During Thursday's outing with Jacqui to Perthshire we had a bit of a discussion. Having done pretty well for birds on the east coast so far this year, Jacqui asked how often I got the opportunity to head west to bird. The simple answer was that I really didn't get the opportunity very often at all. I did make it as far as Baron's Haugh with Nat last year but the plan to head to the west coast for the Black Guillemot got kind of side-tracked by lack of time, as did a visit to Lochwinnoch RSPB reserve. With a Hooded Merganser drake being reported there, along with sightings of Hen Harrier, Brambling and Smew, it had to be worth a trip. Add to the mix the Mandarin Ducks at Balloch, seen by Jacqui's daughter and a slim chance of Lesser Black Backed Gull and maybe even a Hooded Crow then it pretty much had to be done.
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| Nuthatch |
Arrangements were made to head off around 0800 on Sunday morning, so as to avoid the traffic that weekdays and Saturdays tend to bring. Although the weather on Saturday had been mostly foggy, the forecast for the west was dry but cloudy all day, though there was a chance of some light rain. I headed out just before 0800 to meet Jacqui and off we went. Only Herring Gulls were seen in the gloom to start with but Carrion Crow was added on the Kingsway. It was another 40 minutes before the next birds were seen. Pink Footed Geese in a field on the far side of Perth, and a Buzzard by the roadside. What we weren't expecting to see was snow, but we found some. It was quite sleety at first but was coating the trees and fields in white. Thankfully we soon passed out the other side of it and onto better driving conditions.
The birds were still rather few and far between. Mute Swans were seen on the Forth at Stirling before we turned off along the Gargunnock straight headed for Balloch. Soon we encountered much more snow, with a white coating almost everywhere but the road. There were a few Pheasants in the roadside fields and a small flock of Starlings in another. Our first Magpie of the day was seen near Gargunnock, with Jackdaws added a few miles further on. Blackbird, Collared Dove and Rook were seen as we passed through Drymen. Ahead of schedule, and despite the weather en route, we reached Balloch earlier than expected.
Jacqui parked the car and we crossed the river to check the area where Jacqui's daughter had seen 5 Mandarin Ducks recently. With Loch Lomond's wooded edges, the area is ideal habitat for the birds. Unfortunately for us there was no sign of the birds. There were Mallards on the river, a few Moorhens on the bank, Black Headed Gulls and a single Common Gull perched on the moored boats, and even a couple of Goosanders cruising around. But no Mandarins. I spotted some trees of which the lower branches were actually in the water just a little bit further on and went to investigate. As I had suspected, this was where the
Mandarins were hiding. A male and a female just a few feet in front of us and another male slightly further back. Despite the poor lighting conditions we made the most of the opportunity to photograph these exotic looking wee ducks.
With target number 1 successfully located we headed back to the car to drive down to Lochwinnoch RSPB reserve. Jacqui knew the area well, and liked the reserve, so I was looking forward to finally visiting. The chance of some very good birds was also something to look forward to. We decided to try the Barr Loch for the Hooded Merganser first. We had both seen the female, with her punky 'hair-style' at Tayport pond years ago, but the drake was a much more striking bird. Great Tits and Chaffinch were seen as we crossed from the car park to the Loch. Out on the water were Mallards, Wigeon, Tufted Ducks and Goldeneye. I found a Great Crested Grebe and there was at least one Grey Heron along the banks.
We asked a birder on the path if the bird had been seen, and he said he'd just seen it and would show us it through his scope. Unfortunately once he'd got his gear set up he was unable to relocate it, but suggested we'd probably have better luck further along the muddy track. On we went, stopping to chat to another birder who told us where the bird had been and we both scanned along the shoreline opposite. Jacqui found the drake
Hooded Merganser just before I did, among the Teal close in to the opposite shoreline. A very striking bird, black and white and orange-brown. We chatted to the birder, who it transpired was a friend of Stuart Green of Angus Birdtours, and got some information where to try for Black Guillemot. Our plan had been to try Largs, but he suggested Saltcoats as a better bet.
