Another natural year has come and gone. Highlights have been many: watching Ptarmigan in the Northern Corries, a Merlin beside Loch Arklet and a Peregrine on the Fereneze Braes; finding a Mediterranean Gull on Murdieston Dam; camping under crystal-clear, starlit skies near Nethybridge; close encounters with Raven at Lang Craigs, Cuckoo near Ladymuir Reservoir, Teal above Helensburgh and Dipper on the flooded Cart; getting good views of Long tailed Duck on Loch of the Lowes and off Ardmore Point; finding Stock Doves near Waulkmill Glen Reservoir, Common Scoters off Troon and a Fulmar over Castle Semple Loch; discovering the hidden gem" of Hawkhead Woodland; locating possible breeding Raven, Stock Dove and Fulmar on Arthur's Seat; finding two Otters off the Ayrshire Coast; completing timed tetrad visits for my home tetrad (and taking on two more); stumbling into a fall of Pied and Grey Wagtails down the Ayrshire coast; adding Oystercatcher, Bullfinch, Yellowhammer, Teal, Goldeneye, Tufted Duck, Whooper Swan and Greylag Goose to my local lists; finally connecting with Woodcock, Purple Sandpiper and Brent Goose in the last week of the year and finding our first newt in the Silverglade Pond.
Regrets: Still not catching up with Scottish Hawfinches or Bearded Tits (I suspect I may have "missed the boat" with that last one, as the recent frost has probably done for them); missing out on some common species including Red Grouse and Whinchat; failing to track down the nesting sites of the local Cardonald Swifts or Rooks and missing the hatching of Tufted Duck broods on Bingham's Pond.
Resolutions: to add some new species to my local list (e.g. Sand Martin, Brambling, Jay and Redshank); to connect with the declining Scottish population of Mandarin Ducks; to see (or hear) more local Treecreeper, Bullfinch, Waxwing, and Tawny Owl; to learn more about the Scottish populations of Chough, Little Owl and Green Woodpecker; to learn the calls of Pied and Grey Wagtails and to connect with Black Grouse, Crested Tit, Hawfinch and Bearded Tit. And a long shot.... to find Nuthatch in my home tetrad.

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

No change in the status of the local water bodies - Murdieston was almost completely frozen apart from an impossibly small, clear area which is packed with birds. Two Goldeneye were doing their best to search for food, but surely they won't hang around much longer.
Heading home, a Buzzard was low over the A8/M8 merge at Finlayston.