Tuesday 18th December 2007

LEFT: 1st winter & 2 female Goldeneye at car park area.

Broadwood Loch, Cumbernauld
The loch was mostly frozen over with only 2 small areas left with open water. There were 10 Goldeneye, 24 Tufted Duck and a female Pochard as well as Mute Swan, Mallard, Moorhen & Coot in the open water area at the car park and a Mute swan, Canada Goose, Canada x Greylag Goose hybrid and a pair of Mallard in a small unfrozen area at the north end of the loch

Tuesday 18th December 2007

SECC, Glasgow
Flushed a Woodcock that was sitting next to my car behind the workshop compound at 2000 hrs.

Monday 17th December 2007

LEFT: One of the Snipe in the Bird Sanctuary Area.

James Hamilton Heritage Park 0900 -1030 hrs
After finishing my nightshift I decided to pay a quick visit to Heritage Loch in Stewartfield, East Kilbride. It was a very cold morning with an edging of ice around the loch, the pool in the bird sanctuary area was completely frozen over.
The usual collection of Mute Swans, Mallards, Coot, Black-headed Gulls and Jackdaws were at the car park waiting to be fed.
There were a few Pochard with the Tufted Ducks at the island, also an adult and a 1st winter Heron on the island. The coot and Moorhen were squabbling as usual with each other as well as with members of there own species.
In the bird sanctuary area there were 4 Snipe, 1 Reed Bunting several Blackbirds, Blue Tit & Great Tit. On the way back to the car park, noticed a 1st winter female Scaup among the Tufted Ducks at the loch outlet. This site seems to attract them with some regularity.
After a nice walk around the loch, I headed home for some much needed sleep.

Kinneil Lagoons and Skinflats on 6th December 2007

Kinneil Lagoons 0830 -1130 hrs

At least 67 Black-tailed Godwit, c.200 Lapwing, c.120 Dunlin, c.140 Redshank and a Greenshank on the lagoons, birds were very restless due to the attempts of a Peregrine to have them for lunch, one Redshank had a very narrow escape when the Peregrine knocked it into the water but it managed to take off and evade the Peregrines talons.

Skinflats 1200 - 1330 hrs

A Greenshnk, a juvenile Ruff, c.100 Curlew, c.200 Lapwing, c. 150 Dunlin, 27 Redshank, 8 Goldeneye, 8 Greylag, c.100 Teal, 7 Mallard and a Shelduck were present on the lagoon's, this time it was a female Sparrowhawk causing some panic.

Also had good views of 3 Roe Deer running past me.

One of the Roe Deer at Skinflats running past.

The other 2 Roe Deer closely following the animal above.

Monday 12th November 2007

Hogganfield Loch 1145 - 1215 hrs

Had a quick stop off at Hogganfield Loch on the way to work, it was a glorious day. The wildfowl were looking good in the winter sun, the images below were taken from the car park.


Above: Adult male Goosander, close in at the car park.


Above left: 1st winter male Goosander.
Above right: A very confiding female goosander at the car park.


Above left: Female Goosander, Hogganfield is one of the best sites in the Clyde area for close views of these lovely birds.
Above right: Adult Whooper Swan, Hogganfield is definately the best place in the Clyde area to see these birds at close quarters.

Above left: Female Goldeneye Above right: Male Goldeneye.

Above: Greylag

Tuesday 30th October 2007

Above: Rats scavenging on bird droppings!!!


Above left: drake Goosander close in off the car park.
Above right: Lesser Black-backed Gull.


Above: Pair of Whooper Swans showing off their triumph display, a wonderfull sight and sound.

Stopped off briefly at Hogganfield Loch on the way to work at 1200 hrs, I had a look at the Greylag I took the darvic ring from (White ring with black code: 41S) (BTO Ring number: 523166), the bottom of it's foot looks as if it has a fungal infection. Will have to keep an eye on it, it is certainly walking better albiet with a slight limp.
There were also 8 Whooper Swans present including 2 juvs, another 2 adults circled the loch calling at 1245 hrs but did not land. There were also 6 Shoveler and 8 Ruddy Ducks visible from the car park but didn't have time to walk around the loch to see all the birds present. There were two Rats on the old boating platform, again they were feeding on bird droppings.

Thursday 25th October 2007

A quick stop off at Hogganfield Loch at 1230 hrs resulted in me spending most of my time trying to catch a Greylag !!!

The darvic ring on it's leg had slipped down on to it's foot, the bird couldn't walk or swim properly so I decided to try and catch it. After a a couple of failed attempts I had the assistance of a kind soul and his daughter who threw bread to it while I crept up behind it. After a brief struggle I managed to hold it securely and release the ring, the birds foot didn't look too bad so hopefully I got to it before any real damage was done. After release it looked much more comfortable swimming so I left for work feeling pleased with myself that I had saved the bird from any further distress.

Left: An image showing the ring over the Greylags foot.

Left: A rather scruffy looking immature Goosander looking more reminiscent of it's more marine relative, the Red-breasted Merganser.

Left: A male Goldeneye feeding close in at the car park.

Left: The gentle looking Whooper Swans are always a favourite of mine, I always look forward to their arrival each year .