Thanking him for his help, and view through his scope, we headed back to the visitor centre, picking up Goldfinch and Robin on the way. We popped into the small photo hide for a few minutes, getting close views of Blue Tits, Reed Buntings, Chaffinches, Robins, Jackdaws, Magpies and House Sparrows. We then wandered along to the feeders to try for Brambling. There was no sign of any among the Chaffinches but we did add Wren and Coal Tit to the list and were visited a few times by Nuthatches which showed for longer than the bird we'd seen at Killiecrankie on Thursday had. A bit more scanning from the visitor centre added Cormorant, Dunnock and Siskin to the list for the day.
We decided to head down to Saltcoats to try for Black Guillemot and set off around 1200. Woodpigeon and Feral Pigeon were added on route and as we drove along the seafront at Ardrossan looking for somewhere to park to give a decent view of the sea, we spotted a single
Lesser Black Backed Gull on the grass verge. Another year-tick, the 3rd of the day. We found the parking place we'd been recommended at Saltcoats and scanned out over the flat calm sea. There were a number of Red Breasted Mergansers on the water, as well as a few Eiders and Herring Gulls. Oystercatchers, Redshanks and Curlews were on the rocky shoreline. A Great Black Backed Gull and a few more Cormorants were out on a rocky islet just offshore.
Jacqui found a pair of Rock Pipits and a pair of Purple Sandpipers while I scanned the water. It was rather quiet, so we tried a different spot, setting up the scope this time. We saw a Pied Wagtail on the road as we drove to this point, but the only birds which looked promising were just a bit too far out to identify 100%. At times they looked like Slavonian Grebes, Divers or Black Guillemots but they were too distant to be sure, and the photos I took were either totally blurred or inconclusive. We tried a harbour area, finding a Little Grebe but nothing else of note. We decided to head back to Lochwinnoch again for a second try at the birds we hadn't yet seen.
It didn't take us too long to get back and scanning from the centre through their scopes found some distant Whooper Swans and a few Pochard, but there was no sign of the Smew or Hen Harriers. We headed along to the feeders again, and chatted to one of the girls who works at the centre. She hadn't seen the Brambling. We had a few more opportunities to get photos of the Nuthatches though and just as we were contemplating giving up, I spotted a bird among the Chaffinches but a tree blocked my view. When it popped out into the open briefly it confirmed my suspicions. A female
Brambling, my 4th year-tick of the day. It promptly wandered back behind the tree meaning that my record photo shows only the head.
We waited for a short while in the centre until around 1430 when we decided to head for home, though we did contemplate trying Victoria Park in Glasgow for the Parakeets which bred there last year. We did pick up a flock of Lapwings as we headed back up towards Glasgow Airport but these were almost our last additions of the day. Only some Shelduck on the exposed mud as we crossed the Forth near Kincardine were added. The weather was mostly wet until we reached Fife but as the light was poor we headed back to Dundee, making it back less than 2 hours after leaving Lochwinnoch.
Another really good day out with 4 year-ticks (in bold) among the 53 species seen, and a few new sites for me, as well as some good photo opportunities with the Nuthatches and the Mandarins, despite the lighting conditions.
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| Mandarin |
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| Mandarin |
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| Mandarin |
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| Mandarin |
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| Moorhen |
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| Wigeon, Mute Swan & Great Crested Grebe |
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| Hooded Merganser |
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| Reed Bunting |
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| Nuthatch |
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| Nuthatch |
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| Nuthatch |
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| Purple Sandpiper |
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| Nuthatch |
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| Nuthatch |
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| Brambling |
Species seen - Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit,
Brambling, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Cormorant, Dunnock, Eider, Goldeneye, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Tit, Grey Heron, Herring Gull,
Hooded Merganser, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Lapwing,
Lesser Black Backed Gull, Little Grebe, Magpie, Mallard,
Mandarin Duck, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Nuthatch, Oystercatcher, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Pink Footed Goose, Pochard, Purple Sandpiper, Redshank, Reed Bunting, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rock Pipit, Rook, Shelduck, Siskin, Starling, Teal, Tufted Duck, Whooper Swan, Wigeon, Woodpigeon, Wren.
