Drake Garganey with "friends".
Drake Garganey at Castle Loch, Lochmaben 7 April 2008.
Mrs B and I decided on a day out in D&G today, despite an unpromising weather forecast. We started at Castle Loch near Lochmaben where there were plenty of Sand Martins (50+), a few Chiffchaffs singing and Great-spotted Woodpeckers drumming. After a quick look at Kirk Loch we made our way back round to the bowling green cark park at Castle Loch and parked for a scan. We were surprised, to say the least, when this drake Garganey popped out from under the bank! It was calling frequently and swam away but worryingly swam back again towards us! I tried to digiscope it but it was just too close - the shots above were unaided (although the last is enlarged).
Plenty of Goldeneye around but little else apart from this hybrid Aythya resembling a drake Lesser Scaup (but note the extensive black on the bill nail and dark grey back). One Swallow in with the Sand Martins was our only year tick of the day.
On to the Solway shore then, with Annan as our first port of call. Pretty quiet here as the weather deteriorated (but lunch was good), so we moved onto Powfoot. The tide was in by now and there were 15 Greater Scaup close in with this nice Long-tailed Duck (above).Back to the dodgy ducks now: A dark-backed drake caught our attention, big as a Scaup but with a "tuft" and on close inspection the mantle was just a very dark grey, rather than black. Just appeared like a "Giant Tufty" at first. Wierd.
Caerlaverock WWT was our next stop but we took in a herd of 70 Whooper Swans near Ruthwell en route just before the "wintry showers" began. Loads of Barnacle Geese, Whoopers and a few Tree Sparrows at the WWT grounds, but nothing out of the ordinary.
We drove round to the NNR near Castle Wood and waited for the rain to stop. Finally some sun! A short walk in the woods here produced little apart from a few Chiffchaffs and we were just about to call it a day when Mrs B spotted a coule of Little Egrets out on the merse (nice one Angie). Still a good D&G bird and only the second time we've seen them up here.
