Knee Deep in Waders: Bird Identification Guide

Continuing with my identification guides, this week I thought I would take a look at some of the waders that we see locally. Waders alone compose a large part of our species total, and so there are far too many to go over individually. I will try to cover some of our regular species, as well as some rarer species that can be easily mixed up with them.

I should say that this is purely based on my experiences as a birdwatcher, and the best way to ID birds is still with a field guide. However, when you're out and about, you may not always have access to one, and so it's helpful to know some tips that can assist in your identification. I would recommend having a bird guide on hand whilst reading this, as many of the features I describe are better understood with a picture. I am pitching this more towards beginner birdwatchers, so will be mostly considering birds in their adult plumages, however, I will also mention some more unusual rarities, so hopefully there is something for everyone!

It would be wrong to talk about waders without at least mentioning Oystercatchers. Dressed smartly in black and white with their orange bills, they are perhaps our most common species, indeed they inhabit coasts and wetlands all over the country. This widespread distribution means they are likely well known to all of us; their unique colour pattern is unmatched by any other wader, and so they are easy to distinguish even at a great distance.

Oystercatcher (left) and Curlew

Another common species to identify are the Curlews, which stand out with their large size and great curved bills. They are the largest of our waders, and so easy to pick out amongst the crowd. They aren't without dissimilar species however, as during late spring we also get Whimbrels. Seen alone they are almost identical to Curlews, however side-by-side they are noticeably smaller, and their bills are shorter and only bend towards the tip. If there is any doubt, then they also have a more prominent dark eye stripe and a different call (though if you're like me - that's too subtle of a difference to tell).

Moving into the general-sized waders, and fortunately, one family have their own distinctiveness, the plovers. Whilst initially they can fall under the "small brown/grey wader" category, they have some standout features that are very recognisable. Ringed Plovers are so-called because they have a dark ring running around the base of their neck. This dark band is very noticeable and is their most distinctive feature when viewed from far away. Our other Plovers are the Grey and Golden Plovers. Both fall into a "medium wader" size category, larger than Ringed Plovers or Turnstones, but not as large as Curlews or Oystercatchers. In summer, both have stand-out black bellies running from their face to their feet and can be separated by the colours in their names. In winter they have very neatly spotted patterns on their backs, and colour differences remain with Golden Plovers appearing to be browner. We occasionally get records of American Golden Plovers, often amongst the Golden Plovers themselves. These can be harder to identify, but generally are slightly smaller and more slender than Golden Plovers, and overall are greyer and less golden. 

Golden, Grey (Winter plumage), and Ringed Plover from left to right

Our other common species in this size bracket is the Redshank. Fortunately, this species lives up to their namesake and have orangey-red legs which stand out against their otherwise dull brown bodies. Whilst not as common, we get semi-regular records of Greenshanks. Once again the name is a bit of a giveaway, however, the greenish-grey legs can be harder to pick out. They are also slightly larger than Redshanks and could be considered more grey than brown.

All that's left to mention now are the small waders. How unfortunate that these are the most numerous, and there are too many small, grey and brown waders to cover. Around the Wig, we do have a few that could be considered regular species, first of which are the Turnstone. The hardest part of identifying these birds can be finding them in the first place! Their dark mottled backs are the perfect camouflage amongst the seaweed and beach debris, and so often the first you know of them is the pebbles seeming running down the beach. They share a dark ring similar to Ringed Plovers and are often seen feeding alongside them. However, in winter their the Turnstones backs are much darker, and in summer they become patterned orange and black.

Turnstone (Summer), Dunlin (Winter) and Dunlin (Summer) from left to right

The final species I will mention is the Dunlin, whose varied plumages can make identifying it very difficult. Indeed, perhaps the best way to go about it is ruling out the things it can't be! In winter it is the stereotypical small grey wader, and it will appear very plain compared to the other species I've mentioned. In summer, it like some other waders also gained a black belly. However, unlike the aforementioned plovers, this only extends from the legs to mid breast, and so is noticeably smaller than other species. Its summer plumage is also a lot more patterned than its winter and has a hint of red-brown to it. With juveniles having both brown and grey stages, they can appear very similar to other small waders, however familiarity with Dunlins will do a long way in helping to identify many similar, rare waders.

