Partnered with Argyll Biological Records Centre (ABReC)
I met Carl Farmer at the Tigh an Truish car park at 08:30 hours to complete a Bird Atlas TTV survey for NM71U. From here we took one car and parked on the road leading down to Ardencaple. As we reached the bridge and the estuary leading to Loch Caithlim, several Wigeon could be heard Read More …
I met Bob Grove at the Tigh an Truish at 1400 hrs on 29th November 2007 to show him the Tetrad NM71 (Z) for the Bird Atlas 2007-2011. More importantly I introduced him to Fiona behind the bar whilst I drank a glass of Highlander. As we started our walk, the weather was reasonable, considering Read More …
Walking along the bay this week I met a Winklepicker, (no not the shoe) but a collector of Winkles. This led me to ask a few questions and I was soon learning about a world I knew very little. Common Periwinkles (to give them their correct name) are apparently best harvested at a full or Read More …
There are three Divers (Loons as they are called in North America) that it is possible to see around these waters out of the breeding season, These are Great Northern, Black-throated and Red-throated Diver. Probably the most common would be Red-throated Diver and at this time of the year, they would appear in their winter-plumage Read More …
The beginning of October is the time to look skyward and listen for the first trumpeting calls of the Whooper Swan as they move south from Iceland to their wintering grounds. The Whoopers equivalent in North America is the Trumpeter Swan and it is probably a more suitable title as it has a loud bugling call. Mute Swans make little Read More …
On Monday walking on the road past Winterton a small flock of Yellowhammers were feeding on the seed heads of Common Knapweed on the roadside verge. This was the second record of numbers of Yellowhammers at Balvicar in the past week, the last being a small flock of ten near the golf course. It would appear Read More …
September is nearly always a good month for birds with our summer migrants returning to their winter quarters; to be replaced by our own winter visitors. This coming and going results in a good mix of species including passage and vagrant birds, so you never quite know what will turn up. So probably not surprisingly three new species were added this Read More …
September can be an interesting month with birds passing through on reverse migration and breeding birds returning to their wintering grounds. This has already begun with numbers of Wigeon and Teal increasing gradually on the Lochan, and Curlew, Redshank and Oystercatcher in Balvicar Bay. Similarly Goosanders which are normally found in freshwater habits can sometimes move to Read More …