Fall Rainfall: Bird Report for 19/10/20 - 25/10/20

It seems like the weather has finally realised that it is autumn, for this last week has seen some heavy rain showers and strong gusts of wind. Despite this, we've still managed to get out and about and see lots of brilliant birds. We started off the week with a single swallow. This may well be the last of this species we see until next year and, given the weather it was facing, who can blame it really! Hopefully the poor bird manages to dry out when it reaches Africa!

The wet weather has resulted in many pools forming in some of the fields along the wig (which, for this reason, we call them the pool fields!) and these have been put to good use, with a flock over 200 common gulls roosting there while 17 curlews and a bar-tailed godwit fed around them. Other waders seen this week include counts of 2 dunlins, 192 golden plovers, 6 grey plovers, 10 knot, approximately 94 ringed plovers and 148 oystercatchers.

A Slavonian grebe

Loch Connell also sported some waders, with a total of 58 lapwing being seen. Also at Loch Connell there were 2 Canada geese, 2 cormorants, 145 teals and 2 herons. A further 2 herons were seen at the marsh on the same day. The marsh was providing twos that day, for two reed bunting also were flitting about the vegetation. Whilst not at Loch Connell, the goosander that flew over our house had no doubt come from there. It made for a nice garden record anyway!

At the mention of gardens, many of our 'common' species have been showing well this week. 3 dunnocks were present in our garden while a neighbour had a single flock of 19 collared doves and the field beyond our gardens sported 44 goldfinches. A single buzzard has been seen around the woods this week - it is likely that there are more of these majestic raptors about but they are less vocal than in the summer. A roosting flock of jackdaws numbered over 100 birds and, sticking with corvids, a flock of 10 carrion crows was at the Fisher's Lane outlet (carrion crows tend to be found singly or in small flocks). A different carrion crow was seen along the beach, differentiated by a pure white spot on its breast. Over 70 woodpigeons were seen feeding in a stubble field. This time of year is best for movements of woodpigeons and the flock of 75 that was flying south west earlier in the week were likely migrants heading for winter pastures.

Other winter migrants are of course our thrushes. We've seen 14 fieldfares, a mistle thrush and 2 song thrushes over the course of this week. Another migrant, a late wheatear, was seen on the beach. This leads us nicely into little brown jobs: 2 linnets were seen this week ,compared to the highest day-count of roughly 110 twite. 3 rock pipits were outnumbered by 7 meadow pipits and 26 skylarks were present in a single day (including a flock of 20 birds). The number of wintering skylarks has been very few in recent years but perhaps this is a sign that they are on the increase again. With all these tasty morsel about, it's no surprise that raptors would be too and this week we saw a peregrine and a merlin.

A first-winter wheatear

A day later, Gill Deacon was luck enough to see another merlin (or was it the same bird?) flying towards Stranraer. While at Marian Jetty, Gill also saw a velvet scoter, 3 long-tailed ducks, some Slavonian grebes, red-breasted mergansers, common scoters, a razorbill and 3 red-throated divers. All in all, a nice selection of the birds that are present on Loch Ryan at the moment.

Also out on the loch, this week we have seen 4 black guillemots, a guillemot, a red-necked grebe, another velvet scoter and a single great northern diver (on two different days). Some of our highest day-counts this week include 108 common scoters, 67 red-breasted mergansers and 128 shags (hauled at the scar and Cairnryan pier in groups of 38 and 90, respectively). A single shelduck and a lonesome pink-footed goose were around the scar and the pale-bellied brent goose flock stood at a highest count of 174 birds this week. These small geese are still increasing in number, although their dark-bellied cousins haven't been seen for some weeks now.

As ever, there are so many birds out there that I could happily talk about them forever! For now, perhaps I'd better sign off and settle for going and and watching them instead.

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

Birding the Town Part 1: Urban Birding in Stranraer

When we think of bird-watching, we think of lakes, estuaries, woods, mudflats, uplands or other remote areas that generally see little foot traffic. Rarely when we think of bird-watching is a town the first place that springs to mind. However, "urban birding" (as championed by the famous Urban Birder David Lindo) can be rewarding in its own right and in this article I shall highlight the best birding that can be had in my local town: Stranraer.

As towns go, Stranraer is actually fairly good for birding. A small coastal town, Stranraer has several good sites where you can look out over Loch Ryan, thus significantly increasing the number of species that you might expect to see. I'll go into more detail about some of these sites later on (see Part 2) but for now let's talk about more general urban birding.

