Ayr: nesting black guillemots; diving gannets; a boat crash

Ayr hadn't been on my list of places needing visited, but I made the trip last week and I'm really glad that I did. I was due in the town to deliver two paintings -handover scheduled for Ayr Station car park- and decided to take my paints and make a railway day of it.

The main centre of Ayr is busy and full with shops and shoppers. It feels a bit tattered around the edges but there are really good charity shops and lots of cafés. Once beyond the central shopping streets you find nice individual old houses and pleasant terraced rows.

I walked north to the River Ayr and followed it for a kilometre to the shore. A wide barge was being loaded and black guillemots sat on its edges. The birds were nesting in cavities in the stone river wall: I heard a constant cheeping that could have been chicks or could have been adults; I saw their bright red legs and webbed feet that hang behind as they take off and land. When a black guillemot opens its mouth you see the same brightness in there, as if it's just swallowed a burst tube of cadmium red.

black guillemots, black tyres, red legs, red boat

At the mouth of the river a pier curves out a hundred metres. I stopped to watch a rock pipit that was gathering grubs. A rock pipit is much darker and blue-greyer in plumage and beak and legs than the similar meadow pipit. A beautiful slick razorbill was diving nearby.

I sat myself in the lee of a rust-streaked beacon tower at the tip of the pier and watched bird activity all around me; gannets were flying and diving, two or three always in sight. Far off they sparkled against a darkened sky; close up I could barely believe the span of their wings. In attempts at a fish they suddenly swivel to point head downwards, tuck wings two-thirds in, and plummet. Sometimes the dive happens from high, high up, sometimes from just ten or twenty feet. In the split second before impact wings fully tuck-in and head and neck seems to stretch forwards and downwards as if in eagerness to reach their prey. Like javelins they pierce the waves with a dull splashing thump.

gannet at Ayr, pen & watercolour, 19x28.5cm

gannet take-off

I used elastic bands and a bulldog clip to prevent sketchbook from blowing forever open in the gusting wind. Spits of rain were coming and going as I painted. I stopped one watercolour to prevent the detail being destroyed.

As I was sitting painting a second rusty beacon that sits on the north breakwater, a large red cargo ship approached from the river-mouth docks, followed by a pilot. I thought my sense of perspective must be faulty as the large boat got closer and closer to the little island at the end of the north breakwater, then, 'thump', and the prow swung a few degrees towards me. The ship passed but left its mark in a now crumpled patch of concrete and stonework, scraped with red paint. On the BBC Radio Scotland 11pm news I heard that a ship had been "holed above the waterline but not sunk, today in Ayr"!

Breakwater and black guillemot, watercolour, 15x21cm

I was counting birds of course:

On or from the shore I saw:

gannet
razorbill
black guillemot
cormorant
shag
sandwich tern
herring gull
lesser black-backed gull
feral pigeon
oystercatcher
eider
red-breasted merganser
rock pipit
house sparrow
pied wagtail
starling
crow
mute swan
an unknown small wader that flew in from the sea. Grey and speckled/streaked but I'm not good at waders and didn’t manage to catch any more details.



Elsewhere between station and shore were:
woodpigeon
blue tit
goldfinch
blackbird
chaffinch
mallard
dunnock
robin

 
How to get there:
Ayr is easy and quick to get to - it's only an hour by train from Glasgow Central. I explored just a small part of what there is to see and do: there are also lots of historic buildings; the Maclaurin Art Gallery; a walk south along sandy shore that in a couple of miles takes you to Alloway, birthplace of Robert Burns and location of Tam o' Shanter's famous Brig o' Doon.

the offending boat

after the crash

2013 - May BTO waterbird count, Linlithgow - Philpstoun

My monthly BTO WeBS count along the Union Canal, Linlithgow to Philpstoun.

Wednesday 15th May 2013.


Start time 8.45am
Turnaround time 11am
End time 12 noon


An overcast day, but bright. A breeze was blowing but never particularly strong.


Things are very busy so I wont write in much detail.


Only fifteen minutes into my walk I saw a fox, pretty close. It had seen me first and stood stock-still, intently staring, neither of us moving for three or four minutes. If we were playing chicken, the fox lost; it moved first, slinking unconcernedly down the railway embankment and out of side.

The flood field is now better described as the large-puddle field and as a result, and perhaps also due to time of year, not many waterbirds were there.



Time to nest and to sing:

This time last month the migrants from Africa had just begun to return. Now swifts, whitethroats, and sedge warblers have joined the earlier incomers.

Sedge warblers rattled and churred frantically. I heard them at quite regular intervals in the long stretch between Park Farm and Philpstoun, probably six or seven territories along that mile of water.

Swifts screamed overhead.