And that's all I have time for this week. There are loads of waders that I have had to miss, including Godwits, Sandpipers and other species like Knot and Sanderling. By having gone over the most common birds I hope that you are able to go out and see some of them for yourself to practise on. If you chance upon an unfamiliar wader then be sure to record things like size, colour, pattern and beak size, as these will be most helpful in identifying it from a guide later. Or perhaps by that time, I'll have got another article out covering all these waders that remain...

(All photo's belong to Stephen Grover, please ask for permission if you wish to use them)

The SOC West Galloway Branch March Meeting

Its that time again, and next Tuesday (10th) is the March meeting for the local SOC branch. Held in the Library at 7.30pm, this month our talk is "Birding in the Balearics" with Norman Elkins. This will cover many of the resident and migrant birds seen on Mallorca and Menorca, and will also cover some the other fauna and flora of the islands. It promises to be an excellent talk, and so I hope you will try to come along. 

Marching into a new month: Bird Report for 24/02/20 - 01/03/20

It seems like no time has passed at all and February has come to a close, but I for one am glad to see the back of its consistent stormy weather, here's hoping for a brighter March. Bird-wise February was still very active, with another 8 new species added to the blog, including Bullfinch,  Waxwing, and for the mammals, a Red Squirrel. My personal favourite had to be the Grey Plovers, which with an incoming tide could be seen really close and afforded some excellent views! 

I thought this week I would start by going over the species I rarely touch upon. This is generally because of their commonality, you could almost expect to see them on any outing. Species like Blue Tits, Chaffinches, Blackbirds and Starlings, we probably all see them regularly in our gardens. Certainly, the large gardens on Corsewall Estate are great for them, as up to 20 Blue Tits and Chaffinches were recorded in one visit. These gardens and surrounding woods are always bountiful, and once again this week we had Goldcrests, Nuthatches and Great Spotted Woodpeckers. This is also a great spot to see Roe Deer, as this week we had individuals and pairs spotted on several days.

Male Chaffinch - certainly a regular in our garden!

The great thing about this blog, for me at least, is being able to compare species numbers. From January into February many species have seen a decrease in numbers, including Slavonian Grebes (which were at their lowest this week - an average of only 2 birds a day), Red-Breasted Mergansers, Goldeneye and Red-Throated Divers. Now, this could be put down to the weather, however, it's likely a lot of different factors are at work. Most of these birds are not permanent residents, and there is a constant come and go of new individuals. So the weather combined with a naturally low income of birds has likely resulted in our lower counts over this week and the past month. 

One good thing this weather has brought is more birds coming in off the sea. Last week we had our first Kittiwakes of the year, and I'm glad to say that we had a record of 3 more this week. They weren't the only gulls blown in though, as we had 5 Great Black-Backed Gulls, a significant number for the Wig. Gannets were seen on numerous occasions through the week, and have been on the rise as a whole due to them returning to their breeding grounds.

A Gannet off to try and fill his gullet!

Something I haven't mentioned in a while is our Cormorants and Shags. These are common visitors to the Wig, Shags, in particular, can gather in numbers up to 40 birds along the Scar. Whilst still recorded on a regular basis, both their numbers have also been down compared to previous weeks. 

Perhaps a little surprising, but this week we saw a lot of activity from our local raptors. There is at least one pair of buzzards locally and could be many more in the surrounding area, as we had records from around the Wig, in the Estate and up at Loch Connell. Sparrowhawks have been a little thin on the ground lately, but they are about, its just a matter of being in the right place and time to see them, so this week it was very nice to get two in one day! The action doesn't stop there, as we had a Kestrel (which over the years have become uncommon in our area) and an unfortunate Skylark which was getting chased down by a Merlin.

A Stonechat surveys the scrub

I really have zig-zagged my way through this week's report, so I'll finish it off by just highlighting some of the noticeable records this week. These include the Pink-footed Geese, which were seen in a flock of over 4000 birds. From many to few, we had a male Stonechat on the footpath this week, and on a wet track in the woodland, a Grey Wagtail! Finally, out on Loch Ryan, we had our usual complement of Common Scoter, but with 3 Velvet Scoters as an added bonus. 

