Rain, Rain Go Away! Bird Report for 13/01/20 - 19/01/20

I'm sure I started last weeks blog with a comment about the weather but if you'd believe it possible, its been even more atrocious this week with it raining almost daily and wind speeds reaching 70mph at one point. Weather like this is a bit of a double edged sword. On one hand stormy weather is likely to blow birds in from the Atlantic as they shelter it out on the loch. The only problem being that we can't get out to go see them! Despite all this, we were still able to get some new and interesting records for the week.

Starting with geese, we had the usual compliment of around 180 Pale-bellied Brent's (PB) feeding in the fields. However, among them was a Dark-bellied Brent Goose (DB) which is more unusual to see We regularly see PB's as they come across from Canada to winter in Ireland and along the West Coast. DB's however come from Russia and normally winter in lowland European countries, or eastern England. It may just have been luck that brought them into contact, but now that they've found each other it looks like the DB will stay with the PB's until they return to their summer breeding grounds. Certainly we have been seeing the DB on and off for a few weeks now, so it is very likely the same bird that is hanging around.  Like the saying goes, birds of a feather...

Pale-Bellied (left) and Dark-Bellied (right) Brent Geese - Loch Ryan

Speaking of birds wintering, the Long-Tailed Ducks are still present on the Loch in good numbers for our area. Alongside them are regular counts of Eider, Scaup and Shelduck, with Mallards and Teal being seen on the nearby Loch Connell.

Last week we had the unexpected Tree Sparrows visit our garden and I'm happy to say that they were seen again. Indeed many of our records this week were from our garden (I can birdwatch from the table without having to get wet) including House Sparrows, Dunnocks, Chaffinches, Starlings, Blue and Great Tits, and even a few Goldfinches. Looking to the beaches there were no shortage of small birds there either, with Pied Wagtail, Twite and Rock Pipit all recorded.

Scuttling along the beach were also waders, and as usual we got a good diversity. Oystercatchers, Turnstones and Curlew were seen regularly and during a coastal walk back from Stranraer there were also good numbers of Redshank (16), Dunlin (60+) and Bar-Tailed Godwits (18). We also had our first Lapwing, which are relatively uncommon round here, especially in the winter.

Lapwing - On the margins around Loch Connell

If I had to sum up this week in a colour, it would be red (then grey - for an overcast sky) with this colour featuring heavily on many birds this week. The Red-breasted Mergansers were out in force, seen every day in counts as high as 73. Red-Throated Divers were present in good numbers (with the Great Nothern Divers also recorded, along with a solitary Black-throated Diver) and our rarity for this week, a Red-necked Grebe. These are very similar to Slavonian Grebes (which are still regular sights on the loch) however, and can be distinguished by their slightly larger size and their yellow base to the bill.

Slavonian Grebe - note the uniform bill colour

As per usual I'm running out of words without having listed all of the species seen, however  I couldn't finish this without mentioning our mammal highlight for this week, Bottlenose Dolphins! Seemingly just swimming into the loch whenever they feel like, they are an unusual occurrence but one we are always happy to see.  And now I really have reached end this time. As always I hope you enjoyed this weekly report and please let me know what you have all been seeing this week. 

(All records and photo's submitted by Stephen Grover, please ask for permission to use them)