Plenty of birds were along a quiet section of the White Cart through Paisley today including six Redshanks, two Moorhens, two Mute Swans, Mallard, Redwing and Bullfinch. 

After last night's heavy rain, this morning's walk found the river had burst its banks, partially flooding the playing fields at Moulin and Bonnyholm. 112 Black-headed Gulls (the highest count of the winter) were gathered on the two flooded patches. Elsewhere, a Hooded x Carrion Crow hybrid was in Rosshall Park where 54 Siskins was a good local count. A little further afield, a Roe Deer was on the grassy slope to the north of Crookston Castle and at least fifteen Herring Gulls were scavenging around St James Parish Church.A flock of 30 Starlings and a single Redwing were also in that area. 

The heavy rain of the past few days continued all day today. A walk in Craigton Cemetery failed to turn up anything unusual with most birds staying quiet and in cover.

The only notable sightings of a very wet day were a single Mistle Thrush defending a Rowan tree at Bonnyholm and a flock of 86 Black-headed Gulls on the flooded Moulin playing field. 

A walk around my neighbouring one kilometer square in very heavy rain today failed to produce very many birds. The Mallards on the river were keeping their heads down but a couple of Moorhens gave away their presence by their calls. A big flock of Long-tailed Tits contained at least eighteen birds.

On a day of heavy rain, any bird activity around the house was confined to the brief spells between downpours. Blue Tit, Great Tit and Woodpigeon continue to sing, despite the weather.

Lots of birds took the opportunity of the milder weather to do some singing today. Species involved were Woodpigeon, Wren, Robin, Blue Tit, Great Tit and CoalTit. The local Goldfinches were still very much in winter mode with a flock of 26 near the Bonnyholm footbridge.

Bird of the day locally was Collared Dove with six birds near the railway bridge display-flighting, singing and generally behaving like spring had already arrived. A single Common Gull was also unusual.

I was delayed getting out today and all the Black-headed Gulls (plus nearly everything else) had already gone to roost. However Moorhens were still ploughtering among the debris left by the big freeze and a single Grey heron was hunting at the weir.

The Pied Wagtail which is wintering around the bottom of Berryknowes Road in Glasgow has clearly survived the cold snap and was feeding around parked cars and on rooftops while I was in the area. Starlings were singing from TV aerials and a pair of Blue Tits were chasing eachother along telephone wires.

A Mistle Thrush was a less-often-seen-species present today, as were six Starlings. They may have arrived overnight as I also noticed a small influx of Redwings. Last week's freeze is now all but a memory with the river now completely free of ice (although the ground is still very hard). Grey Squirrels and Moorhens are still cropping up in unusual places, suggesting to me that things haven't returned to normal yet for them.

Black-headed Gull numbers remain high locally with around 85 on Moulin playing fields this early afternoon. Slightly earlier in the day I saw over 100 about half a kilometer away which I'm fairly sure were a different flock. Another good count was at least nine Stock Doves coming down to scattered grain along the riverside path, possibly my highest count locally.

Two Grey Wagtails were feeding in the guttering of high tenements in Langside this afternoon. A flock of twelve Goldfinches was also notable.

After an excellent showing of 23 Grey Squirrels yesterday I saw none on today's walk. Thought I heard the tinkling call of Waxwings in treetops near the house but couldn't pinpoint the birds and the sound only lasted a few seconds. Will have a proper scout around tomorrow. 

The local Black-headed Gull flock had increased again today and now stands at 92 birds. Grey Squirrels were also showing well with at least 23 encountered in the course of a 25 minute walk.

The local Black-headed Gull flock numbered 60 today - my highest count of the year so far. Significantly perhaps, this total coincided with the school lunch break so it may have included birds that had flown in from other areas to exploit the feeding opportunity.

A flock of 35 Goldfinches was the most notable sighting of a frosty walk around south Cardonald late this afternoon.

With the overnight temperature locally down to -11 degrees, it was still -9 when I headed out first thing. The White Cart is now almost completely frozen but the Brock Burn is still flowing and three Goosanders were fishing where the two rivers meet. A Roe Deer was in the adjacent woods. Blue Tit, Coal Tit and Great Tit were all singing in the sunshine.

