More from Argyll.

Ring-billed Gull, Lochgilphead (Argyll & Bute) 29 March 2012.

 Managed to get a bit of birding in along the Argyll coast from the Mull of Kintyre in the week. Plenty of Great Northern Divers (above) on show, with fourteen together off Mausdale and others scattered between there and Clachan. A few Common Scoters, Mergs and Eiders around with at least 5 Slavonian Grebes (coming into summer plumage) from one car park just south of Clachan.

 Argyll, like many other parts of the UK, enjoyed a good influx of white-winged gulls this winter. This second winter Iceland Gull was the only one I saw but several more were seen during the week further south on the Mull towards Campbletown.

I enjoyed Golden Eagle, Hen Harriers and Black Grouse during my spare time in Argyll and this Ring-billed Gull at Lochgilphead on the way home. The weather and scenery wasn't bad either.

Argyll.

Snow Goose at Douglas Water, 29 March 2012.

Greenland White-fronted Geese at Rhunahaorine, Argyll and Bute 27 March 2012.

Just back from a few days working in Argyll where there was a nice mix of resident and lingering winter birds, as well as the first arriving summer migrants. The Greenland White-fronted Geese were still there - 515 feeding in the fields near Rhunahaorine south of Clachan. One of the locals told me they usually leave between 20 - 25 April. I couldn't find any neck-collared birds in the flock unfortunately.

Saw my first Swallows and Sand Martins on 27th with Chiffchaff singing outside the petrol station in Clachan as I filled up (at £1.45 / litre) ready for the journey home on 28th. No panic buying queues here.
Stopped on the way home yesterday along the M74 for the Snow Goose at Douglas Water. It was feeding in the fields with 182 Greylags when I arrived, flying onto the pool shortly afterwards. 
Can't be sure of its credentials, but it was only a three mile detour. The last one I looked for was in Argyll in April 2011; I missed it but it was still there last July. Not a "good contender".
Nevertheless I enjoyed this one and there was an adult European White-fronted Goose (below) with the flock as a bonus.

Patch stuff.

Corn Bunting, Hesketh Out Marsh 25 March 2012.

 This week has seen winter turn to spring on the Solway and on the Ribble. Indeed it seemed as if we'd skipped spring and leapt straight into summer this weekend. The Solway Barnacle Geese were still present in good numbers last Wednesday though, in fact I watched a couple of thousand lifting off the fields at Loaningfoot to their roost on the Solway merse last Wednesday (21st). The Red-breasted Goose was still with them, on a day I recorded my first Wheatear of the year near Creetown.

Marshside RSPB from the Hesketh Road platform yesterday.

 I was back on the local patch on Friday (23rd), but as is often the case at this time of year, it was a little quiet. Avocets have moved in over the last few weeks with 18 on the salt marsh but apart from a flock of 20 Golden Plovers there was little at Hesketh Out Marsh to write about. A pair of Tufted Ducks on the pond near the public footpath seawall are a bit of a HOM rarity though.

Black-tailed Godwit on Crossens Inner Marsh, 24 March 2012.

 A walk around Marshside yesterday produced the usual variety of waders and wildfowl including some nice flocks of Golden Plover (400+), Black-tailed Godwits, Avocets and a few Ruff. There were at least 12 Chiffchaffs around the reserve perimeter.

Ribble Estuary NNR near the confluence with the River Douglas today.

Corn Buntings at Hesketh Out Marsh East this afternoon.

 Warm weather, clear skies and sun on a weekend mean lots of people so I headed down to the Douglas this afternoon for a look across Longton and Hutton Marshes on the Ribble Estuary. There are still 16 Whooper Swans out there and a few Oystercatchers were in flocks on the marsh. Single Little Egret and Peregrine on a log made for pleasant, if unspectacular patch birding.

I was chuffed to find 4 Corn Buntings this afternoon though. The South Ribble marshes of the inner estuary are pretty good for them but they've been a bit elusive of late. Cracking birds.

Back on the Solway.

A quick pre-work run around of the Southerness Point area this morning: Red-breasted Goose still with Barnacle Geese near West Preston Farm (Loaningfoot) and 100 Fieldfare with 30+ Twite on the telegraph wires there. These Brent Geese (dark-bellied but one paler) were with a small flock of Barnies associating with 800+ Pink-footed Geese. The paler-bellied bird certainly isn't a classic example, surely?
The redhead Smew was still on the fisheries pond near Kirkbean but I failed to find any Scaup at Carsethorn at high tide and the pint was devoid of any small waders, so no Purple Sandpipers.
A look on the lochs this afternoon was quite fruitless. Aucehnreoch was almost bird less apart from a couple of Goosanders, Milton was a little better with a drake Scaup in sixty or so Tufted Ducks.

Hawfinches.

 Stopped in at Sizergh Castle in Cumbria on my way to Scotland this morning. The Hawfinches were performing well, some singing in the treetops above the car park. Several birds came down to the ground until some observers ventured from their cars.
The weekend was a little quiet back home on the Ribble Estuary. Winter's still hanging on in there with 20 Whooper Swans on Longton Marsh on Saturday evening and 41 European White-fronted Geese on Crossens Outer with a single Barnacle Goose in with the Pinks. Banks Marsh was swarming with geese; thousands of Pink-feet in the haze with one adult European White-front. Heaven knows what else is out there in the distant marshes?
The Great White Egret was on Crossens Outer too.

Stonechat.

 Back home for a couple of days and time to check the local Ribble patch. Birding at Hesketh Out Marsh has been a little disappointing of late so it was nice to see this cracking male Stonechat there this morning.

 RSPB Ribble Reserves manager Tony Baker found it, being on site to oversee the lagoon improvement works ongoing there at the moment. 

