A day off today and luckily the torrential rain of the weekend had abated and the wind dropped leaving a very pleasant day in which to do some birding. Although I was off I had agreed to pick up Stu and Doug from the Airport so I popped into Campbeltown pier before hand to se
e if any winter gulls had pitched up yet, none seen but did get some interesting photos of the gulls that were there. Also seen several small flocks of Redwing passing overhead at just about every location that I was stopped at. As I stepped out of the car at the airport I was immediately aware of the Skylarks passing over in a seemingly endless stream heading South east, in just 15 minutes I counted 183 birds, and they were still moving after I had finished. Three to Four Robins also calling from the surrounding willow scrub and a single Reed Bunting was also heard calling.
e if any winter gulls had pitched up yet, none seen but did get some interesting photos of the gulls that were there. Also seen several small flocks of Redwing passing overhead at just about every location that I was stopped at. As I stepped out of the car at the airport I was immediately aware of the Skylarks passing over in a seemingly endless stream heading South east, in just 15 minutes I counted 183 birds, and they were still moving after I had finished. Three to Four Robins also calling from the surrounding willow scrub and a single Reed Bunting was also heard calling.After dropping the boys off in the office Molly and I headed out to the Laggan to see what was about. Again the huge numbers of Gulls were apparent with adult Herring Gulls being vastly in the majority. The heavy rain of the weekend has improved the feeding opportunities bringing worms, leather jackets etc to the surface. In the field directly behind the Strath Farm we spotted our first Whooper Swans with 3 adults but noticed a further 14 birds two fields beyond that. Also spotted 2 White-fronted Geese in the first field, the first of the year for me. We moved from here and headed to West Parkfergus and decided to check the derelict farm house here for signs of Barn owl it has been a number of years since I have checked this site and have heard recently that Barn
owls had been sighted here. While walking towards the building that sits in a field of turnips a single Snipe was disturbed from amongst the plants and zig-zagged towards the base. The building is mostly filled with large circular straw bales and an ideal winter roosting site for these birds although none were seen there was fresh spray on the wooden poles to the rear of the building that would suggest a recent presence. While still walking around the building Molly was first to spot the large flock of geese in the taking to the air about 3 miles from our position. Mostly White-fronted geese and approximately 200-250 of them. While rising they also disturbed the flock of Whooper swans that we had seen earlier and these also took to the sky's. The Whooper swans flew towards us and eventually passed over us Honking loudly.
owls had been sighted here. While walking towards the building that sits in a field of turnips a single Snipe was disturbed from amongst the plants and zig-zagged towards the base. The building is mostly filled with large circular straw bales and an ideal winter roosting site for these birds although none were seen there was fresh spray on the wooden poles to the rear of the building that would suggest a recent presence. While still walking around the building Molly was first to spot the large flock of geese in the taking to the air about 3 miles from our position. Mostly White-fronted geese and approximately 200-250 of them. While rising they also disturbed the flock of Whooper swans that we had seen earlier and these also took to the sky's. The Whooper swans flew towards us and eventually passed over us Honking loudly.
The Geese settled back down in a field some distance away and we set off to get a closer look. Skylarks were again very evident with many birds passing all the time, good numbers rising from the barley stumble that was left in some of the fields. 8 Reed Buntings were also seen along the rowan hedgerow ditches and several Meadow pipits were noted also, while Chaffinches were seen but perhaps not in the numbers I would have expected. 3 individual Buzzards were seen and a flock of 18 Hooded crow. As we approached the Geese I was able to confirm that they were indeed White-fronts and managed to get fairly close before they were spooked by a nearby quad which sent them deafeningly above us and off to yet another part of the Laggan.Later on that day while out on my bike I counted a flock of 58 Barnacle Geese just by Drumlemble school and had wonderful close views of a Raven
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