that were seen during the week. Another water-loving species was seen at Fisher's Lane pool: a second dipper. It would be interesting to know whether this is the same bird as last week or not.

Continuing on into the woods, a great spotted woodpecker and a mistle thrush were seen twice during the week. Other counts saw 3 nuthatches, 3 song thrushes, 2 redwings, 1 grey wagtail and over 70 woodpigeons. It was very nice to see a siskin and two bullfinches - two species that are not particularly regular for us (especially bullfinches). Perhaps bullfinches are under-recorded due to their quiet and unobtrusive behaviour - we shall just have to keep our eyes peeled.

That about wraps it up for this week and just in time too - a patch of blue sky has just miraculously appeared through the rain! Time for one last look for birds before the sun sets...

[All photographs are taken by and belong to Stephen Grover, please ask for permission if you wish to use them.]

Dabbling and Dipping: Bird Report for 23/11/20 - 29/11/20

Last week saw some rain but it soon became clear (if cold!) skies - perfect for birding. We finally broke our recent trend of seeing a new species per week - by seeing two new species instead of one! More on those later...

Let's start by considering some of our commoner species. Typical 'garden species', we expect to see these birds every day and so I often neglect to give them a mention. We see good number of corvids - jackdaws and rooks especially. Carrion crows are also regulars, both in our garden and on the beach. We have two hybrid (carrion x hooded) crows that visit our garden and this week we also saw a different hybrid individual (distinguished by its different markings) strutting about on the beach. We also see a pair of ravens fairly often, or at least hear their cronking calls.

House sparrows, starlings and feral pigeons are present in abundance. We had a largest flock of 14 collared doves this week and robins, wrens, dunnocks and blackbirds are also frequently encountered. The other thrushes are less common for us, for example we only saw a song thrush twice this week. Great tits, blue tits and coal tits do regularly visit our garden but only ever in small numbers. We see more of these species in roving tit flocks in the woods, sometimes accompanied by other species (this week we saw goldcrests and treecreepers). On the finch front, chaffinches are a staple species but goldfinches and greenfinches are much less common - we often only see the species down at the wig (flock of 10 greenfinches this week).

Male blackbird in the garden

Around the wig we see many such small passerines (perching birds). This week saw highest day-counts of 2 meadow pipits, 5 pied wagtails and 2 rock pipits. The twite flock is still feeding in the fields, if in smaller numbers than when they were first arriving (roughly 40 birds this week). Stonechats are also seen almost every time we go around the wig - we saw 3 pairs this week. Pairs of stonechats tend to stay together over the winter, so these birds will likely have bred together during the summer.

We had a highest day-count of 55 turnstones running along the shoreline and we saw a total of 10 grey plovers. Lording over the waders, two graceful herons were feeding in the shallows. However, out on the water of wig bay saw some of the most exciting species this week. First and foremost amongst these, was one of our new species for the week: a gadwall. These dabbling ducks are annual locally but are hardly usual, so it was very nice to see this male duck paddling about near some wigeon. Also not common at the wig was a redhead goosander and a little grebe (we more often see these species at Loch Connell). More typical species: the wig's local pale-bellied brent goose flock saw a highest day-count of 182 birds (a little down from last week) and there were 8 shelducks present.

Further out on Loch Ryan was a whole host of other species and we were not the only birders out enjoying them. Gill Deacon went to Marian jetty and had some very nice views of a velvet scoter - it's nice when you can actually see them close to rather than as distant blobs! It's been a good week for velvet scoter sightings: we saw a male, an immature bird and then a male and a female together (across 3 different days). In amongst the goldeneyes and long-tailed ducks (highest day-counts of 16 and 14, respectively), Gill also had some nice views of a great northern diver catching and eating a flatfish. It's been another good week for great northern divers (highest day count of 8) but we certainly never saw one with a flatfish. That must have been brilliant to watch - you'd think that it would catch something a little easier to swallow!

Winter-plumaged great northern diver

Also out on the loch this week were up to 14 cormorants and 168 common scoters. We counted 140+ eiders and saw one red-necked grebe. Single razorbills were seen twice during the week, as was a black-throated diver. We have also seen good numbers of scaup. While only 3 individuals were at the wig, over 320 scaup were present off Innermessan and the next day saw 127 birds off Low Balyett (although perhaps these were some of the same individuals - the scaup flock is rather mobile).

Finally, that just leaves us with a couple of species that came in at the end of their respective day lists (one is of course the second new species for this blog that you have been waiting patiently for!). Failing light at the end of the day meant that a quick look at Fisher's Lane pool revealed only a podgy silhouette. I was quite surprised when, after raising my binoculars, I was confronted with a dipper. Whilst familiar to many on their regular haunts, in the winter dippers disperse out to any available feeding areas and this is when we might see one locally for a short time. While I don't expect it to hang about, it was certainly a very nice way to end the day.

Last but not least, this post's final species was heard but not seen. A familiar hooting sound to many, a male tawny owl has begun to call once again. As the winter goes on it will probably be heard calling more and more often as it begins to establish its territory in preparation for spring - we'll keep you posted!

Dipper at Fisher's Lane pool in low light conditions

[All photographs are taken by and belong to Stephen Grover, please ask for permission if you wish to use them.]