Good Luck for Ducks! - April 2022 Bird Report

This article and the images contained within were provided by courtesy of the author, S. Grover

Pale-bellied Brent Geese were daily visitors to the Wig Fields up to mid-month.  Up until the 10th numbers of birds were fairly constant, hovering around the 160 mark, with a peak of 192 on the 4th.  Thereafter, however, numbers dropped but stayed at about 60 birds, including on the 17th when the last were seen at the Scar.  Records of Pink-footed Geese were few, with the highest count being five birds at Loch Connell on the 23rd.  The only record of Greenland Whitefront also came from this site, on the 3rd, when an adult was seen in an adjacent field.

There were just two sightings of Mute Swans: four birds at the Wig on the 13th and six immatures at the same site on the 27th.  Whooper Swans were present at Loch Connell, with a high of eight birds on the 10th, reducing to two on the 16th.

Wigeon numbers dropped off appreciably.  Three were at the Wig on the 5th; a few more were noted at Loch Connell, with 25 there on the 3rd, reducing to two birds on the 10th.  The only other wigeon sighting I made came at the end of the month, on the 30th, also at this site.  It was exceptional in that it was an American Wigeon - a handsome drake that kept his own company.  Incidentally, this marked my first record of the species on my local patch in my 14 year tenure here.  Mallard are rarely mentioned in this blog.  Perhaps this is because they are, supposedly, the commonest of the the so-called ‘wild ducks’.  The striking plumage of the male - with a dark head and neck that shows an iridescent sheen of green and purple in certain lights - would likely command considerably more attention from birdwatchers, if only he was a rarity!  It is the females, however, that I focus your attention upon here; in particular, two birds with an entourage of 17 recently hatched offspring between them.  How long any of these ‘bite-sized’ meals will ever reach maturity remains to be seen.  Teal are primarily winter visitors to the area.  Like many such transient species their departure can be either sudden - here one day, gone the next - or protracted, as seems to be typical for teal.  At Loch Connell there were 22 birds on the 10th, halving in number to 11 on the 23rd, and with just two birds present at the month’s close.

The Resplendent Drake American Wigeon 

Loch Connell held but a handful of Tufted Ducks across the month.  However, a trip out to Lochs’ Magillie and Soulseat ( a little to the south and east of Stranraer), on the 17th, resulted in higher counts of 17 and 48, respectively.  Also on this date, but from Bishop Burn, Loch Ryan, 31 Scaup were logged.  The numbers of Eiders on this sea-loch remained low throughout the month, with the highest count being 52 on the 22nd.  An impressive (for the locality, that is) eight, drake, Velvet Scoters were first observed on the evening of the 28th, when they drifted inconspicuously on the calm water out in the middle of the loch.  From such a distance they would have gone undetected to the naked eye and to the relatively low magnification of field glasses, but with the aid of of a powerful spotting scope their presence, and identification, were within my grasp.  The more abundant Common Scoters, peaked at 82 birds on the 13th.

I had all but convinced myself that any wintering Long-tailed Ducks had departed for their breeding grounds some time ago, but a ‘brown’ drake at the Wig, on the 29th, proved otherwise.  I do not believe that I am alone in thinking that male, ‘Oldsquaw’, as they are referred to in the high arctic  where they breed, are more handsome in their ‘harlequin’ winter plumage than in their more drab-looking summer apparel.  For most species of birds the opposite is generally held to be true.  As to be expected, there were also fewer Goldeneyes to be seen this month.  The 13th produced my biggest count of 11, whilst at Loch Connell, on the 30th, there was still a first-summer male present.  Also at this site, but on the 10th, was a ‘redhead’ Goosander.  Red-breasted Mergansers were well represented at Loch Ryan throughout the month; they peaked at 108 birds on the 5th.

A late leaving Long-tailed Duck in summer plumage

Red-throated Divers were seen daily about Loch Ryan; there were particularly high counts of 107 on the 18th and 25th.  In comparison there were just two registrations of Great Northern Divers: singletons on the 6th and 29th.  A handful of Slavonian Grebes  remained during the early days of the month, with the last three birds - in splendid breeding plumage - being seen at the Wig, on the 13th.

Good numbers of Gannets were present most days about the sea-loch: 107 were recorded on the 25th.  As is typical for the time of year, all were adults.

