Birding at Milton Loch near Crocketford, 9 October 2008.
Tufted Ducks at Milton Loch, 9 October 2008.
9 October 2008: Happy Birthday Birder! We headed west towards Dalbeatie from Dumfries calling in at a couple of lochs en route to Auchencarn Bay this morning. The dull conditions with a threat of rain did not muster up the feeling of birding optimism of the previous day though. At least 130 Tufted Ducks at Milton Loch, but couldn't find anything in them and Milton Loch was quiet except for 25+ Goosanders. A quick look at Carlingwark Loch as we passed through Castle Douglas produced absolutely nothing so we headed on to Auchencairn Bay (above). This looks a promising area to me but so far we've had little here to write home about. Today was no different: Red-throated Diver, a nice gathering of Wigeon on the tide-line, plenty of gulls to check through and Balcary Head produced little despite keeping a close eye on a nice 'crest / tit flock in the woods there. Got to be a Yellow-browed around somewhere?
Carsethorn, the scene of the "crime".
After a drive alongside Rascarrel Moss (Merlin and 8 Mistle Thrushes) we decided to bail out, scoff lunch and head back towards Southerness. Time for a bit of therapy here. Now, when I was abroad last month I was aware of a Hoopoe only a couple of miles away from our caravan at Carsethorn. It turned up the day I arrived in Brazil and stayed around for ten day. Ten days! Of course I wasn't bothered (liar). So as part of my recovery process I decided that we should visit the area today and cleanse my mind so I can carry on with D&G birding life.
Actually it was a very worthwhile exercise. Normally we pull up in the car park opposite the pub, scan the shore and then get back in the car if there's nothing there. Today we parked strolled around the seafront listening to Coal Tits impersonating Yellow-browed Warblers and then walked along the beach to the north where the Hoopoe had been flirting with all sorts of birders while I was away (the brazen hussy). The horse paddocks where Chris Baines relocated the bird after a very wet morning searching, are surrounded by bushes and the beach looks a half decent bet for buntings. Not much today apart from a dozen or so Scaup and a couple of Little Egrets out on the saltmarsh. I'm not sure of Carsethorn's rare bird record (I'm sure Chris would be able to tell me straight away though), but there's a record of White-winged Black Tern.
Once the Hoopoe therapy session was over (I'm better now) we headed round to Mersehead RSPB which was predictably poor. Just a few calling Water Rails here and we didn't even see those. We did find a nice first winter Mediterranean Gull following a muck-spreader though and just like last autumn there are stack of Barnies and a few Pink-feet in the fields north of Southerness. The Point was particularly poor, despite a strong onshore wind and in quite dire conditions we called it a day.
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