Twice I heard a call I didn't know well; it was familiar, but I couldn't remember what until I saw two beautiful whitethroats with their sharp grey heads and, um, beautiful white throats.

It's very worthwhile getting to know bird songs - often it's how a bird will be seen, by first having heard it sing. Start with just a few, perhaps those you have in your garden. People say the best technique for learning is to watch the bird as it sings; it helps ingrain the song in your head. Xeno Canto website is amazing for listening to recordings of pretty much any bird, worldwide. Here's the sedge warbler I mentioned - http://www.xeno-canto.org/species/Acrocephalus-schoenobaenus

All along my route was evidence of courting, nesting, raising young. In at least three fields lapwings were busily and aerobatically chasing off crows: in each field I saw a parent sitting; in the large-puddle field I saw two separate parents with at least five chicks between them.



Water birds using flood-field:

Lapwing - 7, plus at least 5 young chicks                                 
Mallard - 2                                   
Shelduck - 2                


All other water birds eligible for WeBS count:

Lapwing - 2                                  
Mallard - 10                                  
Moorhen - 2




All birds seen:

Blackbird                 
Blue Tit                 
Buzzard                 
Carrion Crow                 
Chaffinch                 
Chiffchaff                 
Collared Dove                 
Dunnock                 
Feral Pigeon                 
Goldfinch                 
Great Tit                
Greenfinch                 
Herring Gull                 
House Sparrow                 
Jackdaw                 
Lapwing                 
Lesser Black-backed Gull                 
Magpie                 
Mallard                 
Meadow Pipit                 
Moorhen                 
Oystercatcher                 
Reed Bunting                 
Robin                 
Rook                 
Sand Martin                 
Sedge Warbler                 
Shelduck                 
Skylark                 
Song Thrush                 
Starling                 
Swallow                 
Swift                 
Tree Sparrow                 
Whitethroat                 
Willow Warbler                 
Woodpigeon                 
Wren                
Yellowhammer


Total Bird Species: 39 (one less than last month)

hawthorn hedgerow, excellent for wildlife

fox watching me and blackbird. blackbird watching fox and me. me watching fox and blackbird

lapwing during a brief respite from aerial battling with crows. the other lapwing sitting on nest slightly to right of photo.

lapwing and three chicks (you wont be able to see them). herd of cows sharing their field!

my count notes. biro ran out so I pressed very hard and rubbed it with brown chalk pencil once home

I seem to have written quite a bit after all. I find writing addictive.

How to make a pop-up owl puppet

A workshop at the Scottish Owl Centre, for Eczema Outreach Scotland.



Materials:

large plastic yoghurt pot or soup tub, the bottom cut out by an adult (tape around sharp edges)
a stick
newspaper
an old sock
elastic bands
water-based PVA glue
coloured paper/card, tissue, feathers - to decorate


Two I made earlier:

Instructions:

1 - receive excellent tour of Scottish Owl Centre; see lots of beautiful owls and learn lots about them on a 'journey to the north pole'.

2 - scrumple sheet of newspaper into a ball and tape securely to the end of a long stick:

3 - Pull sock over ball of newspaper and secure with elastic band at the neck.


4 - Insert stick into yoghurt pot and pull base of sock over length of tub. Elastic band again around sock below base of tub.



5 - Decorate owl using glue, paper, tissue, feathers to stick on eyes, beak, ear tufts, anything else that you want:

6 - Leave owls overnight to let glue dry fully:

7 - Play with your owl!

 

Lots more about the Scottish Owl Centre and Eczema Outreach Scotland by clicking on their names here.

The Scottish Owl Centre is in Polkemmet Country Park, near Whitburn, West Lothian. There's also a cafe, a playpark, open spaces and woodland walks.

2013 - April BTO waterbird count, Linlithgow - Philpstoun

My monthly BTO WeBS count along the Union Canal, Linlithgow to Philpstoun,

Thursday 18th April 2013.

Start time 8.20am
Turnaround time 10.15am
End time 11.20am


The whole morning there was an incredibly strong wind blowing west to east. The return leg of the journey was pretty hard-going and it was impossible to hold binoculars steady enough to scan for the regular snipe at the flood-field. They may have been there but I just couldn't tell.

Flood-field was looking a little less flooded than recently, the areas of water more patchy. I wonder if there are attempts to drain it.


Migrants returning:
Crouching half way down the banking, attempting to steady my binoculars against the wind, I eventually managed to see that the light sandy blobs running around at the edge of the flood-field were wheatears. At least two males and three females. Possibly more of either or both. In the same area were two lapwings. One looking very much as if it might be sitting on a nest: they nest out in the open in a shallow 'scrape' in the ground; they need a clear view all round to watch for predators. Read more here. (You can easily see how human activity might cause nests to fail.)

