The freezing weather made it hard for birds to find enough food and there was a dramatic increase in the number of birds  –  and species  –  coming into the city. Redwing in particular were present in large numbers with a flock of 30 or more in the Botanic Gardens on 27 and 28 December.  Fieldfare, Redwing,  Mistle  Thrush,  Song Thrush and  Bullfinches were regular visitors at garden

feeding stations. My most unusual sighting was of a Woodcock seen on the 8th of January flying low with rapid wingbeats along Kew Terrace towards Byres Road.

Woodcock - Hazel Mills

Other bird recorders reported seeing a Woodcock, apparently flushed by a fox, in the Arboretum on 3 January, and on 7 January there were sightings in Glasgow University campus and on the banks of the Kelvin in Kelvingrove Park. Woodcock are normally difficult birds to observe as they are secretive and mainly nocturnal in habit. These large waders have short legs, a long straight bill and large eyes. Their beautifully marked plumage, reddish-brown above with dark barring on buff under parts, provides the perfect camouflage for forest floors. They feed on invertebrates such as worms, beetles, spiders and small snails that they find by probing leaf litter and damp soil with their long bills.

It will be some time before we know how well our resident birds along the Kelvin have survived the harsh winter. Small birds such as Goldcrest and Wren that rely on insects for food are likely to have been hard hit, and Kingfishers and Heron may also have suffered when the river and canal froze over. Extreme weather highlights the important role that garden feeding plays in bird conservation, and keeping reliable records is the key to understanding how weather impacts bird populations.

If you are interested in contributing to a year-round recording programme you might consider joining the British Trust for Ornithology’s Garden BirdWatch. The BTO organisers are actively looking for more recorders in Scotland as there are fewer than 1000 at the moment.

As I write the breeding season is well underway with Blue Tits and  Great Tits inspecting nest boxes and Magpies and  Long-tailed Tits already building their nests. The Goosanders have returned to their summer breeding grounds and Sand Martins are on their way back, with sightings already confirmed at Baron’s Haugh south of

Glasgow on the Clyde. Last newsletter’s species list is already out of date, as we need to add Tawny Owl, heard calling along the banks of the Kelvin in January,  Black-headed Gull, on the  river at Wyndford, Fieldfare and Woodcock, bringing the new total to 52.

FORK Bird Report taken from the Spring 2010 edition of FORK News

Photo by JanuaryJoe on Flickr

See more photos in the River Kelvin group

The last Swifts were seen in mid-August but numbers seemed low this year. By the end of October there were five Goosanders by the Botanic Gardens footbridge – four females and a juvenile male. A week later two males had joined

the group. On 16 November a male Blackcap was eating rowanberries – normally insectivorous, Blackcaps, like other

Male Backcap. Picture: Hazel Mills

species such as Dunnocks, Robins, Blackbirds and thrushes, change their diet in autumn to take advantage of the abundant supply of fruits. The Blackcap is about the size of a Great Tit but a more slender build, with a medium-sized blue-grey beak and grey legs. The black cap of the male gives the species its name – in females and young birds the cap is a russet brown. Scotland has about 56,000 breeding pairs but in winter the population drops to somewhere between 150 and 1,000 birds. These are not breeding birds who have stayed behind to overwinter here – it is believed that Scottish breeding birds are all migrants, leaving their breeding sites in August and September to spend the winter in Africa, north of the Sahara. Our winter Blackcaps are likely to be migrants from central and northern Europe.

To end this report I have included a species list, compiled over the last few years, of birds seen along the Kelvin from Dawsholm down to Benalder Street bridge. At present the total stands at 48 species but I am sure readers will be able to add to this from their own observations. How lucky we are to have to have such amazing diversity on our doorstep. Please do get in touch with any additional species. I would be delighted to hear from you.

This FORK Bird Report is taken from the Winter 2009-10 edition of FORK News

April brings the pleasure of seeing the first of our summer migrants return to the river. Sand Martins were back at their usual haunt below the Benalder Street bridge – at least eight were seen feeding on 18 April. Chiffchaffs have been calling in the Botanic Gardens along the bank downstream from the Ha’penny Bridge, their repetitive song contrasting with the clear melodic warbling of a male Blackcap nearby. In recent years more of these warblers have been choosing to spend the winter here rather than migrate to Africa, and male and female blackcaps have been seen during the winter months in gardens near the river for several years now. Their numbers in the UK have been increasing, suggesting that this species is benefiting from global warming.