And so that's another week wrapped up. Now we head into March where we can hope to see an influx of many birds, including the Spring Wheatears, and if we're lucky the first Swallows and Ospreys. Until then, thanks for checking out the blog and happy birdwatching!

(All records and photos belong to Stephen Grover, please ask for permission if you wish to use them)

Another Dose of the Deluge: Bird Report for 17/02/20 - 23/02/20

At this point, I think we're all resigned to the weather, be it wind, rain, sleet or snow. Nonetheless, there is still a lot out there to see, even if I had to endure some unpleasant side effects to get out and see it!

Where better to begin than on the beach with our waders? Taking shelter from the high winds they were often hunkered down in the shelter of a rock, whilst occasionally braving the gale to run along the shore in search of food. Hardest to spot are the Turnstones, whose mottled backs offer the perfect camouflage amongst the seaweed pebbles. Once they make a run for it though you can pick them out, and there were as many as 38 on the beach this week. Often seen running alongside them were Ringed Plover, whilst Oystercatchers, Curlew and Redshank were common sights all along the beach. Among them was a lone Dunlin, likely blown in by our numerous storms. This still wasn't all of our waders however, as 11 Bar-tailed Godwits were recorded later in the week. Finally, a small flock of 4 Grey Plovers was seen past the end of Fishers Lane, but they refused to stay put for a picture!

Days later, and we finally got a Grey Plover photo!

With the amount of rain we've had recently, everything is very muddy and boggy, so birds in the fields might as well be waders. As always we had our large flock of Pale-Bellied Brent geese - accompanied by their Dark-bellied cousin - who graze in the Swan Fields. This week they seemed to grow a little, with one count recording over 270 Geese (previous counts have them around 200). Pink-footed Geese can still be heard coming into roost at night, and a flock of 200 birds was counted. We even had a couple of Greylags down on the Wig, including an immature bird.

Continuing the trend of large flocks, and the gulls have been gathering in good numbers this week. Whilst Black-headed and Great Black-backed gulls appeared in regular numbers, both Common and Herring Gulls were recorded in flocks of over 150 birds. We also got some new gulls this week, not in huge numbers, but 5 Kittiwakes were very nice to see as they took shelter from the storm. They weren't the only birds taking shelter in our calmer waters though, as we had several Gannets visit the loch over the week.

Perhaps the best suited to these storms are the divers, after all, it's already very wet when you're underwater! Red-throated Diver numbers were a little low this week, peaking at 21 birds. This is probably not a reflection of the number of birds out there though, and more just our inability to see them. They weren't alone, as we also had a record of a Black-throated Diver, as well as a few Great-Northern Divers.

On the surface of the water, we had our regular complement of ducks, including Red-breasted Mergansers, Long-tailed Ducks, Eider and Goldeneye. Their numbers were a bit down from usual, but that was to be expected given the circumstances. One species who appeared unaffected was the Common Scoter, which whilst seen daily also were recorded in a flock of up to 300 birds.

You can tell its been raining - edge of Corsewall Estate

As you go round the Wig, instead of turning up Fishers Lane you can continue along the beach a bit further. This takes you past a patch of marshland (now very wet thanks to all that rain) which this week had Grey Herons, and up to 60 Teal - even if they are often easier to hear than see. Further along this stretch, we had another new species for the Blog, a pair of Bullfinches! Bullfinches are rather scarce locally, and the Wig isn't their preferred habitat (woodlands - or even gardens are ideal) so they are a rare record for us. This doesn't mean they are rare bird themselves, just their natural habitat and elusive natures make them hard to spot and so they could well be under-recorded.

Following down the trail along the beach, you should eventually reach a gated path bearing left, which loops back around through the Corsewall Estate and ends up in Kirkcolm Village. There are still a few signposts to go up, but once complete this should be a nice addition to the circuit and provide some new habitats to explore. Wrapping along the edge of the woodland, it is a great spot to listen out for some birds. From across the field, you often hear the whistling of Teal, whilst in the tree's Great-spotted Woodpecker and Nuthatches are regular callers. Blue, Great and Coal Tits were all recorded here this week, as well as a Jay which was nice to see.