As I approached Philpstoun suddenly several willow warblers were singing their beautiful descending trill beside me. My first of the year. I got good views as they flitted to and fro across the canal and sang from small trees on either side.

As well as resident chaffinches, tits and goldcrests in the Philpstoun wood, chiffchaffs were singing. So four migrant species on the whole walk, all freshly arrived from their African wintering grounds: chiff chaff, willow warbler, wheatear and sand martin.

On my way back I found a crow beside the towpath, head tucked deeply into its feathers but showing blood on top. It was gently shaking or shivering and obviously had been hurt. It didn't notice me for several minutes even though I was so close. Suddenly it did, and flew away to alight in a tree beyond the Linlithgow allotments. I think it had probably been blown into the overhead cables by the gusting wind.

count notes, 18.04.13

Water birds using flood-field:

mallard - 1
lapwing – 4
shelduck – 1
pied wagtail – 4


Non-water birds using flood-field:

wheatear – 5+
skylark – 2+
sand martin – 1
starlings



All other water birds eligible for WeBS count:

mallard - 11
moorhen – 1
pied wagtail – 1
cormorant – 1
lesser black-backed gull - 11
common gull - 1
black headed gull – 6
herring gull – 9





All non-count birds seen:

chiff chaff
willow warbler
wheatear
sand martin
siskin
goldcrest

skylark -  singing intently at various points along the route

tree sparrow
house sparrow
yellowhammer
goldfinch
chaffinch
greenfinch
collared dove

song thrush – two, foraging beside a blackbird in fresh-ploughed field

robin
wren
dunnock
blackbird
magpie
crow
rook
jackdaw
blue tit
great tit
coal tit
starling
woodpigeon
feral pigeon

geese – too poor a sighting to identify, but one of the grey species. Flying overhead rather than using canal or surrounding fields.


Total 40 species seen.

two lapwings and a wheatear genuinely are in this photo

a pair of skylarks, camouflaged on freshly ploughed earth

one of the skylarks begins its songflight

Perhaps I need to hire a photographer...

Garelochhead - sketching, a submarine, 48 species of bird

Seven miles north of Helensburgh and 11 south of Arrochar is Garelochhead in Argyll & Bute. It's a little village only an hour from Glasgow Queen Street on the West Highland Line. Four trains run a day, or two an hour to nearby Helensburgh then a half hourly bus. I'd never been although I'd looked down from the train when on my way north.


Jennifer's parents have recently moved to the village and she and I spent the recent Easter weekend with them. We thought we'd be disappointed to lose a base in Edinburgh but actually it's a great move: It's pretty much at the entrance to wilder, more remote upland Scotland. It's got an amazing variety of birds.

The village sits on the northern shore of Gare Loch, only two miles from Faslane naval base. I'm most excited about the birds of course but it's also interesting watching the comings and goings of boats on the water (and once a submarine). A police vessel regularly sweeps the bay and I rather expect I might be questioned as I sit there on the shore with binoculars and sketchbook out. Hopefully my business cards will serve as adequate I.D. ...


Gare Loch is tidal. When the tide is right in water laps at the footpath. When it's right out several hundreds of metres of pebble and shellfish covered mudflats lie between path and waves, to the delight of corvids that congregate to feast. They're all over the beach, the standard all-black carrion crows that were used to in Lothian but also hooded crows (and/or hybrids) with their grey-tabarded bodies and black heads and wings.

The crows have to earn their food - a mussel's tough shell must be cracked before the orange flesh within can be pecked out. Crows spend hours picking up one shell after another and flapping a few metres into the air before dropping them onto the stones below. It takes 2 or 3 attempts to fracture most shells enough to then fully open by beak. Gulls indulge in exactly the same activity.


Garelochhead is small but has very good amenities - a post office, food shops, a bits & pieces shop, a community centre, medical centre, an inn, and ... a cafe, Cafe Craft. On Easter Sunday we had soup there. It's cosy and homely and you get a really friendly welcome. Craft supplies and hand-made jewellery and clothing are for sale and sometimes there are workshops. People seem to drop in for a cup of tea and to do some of knitting or sewing.

After longer than intended in the cafe we set off to explore the slopes west of Garelochhead. We wanted to get onto the ridge to see the view but we weren't sure how able we'd be - parts of the hills are closed off for military reasons. Entry isn't just discouraged by the presence of red flags as in the Pentland Hills near Edinburgh - here by Garelochhead there are fences twice my height, topped with rolls of razor wire. Behind those are a further two fences, each made of three rolls of razor. It's pretty intimidating stuff.

