Sunday 13th April.We headed off early for D&G this morning and the weather was looking very good as we reached the border so we decided to head onto the high moors just out of Langholm on the Newcastleton road.
Stunning scenery and great weather induced thoughts of Wheatears and Ring Ouzels, neither of which made their way onto our list this morning! Crippling views of a male Hen Harrier displaying directly overhead made up for this though. The "ringtail" could be seen down in the valley and we saw them together a couple of times.
What was presumably the same male Hen Harrier appeared frequently nearby and it was quite sometime before we finally saw a Red Grouse, despite hearing many throughout the morning.
It was getting pretty chilly up on the moors by lunchtime so we headed down to the Solway. A couple of Goosanders and singing Chiffchaffs were noted in Langholm and a few flocks of Fieldfare and a couple of Red-legged Partridges were noted as we drove through the valleys down to the coast and our destination of Lock Kindar near the Nith estuary. 'Scoping the loch produced 3 Greater Scaup and several Goldeneye were all that the loch had to offer and no sign of the Pink-footed Geese flock from our previous visit. A Green Woodpecker calling from the forest was a real surprise (they are rare up here) so we went for a walk into the forest. Plenty of Coal Tits and Siskins, but the Green Woodpecker took a bit of finding. We finally located it high in a tree, belting out its "yaffle" call. Great-spotted Woodpecker there too but best of all 2 "female type" Crossbills we managed to 'scope in the tops of larches. The dwindling Drumburn goose flock held a few hundred Barnacle Geese and 50+ Pink-feet but a Little Egret on the Nith was notable.Southerness Point was pretty quiet apart from a huge flock of Oystercatchers and a single Barwit displaced by the tide so we called it a day and headed to the Solway Gate for a meal.