First of all, there are a number of species that you might expect to see in towns and cities wherever you go. Such 'common' species are often over-looked and undervalued, such as corvids, pigeons and gulls. However, that's not to say that these species don't deserve a second look.

An inquisitive rook. They lose the feathers at the base of their bills through frequent probing in the ground for food.

Of the four commonest corvid species in towns (carrion crows, jackdaws, magpies and rooks), the magpie is the only species not to be regularly sighted in Stranraer (perhaps surprisingly, it's actually fairly uncommon to see a magpie in our neck of the woods). Jackdaws and rooks will gather into large flocks, while carrion crows tend to travel singly or in smaller groups. It always worth looking twice at carrion crows, for some can be recognised individually by their tendency to grow white feathers (startling obvious against their black plumage and can look stunning when present in the wings). On occasion, hooded crows have also been seen near Stranraer, however, this species is fairly irregular and you are more likely to see a carrion x hooded crow hybrid (highly variable in appearance but with less extensive grey markings).

Pigeons are of course present wherever you go. Most will be feral pigeons but woodpigeons and their close cousin the collared dove also flourish within Stranraer. Birds on the beach are worth a second look, for there many be a 'true' rock dove (the ancestor of today's racing pigeons) amongst its feral pigeon relatives. The object of many disparaging remarks, if you care to look at them, the varied plumages of the feral pigeon can be rather pretty. I sense that I haven't convinced you, so I'll instead mention the other great worth of feral pigeons: their appeal as a meal for a peregrine falcon!

Gulls have become an expected site in urban areas and as a coastal town, this is especially true for Stranraer. Whether floating by overhead or tapping around on grassy areas to try and entice worms to the surface, gulls may be seen anywhere in Stranraer. In the winter they may form large roosts on the outskirts and in the summer the gulls stick around to breed. Herring gull, lesser and great black-backed gulls and black-headed gulls have all been recorded breeding in Stranraer (the latter only once that I know of and it was an unsuccessful attempt, they prefer to nest in colonies). Similarly, I only know of one lesser black-backed pair and a couple of great black-backed gull pairs in Stranraer. The most common nesting gull is the herring gull, yet despite what some people think, only a small number of herring gulls nest on buildings within the town. The majority of pairs nest at the abandoned outskirts of the town, where they will be undisturbed by us humans.

A longer bill and a small cere - is this a feral pigeon or a true rock dove?

Another abundant (yet less thought of) species to be found in towns and cities is the pied wagtail. A specialist insect catcher, pied wagtails may be seen flitting across rooftops or boldly strutting down the street. These attractive little birds increase in number during the winter, for they come together to roost in the urban heat.

As we might expect, gardens and other green spaces are key to attracting birds into urban areas. Fortunately, as a rural town, Stranraer has plenty of these. The familiar house sparrows, great, blue and coal tits, chaffinches, dunnocks and goldfinches frequent these areas. They may be slightly less common but it is by no means unreasonable to look for siskins and lesser redpolls as well. Starlings may be seen zipping by in small flocks during the summer or wheeling in larger murmurations during the winter. Blackbirds, wrens and robins may all be heard singing in the early hours of the morning (it has been suggested that artificial light makes them prone to singing earlier than they normally would). Of course, this abundance of prey makes seeing a sparrowhawk all the more likely.

Other species are more seasonal in their appearance. Rock pipits spread into town during the winter - be sure to check for water pipits or the 'Scandinavian' rock pipit (Anthus petrosus littoralis). Also winter birds, black redstarts prefer urban areas to other habitats and have been recorded in Stranraer on a few occasions now. Perhaps it is the summer species that we are more familiar with though. House martins nest on our, er... houses... and swifts fly screaming overhead, especially near the cheese factory where they breed in small numbers.

A few years back now: a herring gull nesting in the long stay car park!

If all of the above species are what you expected then I'm here to tell you to look out for that which you don't expect to see in urban areas. What's that those swallows are alarming at and mobbing, a hobby? Surely that small winter gull is a little gull and that large corvid can't be anything but a raven? A longer-tailed wagtail is likely to be a grey wagtail and check out all those buzzards because hen harrier has been recorded in Stranraer before! Waxwings and bramblings may make an appearance in the winter, whilst blackcaps, willow warblers, chiffchaffs and goldcrests may flit about in the summer. Whilst many species do avoid flying into urban areas, this does not prevent them from flying over them. You may see many migratory species passing above the town, so always double check those birds that fly high overhead. You can also hear these species, which is often easier on quiet nights. Well known examples of species that may be heard calling as they migrate at night (recording them is known as noc mig) include geese, thrushes and waders.