The majority of waders in the locality are seasonal visitors, to a lesser or greater extent.  But there is one constant: the Oystercatcher.  Although few breed along the shores of Loch Ryan - and those that do seem rarely to be successful - there can always be found flocks of others that, for whatever the reason, remain in the area; summer flocks being smaller than those found in winter.  The 133 I counted at the Scar on the 25th were a typical sized congregation for the time of year.  Lapwings are one of the scarcer species on my local patch.  There were just two at Loch Connell on the 30th.  Golden Plovers are generally commoner visitors, though with good weather predominating the month, any passage birds likely enough went through the area without stopping: five birds on the 15th constituted the only record.  Ringed Plovers were more frequently observed, with the highest count of them being 20 on the 23rd.  Whimbrel are a typical passage species in May and there were numerous sightings, the first being a singleton at the Scar, on the 12th, rising to 24 at Loch Connell, on the 30th.  Over this period 61 birds were registered but I guess there were many more that went unseen, or unheard, as their ‘seven-note whistles’ are distinctive.  Compared with their cousins, Curlew were distinctly fewer in numbers.  The majority of this species that winter in the area depart early for their breeding grounds.  A party of 26 birds were noted on the 3rd, quickly reducing in number thereafter, with just a single bird on the 25th.  There were two observations of Bar-tailed Godwit: a single at the Wig on the 1st and two there on the 4th.  (This, incidentally, was mirrored exactly by Redshank).  Black-tailed Godwits were equally spartan, with two at Loch Connell on the 10th, and a bird heard calling at the same location on the 23rd.  As to be expected, Turnstones were also fewer on the ground, with a high of 20 at the Scar on the 11th.  Knot are never common in the spring: one at the Scar on the 20th was a lucky find.  Numbers of Dunlin are also low at this time of year; a Wetland Bird Survey count at Piltanton on the 17th resulted in a flock of 20 being logged.  Single Snipes seen flying off the Scar were nice discoveries on the 18th and 25th.  A Common Sandpiper seen on the beach at Kirkcolm, on the 22nd, was my first of the year at this locality.

Whimbrel congregate in the fields around Loch Connell

Sightings of Kittiwakes about Loch Ryan are often reliant on north-westerly winds over the North Channel pushing them landwards.  Sometimes, however, they just turn up out of the blue, unannounced, without any apparent reason for being there: like the three that passed the Scar on the 7th.  Common Gulls have pretty much vacated the area by May; three on the 5th and six on the 7th were the only observations.  Herring Gulls are ever present, although a count in excess of 700 birds on the exposed flats at Kirkcolm Point, on the 2nd, was unusually high for the season.  Lesser Black-backed Gulls are usually sighted in ones and twos during the spring, so a party of 12 adults at Loch Connell on the 16th was an unexpected delight.

Sandwich Terns were observed almost daily, beginning with 17 at the Scar on the 2nd, increasing to 44 there on the 20th, then 80 the day after, rising to a peak of 102 on the 23rd.  The only observation of Common Terns was five birds about the Wig on the 29th.  The first Arctic Terns arrived a little earlier than the preceding species, with six at the Scar on the 21st.

Razorbills are reasonably common visitors to Loch Ryan during May, but observing them can be challenging because they typically occur well off-shore.  The largest counts were 22 birds on the 8th and the 18th, with a peak of 24 on the 9th.

Typical of their scarcity status on my local patch there was but one record of a Cuckoo calling from the estate woods on the 27th.  A surprise observation was that of a fast moving Merlin over my house, on the 10th.  Equally surprising was a Magpie, seen just outside my garden, on the 3rd and a Hooded Crow perched on a telegraph wire, in the same area, on the 20th.  I also saw this species ten days earlier, at Loch Connell; but whether or not it was the same bird on both occasions I know not.

Should a person be so inclined to log their first hirundines of the year, then a large body of open freshwater is a recommended place to start looking.  On my patch that means a walk to Loch Connell.  However, I did not see my first Sand Martins there until the 16th, when I logged 58 birds.  Swallows were earlier to arrive, with a single bird over my house on the 10th.  The afore mentioned freshwater loch, however, held 26 birds on the same day as the Sand Martins were noted, along with the first returning House Martins, of which there were three.

The first of the summering Willow Warblers conveniently appeared in my garden on the 12th.  By the 18th of the month there were at least six singing birds in the estate woods and come the 28th there were 13.  Chiffchaffs arrived earlier, and in the same woods there were five singing on the the 8th, then eight on the 18th, and 11 on the 28th.  I did not detect the first local Sedge Warblers until late in the month, on the 27th; that, in all probability, was a consequence of my not passing their usual haunt - the estate marsh - which just happens to be out of earshot of my house.  Also on the 27th, the first Whitethroat of the season was logged in the archive.  Blackcaps have been singing right through the month.  Three were noted on the 8th, increasing to 19 on the 28th: an impressive tally and up considerably on last year.

A handsome Willow Warbler takes a peak from within the vegetation

Spring Wheatears about the Wig have been notable by their absence in recent years.  This May, however, I was lucky enough to happen across eight bird on six days.  It is likely that they were all birds of the ‘Greenland’ race, which are generally bigger and brighter than their ‘British’ counterpart.  The bird I saw on the 23rd definitely was a bigger fellow, with stronger colouration and those all important ‘six primary tips’ showing beyond the tertial feathers on the closed wing!  A nice bird, anyway.

One of the delights of the month has been waking up to the twittering of a male Siskin that has adopted the the birch tree in my garden as one of its song posts.  It has been a welcome addition to the sounds drifting through the open windows, whilst adding variety to the monotonous ‘cooing’ of Collared Doves and Feral Pigeons that dominate the bird song in the locality.  Although the surrounding countryside has been filled with the gay chorus of Linnets, their ‘mountain’ counterparts, Twite, have been absent all month.  In the past there have been a few birds lingering but, sadly, not this year it seems.