Well downslope of all that we climbed a stile over a regular country fence and walked to a spot with wonderful views north up the length of Loch Long and west to where its waters merge with those of Loch Goil. A little light beacon sits at the join of the two and through my binoculars a castle was visible on the shore of Loch Goil - Carrick Castle, a typical Scottish angular tower. I didn't do any drawing, discouraged perhaps by Turner having beat me to it. His sketch of the Carrick Castle can be seen here on the Tate website along with all 50 pages of his Loch Long sketchbook.

While Jennifer was sending some messages and taking in the view I was thinking on a smaller scale. There were small spherical droppings all over the short cropped rough grass around us, from sheep or rabbits or roe deer or red deer (I'm not very good at this.).

More interesting was what sat among them - many birds get rid of indigestible parts of their food by regurgitating them through the mouth in the form of pellets. Pellets are tightly packed, full of evidence of the bird's diet. You might find fur, feather, bone, shell, plant fragments and more. It's quite possible to tell what bird deposited the pellet, although not yet for me.

At first glance this pellet looked grassy but when I prised it apart the contents were coastal so I suspect it was seaweed. There were shards of mussel and urchin and other shells, including one in a minute spiral, no more than 3mm long, like the horn of a fetal unicorn. I found treasure - three tiny pearls, the largest only about 2mm in diameter. Not enough for a necklace. I think this was the pellet of a gull or a crow, more likely the former, but I'd be delighted to hear if anyone knows better..?

Nearby I photographed a miniature world of red-tipped lichen. Earlier I had photographed strange fungal strands that rose upwards from the roots of a tree. For fans of the Moomins - the closest I've ever seen to real-life hattifatteners.

The birds
I saw 48 species in the 4 days we were there, all within 2 kilometres of Garelochhead and all but the last two seen in or from the village itself.

blackbird
coal tit
blue tit
great tit
long-tailed tit
song thrush
chaffinch
robin
great-spotted woodpecker - never seen but heard drumming often.

common gull - including one freshly dead and with no obvious injuries other than ruffled neck feathers. I wonder if it might have been caught by a dog, the dog quickly called off by the owner before its teeth had punctured the skin. A good opportunity to see the thick soft down that covers and insulates the body under its exterior feathers, and the size of the wings when you spread them open.

black headed gull
redshank
oystercatcher - many tens, all over the shore

oystercatcher & redshanks (See why they're called redshanks!)

curlew
eider
mallard
little grebe - 3, they surprised me, out in the bay

starling
collared dove
shag
crow
hooded crow - or possibly hooded/carrion hybrid. I don't know how to be certain.

jackdaw
dunnock
house sparrow
greenfinch
bullfinch
magpie
gannet - seen a few times, circling high and low over the bay. Didn't see any of the spectacular dives.

black guillemot - 1
Canada goose - 1, alone, far out on the loch

whooper swan - 1 solitary bird, lost from its fellows. Perhaps injured or disorientated? Although its behaviour seemed normal.

a whooper swan alone

raven - cronking overhead

lesser black-backed gull
dipper - where a stream leads into the bay. I sat and sketched here, bridge and bird. The bird part was majorly interrupted by two poorly controlled dogs that decided to come and try to rub their sopping wet selves all over me and my work.

a dipper's eyelid is white - look for it flashing brightly when the bird blinks

dipper and bridge sketches, pencil on paper

bridge & dipper, watercolour, 14.5x21cm (work in progress - no dipper yet!)

grey heron
goldeneye
herring gull
goldfinch
grey wagtail
mute swan
cormorant
wren
woodpigeon
tawny owl - heard each night, never seen

red-breasted merganser

red-breasted mergansers, pencil, 14.5x41cm. This pair sketched from Helensburgh shore.

buzzard - on the hill road to Loch Lomond, 1-2km east of Garelochhead.
lapwing - on the hill road to Loch Lomond, 1-2km east of Garelochhead.


48 species

Sketching & Song in Rosslyn Chapel (again), Heriot-Watt Choir

Heriot-Watt at Rosslyn Chapel, blue pen & black biro on concert programme, 28x21cm

Last Saturday, March 23rd, the Chamber Choir of Heriot-Watt University, Excelsior Per Cantum, were performing in Rosslyn Chapel near Edinburgh. I was there for the second year in a row and again I sat in on the rehearsal.

Last year I had my sketchbook - http://landscapeartnaturebirds.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/sketching-song-in-rosslyn-chapel-heriot.html - but this time I'd forgotten it. I drew in blue pen and biro on the concert programme, sitting in a side aisle to get a different viewpoint.

The music was choral, 'South American Baroque'. Excelsior Per Cantum were as excellent as always.

Find out more Heriot-Watt music on the Heriot-Watt website or by emailing Steve King to be added to their music mailing list - s.king@hw.ac.uk.