So whilst many urban species are 'common' and well-known to us, others are perhaps less expected but still regular in Stranraer. Often, the expectancy of seeing commoner species can often make finding a scarce species in town even more exciting than it would be seeing the species in an expected habitat. It's all a matter of keeping on looking, even in unexpected places - remember that an ivory gull was found in a Stranraer garden last year!

Hopefully, in this article I've managed to convince you to always take your binoculars with you when you go out into town and in the second part of this article (shortly to follow in another blog post!), I'll highlight some specific places in Stranraer that can be especially good for birding.

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

Wandering Birds and Wintering Birds: Bird Report for 12/10/20 - 18/12/20

This last week has seen mostly fair weather with some easterly winds and as such October has once again produced a great selection of birds for us to see. Waders have been showing in good numbers this week, with highest day-counts of 6 grey plovers, 3 bar-tailed godwits, 20 dunlins, 10 knots, 58 turnstones, a whimbrel, over 80 curlews and roughly 100 ringed plovers. To add to this, 6 snipe were present at Loch Connell.

Flocks of a few hundred pink-footed geese flew over nearly every day this week, being accompanied by a single barnacle goose one day (picked out by its barking call). Some pinkies were also seen grazing in a stubble field - clearly a favourite field because another day saw roughly 40 greylag geese feeding there. A flock of 14 whooper swans was spotted, including our first juvenile birds of the winter. Down in number from last week, our pale-bellied brent goose flock maxed at 100 birds.

Out on Loch Ryan itself, the total number of mute swans this week reached a high of 84 birds. 3 goldeneyes were paddling about, 4 mallards decided to visit the scar and the wigeon flock at the wig increased to 182 birds. These little whistling ducks look especially smart (and, dare I say it, cute) when waddling about on the mud at low tide. Back over the loch, small numbers of gannets were present most days, including a single juvenile bird.

A male wigeon looking very dapper

One spectacular day mid-week saw 49 great-crested grebes, a red-necked grebe, 20 Slavonian grebes and 53 red-throated divers out on the loch. This day also had a male long-tailed duck - our first of the winter. I can't wait for these handsome ducks to increase in number once again. It turned out to be a great day all around - with 71 species being seen on our patch throughout the whole day!

Making its way back into the blog after a short absence, a pheasant announced its presence by calling. We made good use of our ears this week, also picking up the 'hweet' call of a chiffchaff, 2 ravens cronking, 2 jays squawking and a flock of 8 long-tailed tits alarming at a female sparrowhawk. Tit flocks are great to check through at this time of year and this week a treecreeper and goldcrests were hidden amongst the blue tits, great tits and coal tits. On top of this, a further flock of 14 long-tailed tits visited our garden.

Our garden has been particularly busy this week, with 2 greenfinches visiting, a large flock of over 60 house sparrows and a great spotted woodpecker came along two days in a row. We don't normally see woodpeckers in our garden - perhaps I should put out peanuts more often! Fieldfares made their appearance with a bang (or, in reality, a series of rattling calls) with a flock of over 60 landing in our garden hedge... okay, I'll admit that the entire flock wasn't in our hedge alone... Moving on, a grey wagtail was also very close to our garden (next door's lawn!) and - arriving later than the fieldfares - our first 5 redwings of the winter were sighted this week.

This last week has also seen good numbers of what I call 'small twittering birds'. Roughly 30 chaffinches and the same number of goldfinches 'shared' a field, although it was interesting to see that these two flocks never mixed and stuck to opposite ends of the same field. The number of greenfinches at the wig has increased (with up to 20 birds present) and the highest count of twite this week was approximately 170 birds. Occasionally dodging past these flocks, the white-winged black tern remained at the wig and was seen every day this last week. The tern managed to attract to it something that is quite a scarcity in these parts: birdwatchers! It was great to be able to meet and put some faces to readers. We also owe these readers the record of a peregrine that was seen hunting starlings in the wig fields - it certainly stood a fair chance of catching one, for there was a single flock of over 600 starlings around this week.