A Tree Sparrow waits in the queue

You don't need an estate garden to be able to see a good diversity of species though. In our own garden, we've had Carrion Crows (and the Hybrid), Collared Doves, Starlings, Chaffinches, Robins, Goldfinches, Dunnocks, and at one point, over 50 House Sparrows. It's amazing what will stop to visit if you have a little food out in your birdfeeders. Indeed, it is the food that attracts our semi-regular Tree Sparrow, as we only record it after we fill up the birdfeeders! It's nice to see it still about, and perhaps if we keep feeding it, it will become a resident.

And so another week comes to a close. Whilst the wind and rain don't seem to be stopping any time soon, the good news is that February is drawing to a close. A new month will hopefully bring new weather and the promise of spring. I hope you all enjoyed this post, and we'll be back next week with another bird round-up. 

(All photos and records belong to Stephen Grover, please ask for permission if you wish to use them)

A Wetland Birds Paradise - Piltanton Burn

This week I thought I would highlight a great local birdwatching spot, the Piltanton Burn. Located between Dunragit and Glenluce, the burn flows out into the Luce Bay and provides a variety of habitats for numerous species. It is here where we do our monthly WeBS (Wetland Bird Survey) counts, and so we visit it often and have racked up over 110 different species. 

Piltanton Burn - taken from the Stranraer and the Rhins OS Map

The burn can be accessed by turning off the B7084 and parking up at the golf course. From here there is a track that runs alongside the golf course before reaching the shore. There is a parking area at the end of the track for those who would like to walk less distance. In the fields and hedges, you can get all sorts of species, including House Sparrows and Tits, to Stonechats and Greenfinches. 

Upon reaching the beach the Luce Sands stretch out in front of you and can be further accessed by walking in either direction. These sands are a hotspot for waders and have species like the common Oystercatcher and Curlew, to the exciting Greenshanks and Knot, with all kinds of Plovers and Sandpipers in between. When the tide is out they can be scattered across the miles of sand and mud, and you can easily spend a good hour scanning through them all. Its always worth it to look though, as occasionally you get some rarities like the White-rumped Sandpiper we had last year, which was a first for Dumfries and Galloway.

The sands of the estuary are also a great place for ducks, with Mallard and Wigeon being very common on the banks of the burn. Shelducks are often spread out across the flats with sometimes over 50 birds feeding on the shore. They aren't without rarities though, as amongst its cousins a Ruddy Shelduck was once recorded.

Being on the shore this area gets a lot of seabirds, especially if the tide is right in and they come into binocular range. Guillemots and Razorbills are often out on the sea itself, whilst Gannets are easier to see flying overhead. There are bound to be plenty more species out at sea, but occasionally they will come in close enough for us to make out. So whilst we've had a record of Pomarine Skua, its very likely that Arctic Skuas are out there as well.

Piltanton Estuary at low tide 

Like anywhere on the coast, this is a great place for gulls. Alongside the common species like Herring and Black-headed Gulls, we've also had Lesser Black-backed gulls and the occasional record of an Iceland and Glaucous Gull.

With all of these birds flocking to the estuary, it can be a veritable banquet for raptors. Buzzards, Sparrowhawks, and Kestrels are a common sight coming out from the woods. Between these and the Peregrines and Merlins, there is always something hunting on the burn. We occasionally, get harriers as well, including Marsh and Hen Harriers. Finally, being a burn and on Luce Bay, there is one additional food source for those specialized to catch it. And so there have been several records of Ospreys flying overhead as they pass over on a fishing trip.

Piltanton Burn has one more feature beyond all its birds that makes it such a good visit. In the summer months, on a warm day, you may want to watch where you place your feet when walking in the undergrowth. Sometimes very hard to spot (I myself have walked right past them), Adders can often be seen sunning themselves on a warm patch of sand. Their small size makes them easy to miss, but when found they are unmistakable. Often they will just move away when they hear you coming, but on occasion, it is possible to go right up to them and get some great photographs!

A female Adder trying to warm up in the sun

And with that, you're back at the car park! Whilst only a short walk it is easy to spend hours on the beach trying to take in all there is to see. This definitely is the spot if you're wanting to see wetland birds, and with its easy access, I would always recommend checking it out.

(All photos are the property of Stephen Grover, please ask for permission if you want to use them)