The two Pollok Rooks' nests which had been started when I checked last Sunday were looking more-or-less finished when I checked today. A pair of Mistle Thrushes were nearby and prominent singers included Song thrush, Greenfinch and Dunnock. There has been a noticeable influx of Lesser Black-backed Gulls into the area, and a corresponding decline in Black-headed Gull numbers.

Some of the best birds at RSPB Loch Leven today consisted of Tree Sparrow, Pintail, Gadwall, Jay and Stonechat. Birds at Hogganfield Loch included Whooper Swan and Oystercatcher. Botanical highlights were flowering Lungwort and Marsh Marigold. Frogspawn was in Hogganfield Marsh.

This morning, five Goosanders were on the stretch of the river in Battlefield where they have overwintered. A lone darke further west may have been guarding a female on a nest. Three wagtails swooping over the tops of the tenements on Kilmarnock Road could have been Pied or Grey. 

An hour spent in an extremely wet Lochwinnoch was mostly taken up counting Rook nests. Here is the summary of the counts I submitted to Birdtrack: "27 nests in the vicinity of Auld Simon Kirkyard; seven nests along East End and seven nests along Gates Road. This gives a total of 41 partially-completed or completed nests. There may have been others elsewhere in the monad but these were the most obvious (noisy) and all concentrated in a relatively small area". 

Some interesting finds on the way over to Mount Florida today included a crawling, ant-like Ichneumonid wasp species, flowering Blackthorn and Coltsfoot, an interesting, early, pink-flowered Prunus species and a Great Spotted Woodpecker (the latter in Cathkin Park - a new site record for me). At least three Common Frogs were in the Queen's Park nature pond.  

First sighting of the day concerned a pair of Oystercatchers doing some synchronised flying and calling over the grounds of Shawlands Academy (no doubt intended to broadcast the fact that the territory has been re-occupied). I need to put some effort into working out exactly where the nest is this year as it eluded me last season. An errand in Paisley allowed me to pop into Fountain Gardens to see how the Rooks there are doing. I counted a total of twenty partially-completed nests, distributed between six different trees. In the afternoon I walked around the farmland between Inchinnan and the mouth of the River Cart. Pink-footed Goose was the main find with several groups scattered around the stubble fields. Flocks of Fieldfares, Redwings, Starlings and Stock Doves were also noteworthy. Teal and Wigeon were the main species on the Clyde, but back at the confluence of the White and Black Cart Waters, a beautifully-marked long-tailed Duck was feeding with eleven Goldeneye and a Cormorant. A Stock Dove was singing in the grounds of the Normandy Hotel as I headed for the bus.

A Goldcrest was singing strongly from a conifer in a Shawhill Road garden when I passed this afternoon. Three Grey Squirrels seemed to be working together to raid the bins near the retail park. 

Sunday, March 08, 2026

The highlight of today's walk around Crookston was my first singing Chiffchaff of the year. Other interesting records included Rooks building nests about 50 meters from last year's site and a pair of Goosanders on the river nearby.

Saturday, March 07, 2026

I took quite a long walk today past Queen's Park, Crosshill, Govanhill and on to the Southern Necropolis on the edge of the Gorbals. Highlights were botanical in the form of my first flowering Coltsfoot of the year and more Cherry Plum trees in blossom.