Sunday 7th September

A Spotted Flycatcher and a couple of Chiffchaffs were in the Garnock East plantation. The Flycatcher again appeared to be associating with a tit flock. A Pintail was on the upper estuary. A ringtail Hen Harrier was being mobbed by Swallows over Bogside Racecourse. A quick stop-off at Capringstone Flash revealed a different Pintail along with a huge number of Mallard. In among Capringstone's ducks was a pure white Mallard that had been on the Garnock Estuary a couple of days earlier.

Saturday 6th September

20 Dunlin and a Black-tailed Godwit were at Bogside; 2 Pintail and 2 Gadwall were on the upper estuary; 99 Wigeon were counted across the Irvine and Garnock Estuaries.
(Photo: Pintail)

Friday 5th September

The 2 Black-tailed Godwits and Bar-tailed Godwit were at Bogside again; 125 Mallard were on the upper estuary, along with 9 Little Grebe; a Spotted Flycatcher was with a mixed tit/Treecreeper flock in the Garnock East wood; a Kingfisher was at the Garnock East ponds.

Thursday 4th September

A flock of 9 Snipe were flying down the River Irvine; 2 Black-tailed Godwits and 1 Bar-tailed Godwit were on the Garnock Estuary at Bogside; 4 Pintail and 10 Snipe were on the upper estuary.
(Photo: 140+ Sandwich Terns at Irvine Bar)

Wednesday 3rd September

A wet day with the tide almost in. A Kingfisher was fishing in the River Irvine against a backdrop of 7 Snipe. A Couple of Common Sandpipers and a Greenshank were nearby. 56 Wigeon and a Bar-tailed Godwit were on the Garnock Estuary at Bogside. A Wheatear was on the old racetrack. A further 6 Snipe were on the upper estuary. Well over 100 Goldfinches were feeding in the northwest corner of the Garnock Floods.
(Photos: Sparrowhawk over Ardeer Quarry a couple of days ago; Swallow at Garnock Floods; Wheatear at Bogside.)

Saturday 30th August

The rising tide pushed up a Black-tailed Godwit and a Knot towards the saltmarsh at Bogsdie. 25 Wigeon were at Bogside with some more on the upper estuary, but they might have been the Bogside birds moving location at high tide. 37 Teal flew onto the upper estuary – they were probably flushed from the Garnock East Farm Pool. 350 Lapwing and 21 Greenshanks were roosting on the upper estuary's saltmarsh. 11 Goosanders were on the upper estuary, with a further 12 at Bogside. One or two flocks of 15-18 Siskin were about: one flew east over the golf course, the other flew south east across the estuary from the Black Powder wood.

Thursday 28th August

Spent about 45 minutes at the south west corner of Bogside racecourse watching the birds congregate as the tide went out. 136 Mallard, 14 Wigeon, and 1 Teal were feeding at high tide. An immature Great Crested Grebe was feeding on this stretch of estuary too. 5 Shelduck and 11 Goosander were on one of the high-tide islands. 81 Dunlin was a reasonable count. An unexpected Green Sandpiper feeding on the mudflats was interesting. A Greenshank, which was probably roosting at Bogside, flew overhead to the River Irvine. Almost all of the Bogside ducks moved to the upper estuary, joining 3 Gadwall. A Bar-tailed Godwit was in the southernmost bay of the upper estuary. A Flock of 33 Goldfinches near the ponds at Garnock East and a flock of 15 Chaffinches in the cattle field scrub were worth recording.

Wednesday 27th August

A thorough bird count on the upper estuary at high tide this morning:

Greenshank - 21
Dunlin - 18
Curlew - 39
Redshank - 10
Lapwing - 60
Common Sandpiper - 3
Goosander - 3
Mallard - 5
Eider - 1
Little Grebe - 5
Grey Heron - 2
Kingfisher - 1

There were 165 Lapwing in the cattle field beside the Garnock Floods SWT reserve.

(Not three different birds, but the same one captured in three different frames and then stitched together. Almost captures the foraging behaviour of these birds, but not quite: a few more frames needed I think.)

Monday 25th August

After a morning of heavy rain, on the Garnock Estuary at Bogside 13 Knot were feeding, along with 63 Dunlin, and a Sanderling (as well as the usual Ringed Plover, Turnstone, Redshank etc.). The first 12 Golden Plover I’ve seen on the estuary this autumn were roosting nearby. A Black-tailed Godwit was on the far shore. A Wheatear was on the debris on the beach before I flushed it up onto one of the old concrete fence posts. Duck numbers have significantly increased on the upper estuary over the weekend, with 93 Mallard, 13 Wigeon, and 5 Teal present. A Common Sandpiper, a Ruff, and a Kingfisher were also on the upper estuary. c.250 Lapwing were in the cattle field at Garnock East; a further 100 flew over the railway towards the Garnock Floods.

Friday 22nd August

At high tide on the upper estuary this dinner time 26 Greenshanks were roosting on the saltmarsh. A Ruff was feeding among them. 10-20 Dunlin were also roosting on the saltmarsh. A fox spooked a few of the roosting birds. The estuary's birds seem rather uninterested in foxes. 2 Common Sandpipers were on the eastern shore. A Kingfisher was also present on the upper estuary. I encountered 2 more Kingfishers further upstream.

Thursday 21st August

A more thorough investigation of the Garnock estuary at Bogside today resulted in a count of 56 Dunlin and 5 Knot, along with about 60 Ringed Plover. The upper estuary held a few interesting birds: 3 Common Sandpiper were in a small group; 4 Gadwall were roosting on the mud; 2 Common Snipe were visible on the saltmarsh; 22 Dunlin and 1 Knot were feeding on the mud flats; 2 Wigeon were roosting with some Mallard; and 2 Kingfishers were flying about the northernmost bridge. I got very good views of one of the birds successfully fishing from the debris revealed at low tide. The female Shoveler was still on the Garnock East Farm Pool. 3 noisy Ravens flew over the pool heading north.

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.