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| Goosander |
I headed out in the pre-dawn gloom at around 0710 to walk to the bus station to catch a bus just before 0730. Although the light levels were rather minimal it was still possible to see birds, though it did help that they called to announce their presence. Herring Gull, a lone Pink Footed Goose, a few Redwings and a singing Robin were seen before I caught the bus. The sky was lightening up gradually by now though the tinted windows on the bus weren't particularly helpful. I added Carrion Crow, Pheasant, Rook, Buzzard, Woodpigeon and Jackdaw before meeting Paul in Cupar.
From there we headed southwards towards Falkirk and on towards Slamannan. Collared Dove, Kestrel, Magpie and Starling were noted along with further examples of some of the species already seen. Unfortunately the fields visible from both the main road to Slamannan and the Greengairs road held no Bean Geese and a detour eastwards then northwards bore no fruit either. A small skein of geese were spotted as we travelled down the main road and a very brief stop allowed me to grab a few photos of these birds through some roadside trees. It was hard to tell for sure if these were our hoped for birds but I struggled to make out any strong orange colouring on the legs which wasn't a good sign.
The bills did look slightly more promising in profile but only on a couple of birds. Checking later at home confirmed that these birds weren't the hoped for Bean Geese but were Pink Footed Geese. A Grey Squirrel was seen along one of the minor roads we explored. The sky had looked a little threatening already and we encountered a slight shower as we headed for Fannyside Lochs. As we arrived a small skein of geese were descending across the road in front of us to land on the Loch. Surely, these had to be our birds. I opened the window and fired off a few photos as Paul stopped the car. These birds turned out to be Canada Geese. It was increasingly clear that we weren't meant to find Bean Geese, so we headed west for a chance at Mandarin Ducks.
Unfortunately, my small Collins road atlas was far from up to date and we struggled to get anywhere near the Campsies at Cumbernauld before eventually heading back up towards Stirling and cutting along the back of the Campsies towards Fintry and on towards Balloch from there. This was a new road for me and as the Dundee housing scheme I grew up in was called Fintry I was curious to see the place which gave its name to the scheme. A Lesser Black Backed Gull was seen in Cumbernauld. Heading along th Fintry road we added a pair of Grey Herons and lots of flocks of Redwings and Fieldfares moving west. We reached Balloch at around 1145.
It was good to finally be able to stretch our legs and we walked over the bridge to where I'd seen the Mandarins with Jacqui in 2017. Black Headed Gulls, Mallards, Moorhens and a few Goosander were seen along with a family group of Mute Swans. The water levels were quite high and it was difficult to see the trees by the water's edge well. It appeared that most of the birds tucked in among the trees were Mallards though we did find another Goosander. A rainbow arced high over Loch Lomond but there was no sign of any Mandarin ducks at all. The trees along the path held Coal Tit, Blue Tit, Blackbird, Wren and Song Thrush. A Buzzard being harassed by a Jackdaw flew over the river. A Common Gull dropped in to join the Black Headed Gulls being fed by the public as we headed back towards the car. More thrushes passed overhead.
I was conscious of the fact that Paul had been driving almost non-stop until we'd reached Balloch so we discussed the options for where to try for Black Guillemots before deciding on Helensburgh and nearby as it was only a short journey away. We stopped off at the jetty car park opposite the town centre and scanned out over the river. Eiders and various gulls were visible but we couldn't see anything resembling a Black Guillemot. A Great Black Backed Gull stood on a post and there were a number of Oystercatchers feeding on the beach. Feral Pigeons and Starlings wandered around, one of the latter doing a passable impression of a calling Curlew. We struggled to find anywhere else to park along the stretch of coast between there and Dumbarton though as the tide was on its way out and the sun was directly ahead of us it would be almost mission impossible anyway. House Sparrow was added as we headed out of Dumbarton towards Balloch.
The plan from here was to head for the Gargunnock straights road and as we neared the western end of this road I spotted an RSPB reserve sign so we doubled back for a look. The assistant warden was just returning from a wander around and we chatted to him for 5 minutes or so during which time we got a feel for the place and the good news that Hen Harrier (a male too) was possible, as it had been seen that morning and in previous days too. We had a bit of a wander round to see what we could find but most of the activity was near the car park with Great Tit, Chaffinch, Blue Tit and Coal Tits all coming to the feeders. Long Tailed Tits were heard but not seen and there was no sign of out hoped for Hen Harrier.
Some more exploration resulted in Siskin being added to the list for the day as a few flew over. Redwings and Fieldfares passed over also but it was pretty quiet overall. The journey back to Cupar failed to add anything new and I missed the Dundee bus by a few seconds, though as expected the St Andrews bus was running late so I caught that a few minutes later back to Guardbridge then a bus from there to Dundee.
Not the most successful of trips with only 37 species seen, and none of the target species, though we did manage 1 mammal species. I didn't take very many photos either. It's likely that the Bean Geese flock will require at least one other attempt though hopefully my luck will have improved by then and it will be third time lucky.
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| Pink Footed Goose |
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| Pink Footed Goose |
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| Pink Footed Goose |
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| Canada Goose |
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| Buzzard |
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| Goosander |
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| Goosander & Black Headed Gull |
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| Carrion Crow |
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| Redwing |
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| Woodpigeon |
Species seen - Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Canada Goose, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Eider, Fieldfare, Goosander, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Tit, Grey Heron, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Kestrel, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Magpie, Mallard, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Oysteractcher, Pheasant, Pink Footed Goose, Redwing, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rook, Siskin, Song Thrush, Starling, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Mammals - Grey Squirrel.