Wile E Coyote Posted December 31, 2020 Share Posted December 31, 2020 7 minutes ago, Fife Saint said: You'll have a hard time poisoning cormorants on a river. The level of FEB (fish eating birds) on many Scottish rivers has exploded in last few decades with limited legal control of predators and the protection of introduced species like Goosander who are absolute machines at hoovering up populations of trout and salmon. Goosander is not an introduced species. It colonised Scotland naturally about 150 years ago 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fife Saint Posted December 31, 2020 Share Posted December 31, 2020 Goosander is not an introduced species. It colonised Scotland naturally about 150 years agoThey were brought in from eastern europe to Perthshire on an estate and have thrived since, that was my understanding anyway.I spend multiple days up to my chuckies wading on many rivers chasing salmon from January to September and it's patently obvious from witnessing floatillas of cormorants and Goosander and listening to the guys who have worked on the rivers for 40-50 years that there is a changing imbalance in that period. Changes in smolt predation isn't the only problem, and fishing practice in the past was a clear issue, but the health of salmon populations are alarming. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Mantis Posted December 31, 2020 Share Posted December 31, 2020 On 29/12/2020 at 08:51, ThatBoyRonaldo said: Not a birdwatcher but discussion of cormorants on the previous page allows me to share an enjoyable fact I learned recently. An alternative Scots word for cormorant is a "scarf" which comes from the Gaelic "sgarbh". Found that out after doing Gaelic duolingo - I'm a big fan of when you can see links between Gaelic and Scots like that. Apparently cormorants also come up in Gaelic similes - the thing to say is apparently "I am as wet as a cormorant". One I learned from my mother in law - cho làn ri ugh - as full as an egg. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tamthebam Posted December 31, 2020 Share Posted December 31, 2020 On 29/12/2020 at 08:51, ThatBoyRonaldo said: Not a birdwatcher but discussion of cormorants on the previous page allows me to share an enjoyable fact I learned recently. An alternative Scots word for cormorant is a "scarf" which comes from the Gaelic "sgarbh". Found that out after doing Gaelic duolingo - I'm a big fan of when you can see links between Gaelic and Scots like that. Apparently cormorants also come up in Gaelic similes - the thing to say is apparently "I am as wet as a cormorant". "Tha e cho fliuch ri sgarbh" 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billy Jean King Posted January 4, 2021 Share Posted January 4, 2021 Spent half an hour this morning trying to picture Reed Buntings in their classic environment on a patch of bull rush seed heads but could I get close enough without spooking them ! Also saw a nice mixed flock of green and gold finches in the same area on Barassie beach margins. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billy Jean King Posted January 4, 2021 Share Posted January 4, 2021 Not a birdwatcher but discussion of cormorants on the previous page allows me to share an enjoyable fact I learned recently. An alternative Scots word for cormorant is a "scarf" which comes from the Gaelic "sgarbh". Found that out after doing Gaelic duolingo - I'm a big fan of when you can see links between Gaelic and Scots like that. Apparently cormorants also come up in Gaelic similes - the thing to say is apparently "I am as wet as a cormorant".Isn't it Scart rather than Scarf ? When working on creel boats they were always known as Scarts in Argyll but as with all anglicisations from Gaelic there can be several local different variations. On a similar vein in and around Kintyre they call Guillemot's "Dookers" (presumably as the swim the dook below the surface to fish) and locally residents of Tarbert are known as "Dookers" 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamamafegan Posted January 6, 2021 Share Posted January 6, 2021 New Years Day Redshanks 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sugna Posted January 16, 2021 Share Posted January 16, 2021 Seemed like very few birds around on today's lunchtime walk. However, my spotter was on good binoculars form, and we ended up with some nice views. Just about enough light to get reasonable pictures. 12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myles Offside Posted January 18, 2021 Share Posted January 18, 2021 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sugna Posted January 18, 2021 Share Posted January 18, 2021 What's that? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myles Offside Posted January 19, 2021 Share Posted January 19, 2021 15 hours ago, MixuFruit said: Would guess some kind of cuckoo but not the UK one. It's a pheasant coucal. An Australian cuckoo but brings shame to the family by building and laying eggs in its own nest and raising its own young. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Mantis Posted January 19, 2021 Share Posted January 19, 2021 A Robin singing his wee lungs out 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ziggy Posted January 19, 2021 Share Posted January 19, 2021 In the last few weeks I’ve seen a bird in my garden that I’m unable to identify. It’s roughly the size, size and shade of a sparrow apart from its bright yellow head. Anybody have any idea what it could be? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PWL Posted January 19, 2021 Share Posted January 19, 2021 14 minutes ago, Ziggy said: In the last few weeks I’ve seen a bird in my garden that I’m unable to identify. It’s roughly the size, size and shade of a sparrow apart from its bright yellow head. Anybody have any idea what it could be? Could it be a siskin? Or even a greenfinch? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hillonearth Posted January 19, 2021 Share Posted January 19, 2021 26 minutes ago, Ziggy said: In the last few weeks I’ve seen a bird in my garden that I’m unable to identify. It’s roughly the size, size and shade of a sparrow apart from its bright yellow head. Anybody have any idea what it could be? Maybe a yellowhammer if you live near open country - they will sometimes come into gardens when the weather's tough. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ziggy Posted January 19, 2021 Share Posted January 19, 2021 Thanks for the suggestions, I had looked on the RSPB identifier without success. The thing that confused me was that from the neck down it looked like a sparrow, no yellow on the body at all. It could be a Yellowhammer, I didn’t know that their winter plumage was different. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sugna Posted January 19, 2021 Share Posted January 19, 2021 Not sure they'd sing in your garden, at this time of year; but yellowhammers famously have a very distinctive song. It actually does sound quite like the rhythm and emphasis of "A little bit of bread and no cheese"! Except "cheese" is more "che-eese". Do you hear anything like that when the bird's around? We were up by Forres in the summer, and once we tuned into the song, it was quite easy to pick it up from a field away when we were out on our bikes. Quite exciting to hear the song, make the ID, then continue cycling to see the birds we'd heard earlier. I support more expert birdwatchers do that all the time, with all sorts of species, but it was very enjoyable. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myles Offside Posted January 22, 2021 Share Posted January 22, 2021 Dusky moorhen 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiG Posted January 22, 2021 Share Posted January 22, 2021 On 19/01/2021 at 12:08, Ziggy said: In the last few weeks I’ve seen a bird in my garden that I’m unable to identify. It’s roughly the size, size and shade of a sparrow apart from its bright yellow head. Anybody have any idea what it could be? Could it be a female Blackcap? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deanburn Dave Posted January 22, 2021 Share Posted January 22, 2021 Agree it's a female blackcap . 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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