Sunday 17th May

A rather dreich day out here today, not what I would call a typical May day...Some more sightings through from earlier on in the week... Back on early Friday morning, Bob , David and myself carried out the BTO Waterways breeding bird survey from The Woollen Mill down the River Sorn to its mouth as it enters Loch Indaal, a distance of over 6 km. So here are the birds that we logged, 3 Grey Heron, 1 Mallard, 1 Buzzard, 1 Pheasant, 2 Herring Gull, 6 Wood Pigeon, 5 Collared Dove, 1 Cuckoo, 15 Swallow, 2 House Martin, 1 Pied Wagtail, 1 Grey Wagtail, 10 Wren, 4 Dipper, 2 Dunnock, 2 House Sparrow, 11 Robin, 2 Song Thrush, 4 Mistle Thrush, 15 Blackbird, 23 Blackcap, 2 Chiffchaff, 11 Willow Warbler, 1 Sedge Warbler, 1 Goldcrest, 2 Spotted Flycatcher, 9 Great Tit, 4 Blue Tit, 3 Treecreeper, 40 Jackdaw, 10 Rook, 17 Goldfinch, 12 Chaffinch, 2 Redpoll, 3 Siskin and 52 Starling. Yesterday, Gary had seen some Sandwich Terns and also Common Terns at Blackrock. He also had 2 Great Skuas flying South low over Loch Indaal and then and then an Arctic Skua harassing the terns on the rocks! The Bowland birders, Andrew and Jane, had been in at the Woollen Mill yesterday where they saw a Grey Wagtail feeding its young, saw a male Siskin on the feeders and heard a Chiffchaff singing. Further on in the woods there, a Sparrowhawk was present, a Dipper was on the River Sorn, 2 male and a female Bullfinch seen, they also heard at least 9 Blackcaps singing away as well as some Willow warblers.