Despite the autumnal weather, we have had a great week for birds. One day saw a species total of 69 (it just goes to show that it doesn't have to be in the peak migration times for us to see lots of species in a day!) and another day recorded yet another new species for this blog. In amongst the scattered records of grey herons this week (up to 3 one day) stood another heron species. It was big and white - yes, it was a great white egret! It is perhaps surprising that this is our first record of this species, given their advance further north. The bird was only seen once before disappearing into the rain, however, another birder sighted a great white egret later in the week at Piltanton burn, alongside 6 little egrets. This could well be the same bird and it may well be the bird that has been around Wigtown harbour in recent weeks.
Onto a smaller but nonetheless long-legged group of birds: the waders. A single grey plover was seen this week and a flock of approximately 50 knot was seen at the beginning of the week. Our highest day-counts of the week stand at 83 curlews, 2 bar-tailed godwits, 228 oystercatchers and 30 lapwings (although the latter were at Loch Connell). With all these delicacies running about it was no surprise that a peregrine made an appearance twice during the week, as well as a male sparrowhawk.
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| An elegant grey heron |
Paddling about close to shore, our highest count of wigeon this week was 288 birds. The pale-bellied brent goose flock reached a high of 245 (although no dark-bellies) and the number of mute swans scattered about the loch remained stable in the low 50s. A flock of 20 whooper swans flew over and a different flock of 18, with three of them juveniles, was seen at West Freugh by Gill Deacon. Gill also saw a couple of shelduck amongst all of the usual suspects at Bishop burn.
Waterbirds further out on the loch included highest day-counts of 168 common scoter, 19 goldeneye, 13 great northern divers (a high count for Loch Ryan), 70 red-breasted mergansers and 41 Slavonian grebes. Our highest daily count (at our end of the loch anyway) of great crested grebes was only 26 this week but these were joined by 2 red-necked grebes. 2 male velvet scoters were seen on the same day and another individual was seen later on in the week. A total of 5 razorbills were also seen throughout the week. Both razorbills and guillemots often feed out on the open sea during the winter months and the auk that we tend to see most often in the winter is the black guillemot, with our highest day-count for this week being 18. It is interesting to see the amount of natural variation that is present in the winter plumage of this auk - with birds varying between quite dark and startlingly white.
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| Black guillemot - or 'tystie' - in winter plumage |
Another species that shows lots of individual variation is the redwing and we saw a new high (for this winter) of over 80 birds in a day this week. We also had counts of 7 mistle thrushes (high for us!), 10 pied wagtails and over 600 starlings. Whilst not a high count, it was nice to see a late swallow on the 5th. Not a bird but also rather late, this week saw a fox moth caterpillar wriggling about despite the chill in the air.
So while we still had a summer migrant, we also had some new winter ones as well. 3 bramblings flying over our garden were our first records for this winter and were complimented by another individual in the woods later in the week. Continuing around the woods, we also saw 10 goldcrests, a female great spotted woodpecker, a nuthatch, a raven and 3 treecreepers. I don't normally see 3 treecreepers in one day and it was lovely to get the opportunity to view these elusive birds so well.
All in all, it's been great week - I just hope that the weather picks up again soon so that I can go out again!
[All photographs were taken by and belong to Stephen Grover, please ask for permission if you wish to use them.]
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