Black and Red: Bird Report for 02/03/20 - 08/03/20

March is well and truly upon us, and as spring rapidly approaches, we should start to see lots of species turning up. Amongst these include Wheatears, Sand Martins, and perhaps some of the first Ospreys of the year. Whilst we have not seen any of these yet, it didn't stop us from finding yet more new and exciting species!

After my wader identification guide, it seems only suitable to start with them, and indeed this week we've had a veritable horde of waders. Oystercatchers and Curlews are as common as ever, with records of up to 180 and 60 birds respectably. Turnstones, Ringed Plovers and Redshanks were also seen all along the coast, from the Wig to Stranraer and Bishop Burn. And in amongst them, we had yet more species. Grey Plovers are still about, with a pair seen on the scar on Tuesday. Two must have been the magic number that day, as we also recorded a pair of Dunlin! Finally, whilst not a definite record, I had a probable Little Stint at the edge of Stranraer. Whilst I could have easily been mistaken (not bringing my binoculars was a big mistake!) a record was posted in Dumfries and Galloway barely 30 minutes after I saw it. If anyone knows anything about this record I would be very interested in hearing about it. 

Black Guillemot moulting from Winter into Summer plumage

Looking past the waders, and the waters of the loch had much to offer this week. Perhaps for the first time this year, we got our full complement of auks. Black Guillemots are regular sighting on the loch, indeed our highest count this week was 24 individuals. Guillemots are not so common, however on Thursday we got not only 1, but 6 Razorbills as well! They are not resident birds, but breed on Ailsa Craig in huge numbers, so we should expect to see them increase in the coming weeks. 

Our divers and grebes were not to be outdone, with a lot of surprises cropping up this week. Great-northern Divers are still about in ones and twos, but it is the Red-throated divers who stole the show this week. These are regular visitors to the loch, and we often how counts varying from a handful to up to 40-50 birds. However, this week we had a count of 197 separate individuals, a staggering amount. The nationally notable amount for Red-throated divers is 170, and whilst across the whole loch, this might seem pretty reasonable, to have more than that in our patch is very pleasing to see.

Whilst it was very easy to get distracted by all the divers, the true star this week belonged to the Grebes, as a lone Red-necked Grebe graced our waters. Whilst being a rare winter visitor this is our 2nd record this year, so perhaps they're on the rise!

Red-throated Diver in Winter plumage (gains red throat in summer)

March continues to be a good month for raptors, as this week we had up to 4 Buzzards, and last weeks Kestrel made a return as well. The action didn't stop there, as we also got yet more new species. Tawny Owls are relatively common in the woods around us, but actually seeing them can be a bit of a challenge. They often call at night, however on occasion will call in the day time which helps you pin down their location.  Our other new species was a Hen Harrier. Whilst fairly regular on the moors above Cairnryan, they occasionally come down across the loch to visit us. This bird gave us a lot of confusion initially, as on the ground it was just another brown raptor. It wasn't till it took off (flushing out 20 Snipe in the process) that we could make out its white bum to identify it. 

A few other species of interest this week included, Jay, Treecreeper and several Ravens all throughout the Corsewall Estate. We also had a Lesser Black-backed Gull. This bird likely spent the winter in Portugal (a wise decision!) and now is returning to our shores. 

Finally, we had our monthly count at Piltanton Burn this week. It was a relatively quiet month, but still had a great count of 58 Shelduck. Waders were good as always, including 6 Greenshanks, and 3 Little Egrets which are always nice to see. 

That's all for this week. Hopefully, as we progress through March we will start seeing more new records popping up, and I would be very interested to hear from you all when you start to see some of the spring species arriving.

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