A walk up Meikle Bin today was rewarded with spectacular views as far as Berwick Law and Ben Lawyers. Birds included Swallow and Meadow Pipit.  

On Queen's Park Boating Pond today, a pair of little Grebes had a single juvenile, a pair of Coots had two chicks and two female Tufted Ducks were accompanying two juveniles.   

I counted at least eleven Swallows (including juveniles) flying around the artificial "cliffs" at Silverburn Shopping Centre today. Back home, an Oystercatcher called near the house. 

Two Ravens flew over the IKEA car park at Braehead this lunchtime. 

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Thursday, August 27, 2026

Queen's Park Pond today held four Tufted Ducks (two juvs), seventeen Black-headed Gulls (an increase) and a single drake Mallard in almost full breeding plumage (all the others are still in eclipse). 

A Raven calling over the Waverley Park estate was the highlight of the day, being a new species for me for that 1km square ("Crossmyloof and Maxwell Park"). Only two or three Tufted Ducks were on Maxwell Park Pond. The Pear and Apple trees in a garden near Haggs Castle seem to be having a particularly productive year.

Quite a long walk from Malletsheugh to Darnley Mill allowed me to explore some of the fragments of countryside still left following the recent expansion of the western suburbs of Newton Mearns. I was surprised to find lots of farmland and hedgerow plants including Field Scabious, Bird's-foot Trefoil, Bush Vetch and Yarrow. Blackthorn, Beech and Oak trees in the retained hedgerows carried some interesting larval mines and galls.

Around 70 Lesser Black-backed Gulls were coming to bread in Queen's Park Recreation Ground this morning. They were arriving at top speed from all directions, making me think that this is a daily occurrence.