May brought the return of the Swifts, the most truly aerial of birds, feeding, sleeping and mating on the wing. Their nest is made from debris borne on the wind, held together by saliva. When weather is bad adults fly huge distances to find food and may be away for days at a time – swifts in Scotland have been known to fly as far as Germany – while the young survive by going into a state of torpor to conserve energy until the parents can return to feed them. Breeding numbers are difficult to determine and have been estimated at somewhere between 6,000 and 8,000 pairs in Scotland with some evidence that numbers are declining. Modern building methods have reduced the number of potential nesting sites, and Glasgow is one area where swift nest boxes have been put up to try and counter this problem. The Scottish Swifts project website gives lots of information about these fascinating birds and explains how to take part in a survey of swift numbers and nest sites in  your local area.

Young Great Tits | Picture: Hazel Mills

In the spring sunshine little dramas played out along the river – on 12 May a pair of Mallards were defending their brood of seven tiny ducklings from a predatory Crow, and the following day I found the remains of a little moss and feather nest in the Arboretum lying among a drift of plucked feathers. Great Tits returned to their nest site in the wall near the Ha’penny Bridge and were feeding young on 20 May – the young fledged soon after, about the same time as last year – and on 7 June Long-tailed Tits were feeding fledglings in the Arboretum. The young have more muted markings and shorter tails than the adults, who continue to feed them for about two weeks after they leave the nest.

Summer 2009 edition of FORK News

Goldcrest

In early March two Goldcrests were feeding low down in the shrubs near the ruins of the Flint Mill, giving a good view from above of the gold stripe on the crown from which they take their name. These tiny birds – at 9 cm Britain’s smallest – breed in conifer plantations or mixed woodland, and in previous years have nested in the Arboretum. The nest is a deep cup, suspended in a fork near the end of conifer branches, and bound to the twigs with spiders’ webs, the cavity close to the foliage above to restrict the opening. The eggs, white to pale buff and finely speckled, are tiny – only about 11 x 14 mm in size.

Goldcrest Egg

Visitors to Kelvingrove Art Gallery may have picked up one of the RSPB’s cards showing a Peregrine: ‘Wanted! For speeding at over 180 mph! Last seen in Kelvingrove Park’. Peregrines have indeed been seen locally, in Maryhill and the Park area, and as one of their vantage points has been the roof of the art gallery the RSPB has constructed a platform in one of the towers in the hope that this might prove an attractive nesting site. If you are visiting the gallery it is worth taking your binoculars along and pausing at the bridge in Kelvin Way to have a look. The RSPB welcomes reports of sightings – just text the time, date and location to 07941 440 552.

Goldcrest

Goldcrest nest

Goldcrests and nest (c.7.5–10 cm across)

Pictures: Hazel Mills

The goosanders returned to the river in October, the males striking in appearance with dark green head, black back and white body flushed pink in the winter, the females grey with reddish brown head and an untidy crest. This species colonised the UK southward, first nesting at Loch Ericht in 1871, and Scotland currently has about 60% of the UK breeding population. The males leave their breeding grounds as early as late May or June and most of the Scottish population migrate huge distances to moult in the coastal waters of northern Scandinavia. Females stay closer to home, gathering at the end of the breeding season and completing their moult in Scottish estuaries or inner firths.

In the Arboretum mixed flocks of Blue Tit, Great Tit, Coal Tit and Treecreeper have been foraging for insects, and Long-tailed Tits are seen daily along the river, often eight or nine together in a group but sometimes as many as thirteen, confirming earlier observations of a successful breeding season. Waxwings visited the Botanic Gardens in mid-November and on 28 December there was a flock of fourteen in Kirklee Road, where they stripped the remaining berries from the Sorbus vilmorinii in my garden. They often alert passers-by to their presence by their high-pitched bell-like trills.

For those of you who are interested in learning how to identify common species of bird by their songs and calls, I can strongly recommend the short course run by the University of Glasgow’s Department of Adult & Continuing Education (DACE) on 11 and 16 May. The first part is an evening lecture on how and why birds sing followed by recordings of birdsong; the second is a field trip starting at 6.30 am, a fine time to be up and about on a May morning. When I did this course a few years ago the field trip was a walk along the Kelvin from Kelvinbridge to the Botanic Gardens – perfect for FORKs! The course number is G118, and you can find details on this and other birdwatching courses for beginners at http://www.gla.ac.uk/dace/ or by phoning 0141 330 1835.

This summer there was lots of interest happening along the Kelvin. Great Spotted Woodpeckers could be seen at Dawsholm and when things were quiet downstream the footbridge along from the recycling centre proved a good vantage point for observing Kingfishers and Dippers. Long-tailed Tits raised a brood in the Arboretum. In early May the parents had at least two adult helpers.