A handsome greenfinch

This weekend was also the WeBS (Wetland Bird Survey) count, so we went out to record what was present at Piltanton Burn. Highlights include a treecreeper at the golf course car park (on a gorse bush!), a flock of 584 golden plovers, 6 little egrets and 16 grey plovers. Having been on the lookout for them for the past month, to be able to get such close views of the grey plovers was a particular pleasure for me. They were even obliging enough to flap when preening to reveal their unique black 'armpit'. Some other counts include: 161 common gulls, 47 dunlin, 2 greenshank, 32 redshank, 73 ringed plovers, a sanderling, 11 shelduck, 3 snipe, 138 wigeon and 18 lapwings.

Our total of lapwings, however, was trumped by regular contributor Gill Deacon. While scanning a freshly tilled field, instead of finding the expected wheeling gull flock, Gill found a flock of approximately 50 lapwings in amongst large numbers of starlings and pied wagtails. Nice spotting!

Finally, I'll just finish off with some 'miscellaneous others' (i.e. I forgot to put them in earlier!). An adult Mediterranean gull was at the wig at the beginning of the week, looking very smart in its winter plumage. Two wheatears were seen over the week and, to end the week, two sandwich terns passed over the scar.

That must be it for this week and a heartfelt thanks for reading. I look forward to continuing to share with you the birding wonders of the wig.

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

New Species, Tern 2: Bird Report for 05/10/20 - 11/10/20

As I hinted in the last blog post, this week has been filled with a great diversity of species. This includes yet another new species for this blog but, because I'm mean, you shall have to wait until the end to find out what it is... 

Often overlooked during this month of migration, our year-round species have been showing rather well this week. The greenfinches at the wig track are still hanging around and have increased to at least 6 individuals now. Joining these on the wig track this week was a male reed bunting - although this species can be found all year round they tend to be a little elusive (especially at this time of year). Two of our other elusive residents were also spotted this week in the woods: a jay and a great spotted woodpecker.

Several large gull flocks gathered together during the week. Over 100 black-headed gulls, approximately 260 common gulls, 4 great black-backed gulls and over 500 herring gulls were around the scar one evening. Another day saw a gull flock of well over a thousand birds in the fields by Loch Connell in the late afternoon. Whilst not everybody's cup of tea, I took great pleasure in scanning through each and every gull, obtaining rough counts and checking for any rarities. Whilst there were no rarities, the flock was composed of over 120 black-headed gulls, over 100 common gulls, 2 great black-back gulls, over 880 herring gulls and 3 lesser black-backed gulls. On to slightly more unusual gulls, 7 kittiwakes flew around Loch Ryan during the week.

Black-headed gull (left) and common gull (right)

Other resident species that are also migrants have been passing through this past week. Blackbirds have been spotted every day - no doubt a mixture of residents and migrant birds. The flock of 10 song thrushes were highly likely to be migrants, as were the three mistle thrushes that were seen (and heard!) throughout the week. Hopefully these will be joined by fieldfare and redwing soon.

The fields next to the wig are often home to flocks of linnets (highest count of over 50 this week), during the winter they are also home to twite. This week has seen an invasion of twite into these fields - a single flock of at least 400 birds was present on Tuesday! Recent years have seen a decline in the local number of twite - no doubt due to changing management of the fields - so this was a brilliant count. It's no wonder that a female merlin was seen hunting over these fields this week! A peregrine was also seen hunting over the scar but - judging by the turnstone wing that I found - it had larger prey on its mind.

A couple of twite - note the yellow bill, compared the the grey bill of winter-plumage linnets.

Despite one of their number (at least!) being eaten, good numbers of wader species have been recorded - with ten species of wader being recorded on Sunday alone. Of these, highlights include over 40 confiding turnstones and a flock of over 120 golden plovers wheeling overhead. One knot was recorded again this week and the two bar-tailed godwits have found a friend, bringing their total up to three. Three dunlin were also recorded throughout the week, being joined one day by a curlew sandpiper - it's always nice to see these small waders as they pass through on migration.

Our summer birds are fast disappearing, with a highest count of 5 swallows seen this week. We only saw two house martins this week and both at the beginning of the week. Having seen none since, these perhaps may have been the last martins we see until next summer. Another species that is decreasing in number is the gannet, with a high of only 5 being counted this week. These magnificent birds spend their winters out at sea and while they do occasionally stray back into the loch, they are not a common sight during the winter.

On the other hand, our wintering ducks and geese are increasing at full throttle. A male velvet scoter remained on Loch Ryan this week and our pale-bellied brent goose flock has increased to 132 individuals. At Loch Connell, the first of our winter goosanders has appeared: a single 'redhead' individual. Several flocks of pink-footed geese have been heard flying overhead (at least 70 in one flock) and, back at the scar, 18 whooper swans were seen flying over.

