Cracking (Long) Day in Dumfries & Gallaway
(Thanks again Chris & Tom, for the last 2 postings)
Today has been a great one, we saw almost everything we hoped for & a couple of surprises too!
I left home at 03:30 & the 4 of us set off North at approx 04:15.
Steady progress on icy roads saw us at the dull & overcast Cairnryan picnic site for 07:00. After opening flasks etc the sky quickly began to clear & a fine bright morning arrived.
Summary of Loch Ryan
From Cairnryan
drake
KiNG EiDER, 24+
BLACK GUiLLEMOTS, all but one in full plumage induldging in chasing & display around the old pier, south of the lighthouse,
15+ RTDiVERS flew East up the Loch , with several also fishing, alongwith
SHAGS & COMMON GUiLLEMOTS. 3-4
GANNETS fished the loch while on the West shore swam approx 10
BRENT GEESE. Other birds seen nr the picnic/pier area included
ROCK PIPIT,
LONG TAiL TiT, GOLDFiNCH, drumming
GRT SPOT WPKR. MiSTLE THRUSH, PiED WAGTAiL & GOLDCREST. Also a melanistic type cock
PHEASANT.
Loch Ryan, From a Loch side Burn-mouth (approx 1 mile south) off A77
40 SCAUP, 10+ COMMON SCOTER, 3 GCGREBE, 3drake
LONG TAiL DUCK,
MERGANSERS, EiDERS, 3RiNGED PLOVERS, SHELDUCK, several
GOLDENEYES,
SHAG & CORMORANTS, TURNSTONE, DUNLIN, OYSTERCATCHER & CURLEW.
5
SANDERLiNG here seemed out of place on the shingle beach. Other birds here were
DUNNOCK, ROBiN, SONG & MiSTLE THRUSH. Also seen on the way back to the car was a cracking
JACK SNiPE which shot up from th stream side to instantly reland within 10 metres.
The 4 of us 'converged' on the area scanning the ground were it went down, but to no avail it seemed....We scanned the ground on minimum focus but couldnt see it. A
COMMON SNiPE shot up lifting our hopes, but we turned to leave to have the
JACK shoot up between two of us, right were we had been stood looking !!!! This bird had 2 people within less than a metre of it & we STiLL didn't see it despite the intensive scanning !! Magic.
Loch Ryan, Burn-mouth just north of Innermessan off A77
Several gulls here including 2
Adult L.B.BACKS (British) also strangely 2 female
PiNTAiL with
MALLARDS & WiGEON on the pebbly beach.
Earlier while driving out West we had a flyover
TAWNY OWL & 12 roadside
WHOOPER SWANS, close to Newton Stewart.
4mile S.EAST of N.Stewart we turned of at Creetown were we headed over some moorland & got
RED & a single cock
BLACK GROUSE (much easier to come by at home!)
Between
GateHouse of Fleet & Lauriston we had excellent close views of
BUZZARDS & RED KiTES, with between 9 to 12 of the latter!
SPARROWHAWK & KESTREL were not yet located.
Loch Ken Reserve
It was approx 14:00 now & the sky held several
BUZZARDS, KiTES & 4-5 RAVENS
A distant
SPARHAWK & 2
KESTRELS were also on the wing.
The reserve had
BULLFiNCHES, FiELDFARE, REDWiNG, SONGY, BLACKY & MiSTLEY
Close to the 1st hide were
LTTiTS & a
TREECREEPER along with
WREN &
GOLDCRESTS. 2 REED BUNTiNG could have been easily overlooked. A large
STOAT ran for cover.
The 'new' hide held some spectacular
PiNTAiL feeding in the warm afternoon sun, also
HERON, TEAL & GOLDENEYE.
On the way be someone spotted a
PEREGRiNE through the trees, we ran to a clearing to see a relaxed adult female drifting about.
The Car park area on return had
KiTES, BUZZARD & a RAVEN over the treetops, with 30 or so
GREENLAND Y FRONTS which weren't initially on show.
A scan of the lake held
GOOSANDER, more
PiNTAiL & a GRT.C.GREBE
While driving off a
RED-LEG PART ran over the road.
Milton Loch (8mile west of Dumfries)
held the drake
RiNG NECKED DUCK, although it was at the far North East end & the only view point appeared to be on the S.West Shore.
Also here were 20+ each of
POCHARD & TUFTED.
Called at Dumfries for Fuel & it was after 17:00, so a dash to Caerlaverock where we added 2 Male
HEN HARRiERS over the saltmarsh,
YELLOWHAMMER, SHOVELLER, PINK FEET & massed flocks of
BARNACLES liftingoff together at dusk, excellent! 3 Roe Deer were seen along a field edge as a PEREGRiNE surveyed the dusk approach from its fence post roost.
To summarise we had a day to remember with a large total (105) & wide variety of species noted, in a relaxing & beautiful place.
Its hard to pick out a 'bird of the day'...............but we did see a Northumbrian
BARN OWL on the way home just short of 'Our' County Boundary.....
Other species we heard about, seen today but not by ourselves were :-
Golden Eagle, Greenshank, Slav Grebe, Purple Sand.
StevieEvans.