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.