Monday, June 26, 2006

Ayrshire Midsummer Bird Race

Lisa, my dad and I (aka The Drift Migrants) spent 24 hours racing around Ayrshire from 2000h on Friday night in a bid to see as many species as possible. While late June is a fairly quiet period (few waders & not much song) we managed 97 species, 80% of which were found before 0900h on Saturday morning. Naturally, the day was slow after this and our attention turned to butterflies – see photographs below. By late afternoon we were pretty tired by the time we reached Martnaham Loch. We called it a day at 1800h before heading home for a shower, giving us plenty of time to attend Donald Smith’s welcome post-race hospitality.

Highlights included the lingering King Eider, young Long-eared Owls at a Central Ayrshire site, several ‘reeling’ Grasshopper Warblers, Tree Sparrow, Whinchat, Redstart, Crossbill, Manx Shearwater and Little Tern. On Sunday I had a relaxing afternoon checking out some Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary and Large Heath sites.



Ayrshire's County Recorder, Angus Hogg, has posted a summary of the results of the participating teams on the Ayrshire Birding Website: http://s115507184.websitehome.co.uk/articles/birdrace2006.htm

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