Strontian Black Duck During Eclipse (1 Viewer)

G

gnome

Well-known member

• Aug 27, 2019

• #1

I'm due to take my daughter up to Edinburgh Uni in a couple of weeks. Whilst up there I was thinking I might take the opportunity to go and see the Black Duck. However, there have been no updates for a while and I am guessing that it hides out somewhere whilst it's in eclipse. Does anyone have any idea where this might be and if it's twitchable at all?

TIA

Adam

 

ClarkWGriswold

Carpe Carpum

Supporter

• Aug 27, 2019

• #2

Hi Adam. I think the last time it was reported was upstream of the second bridge. I walked up along the footpath past the school but potentially you’ll get better views of the river from the Polloch Road. We saw a decent flock of Mallard upstream but it was through some pretty thick vegetation. As such I couldn’t pick it out if indeed it was amongst them.

Good luck if you go.

Rich

 

rollingthunder

Well-known member

• Aug 27, 2019

• #3

Make sure it’s not during a full Solar one otherwise you wont see it

Laurie:t:

 

ClarkWGriswold

Carpe Carpum

Supporter

• Sep 1, 2019

• #4

It’s been reported today upstream of the second bridge.

 

G

gnome

Well-known member

• Sep 2, 2019

• #5

ClarkWGriswold said:

It’s been reported today upstream of the second bridge.

Click to expand...

Yes, thanks for that. I got in touch with the finder via Twitter and he kindly told me where he'd seen it. I'll post a screenshot below in case anyone else is interested. His instructions were: park at the church, cross the bridge and take the first left. I wasn't going to bother trying for it unless there was some news but now it's still being seen I'll have a crack at it this coming weekend.

With me luck!

Adam

 

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ClarkWGriswold

Carpe Carpum

Supporter

• Sep 6, 2019

• #6

Good luck Adam. Quite a lot of vegetation at that location to peer through.

Rich

 

G

gnome

Well-known member

• Sep 10, 2019

• #7

ClarkWGriswold said:

Good luck Adam. Quite a lot of vegetation at that location to peer through.

Rich

Click to expand...

Yes indeed there was! I'm pleased to report back that I managed to see the bird though the vegetation proved somewhat problematic. For those who are interested there's a full write-up on my blog here.

Someone e-mailed me after I'd seen it asking for detailed instructions so I thought I'd reproduce below what I wrote in case it's of any use to anyone else.

The bird is just upstream of the second bridge, so around here. Park at the church and walk across the bridge and then immediately turn left through the gate marked Drumnatorran Farm (or something like that). The bird and its female Mallard mate hang out anywhere upstream of here. There is about 20 yards of wooded area on the left first of all and then it opens out to an overgrown area where you can see people have walked through it to get to the river. Please be warned that the ducks are rather wary and if you blindly blunder down there as I first did then you'll probably push them into the overhanding trees where they'll be hard to see. If you approach cautiously then you'll stand a better chance. It's still possible to view the ducks when they're under the trees by going through the wooded area itself where you can look across the river and this is what I ended up doing after I'd spooked them.

 

Last edited: Sep 10, 2019

ClarkWGriswold

Carpe Carpum

Supporter

• Sep 10, 2019

• #8

Congratulations

 

G

gnome

Well-known member

• Sep 11, 2019

• #9

I just thought I'd share a couple of photos for good measure. In the first shot you can see how skulking it was, hiding right under a tree on the far bank. It took a bit of work to get into a position to see it.

Good luck to anyone else thinking of going for it.


Adam

 

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JWN Andrewes

Poor Judge of Pasta.

• Sep 11, 2019

• #10

You've done well there Gnome, and a good write up on the blog too.