Another glorious week of bird watching has passed, and somehow we find ourselves in July all of a sudden. Summer certainly does seem to be going by at a rapid rate, and so soon will many of our species. Yet somehow we are still getting new records this far into the year. With the autumn migration soon upon us, it could well be that with the influx of wintering species we will get many more new species. For now at least we still have plenty of great species to look at in this article.
As a sea-loch, we get a lot of Seabirds frequenting the Wig, many of which either feed or breed nearby. One of the most numerous are Gannets, of which we got between 10 and 50 every day this week. We also had some good records of Black Guillemots, including 9 birds in one day. A more irregular visitor, we had a Kittiwake this week. We get the odd record of them every now and then, but so far one seabird has been missing from this blog. Fortunately we were able to remedy that, and this week had our first record of Manx Shearwaters for the blog. As seabirds they spend most of their time out over water on the hunt for food, returning to their nests on remote islands. In the UK we are lucky enough to have several breeding sites, and so on occasion they will head into the loch in their search for food.
Whilst our summer birds are still very much with us, many species which winter here are slowly starting to trickle in. We can see this in some of our ducks. Whilst the large summer flocks of Eider are still present on the Loch, we are also getting more frequent records of Common Scoter. In summer they breed in northern Europe, and so we've had sporadic records of a handful of birds over the past few months. Whilst not the huge flocks we can get in winter, this week we've had several flocks varying from 50-80 birds, early breeders which are just a prelude to the many more that will join us shortly. Elsewhere we've had some other early arrivals, including a lone Red-throated Diver, and some small groups of Black-tailed Godwits.
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| Whilst not the best picture, we were still able to get these Ruffs on camera |
Sticking with the waders, this week has been especially good for them. Alongside staple species like Oystercatchers and Curlews, we've also had the odd record of Ringed Plovers and Turnstones this week. A small flock of 14 Dunlin and a lone Knot found their way to the Wig, whilst up at Loch Connell we found a pair of elusive Moorhens. Amongst these returning waders though we found yet another new species, our first Ruff at the Wig this year! They breed over in northern Europe, then return to our shores to winter. We get a few of these birds each year, but they are still pretty rare and always nice to see.
As always there are loads of species to see around the Wig. This week has been good for raptors, with our local Buzzard pair successful raising a single chick this year. We had some less common species, including a Kestrel over the Corsewall Estate and a pair of Grey Wagtails over at Loch Connell.
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| A young Common Toad makes a dash for it |
As usual, we see more than just birds on our travels, and this week we've had a nice spread of insects, amphibians, and mammals. We are probably all used to seeing Spiders in our homes or in the garden, but how about spiders living underwater? Once such species manages this, the Diving Bell Spider. Found in freshwaters all across Europe, we had our first record of them this week. They are probably relatively common to the UK, however, unless you are actively looking for them then they remain hidden in the water. Keeping to damp areas, and within the marsh we found not only a Toad, but a Frog as well! Finally, alongside our regular mammals like Roe Deer and Brown Hare, we had a small group of three Bottle-nosed Dolphins swimming in the loch.
As ever its been another exciting week. I am constantly surprised with how our species list is able to grow. We're well over 100 different species now, and with the autumn migration soon upon us, that number could easily rise again. No matter what the end of summer brings I'm sure it will be exciting, and we will share it all here with you.
[All photographs were taken by and belong to Stephen Grover, please ask for permission if you wish to use them.]
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