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More pictures taken on this excellent field trip are available on the January 2010 Photo Gallery page.
Saturday 30 January promised to be a sunny but cold day. 17 enthusiasts met at Ormsary community centre car park from where we headed slowly up the hill behind the community centre. Some of the species seen while hiking up the hill were Common Crossbills in the pine trees behind the centre, Reed Bunting in the trees surrounding a little lochan further up to Fieldfares on a fence and in the meadow close to a burn up the hill. The highlight of the day came when we were at the burn … two Golden Eagles were soaring in the sky and we watched them in awe for approximately 15 minutes before they disappeared out of view. Still not believing our luck, we headed back to the community centre to have our picnic lunch. Still well up the hill, we saw some Common Buzzards as well as a Cormorant heading toward Loch Caolisport, our destination for that afternoon.
Taken care of the inner self and nicely warmed, we headed back into the cold to Loch Caolisport. While scanning the loch for divers, some Blue Tits, House Sparrows, Common Chaffinches and Dunnock were trying to pull our attention away from the loch to its banks. Closer to the fish farm we discovered a lone Eurasian Curlew and some Ringed Plover between the hundreds of Gulls and Oystercatchers. A flock of Redshank flew in and joined them. Further up the loch was a raft of Eider and Goldeneye while on its bank were two Mallards which were joined by 14 Turnstones. Around 15.30, we reluctantly headed back towards the cars and discovered 2 Common Buzzards in the trees just of the road … nothing exciting when compared to the sight of the 2 Golden Eagles soaring over our heads!
Species (53 species in total) : Greylag Goose, Mallard, Common Eider, Common Scoter, Common Goldeneye, Common Pheasant, Red-throated Diver, Black-throated Diver, Great Northern Diver, Slavonian Grebe, Great Cormorant, Shag, Common Buzzard, Golden Eagle, Oystercatcher, Ringed Plover, Northern Lapwing, Woodcock, Eurasian Curlew, Common Redshank, Turnstone, Black-headed Gull, Common Gull, Herring Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Razorbill, Black Guillemot, Wood Pigeon, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Meadow Pipit, Rock Pipit, Pied Wagtail, Wren, Dunnock, Robin, Blackbird, Fieldfare, Song Thrush, Mistle Thrush, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Eurasian Treecreeper, Hybrid Crow, Hooded Crow, Common Raven, Common Starling, House Sparrow, Common Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Siskin, Common Crossbill, Reed Bunting
More pictures taken on this excellent field trip are available on the February 2010 Photo Gallery page.
Despite the rain, sleet, snow and gales of the previous days, 15 people, ready to conquer whatever the weather threw at them, turned up at the Islandadd bridge near Bellanoch. With the cold north-easterly breeze in our back, we first scouted the estuary from the bridge, as the footpath along the Crinan Canal leading to the birdhide was closed off due to the ongoing repair works. Eurasian Teal and Wigeon, Common Shelduck and Goldeneye were only but a few species present.
Sharing 4 of the cars, we drove to Crinan Wood. Skirting Crinan Wood, we walked along the canal to Crinan, spotting species such as Bar-tailed Godwit, Great Northern Diver and several Red-throated Divers amongst the Eider Ducks and Gulls. With a clear blue sky and out of the cold north-easterly wind, we decided not to go for coffee in the hotel but to have our lunch in the cars at the Islandadd Bridge and continued our walk around the wood. Past the boatyard, Mark Williamson spotted an Otter bubbling up and down the surface. After admiring a Scarlet Macaw perched in a garden, the sharp eyed Mark spotted a slightly less brightly coloured but handsome male Bullfinch fly across the road. Before getting back to the cars, we made a brief visit to the garden area of Mike and Daphne Murray. Mike told us we just missed a Woodcock by a minute but we did see a Eurasian Treecreeper and Coal Tit while Mike told us how a Pine Martin predated the eggs in a Tawny Owl nest box.
Having enjoyed our lunch in the shelter of our cars, we drove towards the Barsloisnoch Farm and stopped to admire a ring-tail Hen Harrier that quartered the fields just in front of us putting up several Curlew in the process. Our next walk from Barsloisnoch Farm took us round the fields of Poltalloch estate heading into the bracing wind but gave us the chance to add amongst others Greenland White-fronted Goose, Lapwing, Mistle Thrush, Grey Wagtail and Reed Bunting. We then headed into the shelter of Poltalloch Woods and caught up with Siskin, Woodpigeon and a deer. Heading back to the cars, Tom Callan found an emaciated immature male Kestrel at the side of the road though fortunately there was still a live bird seen nearby as well as a fleeting glimpse of a Sparrowhawk. Finally, before the end of the trip, we managed to locate a Redwing and a Fieldfare.
Thanks to the expert leadership of Jim Dickson and the sharp eyesight of all those present, we managed to see 57 species!
Bird Species: Mute Swan, Greenland White-fronted Goose, Common Shelduck, Eurasian Wigeon, Eurasian Teal, Mallard, Tufted Duck, Common Eider, Common Goldeneye, Red-breasted Merganser, Common Pheasant, Red-throated Diver, Little Grebe, Great Cormorant, Shag, Grey Heron, Hen Harrier, Eurasian Sparrowhawk, Common Buzzard, Common Kestrel, Oystercatcher, Northern Lapwing, Bar-tailed Godwit, Eurasian Curlew, Common Redshank, Black-headed Gull, Common Gull, Herring Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Wood Pigeon, Rock pipit, Grey Wagtail, Wren, Dunnock, Robin, Blackbird, Fieldfare, Song Thrush, Redwing, Mistle Thrush, Long-tailed Tit, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Coal Tit, Eurasian Treecreeper, Western Jackdaw, Rook, Carrion Crow, Hooded Crow, Common Raven, Common Starling, House Sparrow, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Siskin, Bullfinch, Reed Bunting. (57 species)
Other: Otter, Scarlet Macaw, Deer, Scarlet Elf Cup
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