Midweek Outing – Irvine Harbour & Gailes Marsh 07/04/24
For once the weather forecast was looking good – dry with sunny intervals. The downside became very clear when we got out of the car at Irvine Harbour – a strong, cold wind greeted us.
After coffee (and the biggest cakes I’ve ever seen), we all gathered together at the confluence of the Garnock and Irvine rivers. Some members had skipped coffee and had already started birding, with an impressive number seen considering the tide was nearly in – Lesser Black-backed Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Wigeon, Mallard, Shelduck, Mute Swan, Redshank, Oystercatcher, Canada Goose and Curlew. There were also 3 wagtails spotted by Peter which looked very pale and may have been white wagtails, but we couldn’t get a good enough look at them to be sure.
As it was a tad chilly in the wind, I decided it would be best to go down to the shore next to get the windy part of the outing over. Walking along the river to the shore we soon started hearing, then seeing, Sandwich Terns flying about in the strong, and at this point, colder feeling wind. Also spotted in the brief time spent there was Shag, Cormorant, Herring Gull, Red-throated Diver, Red-breasted Merganser and Bar-tailed Godwit. On the way down and back we also saw Feral Pigeon, Carrion Crow, Willow Warbler, Starling, Common Gull, Woodpigeon, Goldfinch and Grey Heron.
We then headed across the grass and out of the wind to the boating pond which boasted a pair of Mute Swans and nothing else. Rather disappointing, as was the lack of small birds in the bushes behind the pond. We saw one Magpie, one Blackbird, two Woodpigeons, two Jackdaws, a Lapwing, two Willow Warblers, a Chiffchaff, a Sparrowhawk, a Pied Wagtail, two Chaffinches, two Wrens, a Coal Tit, two Buzzards, a Kestrel and a pair of Bullfinches. Seeing the raptors, all around the same time, was nice. After all the non-excitement, we returned to the cars for lunch.
After lunch, we headed off in convey to nearby Gailes Marsh, a Scottish Wildlife Trust Reserve. The wind was not so prominent there and the first bird seen was a Swallow sitting on a wire at the car park. It was a pleasant circular walk through mixed trees, open grass areas, a pond, and at the edge of a golf course, lots of gorse bushes in full flower. We added Greenfinch, Robin, Song Thrush, Mistle Thrush, Blue Tit, Tufted Duck, Coot and Little Grebe to the list.
The most memorable experience was the dozens of Sand Martins flying in and out and all round about an artificial Sand Martin bank. I think for most of us it made our day. I was surprised to find in the end we had seen 48 species in total.
Agnes