Ribble To Amazon!: SOLWAY: Gretna Green Starling Roost 20/12/08.

22 December 2008

SOLWAY: Gretna Green Starling Roost 20/12/08.

Site of Gretna Starling roost: Take the B7076 in a NW direction from the Old Smithy Shop out of Grena Green and stop in the lay by on left (approximately at "Hill" on map above). The Starlings appeared to roost just south of the A74 (M). Image produced from the Ordnance Survey Get-a-map service. Image reproduced with kind permission of Ordnance Survey and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland.

Mrs B. dodges a "direct hit" in the shelter of the car. Worth wearing a hat, waterproof jacket and booking a car wash for the following day!

The Gretna Starling roost is probably one of the most spectacular sights in UK birding for me. Thousands of Starlings gather in the sky above the A74 just NW of Gretna and whirl around over the farmland before dropping down on the other side of the motorway. The flock numbering hundreds of thousands (at least - some have estimated it in millions) makes an impressive noise overhead.

3 comments:

Gavin Haig said...: WOW!!; 10:21 PM
Gavin Haig said...: WOW!!; 10:22 PM
Colin Bushell said...: Hi Gav,
Yeah, gets more spectacular each year. Well worth the trip.
Colin; 6:43 AM

What makes me tick (or not, as the case may be!).

I've been a birder for over 35 years now. We moved to Lancashire in 2001 and after spending so much time beating the inland gravel pits and reservoirs (like Staines, Tring and Hilfield Park) of the home counties I was damned if I was going to do the same here! So I tend to get out to the coast and moors as much as possible, making the best of a new environment. I'm not really a patch worker at the moment (there's just too many good places to choose from in Lancs), but I do enjoy looking for my own stuff.
I get to see quite a few good birds, more by luck than judgement. Indeed I have a wretched record of seeing other people's "finds" and have just about given up on that lark of late. So I guess I'm definitely not a twitcher but I do get the urge to go and see something I'm unlikely to get to grips with on my foreign travels. Black Lark and White-tailed Plover are recent examples.
My favourite place in the UK though is undoubtedly the Scottish Solway. Me and Mrs B escape to our bolthole in Dumfries & Galloway whenever possible.

MINI-GUIDE TO SOLWAY BIRDING.

Angie and I make the journey up the M6 from Lancashire north of the border whenever possible. With Southerness Point as our base we travel out to the Solway shore around the Nith Estuary, west along the coast to Stranraer and Loch Ryan and inland to the moors, forests and lochs.

Here's a brief guide to some of our regular sites but if you are visiting Dumfries and Galloway make sure to sign up for the Yahoo Group (see below), even if only as a temporary measure.

See Inner Solway map and brief intro at the foot of this page.

Just west of Gretna the Solway shore can be accessed at Redkirk Point and Browhouses. Both sites are best visited about an hour either side of high tide. Barnacle Geese frequent the saltmarsh east of Redkirk Point from October - April if distrubed from Rockcliffe Marsh on the Cumbrian side of the Solway. Viewing the shore from Browhouses can produce passage waders in spring and autumn and it's one of the best sites for Little Stint and Curlew Sandpiper in D&G. Walking west along the shore towards Torduff Point NY265638 can be very productive. Please consider others when parking your car.

The Solway shore and fields just inland offer some of the best birding on the Inner Solway. Seafield Bay, just east of the old viaduct (NY207648) is a good place to watch waders on the exposed mud prior to, or just after high tide. Rarities recorded here have included American Golden Plover (October 2007). The overland spring skua passage can be experienced from the viaduct in favourable weather conditions (usually SW winds), usually involving Pomarine and Arctic Skuas in late April and early May. Long-tailed Skuas have been recorded (normally in the second half of May) but are rare.
Areas to the east of Seafield Bay such as Dornock should be checked as the shore here was the site of the first record for Pacific Golden Plover in D&G in September 2008.
There is a high tide wader roost near Barnkirk Point NY192644 and the aforementioned skua passage can be observed from Newbiebarns NY180644.

Southerness is our base for exploring the Solway and inland D&G. The rocky peninsula near the lighthouse is the winter haunt of a small flock of Purple Sandpipers and the whole area has wintering waders and wildfowl, passage migrants and passing seabirds in the right conditions.
The nearby RSPB reserve at Mersehead (click on map for directions) west of Southerness is a major wintering ground for Barnacle Geese with wintering Hen Harrier. To the east of Southerness the Nith Estuary at Carsethorn is worth checking for seaduck (mainly Scaup) with large flocks totalling in excess of 1000 birds present at times.

Not on the Solway Firth but one of D&G's premier winter birding sites, Loch Ryan hosts good numbers of Red-throated Divers, Scaup and Eider with smaller gatherings of Slavonian Grebes, Long-tailed Ducks and Black Guillemots. A wintering flock of Pale-bellied Brent Geese frequent the loch, usually found near Wig Bay. Any gatherings of gulls should be checked for "white-wings", particularly Iceland Gull (above). The outflow at Bishop Burn is a good place to start, although anywhere on the loch could be productive. Cairnryan, Leffnoll Point and Innermessen are woryh checking on the east side of the loch as well. On the western shore viewpoints at Broadstone Road, Soleburn Bridge (opposite the garden centre), the yacht club, Wig Bay and the high tide wader roost at the Wig peninsula should all be visited.
The nearby Loch Connell should be checked for geese. The surrounding fields of the MOD prperty of West Freugh hold Greenland Whitefronted Geese in winter with a chance of raptors. Corsewell Point to the north west of the loch can produce movements of seabirds in favourable conditions (usually northwesterly winds).

The Inner Solway, Dumfries & Galloway.

Undoubtedly our favourite birding area, the Inner Solway is withinh easy reach of our home in Lancashire as a weekend's birding venue. Using Southerness Point as our base we explore the Solway shore, searching for waders and wildfowl at Graitney and Redkirk Point near Gretna, Browhouses, Seafield Bay, Newbie and Powfoot. Reaching the Nith Estuary Caerlaverock WWT is always worth a look, especially in the winter months. Our study of the birds of Southerness Point is in its infancy but is surely worthy of effort in migration periods as is the surrounding area with Carsethorn and Mersehead RSPB.

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22 December 2008

SOLWAY: Gretna Green Starling Roost 20/12/08.

3 comments:

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