SOLWAY: Shortest Day.

Mrs B and I spent 21 December touring the D&G lochs starting in Castle Douglas. We birded the Threave Estate in rather poor conditions seeing 50+ Redwings, Nuthatch and what were probably small groups of Greenland Whitefronted Geese overhead. The weather deteriorated at Carlingwark Loch were the only notable birds were a couple of Whooper Swans and a female Scaup. As usual for this time of year there were plenty of Goosander and Goldeneye on the loch.
The Ken-Dee Marshes was our next port of call but apart from a few perched Red Kites it was very poor. We failed to find any Greenland Whitefronts at Mains of Duchrae and they appear to be in low numbers this winter and rather elusive. Auchenreoch and Milton Lochs were poor and Lochfoot had little to offer. With the afternoon improving and given an extra bit of light due to the clear sky we headed up to Lochmaben for a quick look at Castle Loch. Although we didn't get time to cover the area completely a female Smew saved the day, spotted in with the Goosanders. Plenty of BHGs coming to roost but hardly any larger gulls this time in contrast to my last visit when I found a Glauc' in the roost. A tough day - lucky it wasn't any longer!