As if to endorse yesterday’s post about the importance of crow control, I found this empty oystercatcher egg by the side of the loch infront of the house this morning. Continue reading

It’s frustrating to see that despite my best efforts, crows are still in evidence across the Chayne. I may well have removed the bulk of breeding birds and I’m always on the look out for new nests, but that doesn’t stop the less destructive but still dangerous gangs of non-breeding birds from passing through now Continue reading

Each season on the Chayne has its merits, and I must admit that my favourite is always the one currently happening. I love winter in winter and summer in summer, but there’s something really special about May. I was thinking it today as I walked round my larsen traps and was caught out in a Continue reading

Just worth mentioning that I saw a skein of thirty pink foot geese yesterday, flying low along the Solway coast. I originally assumed that they must be greylags, but there was no mistaking that classic “wink-wink”. I wonder what they’re still doing here, since the majority of birds left at the end of March. The Continue reading

Having come close to complaining about the incessant calling of cuckoos last week, it’s worth thinking about why they come to Galloway in such numbers. As well as quantities of caterpillars, the southern uplands has a huge abundance of meadow pipits lurking in the marginal moorland – perfect for raiding and abandoning an egg in Continue reading

I had the happy surprise this afternoon of putting up a small party of three golden plover on the long walk around my traps. The first thing I recognised was a plaintive, gloomy whistle, repeated twice from the bare hill a few yards to my left. All of a sudden, three sharp-winged shapes rose out Continue reading

Everyone makes the association between cuckoos and the arrival of springtime, but over the last few days, the changing of the seasons has been marked by cuckoos to such an extent that the call is constant up and down the valley. It’s not that I’d ever fail to appreciate the arrival of a fascinating migrant, Continue reading

Wheatears have been on the Chayne for almost a month now, but only in the last few days have they become really conspicuous. Courtship songs and display flights have been the order of the day, and it’s been a great opportunity to get up close and personal with these cracking little birds. They have such Continue reading

Just worth noting that while walking round my traps on Easter day, I put up a long eared owl from the woodcock strip. It flew past me at very close quarters and I was left with the impression of a small, honey coloured bird with red eyes and black eyebrows. I had never seen a Continue reading

Just to note that I saw a wheatear for the first time this year on the Chayne this morning. That’s not to say that it’s the first wheatear – I have a feeling that they’ve been around for the last 48 hours, but I just hadn’t managed to spot one. A few were seen during Continue reading