Raven over the saltmarsh this morning and Twite heard from the platform. Thought I might bump into a Wheatear but the only migrants I had were 2 Goldcrests in the laid hedgerow. The north west has seen a bit of an influx this week, so no real surprise to see this HOM rarity today. Strange to hear one singing there though.
Still many Pink-footed Geese around but all out on the NNR and frustratingly impossible to "grill". 
Chiffchaff singing around the edge of the local Brickcroft nature reserve this afternoon.

No searching for Wheatears while these beauties are still about!

Adult Greenland White-fronted Goose with Pink-footed Geese, Arbigland (Dumfries& Galloway), March 2012.

Just spent a wonderful week in Dumfries & Galloway with some excellent before and after-work birding. A reported Glossy Ibis at Mersehead and "near Carsethorn" gave me an excuse to check the area on 13th and 14th. No sign of the ibis but Greenland White-fronted Goose, Green-winged Teal, Ruff, a flock of 25+ Twite were seen and the Red-breasted Goose was still at large in the Loaningfoot area.

European White-fronted Geese with Pink-footed Geese near Lochmaben, 15 March 2012.

I was at a bit of a loose end yesterday lunchtime so I decided to look for the Tundra Bean Goose found by Ken Shaw et al on Monday. The 1200+ Pink-footed Geese just north of Lochmaben were "a few fields in" and many remained hidden in "dead ground". Suddenly the air filled with high pitched goose calls and a flock of 41 White-fronted Geese came in. Closer inspection revealed that all were European White-fronts and they must've joined some already present as I counted 43 in total, possibly a county record (John Nadin pers comm.)?
 The Tundra Bean Goose was close by too but still managed to avoid being captured on film (I'm yet to get a decent picture of one of these, despite a considerable influx this winter).

Redhead Smew on Kirkhouse Fishery Pond near Kirkbean yesterday.

Other highlights from a week north of the border included Smew (above), 44 Whooper Swans heading north up the Nith (seen 14th from the Drumburn Viewpoint), Barn Owl, plenty of Tawny Owls, Peregrine and of course all those Barnacle Geese!

Bit of Ribble birding.

Tundra Bean Goose (centre) near Martin Mere, 11 March 2012.

 More dodgy grey goose photos I'm afraid. Didn't have enough time to get to the estuary today so when Graham Clarkson found a Tundra Bean Goose with Pinks near Martin Mere this morning I thought I'd have a look.
It took a full hour of scanning through the 820 Pink-feet to find it. I wasn't too ashamed as it was sitting right at the back of the field, so no orange legs on show.

 It did get up to feed eventually, preening and shaking those big orange plates. You can just about see its orange legs in this shot. Great birds, I'll always go to look at Beans. Single Greylag Goose and a neck-collared Pink-foot seen, Little Owl heard and flocks of Fieldfares in the trees bordering a ditch where a Stoat carried off what looked like a Water Vole all seen.

Neck-collared Pink-footed Goose TJS was amongst the 820 near Martin Mere today.

Big tides on the Ribble this weekend but my visit to Hesketh Out Marsh yesterday was a little disappointing with these 3 Eiders being the highlight. The blustery conditions made birding a bit tricky but we did manage 2 Corn Buntings and there are still plenty of geese on the estuary (something to do next weekend hopefully).
An evening stroll on Longton Marsh doing a Brown Hare survey yielded Corn Bunting and 23 Whooper Swans yesterday.

Solway geese.

Dark-bellied Brent Goose with Barnacles and Pinks at Drumburn on the Nith Estuary (Dumfries & Galloway), 9 March 2012.

 I managed to find the Red-breasted Goose again near Southerness on Thursday 8th March. It was still in the West Preston Farm area, but still distant. A nice flock of 820 Pink-footed Geese north of Kirkbean along the A710 kept me occupied for a while but I could only find ICV neck-collared bird in with them. At least 200 Barnacle Geese accompanied them. A pair of Goosander on the sea at Powillimount (unusual here) plus 15 Scaup on the Nith off Drumburn were the only other birds of note.

Carsethorn on the Solway from the Drumburn Viewpoint.

Returning to the same area yesterday lunchtime produced little else of note. In fact there were fewer geese along the Nith but one flock (500 Barnies and 220 Pinks) below Drumburn held a Dark-bellied Brent Goose. Brents are pretty scarce along the Inner Solway and if I do see them it's usually one of the pale-bellied birds, so this may be my first D&G Dark-bellied Brent Goose.
Southerness Barnies were further away (on Preston Merse) but I could see one of the leucistic birds in them.

Hanging on in there.

Adult Eurasian Whitefronted Goose with Pink-feet near Creetown (Dumfries & Galloway), 7 March 2012.

Little Ringed Plovers, Sand Martins and Garganeys may be on the menu for this weekend elsewhere, but I'm clinging to winter in SW Scotland at the moment. The Cree merse was swarming with Pink-feet today, many of which I couldn't check due to the lack of parking places on the A75, but in one flock I found 2 adult Eurasian White-fronted Geese as well as AXP neck-collared Pink-foot.
Nice herd of 69 Whooper Swans by the road near Palnure and plenty of Barnacles in the Southerness area still. I believe the Red-breast is still about but wasn't in with the roadside birds this morning at least.

Long-tailed Ducks.

Drake Long-tailed Ducks, Burghead, Moray 28 February 2012.

 We spent a couple of hours at Burghead (Moray) the other day, and were delighted to find 30+ Long-tailed Ducks close inshore. Most were drakes, one group of ten courting a single duck quite vociferously!

Nothing untoward out there as far as I could see, but there were at least 50 Common Scoters, 30 Eiders, a few Goldeneyes and several Red-throated Divers. A few Pink-feet could be seen in flight but the only grounded birds I've found over the the last few days was a flock of 350+ near Nairn. No Beans though.