Little Marlow Late Afternoon

 A walk around the lake, firstly checking on the sand spit before walking around the lake and checking the sand spit again for Gulls arriving just before dusk.

On my first visit to the sand spit there were the usual species to be expected including 20+ Teal, 3 Wigeon, 6 Shoveler, a Common Sandpiper, some Lapwing and several hundred Gulls, 95% of them being Black-headed Gulls.  I walked down to the meadow, checked the cattle for Yellow Wagtails (none found) and the second fence line towards Marlow, where a Stonechat remained from a few days earlier.

The walk around the lake was quite uneventful but there were two Common Sandpipers flying around to the south of the island and something had flushed all of the gulls and ducks, including the diving ducks!  Whatever caused it was unseen by me.  There was not much else to see until I got to swim 10 on the north bank when I heard a bird calling from low vegetation in the water.  It sounds familiar but I was not 100% as to ID but then a Cetti's Warbler flew out, landed briefly nearby before going into hiding again.  My first here this year but probably the same bird seen/heard recently near the NE corner of the lake.

Just a bit further on a flock of about 120 Tufted Duck had gathered and were still very alert following the earlier disturbance.  In among them was a hybrid Ferruginous Duck which Adam Bassett had found that morning.  The light was poor but the birds reasonably close, so I managed a few photos.

Then back around to the sand spit where a lot more Gull had arrived including over 120 large Gulls.  I managed to find an interesting Gull on the near sand spit which had a mantle colour slightly paler than a Lesser Black-backed Gull and larger in size.  A faint shawl of pale streaks on the nape.  It had to be a Caspian or Yellow-legged Gull and I felt that Caspian was the more likely.  Adam Bassett later agreed with this ID.

Hybrid Ferruginous Duck

Caspian Gull - A 3rd winter bird.

Caspian Gull - with Black-headed and Lesser Black-backed Gulls

Caspian Gull 

This Fox is a regular on the sand spit.  Hoping for an easy meal.

Roe Deer - Also regular here just before dusk.  A female with two of it's offspring

Reed Warbler - This photo was taken a few days earlier when it was sunny and very little wind.  Most Reed Warblers have already left the site for their migration.

Doonfoot - Ayrshire

 I was hoping to post a photo of the long staying Spotted Crake at Doonfoot, but while I did manage to see it, I was unable to get a photo.  Maybe another day.

However there were plenty of birds to see, albeit none of them as scarce as a the Crake.

Doonfoot - The river estuary viewed from the south bank.  Plenty of gulls and waders present.

Turnstones and Black-headed Gulls - Over 12 Turnstones present.
Note the colour ring on the Black-headed Gull.  I did not see this until I reviewed these photos.

Herring Gull Orange A:B73
This bird was ringed as an adult on Lady Isle, near Troon on 24/5/2014.
There are eight previous sightings, all except one on Lady Isle, the one exception being at Doonfoot.  However it has not been reported since 05/07/2017

Great Black-backed Gull Orange F:F12 was ringed as a chick on Lady Isle near Troon on 26/6/18.  There are thirteen sightings since ringing but all in the Troon area.  This is the first report of this bird away from this area but still no great distance involved.

Red-necked Grebe - Hogganfield Loch

 This bird has apparently been at the Loch since 30th June and still in it's smart summer plumage.  I saw the bird soon after I arrived but it disappeared when I moved further along the bank.  No sign of it during a walk around the lake and then as I was about to give up Marco, a more local birder found it again.  Always distant so just a few record shots.

Red-necked Grebe

Hagganfield Loch birding

Pontoon in the middle of the loch

Goosander - Perhaps 20 around the loch.

Grey Heron

Lammergeier - Derbyshire

 This individual Lammergeier (or Bearded Vulture) arrived in the UK at the end of June and soon took up residence in the Peak District.  There is a Birdguides article with more details at Tracking down the Peak District Lammergeier

I have seen Lammergeiers in the Pyrenees previously but never one in the UK, not that there have been many and those not regarded as truly wild.  However is is clearly a bird that is tempting to a lot of birders as there was a constant stream of people with binoculars, telescopes and cameras making their way to the best viewing point.

When I arrived I met a local birder walking his dog who said "you should have been here 20 minutes ago"! He apparently had the bird directly overhead but had flown off.  So a slightly worrying start but I walked along one of the tracks that led up the valley eyes peeled.  I realised that I had followed the wrong path so started to cut over to where I could see a group of birders.  A short time later I looked up and there it was, soaring fairly high above my head and then landing on a crag above where one of the groups of birders were stood.  It's huge wing span was impressive! This was apparently a well known roost site.

I soon reached the group of birders and set up the telescope on the bird.  Unfortunately it had a few bits of foliage in front of it's face but other than that is was a great view.  The bird was looking around and at one point seemed to sleep.  I tried a few places to try and get a better view but none improved it much.  I stayed about an hour partly hoping it might fly again but it remained on the crag.  At one point a Ring Ouzel was sat on a twig in front of the Lammergeier but is barely blinked!

On the way back I passed several birders making their way up to where the bird was.  It is certainly a big attraction for a lot of birders.

An impressive bird in flight! 
Unfortunately no time to adjust the camera settings, so just a silhouette.

The bird partly hidden on the crag.

The bird was clearly keeping an eye on the birders that were gathered on the path.

Fantastic scenery near Crowden.  The vast area is no doubt attractive to Lammageiers!