The Cold Wind Doth Blow: Bird Report for 01/02/21 - 07/02/21

The winter weather continues: at the start of the week we had three days of continuous rain, which were quickly followed by a strong easterly wind and freezing temperatures. Given the conditions, it's no surprise that some days last week saw very few birds. The animals seem able to predict what is coming, for three Roe Deer were seen munching away furiously before the rain hit.

Despite the saying "nice weather for ducks" - I suspect they dislike it just as much as we do, however, it's a good a place as any to start! When the visibility cleared enough for us to be able to see down Loch Ryan, we actually managed to get some decent counts for ducks this week. We had highest day-counts of 87 Common Scoter, 8 Long-tailed Ducks and 15 Red-breasted Merganser. The 13 Scaup from the previous week decreased to around 8/9 but to make up for it they were joined by a male Lesser Scaup. A much rarer duck nationally, we've being seeing winter records of one or two (the same birds?) in amongst the Greater Scaup flock for the past couple of years. Joining the Scaup out on the loch, we saw weekly totals of 11 Shag, 3 Cormorants, 13 Slavonian Grebes and a Black-throated Diver. The latter species was also spotted when looking through the day's photographs - a prime example of just how easy it can be to miss things in poor weather conditions!

An artists impression of the Lesser Scaup (second from the left) in amongst Greater Scaup on a rainy day - note the peaked hind crown and slightly darker-looking back.

Another (or possibly one of the same birds) Cormorant was sighted at Loch Connell. Also on this freshwater loch were over 200 Wigeon and over 340 Teal (our highest count of Teal this year). 46 Black-headed Gulls were also paddling about, in amongst which were 2 Herring Gulls, 6 Common Gulls and an adult Mediterranean Gull. The fields surrounding Loch Connell are also an important feeing resource for many species and this week they played host to both geese and waders. A small number of Pink-footed Geese (roughly 20) were joined by approximately 100 Canada Geese and over 430 Greylag Geese. In amongst the Greylags was a leucistic individual (very 'bleached' in appearance but still with its markings faintly visible) and a bird with orange neck-collar that we were unfortunately unable to read. On the wader front, over 200 Golden Plovers and 154 Lapwings shared a field.

We also saw 2 Lapwings at the Wig. More wader counts include highest day-totals of 2 Grey Plovers, 9 Redshanks, approximately 60 Curlew, 1 Snipe, roughly 56 Turnstones and over 20 Ringed Plovers. These were joined on the beach by a different species: Twite. 66 birds alighted on the shingle, while a further 14 individuals decided it was not worth the effort and wheeled off back to the fields.

Part of a flock of Greylag Geese.

Other passerine (perching birds) sightings include a Grey Wagtail, 2 Long-tailed Tits (an irregular sighting in our area) and a female Reed Bunting and a Great Spotted Woodpecker made an appearance twice during the week. We made highest day-counts of 6 Rock Pipits, over 800 Starlings and 7 singing Robins. Decent numbers of thrushes were also seen, with a highest day-count of 16 Blackbirds (11 of which were together in a single flock), as well as totals of 3 Redwings and 6 Song Thrushes. 5 Fieldfares were seen early in the week and more were heard later in the week.

Finally, to finish of with some 'larger' species - perhaps they are not that greater in size but a even a little extra makes all the difference when trying to spot birds on dark and dull days. The Shelducks at the Wig decreased to just 2 birds, while the Pale-bellied Brent Goose flock remained fairly constant at a highest count of 204 individuals (including our returning colour-ringed bird). A surprise 2 Whooper Swans stopped by for a visit and one morning over 400 Pink-footed Geese lifted off from roosting on the Scar. Last but not least, we saw a total of 5 Great Black-backed Gulls during the week: 4 adults and one second/third winter bird.

That's it for another week - hopefully next week will bring some better weather with it!

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