Waxwings and Some Summer Visitors

On the walk to my local birdwatching area of Baron’s Haugh today, I saw a flock of Waxwing. There are birds I have been looking for since last Autumn and I was very glad to eventually see them. They were sitting on the roof of a block of flats and I managed to get some photographs of them using my video camera.

Waxwings

Waxwings

Waxwing have a soft silky plumage. They have unique red tips to some of their wing feathers which looks like sealing wax and gives the birds their name.

Their main food is fruit.They are winter visitors and do not breed in the UK.

Baron’s Haugh, Motherwell

The pair of Mute Swans who had built their nest a few weeks ago were both together with the female sitting on the nest. she kept moving around and we thought that she may be about to lay an egg shortly. However, the male soon left the vicinity of the nest to swim into the Haugh. The female then started collecting more reeds and made some alterations to the living quarters.

Nesting Mute Swans

Over on the raft, two Cormorant were perched looking over the Haugh. On getting a closer look with the scope, we saw a Common Sandpiper on the raft with them. This is a small wader with brown upperparts and white underparts. It bobs up and down as it moves and this is known as ‘teetering’.

Cormorant and Common Sandpiper (Click to enlarge)

The Sand Martins have arrived from Africa for the summer and Willow Warblers, another summer visitor,  could be heard everywhere. 

Only two of the injured Whooper swans could be seen on the River Clyde but they had been joined by a Mute Swan. It may be that the other Whooper Swan was able to fly back to Iceland as there was no sign of it anywhere on the river.

Looks like summer is around the corner.

Further Information:

Baron’s Haugh is an RSPB reserve in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire.

http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/b/baronshaugh/index.aspx

Swans

Last weekend at Baron’s Haugh two Mute swans were busy building a nest. This weekend they had it finished and one of the swans was sitting in the nest briefly before taking to the water for a swim. Mute swans usually breed successfully in the Haugh and hopefully this year will see some cygnets. 

 

Mute swans are resident birds in the UK, but Whooper swans migrate to Iceland during the summer months to take advantage of the long summer days.

Injured Whooper Swans

However, there are three Whooper swans remaining at Baron’s Haugh with injured wings. They have been unable to undertake the journey northwards. By April, all Whooper swams should have left for Iceland and it will be interesting to see how long these swans remain in Motherwell. 

Injured Whooper Swans

The Whooper swans were seen last weekend swimming quite happily in the River Clyde so they can at least hunt for food.

Injured Whooper Swans Swimming in River Clyde

The weather has been very cold so far and the breeding is behind what it should be for this time of the year. Hopefully everything goes well for all the birds in the Haugh.

Further Information:

Location: Baron’s Haugh is in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire.

Grid reference: NS756553

Baron’s Haugh, Motherwell

View Baron’s Haugh, Motherwell in a larger map

The weather forecast for the weekend was sunny on Saturday and wet on Sunday so the birdwatching trip to the RSPB reserve at Baron’s Haugh in Motherwell was arranged for Saturday. 

‘Flooded Meadow’

Baron’s Haugh (the word ‘haugh’ means flooded meadow) is my local nature reserve and is home to a wide variety of birds including ducks, waders, swans, geese and other water birds. It was a bit frosty and the Haugh was iced over in some places. 

Digiscoping

With me I had my Zeiss Victory spotting scope which I use with a bean bag to save me having to carry a tripod. I have to walk to the Haugh and back, which is a round trip of 8 miles so I try to carry as little as possible. 

I was going to use my scope and the camera on my mobile phone camera to take some photographs of the birds, as they are generally quite far away from the hides. The phone I used was a Sony Xperia S which worked quite well. I will be getting an attachment to enable me to use my SLR camera in the near future, so I can take better photographs of the birds.

Baron’s Haugh

Redwing, Mistle Thrushes and Fieldfare

As it was cold, I wore plenty of clothes as it is always quite chilly at the Haugh. On the way to the first hide we were fortunate to see one Redwing, two Mistle thrushes and one Fieldfare in a field. They were quite close to the walkway and we got excellent views of them through our binoculars. 

Further along we managed to observe three Nuthatch in the trees. 

On the Haugh

Mallards, Common Gulls and Widgeon

Out on the Haugh the usual birds were in attendance including Mallard ducks, Tufted ducks, Heron, Whooper swans, Canada geese, Moorhen, Gadwall, Greylag geese and various Gulls.

Canada geese (Black and white heads), Greylag geese, Widgeon and Common Gulls

There was a large flock of Canada geese which are winter visitors to Scotland. They will return in March to Scandinavia for breeding in the long summer months.

Whooper swans

Two Whooper swans were near the water’s edge and were obscured by the reeds. The photograph above shows the swans seen through the reeds.

Fungi

On the way home some fungi was seen on a dead tree. The area around Baron’s Haugh is excellent for observing fungi.

A list of the birds seen today are:

• Mistle Thrush
• Redwing
• Canada geese
• Mallard ducks
• Tufted ducks
• Common gulls
• Black-headed gulls
• Heron
• Nuthatch
• Moorhen
• Teal
• Widgeon
• Whooper Swans
• Mute swans
• Gadwall

The day out was very enjoyable and the photographs taken through my scope with the camera phone turned out quite well. It enabled me to get record shots of the birds which were too far away to take with a normal camera.

Further Information

http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/b/baronshaugh/about.aspx