Wednesday 20th August

My first birding trip in the county for a couple of months. Light rain and soaking wet grass, but a lot of interesting birds to compensate. A couple of Wheatears were by the Bogside racecourse ‘car park’. Looking downstream from the McGowan (ICI) bridge, there was a Black-tailed Godwit with a handful of Dunlin and Ringed Plover, along with the usual waders. The upper estuary held 8 Goosanders and a couple of Common Sandpipers. At least 15 Greenshanks were scattered along the top half of the estuary – there were probably about 18 in total. A ringtail Hen Harrier was hunting over Garnock East, just east of the ponds. North across the Garnock and there were several Mallard and Teal in the Garnock East Farm Pool, along with a very shy female Shoveler. The Garnock Floods SWT reserve was very quiet: Mute Swan, Moorhen, and Little Grebe was about as interesting as it got. A Kingfisher flew under the road bridge beside the reserve. In Eglinton Park I flushed a Greenshank from a very temporary puddle at the edge of one of the fields. The Belvedere pond (i.e. the smaller of the two Eglinton Park ponds) held nothing of interest though: a few dozen Mallard, about 8 Teal, and a couple of Pied Wagtails.