Long-tailed Tits, unusually, may have several helpers feeding the young, as siblings whose attempts at breeding have failed assist the parents, greatly increasing the chance that they will rear their young successfully and come through the breeding season in better condition.

Great Tits nested in the stone wall by the Ha’penny Bridge, the young leaving the nest in the third week of May, and a young Grey Wagtail was seen in July by the weir downstream from Queen Margaret Bridge.

Sparrowhawks nested on the north side of the river below Doune Gardens. The young could be heard calling from the nest with a series of squawks and shrieks and later along the riverbank near the Ha’penny Bridge. Sparrowhawks breed relatively late in the summer so the young will hatch at a time when there is a ready supply of young birds of other species, Blue Tits for example, to keep them supplied with food. This brood left the nest in the third week of July. Although they can fly a few days after leaving the nest they remain dependent on their parents for almost a month.

Richard Brown set a very high standard over the past few years and his interesting and informative bird reports will be greatly missed. I cannot claim to be the new FORK ornithologist – more a ‘bad birdwatcher’ in the Simon Barnes mould – but will do my best to fill the gap. My usual ‘patch’ is the stretch of the river from the Arboretum downstream to Kelvinbridge and sometimes on to Kelvingrove Park. I would welcome observations from other FORK members to include in my reports – please send them to me at:

This FORK Bird Report is taken from the Autumn 2008 edition of FORK News

Other water birds nesting successfully include Mallard (two broods presently, one well grown and the other newly hatched) and Moorhen (two chicks on the Park pond). Surprisingly, there are three Goosander (two male and one female) summering on the river, but no evidence of breeding. Sand Martins are here in good numbers at their usual Benalder Street bridge colony. Absent, however, from the lower stretches of the river this year are both Kingfisher and Grey Wagtail – the latter have become progressively scarcer over the past few years. There are plenty of Grey Heron to be seen, but few Cormorants.

Sadly, this is my last FORK report, as I am moving away. The River Kelvin through Glasgow will never be a major site for birding rarities, but for me it has seemed an ideal ‘local patch’ – that is, one to visit frequently, on which to get to know the regular residents and visitors, and to rejoice in the occasional unexpected finding. Long may it remain so for all of you.

On the river Dippers have continued to be unusually prominent. I recently watched a pair courting on the stones below Belmont Street Bridge. The Goosander party at the Botanic Garden Bridge has been bigger than usual this year – up to nineteen on one visit I made. If you observe them closely just now you can see how some of the ‘red-heads’ are getting increasing amounts of white in their plumage – in other words they are last year’s male juveniles who are in process of moulting into adult male plumage.

Finally, don’t forget the breeding season is beginning. Early breeders, such as Long-tailed Tits can already be seen collecting feathers. They are particularly common this year, as they had excellent breeding success in the fine early spring weather last year, and have relatively easily come through the mild winter we have had.

This FORK Bird Report is taken from the Spring 2008 edition of FORK News

Another bird using the Kelvin for post-breeding dispersal is the Dipper, which has been exceptionally evident on the Kelvin this autumn. In early November there were no fewer than four together below Benalder Street Bridge. There is still (10 December) at least one regularly to be seen, most recently giving superb views on the tree caught on the weir just below the Art Gallery.

Apart from these two stars there are other good winter birds coming in. The Goosander party at the Botanic Gardens bridge is 15–20 strong this year, with several males in superb plumage. The improvements to the Park pond have attracted not just the Little Grebe, but also up to eight Moorhen at a time, with one juvenile as well. The short days now mean that our small resident birds need to feed almost all the daylight hours. Taken with the bare trees this means that on a walk through the Park and up to the Arboretum you have a good chance of seeing all four resident Tit species, Goldcrests (in the Arboretum), and Tree-Creeper as well as thrushes and crows. And there is a Sparrow-Hawk active along the river.

Finally watch out for Waxwings – there is already a small party reported in the West End this winter.

This FORK Bird Report is taken from the Winter 07 edition of FORK News

Over the summer breeding season there have continued to be tantalising sightings on the river, but not always evidence of successful breeding. I have continued to see an occasional Kingfisher (as have others – thank you for your reports to me), and a Dipper, but no sign of nests. Our Mallards have done well, however, with the biggest mature brood being six near to the Museum. The Moorhen have now bred successfully on the Park pond, after the failure of their first two nesting attempts. Sand Martins occupied eight holes in the wall at Benalder Street this year – a bit less than the usual number. And a pair of Goldcrests were seen building a nest in a conifer in the arboretum, though sadly it appeared to have been washed out in subsequent rains.

This FORK Bird Report is taken from the Autumn 07 edition of FORK News