a week around Newton Stewart (1 Viewer)

Hi,

Ian and I are going up to visit his folks over easter. We have about a week around Creetown and Newton Stewart. Where's good for a bit of birding in that area at this time of year? We already plan to take a trip to the kite feeding station and also to Kirroughtree to look for red squirrels. Any other sites we should look at?

all the best

Jo

Have a check out of this thread, although it is from May sightings [don't forget to check Ians thread which I make mention of in my post on it, we went end of April]. The hide at Ken Dee has feeders outside and there were quite a few Red Squirrels coming to it so you got really close views.
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=114122&highlight=cree

Just thought you can always pop into Wigtown Town Hall to see the live CCTV of the Osprey nest [they do not disclose where the nest is] but you do get fantastic views on the big screen TV and with chairs to sit on. There are also leaflets on places to visit..... a good place to check out if the weather isn't too good.

Here is a link to the Wigtown Osprey thread which was just started on Thursday.
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=138121&highlight=galloway

Thankis for the suggestions Marmot.

There's a pretty good guide to birdwatching sites in Dumfries and Galloway downloadable at http://www.dgerc.org.uk/?q=downloads.

The great thing about D&G in general is that it is relatively underwatched - although the Dumfries and Galloway birding group on Yahoo has, over the past couple of years, come alive - certainly worth checking out. It might be worth joing that group to keep an eye out for the Spoonbills returning to Kirkcudbright Bay - a pair nested and raised 3 young last year. Boat trips also run from the harbour at Kirkcudbright.

I'm not sure if the woodland specialities will be back on site by Easter weekend but RSPB Wood of Cree is good for Pied Flycatchers and Redstarts - as is Scottish Wildlife Trust Castrammon Wood at Gatehouse-of-Fleet which also has Nuthatches.

Another great attractivion of D&G is that there is the chance to find your own birds almost anywhere - loads of variety of habitat.

enjoy
Gordon

D&G Birding

Hi,

If you're visiting the Newton Stewart area in the next week or so I'd suggest a trip out to Loch Ryan near Stranraer. I was there this week and there's still plenty of "winter birds" around. On 30th March we had 11 Long-tailed Ducks, 15+ Slavonian Grebes (most in summer plumage), Black-necked Grebe, plenty of Black Guillemots in summer plumage, Red-throated Divers and loads of Eider and Scaup. There's still 60+ Pale-bellied Brent Geese around and a couple of Iceland Gulls appear from time to time although we didn't see them (they cover a big area). If you're interested in Greenland White-fronts they can still be found at West Freugh as well.
I've got a few pics from the trip on my blog where you can also find a button to click and join the D&G Yahoo group. Contact Chris Baines (the list moderator) through this and he'll let you know what's about and where. He lives near Wigtown.
Don't know how far you can travel but Caerlaverock and Mersehead RSPB are still worth a look for Barnacles at the moment and there's still Purple Sand's at Southerness.
Contact me if you need any more info.
Regards,
Colin

Thanks Colin and Gordon. I'll let you know how we get on.