Milton Loch & Loch Ken 22/2/03 (1 Viewer)

We left Glasgow at 0830 and drove down to Dumfries & Galloway and headed for Milton Loch (off the A75 9 miles WSW of Dumfries), on the loch was a good selection of waterfowl including a drake Lesser Scaup, female (Greater) Scaup, Pochard, Tufted Duck, Wigeon & Goldeneye. An immature Peregrine flew over just before we left.
Left Milton Loch and headed for Loch Ken RSPB Reserve, almost as soon as we got out of the car a Red Kite flew along the shore of Loch Ken and then flew off west. Walking along the track to the goose viewing platform we saw a nice selection of commoner birds including Fieldfare, Redwing, Great, Blue & Coal Tit, Chaffinch and 3 Ravens which flew past us. From the goose viewing platform we saw Canada, Greylag and Pink-footed Geese but no sign of the Greenland White-fronts, we also saw a group of Pintail from the platform. We then walked along the track towards the hide and I heard a Brambling calling but we could not locate the bird, we continued on to the hide, a group of 4 Bullfinch were feeding near the hide, once in the hide we had superb views of 2 Willow Tits which were coming to a peanut feeder outside the hide along with Great, Blue and Coal Tits.
When we left the hide we headed back to the goose viewing platform (saw a Red Squirrel on the way back) and managed to see a small group of Greenland White-fronts in flight as well as a high flying Red Kite, we walked backed to the car park and there was a group of 9 Greenland White-fronted Geese feeding close to the car park allowing great views through the scope.
On the way home a male Merlin flew over the M74 (2km south of J12, Douglas), all in all a good day out with clear blue skies albeit a bit on the cold side

Enjoyed the read. I have driven through that area but never birdied there. I knew about Loch Ken from my fishing days as it was a well known hot spot even down here in England.

Some nice birds there especially the Red Kite. I'm not sure if I have heard of the Red Kite in that area before. Are they a usual sighting?

The Red Kites are birds from the recent release programme in Dumfries & Galloway.

I hadn't realised that there was a release site there. Thanks for the info.

A illustrative read I am picturing a huge loch with mountainous surroundings and a bit of mist in the hills. Close?

Andrew, Loch Ken is surrounded by rolling countryside (with hills up to a height of around 300m) and dominated by improved pasture farmland with patches of conifer plantations and broad-leaved woodlands, the loch is long but not very wide. I have put in a link below to a map showing the location of the loch if you are interested

http://www.multimap.com/map/browse....3=&pc=&advanced=&scale=100000&out.x=9&out.y=9

Cheers, JJM.

It's like a widening of the river, I remember reading about this Loch in fishing magazines and seeing anglers sitting out in the water because of the conifer trees being too close to the shore. Anglers used modified feeders specially for this place to catch roach during the festivals.