Waxwing, ©Angus Hogg, 2017

October Chiffchaff, Crosshill, ©Angus Hogg, 2017

Glaucous Gull, Troon, ©Dave Grant, 2017

Little Grebes, Rozelle, ©Jamie McPike, 2017

Water Pipit and Meadow Pipit, Pow Burn, ©Angus Hogg, 2017

It’s time to update the Photo Gallery with the latest submissions. While most are wetland birds, we did have a small bunch of Waxwings around and a late Chiffchaff to brighten up urban birding. Down at the coast we had a few Little Egrets, Water Pipits and (for Ayrshire) rarer stuff like Velvet Scoters. Angus Hogg managed to get a photo of a Water Pipit and Meadow Pipit together as an identification aide: but which is which? And winter wouldn’t be the same without some interesting gulls: Dave Grant managed to get some nice photos of a juvenile Glaucous Gull on one of the rare days when the sun shone! Sadly, no new photo entries to the Ayrshire Species List.

My thanks go to Dave Grant, Angus Hogg and Jamie McPike for sending in photos for the Photo Gallery.

Green Sandpiper, ©Jamie McPike, 2016

Black-tailed and Bar-tailed Godwits, ©Angus Hogg, 2016

Goldcrest, ©Goldcrest, 2016

Female Goshawk, ©Angus Hogg, 2016

Bridled Guillemot, ©Dave Grant, 2016

It’s time to update the Photo Gallery with the latest submissions. Jamie McPike makes it two-in-a-row in getting an entry onto the Ayrshire Species List with his photo of a Green Sandpiper at Doonfoot. Angus Hogg has a pair of photos from somewhere in South Ayrshire: one is of a Jay collecting an acorn; the second is of a female Goshawk about to collect said Jay! He also sent in a nice photo of our two Godwit species to help hone your ID skills. Finally, Dave Grant’s photo of a Goldcrest is amazing given this little creatures aren’t known to pose for a shot. Dave also sent in a few pictures from his trip to Ailsa Craig, include one of a Bridled Guillemot in the colony – an ornithological game of hunt the spectacles.

My thanks go to Dave Grant, Angus Hogg and Jamie McPike for sending in photos for the Photo Gallery.

Tony Scott has sent in the latest issue of the The Stonechat, the SOC Ayrshire Branch‘s newsletter.   You can get it here .  Note: this is a 14MB PDF document as it contains a lot of high-quality images.

The Summer 2016 issue of The Gannet, the club newsletter of the RSPB Central Ayrshire Local Group is now available: click here to download it .

The 15th of August edition of ITV’s Border Life programme features field work on Ailsa Craig by Dave Grant (birder of this parish) as part of his Ph.D research into anti-microbial resistance in gulls (I think I got that right).  The whole programme is interesting but you can skip to the exciting gull footage (Surely some mistake? – Ed.) at around the 4 minute mark.

The printed copy of the 2013 Ayrshire Bird Report is now available. It consists of 96 pages including 14 pages of full colour photographs.

It can be obtained via the outlets listed here.

Ring Ouzel, ©Jamie McPike, 2016

Dotterel, ©Jamie McPike, 2016

Grasshopper Warbler, ©Angus Hogg, 2016

Sandwich Terns, ©Angus Hogg, 2016

Willow Tit, ©Angus Hogg, 2016

With the summer solstice almost upon us, it was time for me to deal with the backlog of photos sent in for the Photo Gallery. This includes some lovely photos of hard-to-see birds. Jamie McPike knows that to get passage migrants such as Dotterel and Ring Ouzel in Ayrshire involves climbing hills and his efforts brought results: his Ring Ouzel makes it onto the Ayrshire Species List. We all know how difficult it is to get a view, any view, of a Grasshopper Warbler, so Angus’s photo of the inside of its mouth shows what talent and patience can produce.

My thanks go to Dave Grant, Angus Hogg, Jamie McPike and Bob Ross for sending in photos for the Photo Gallery.

In a break from tradition, the Systematic List of the 2013 issue of the Ayrshire Bird Report is being published online here  first. For those of you who still like to read the ABR in dead-tree format, a printed version which will include several breeding reports and other information will be available towards the end of June. Details will be published here when I get them.

(BTW, don’t worry if the opened document claims to be from 2006 – Fraser hasn’t updated his Word document settings in a while!)

Tony Scott has sent in the latest issue of the The Stonechat, the SOC Ayrshire Branch’s newsletter.   You can get it here .

Glaucous Gull, Troon, ©Dave Grant, 2016

Wren, Doonfoot, ©Angus Hogg, 2016

Long-tailed Tit, Martnaham, ©Dave Grant, 2016

Little Grebe, Doonfoot, ©Angus Hogg, 2016

Grey Phalarope, Stevenston Point, ©Dave Grant, 2015

Now that Spring is almost here it was time to clear the decks by publishing the photos people had sent in over the winter. As expected, the first-winter Glacous Gull at Troon got the gull-types excited. There are also nice pictures of commoner birds visiting gardens. Dave Grant’s photo of a Slavonian Grebe at Martnaham made it onto the Ayrshire Species List being the first photo for that species I’ve received.

My thanks go to Dave Grant, Angus Hogg and Bruce Kerr for sending in photos for the Photo Gallery.