Also at the scar, we finally (last but certainly not least!) come to our new species for the blog. As you may have guessed from the blog title, it is another tern: a white-winged black tern. Another marsh tern, this juvenile individual was first seen the day after last week's black tern - and in the same place no less! While at first we thought it might be the black tern again it didn't take long to see that this was in fact the rarer white-winged black tern (if accepted it will be the second SBRC-confirmed record for Dumfries and Galloway). With it's highly manoeuvrable and fast flight, it is remarkably hard to take pictures of! Despite it having been around all week, we've only seen it settled a couple of times. Although, being only a bit bigger than a ringed plover (perhaps this is why it seems to like sitting with them!), it is remarkably hard to spot when it's not flapping about, either over the scar or in the fields. The tern has been providing some cracking views, with one memorable moment when it was passing between it's feeding and resting sites - it swooped over our heads by just a few metres! Still present at the end of the week, a few other local birders have been fortunate enough to see it.

Juvenile white-winged black tern

Although the white-winged black tern may have stolen the show, there is still a great diversity of other birds to see and we can't wait to see what will come next. We've had two out three of the marsh terns... whiskered tern next, anyone?

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

Tern Around - New Species About! - Bird Report for 28/09/20 - 04/10/20

Another week has been and gone and October is really showing its stuff - there are so many birds about that it makes it difficult to decide what to talk about first! I guess I'll just have to start alphabetically and see where things go from there! Two bar-tailed godwits have been present for most of the week, with another being spotted at Loch Connell. Whether these are the same birds or not is difficult to tell. Other waders of note include a ruff, 6 knot out on the scar, a total of 230 oystercatchers, 22 golden plovers and 24 ringed plovers. There must be more of the latter about, but spotting ringed plovers is very much looking for moving pebbles!

Out on the loch, many of our wintering birds are increasing in number. Common scoter are up to 138, the single goldeneye of last week has increased to 6, red-breasted mergansers are up to 116 and our highest count of eiders this week was 398. Typical - of course the number of eiders would increase after we went out to specifically count them (see last week's blog post!). 153 shags were seen one day, alongside over 140 common gulls and over 100 herring gulls. 59 red-throated divers were joined by 2 black-throated divers and 21 Slavonian grebes were joined by 2 red-necked grebes. The Slavonian grebes are looking particularly nice at this time of year - many are still moulting out of their summer plumage and have patchy red-coloured necks. Two velvet scoters were also seen this week: a male and a female.

A knot - my favourite wader for the sheer number of terrible pun opportunities that it provides!

Closer in to shore, 80 mute swans have been scattered in a number of flocks around the loch. To our delight, these were joined by 15 whooper swans at the wig. These slightly smaller swans have been returning to spend the winter here and it was great to finally see our first for this winter. Hopefully we will see many more in the weeks to come. 5 mallards were also seen paddling about - these are more often seen on Loch Connell than at our end of Loch Ryan. On top of this, our pale-bellied brent goose flock has increased to up to 120 individuals.

Winging about with their bouncy flight, the start of the week saw 4 sandwich terns. It appears to have been a very poor year for terns locally, so it was nice to see these individuals about. These weren't the only terns of the week either. Just sneaking into this week's records, Sunday saw another tern. Not just any tern either, a new species for this blog: a juvenile black tern. Black terns are from a different genus from sandwich, arctic and common terns - a genus known as marsh terns (so called because they may breed in marshes and, unlike other terns, can readily be found feeding inland). Marsh terns have a distinctive flight that is different from the feeding pattern of other terns. They have a fast flight and will rapidly veer about and change direction, pausing only to snatch insects from the air. This was the first black tern I've ever seen (only the second our family has seen in this area), so needless to say I was rather excited about it! It just goes to show that you never know what might be flying around.

Keeping our eyes to the skies, we've also seen many more familiar migrants this week. 11 pied wagtails way our highest day-count for this week, along with 2 grey wagtails, 29 skylarks and 10 meadow pipits. It was also a good week for wheatears, with 17 birds being recorded in total (with 11 in one day, so we at least know that these were all different birds). We also saw 3 greenfinches at the wig - just after last week I said that they weren't very common for us!

'Common and brown' to some, I think house sparrows are beautiful and their cheeping flocks are welcome in my garden any time.