The local river is now completely frozen over for loing stretches, although there is still some open water around the weirs.  With the lack of cover, normally shy waterbirds are more visible but a count of seven Moorhens was still quite unexpected. The Mallards seem mostly to have moved out of the area and gull numbers are down on recent days.

The dams in Murdieston Park were nearly completely frozen this morning. A Little Grebe was diving in the tiny patch of clear water on Town Dam and two Goosanders were on the open water on Cowdenknowes. Later, some of the highlights of a bracing walk around Lunderston Bay were four Ringed Plovers on exposed mud, a flypast Raven and two Red-throated Divers offshore.

Two Lesser Redpolls, a Pied Wagtail, a Grey Wagtail, five Moorhens and a female Sparrowhawk were the most notable bird sightings along the river today.

After 48 hours of sub-zero temperatures, the river next to the house has partially frozen over. The Mallards and Moorhens don't seem particularly affected. A small flock of seven Redwings were the first I'd seen locally for a week or more. A partial thaw arrived late in the day.

A Kingfisher and a female Goosander were on the river and five Stock Doves were feeding along the path.

The very cold, clear weather this week has prompted a few species to start singing including Coal Tit and Goldfinch.  It has also brought more Black-headed Gulls into the area - 49 were waiting for the school to come out today.

A Sparrowhawk dashed across in front of us at the start of today's walk. Later, two Nuthatches were having a noisy interaction near the Lime Walk in Rosshall Park. The drainage of Rosshall Park Pond and other maintenance work is well underway. I am assuming the appropriate advice has been sought to ensure that amphibians, Hedgehogs and Rabbits (all of which I have recorded in the park) will not be disturbed.

A male Goosander with a lovely apricot tinge to his breast feathers was sailing down the river today. I walked along with him for about 100 metres while he just carried on paddling and looking around. I then had a lovely close encounter with an Otter. I saw it splashing in the shallows ahead of me and walked along to take a look. Just as I got to the water's edge it surfaced about two metres in front of me, dived right back down underwater but then re-surfaced behind some branches and had a good peer at me through the gaps. It then proceeded to plowter about under the riverbanks, leaving trails of tiny bubbles behind as it swam underwater from one bank to the other. What was most remarkable was that this all happened at 12:45 while dozens of teenagers from the local school were heading along the riverside path to the shops.

The most interesting species encountered during a walk around Rouken Glen Park was Wigeon, with two males and one female on the pond. I hadn't recorded the species there before although a quick check of birdtrack revealed that up to eighteen birds have wintered most years since 2016. The other notable species in the area was Nuthatch.

Some of the highlights of a day spent exploring Stirling and Bannockburn today were a big flock of Lesser Redpolls feeding in Birch trees, a farm pond with Mallards, Mute Swans and Moorhens, a Sparrowhawk typically dashing off over hedges and buildings, a nice patch of Candlesnuff Fungus and an interesting, purple-berried evergreen shrub.

I came across six Rabbits on a walk around the west of Hamilton today. Coincidentally I saw one near Airdrie yesterday as well. Such sightings are all too rare for me although I have noticed that the species seems to be highly site faithful so that a site which has held them on one occasion can usually be relied upon to do so in the future.

Today's walk was from Maxim Park to Airdrie via a long section of the heritage path along the canal. On a mild, windless day, lots of plants were still flowering including Red Campion, Water Forget-me-not, Oxeye daisy, Hogweed, Yarrow, a buttercup species, a ragwort species, a thistle species, a sowthistle species and an oxbeard species. Fungi were represented by Earthtongues on the mown grass at Maxim Park and mammals by two Grey Squirrels and a single Rabbit. Best birds in what is a fairly densely populated area were Dipper, Buzzard, Jay, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Pied Wagtail, Grey Wagtail, Bullfinch and Moorhen.

Four Stock Doves and a Grey Wagtail were my local highlights today.

Wednesday, 30th November, 2022

Best of the birds around my home square this week has been a Little Grebe which I believe has been present for a couple of months but which I only occasionally catch sight of. Long-tailed Tits are encountered almost every day and flocks of Goldfinches are another regular sight.