February 2023

Bird Sightings

While February had a similar mean temperature to January, February was drier with about half the rainfall of January. Compared to last February this February had about a third of the rainfall. Having said that February was generally grey, gloomy and dreich. The last few days of the month saw a change with bright, cold settled weather establishing.

Highlights included Little Egret. Continuing from December and January records, in February there were eighteen records. Fifteen of these records were from Lamlash Bay , two records from Merkland and one from Corriegills. Sixteen of the records were of a single bird and two records were of two birds together. It will be interesting to see how long Little Egret stay on the island this year. Last year 2022, there were records from the start of the year to 22 May and from 13 August to 31 December. When Little Egret eventually do stay to breed, I anticipate that the heronries around the island could prove to be attractive. Another highlight was the reports of Kingfisher. Three records in February all from Brodick.

Wintering visitors included: two Twite at Blackwaterfoot on 9^th, one Rook at Slidderywaterfoot on 23^rd and two Fieldfare by Cnocan Wood on 25^th. There were no February reports this year of Redwing. However, there were several reports of Blackcap dominating bird feeders in gardens round Arran.

Wintering wildfowl continued to be present including; eight Wigeon at Porta Buidhe on 6^th, fifty Teal at Carlo on 8^th, two hundred and fifty Greylag Geese in the Shiskine Valley on 27^th and one hundred and fifty Pink-footed Geese in the Shiskine Valley on 28^th. There were no February reports this year of Goldeneye, White-fronted Geese nor Whooper Swan.

Other wintering flocks included: nine Long-tailed Tit in Shiskine on 6^th, two hundred and thirty-four Herring Gull in Kildonan on 10^th, fifty-one Curlew in Clauchlands on 11^th, forty-one Oystercatcher on Ormidale pitch on 15^th, fourteen Bullfinch on Clauchlands Hill also on 15^th, thirty-two Ringed Plover in Whiting Bay on 20^th, fifteen Skylark on the Knowe also on 20^th and at Slidderywaterfoot on 23^rd 300 Common Gull, sixty-eight Lapwing and twenty Turnstone.

Other interesting sightings included; two Great Northern Diver in Catacol Bay on 6^th, one Short-eared Owl on Beinn Tarsuinn on 8^th, five Little Grebe in Loch Ranza on 9^th, two Great Spotted Woodpecker in Clauchan Glen on 12^th, five Common Crossbill in Cnochan Biorach also on 12^th, four Goosander ( three male and one female) in Cnoc Buidhe on 15^th, one Golden Plover at Slidderywaterfoot on 23^rd and one Red-throated Diver off Pirnmill on 26^th.

In February there were no reports of returning Gannet and no reports of returning Lesser Black-backed Gull. There were however some other signs of approaching spring including: three Song Thrush all singing in Porta Buidhe on 13^th, two Golden Eagle display flying over the northern hills on 19^th, Shelduck establishing territories on shores round the island including seven by Kings Cave on 24^th, three Grey Heron collecting sticks in Glenkiln Farm for nest material on 28^th and numerous reports of garden birds checking out nest boxes.

Siskin reports in February were increasing and are expected to build up in March as the birds move north. Check out Siskin groups for the similar sized Lesser Redpoll one or two have already been reported. March could also see the arrival of some of our summer visitors like Wheatear, Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Sand Martin, even Swallow and House Martin, but their arrival will be dependent on the weather. Keep an eye out for these migrants and let me know when you first see them.