River walk

Lochwinnoch was wet and windy this morning but a walk around produced all the common village birds. I checked on the patch of Rustyback Fern on the gable end of a building in Calderhaugh Lane. Unfortunately it is now quite small and may not last much longer, especially as the building itself seems to be crumbling away. I checked lots of suitable-looking walls around the village but was unable to find any other sites supporting the species. Back home, I found my first frogspawn of the year in the nature pond in Queen's Park. 

I enjoyed a windy walk up to the summit of the Braid Hills in Edinburgh today. Botanical highlights consisted of Giant Butterbur beside the Braid Burn and Winter Aconite in Faimilehead Public Park. Best bird was probably a Great Spotted Woodpecker flying over the top of the Braid Hills as I started walking down.  

I caught the bus out to Hairmyers first thing, then walked back to Clarkston over the farmland to the west of Thorntonhall. A flyover Yellowhammer, a single Tree Sparrow and a flock of about thirty Redwings were the highlights of the first section (from Peel Road to Waterfoot). The later section through Flenders Farm was notable for large numbers of Tree Sparrows.

I only had time for a short walk around Langside today. Best finds were not avian but botanical: flowering Snowdrop, crocus, dandelion and daffodil (the latter in a garden - the feral ones around here have still not opened) and a small growth of Yellow Brain fungus on a fallen branch.

I headed down to Greenock first thing to do you monthly WeBS core count. Always "the usual suspects" were present as expected but I was struck as I often am by the lack of diversity in the bird population. Years ago I would regularly record Pochard, Goldeneye and Goosander as well as occasional Teal and Wigeon. I have seen few of any of those species in recent years.

Eighteen Tufted Ducks were on Maxwell Park Pond today - continuing a recent run of high counts here and at Queen's Park.