Balmy summer birding near Glasgow

Summer's finally arrived though as we'd travelled up to Glasgow on Saturday, it came three days later than home! I'm currently looking enviously at the temperatures at home knowing that the past few nights would have been excellent for moths as reported from several Lancashire sites. I just know that by Sunday, we'll be back down in single figure overnight temperatures.

Anyway, not to worry, I've had my first micro query confirmed as a Lozotaenia Fosterana and here's me saying I'll ignore them for now. Maybe I will on the whole but this one seemed identifiable (apologies for the image as the iPhone cameras focus is not centre weighted it seems)!

Lozotaenia Fosterana

I've managed another ringing session with Mark with a plethera of new nets and poles - so we're ready for the overland Meadow Pipit passage and hopefully some other goodies as well. This time we trapped a lot of Siskins in their July dispersal period so it would be nice to know how far they actually go.

Yesterday, the weather fined up at last so we managed a leisurely day around the Firth of Clyde stopping at Largs to enjoy a Nardini's Ice Cream only for a very precocious Herring gull to snatch it from me!

We ended up at Troon and spent some time scanning the beach at Barassie as well as the harbour and the sea beyond. Nothing out of the ordinary to report; plenty of gulls on the beach along with curlews and Oystercatchers and Gannets plunge diving out to sea. My favourites here are the Tysties (Black Guillemots) that are always hanging around the harbour as well as flying out into the firth to feed.

Today we spent a late lunchtime overlooking the Clyde opposite Dumbarton Rock. A good spot in winter but not so much at this time of year. Again, lots of Black-headed Gulls around along with a few Common Terns but no sign of any Ospreys over the rock.

The Clyde Estuary at Dumbarton Rock with Ben Lomond in the background.

Finally we dropped in at Lochwinnoch - no birds on show apart from brief views of Willow and sedge Warblers but that's quite normal at this time of year, but a chance to have a look through a range of binoculars. My 8x32 Leicas are showing their age so I may be indulging myself in the near future!