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| Wren |
I wanted to do some birding on the Sunday following on from my Riverside Nature Park success the previous day but didn't feel like I had much energy. I weighed up my options for 'close to home' birding. I feel like I've 'done' Baxter Park amd Swannie Ponds quite often recently so I settled on a trip to the top of the Law to try to see some displaying raptors and maybe a few migrants overflying. I wasn't overly optimisitic that I would have too much success but you never know.
I was out the door just after 0940 for the 15 minute walk to the top of the hill. There was a rather steady stream of birds over the course of the first 10 minutes with Goldfinch, Herring Gull, Dunnock, House Sparrow, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Blackbird, Starling, Feral Pigeon, Woodpigeon, Great Tit, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Chaffinch and Blue Tit all seen or heard. I reached the top of the hill at 1005 and could hear the quiet calls of a Bullfinch from the trees on the east side. A distant skein of (probably) Pink Footed Geese were seen out to the northwest heading in a northeasterly direction.
The first Buzzard of the day circled up to the north. As I watched, a Meadow Pipit was heard calling but I failed to see it. A Lesser Black Backed Gull passed overhead. Another Meadow Pipit headed west. This time I managed to actually see it. More distant geese were seen heading northeast. A Goldcrest could be heard singing from the trees on the west side of the hill. A larger skein of around 100 geese followed the same route as the others. A pair of Buzzards circled up to the north of the hill. The call of a Great Spotted Woodpecker was heard briefly.
Another 2 skeins of geese were spotted before Siskin and Oystercatcher were heard, though neither were seen. A Sparrowhawk was seen circling up on the north side of the hill. Another Meadow Pipit was heard passing by. I managed to see a couple of Siskins on their way north. Chaffinch and Wren were added to the day's list as 'heard only'. Another sighting of a Buzzard, once again to the north was followed by another couple of Meadow Pipits. I had been checking Cox's Stack regularly for Peregrine and finally managed to pick out one at around 1120. It wasn't there the next time I checked though. A pair of Buzzards drifted over in the direction of Balgay Hill. A distant Sparrowhawk was seen apparently over Balgay.
A few minutes later I watched a Sparrowhawk tussling with a Buzzard out to the west and a second Sparrowhawk flew in from the east and dived down into the trees on the north side of the Law. A very distant Buzzard was picked out well out to the northwest just before a trio of Great Black Backed Gulls headed in a northwesterly direction together. Another Meadow Pipit was noted, as were yet another skein of geese. An unidentified falcon (Peregrine or escaped Saker) was seen out to the southeast but I failed to find it with the camera to clinch the ID. Yet another Buzzard was seen to the northwest.
The spray-paint artist, Paco Graff, was back finishing off his artwork on the back of the mast base shed and I had another fairly lengthy chat with him about wildlife and his home country of France before calling it a day around 1320 and heading down the hill noting Coal Tit and hearing what I suspect was just a Chaffinch though it sounded more like a Tree Sparrow. I had one final Buzzard sighting as I wandered down the road past the allotments. In roughly 4 hours of birding I had managed to see or hear a total of 26 species which did include a few migrants (Meadow Pipit and Siskin) as well as a few displaying raptors.
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| Magpie |
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Herring Gull & Buzzard
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| Buzzard |
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Pink Footed Goose
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Herring Gull
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| Buzzard |
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| Buzzard |
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| Buzzard |
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Meadow Pipit
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Meadow Pipit
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| Chaffinch |
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| Goldfinch |
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Buzzard & Sparrowhawk
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| Sparrowhawk |
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| Sparrowhawk |
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Carrion Crow
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| Goldcrest |
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| Magpie |
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| Wren |
Birds - Blackbird, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Dunnock, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great Tit, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Magpie, Meadow Pipit, Oystercatcher, Pink Footed Goose, Feral Pigeon, Siskin, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Woodpigeon, Wren.