Our garden this week played host to a nice range of species, with the usual suspects (house sparrows, starlings, blackbirds, dunnocks, chaffinches, blue tits, coal tits and great tits) being joined by a small migrant: a willow warbler. Other resident species that were spotted this week include 3 buzzards, 2 nuthatches, 2 ravens (we normally hear more than we see!), 2 siskins and a flock of 38 goldfinches. Hopefully the latter two species will starts turning up in gardens (specifically, ours!) with more regularity soon. I may have to fill up the feeders again first though, the sparrows appear to have emptied them again already...

Finally, I just want to finish the week off with a few non-avian sightings (please forgive my digression!). Throughout the summer our garden has been a feeding ground for (at least one) hedgehog and it was nice to see it again this last week. More often we can tell that Oggy (my name for every hedgehog I see) has been visiting by the occasional whuffling noises as they devour any bird food that has been spilled and the poo that is left behind. Our other mammals were slightly more unexpected. A weasel was spotted at the scar hut and a trip to Loch Connell provided nice close views of a fox. I think it is safe to say that the fox was more surprised - having been making its way down the side of the hedge it clearly had not expected to see a human with a tripod and spotting scope standing in the gateway! After freezing to take in the situation, the fox decided that it still wanted to continue and charged past the gate at a run. Magic!

I think I've waffled on for slightly long this week, so perhaps I'd better stop now. It's been a great week for birding and (the advantage of writing the log later in the week) I can safely say that it's only going to get better...

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

Autumn Arrivals: Bird Report for 21/09/20 - 27/09/20

Last week autumn 'officially' arrived, bringing with it a cold bite to the air. However, for us birders, what we consider to be autumn is already in full flow, with many of our wintering birds already returning. However, there is one group of birds that signal to many the arrival of autumn: the geese. The ‘wink-wink’ call of pink-footed geese is perhaps one of the most memorable of all British bird calls. The familiar sound sends our eyes to the skies, as we search for the v-shaped skeins flying overhead. This week, we saw a flock of twelve pink-footed geese flying over the wig, followed by a single bird the next day (who knows where its flock had gone!). From little flocks, bigger flocks will follow. Huzzah! By all accounts, autumn has well and truly arrived.

Continuing on with the theme of geese, our pale-bellied brent geese have continued to slowly increase in number and this week we saw our first juvenile birds amongst them. This week also saw 17 greylag geese and 27 Canada geese flying towards Loch Connell - these will be birds from our feral summering population.

Pale-bellied brent geese - note the pale wing bars on the juvenile birds

A single goldeneye (the first returning bird for the winter that we’ve seen), 63 common scoter, 13 gannets, one great northern diver and a lonesome shelduck were highlights seen on and over Loch Ryan from the wig. On the shores, we saw up to 3 herons, 30 turnstones and 96 curlews. Amongst all these, it was really nice to find a little stint – an infrequent passage visitor to our area.

This past week has also been rewarding in terms of birds of prey. A tawny owl was heard calling a few times during the week and will no doubt be heard more frequently as winter approaches. One night we also heard the shriek of a barn owl – a pleasant (if startling!) surprise, for barn owl sightings locally have been rather few in the past couple of years. On to the raptors, this week we saw a sparrowhawk, a kestrel hunting over the sea and a merlin, which put up a flock of twite (enabling us to count them while we were at it!). Hopefully this small and smart-looking predator will stick around and spend the winter around the wig.

Following on from the previous week, this week we also have some records from a little outside the wig. A walk around the back roads from Soleburn revealed a pair of yellowhammers, a magpie (once scarce but seemingly increasing in the area), our first mistle thrushes of the autumn, a flock of 447 starlings and some greenfinches – a locally uncommon species, in our garden at least!

Common guillemot

A trip around Loch Ryan was made to specifically count the number of eiders present (although of course we looked out for everything else while we were at it!). A total of 296 eiders, 35 black guillemots, 59 great crested grebes, 53 razorbills, 7 guillemots, 88 red-breasted mergansers and 15 red-throated divers were present in smaller flocks around the loch. 92 redshank were counted along the railway station wall, with 18 scaup and 292 wigeon being present around Bishop Burn.

From Bishop Burn, our regular contributor Gill Deacon went on to visit a few other sights. Gill saw a dipper on the River Tarff and six little grebes, lots of swans and a flock of lapwings at the Crook of Baldoon (where pintail and shoveler have also been recorded recently). Finally Gill visited Garlieston, where she was able to see three little grebes and get excellent views of two very smart-looking greenshank.

Once again, it’s been an action-packed week and we look forward to the changes that the turning seasons will bring.

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