Thursday 27th Feb

Sunshine & Light wintry showers. 0/5/3c. W3

F&C CANAL (Ruchill St > Clydebank)

A much better day for my weekly walk to Clydebank which produced a couple of nice highlights ;

Cormorant 8 (5 River Kelvin)

Grey Heron 1

Mute Swan 11 (inc 2 alloy ringed birds at Westerton) W27255 was rung as a 2nd year bird at Hogganfield Loch on 28th Feb 2009. 

W25940 was rung as a 1st Winter bird at Hogganfield Loch on 2nd Nov 2008.

Tufted Duck 20

Goosander 4

Coot 3

Common Buzzard 6 (3 together over Dawsholm Park & 3 together over Drumchapel)

Fox 3

Roe Deer 1

The Fieldfare was a new photographed species for me...and the male Sparrowhawk was photographed on my return home.

Sunday 23rd February

Sunshine & Wintry showers. 3/7/3c. W3-5

F&C CANAL (Ruchill St > Lock 27)

A bit of an eventful start to our walk. We`d just got onto the canal when we saw a pair of Mute Swans close into the edge of the bank acting quite strange. Closer inspection revealed the male of the pair violently attacking another male Mute Swan. Obviously the other male had swam onto the territory of the pair. This bird was tucked up into the bank and was quite distressed and unable to get away. So, i gave Linda my phone to call Hessilhead Wildlife Rescue while i did my best to keep the aggressive bird away from the other one. Luckily i didnae have to keep this up for too long as someone from Hessilhead was with us within 20 minutes. The bird was lifted out from the edge of the canal with ease as it was so exhausted from the attack and the lady (Kirsty) said from the way the bird was breathing she could tell it had water on the lungs as a result of the other male trying to drown it. Thankfully it was safely bagged up and taken off to Hessilhead for treatment.

So, we were able to continue on our walk, which provided the following highlights ;

Cormorant 7 (5 River Kelvin)

Grey Heron 1

Common Buzzard 1

Kingfisher 1

Raven 2 (over Dawsholm Park)

Fox 3

Thursday 20th February

Sunshine & Wintry showers. 6/5/5c. W3-6

F&C CANAL (Ruchill St > Clydebank)

The weather continues to be something of a damp squib and i must`ve been mad to venture out in such conditions. It was perfectly fine when i set off but it soon went downhill and i got caught in 3 prolonged hail/sleet showers.

And what did i get for my madness? Well, here`s what.....

Cormorant 15 (11 River Kelvin)

Grey Heron 2

Mute Swan 11

Tufted Duck 5

Goosander 3

Sparrowhawk 1

Dipper 2

Fox 5

Rove Beetle sp

Marsh Marigold (very early)

Blackthorn

Wednesday 12th February

Snow showers am. Sunny pm. 4/5/0c. W2-4

F&C CANAL (Ruchill St > Clydebank)

Pretty much the same species as usual but it`s better than staying indoors.

Cormorant 10 (6 River Kelvin)

Grey Heron 1

Mute Swan 10

Tufted Duck 18

Goosander 5

Kestrel 2

Fox 8

Friday 7th February

Sunny. 6/7/8c. S2-4

ARDROSSAN > SALTCOATS

Took the train out to the North Ayrshire coast and had a brilliant day with quite a few photographic opportunities.

Black Guillemot (Summer Plumage)

Black Guillemot (Winter plumage)

Eider

Great Black-backed Gull

Herring Gull (adult)

Herring Gull (1st Winter)

Oystercatcher

Curlew

Redshank

Dunlin

A few highlights...

...from the last week.

I`ve got a bit behind due to not feeling well (mentally) but it didnae stop me going out. Anyway, here`s some of my best sightings from the week just gone.

A brief walk along the River Kelvin on Tuesday produced 2 Dipper & "flowering" Spring Snowflake. 

I`m not going to say where i went Thursday (but it was local) due to the sensitivity of the sighting, which was a first observation for me in the form of a pair of Ravens nest building.

Friday we took the train out to the North Ayrshire coast but that`ll be a separate post, later.

Which leads me onto yesterday (Saturday) when i finally got to grips with my first Waxwings of the Winter. 2 birds were heard & seen briefly along the canal at the back of the Student village.

Raven (collecting branches for nest building)

Monday 3rd February

Sunshine & frequent showers. 6/7/4c. W3-6

HOGGANFIELD LOCH

Just a couple of pics from a brief visit. I`ve sent the sighting of the colour-ringed Black-headed Gull off but had no reply from the ringer, as yet.

Whooper Swan (2nd year bird)

Goldeneye (male & female)

Saturday 1st February

Rain am. Sunny pm. 8/9/4c. SW4

F&C CANAL (Ruchill St > Lock 27)

Just a wee walk compared to what i usually do.

Grey Heron 1

Cormorant 10 (River Kelvin)

Mute Swan 2

Goosander 1

Sparrowhawk 1

Roe Deer 2 (the first local ones I`ve seen for many months)

Fox 1

Friday 31st January

Cloudy/Drizzle am. Bright spells pm. 10/12/10c. SW4

LEYDEN GARDENS

Great Spotted Woodpecker 1 (feeding on suet balls)

F&C CANAL (Ruchill St > Clydebank)

I was looking forward to this walk especially after missing out on it last week...and i was duly rewarded with a few highlights.

Little Grebe 1

Grey Heron 2

Cormorant 11 (7 River Kelvin)

Mute Swan 10 (inc 1 alloy ringed W16208)

Tufted Duck 21

Goosander 13

Raven 2 over Westerton (my first of the year)

Palmate Newt 1 (my first of the year)

Little Grebe

Glistening Inkcaps

Hare`s Foot Inkcaps