Also on the campsite were the "usual suspects" which are whitethroat, willow and sedge warbler, linnet and house sparrow which are all (except house sparrow) unusual birds in their own right.
I personally am very pleased whenever I see them as they always give you decent shots but you know that you can do better! its a continuous battle with all of the above species!
As the weather was slightly less than warm we decided to go for a look round Port Logan Botanical gardens for a look at the plants to see if the weather cleared up so that we could make a decision at lunch time about what to do in the afternoon. This place is poor for wildlife because of the lack of native plants but red-legged partridges and spotted flys are a regular feature.
I managed to walk around the whole gardens before I found anything at all worth looking at and indeed it was a red-legged partridge. It actually turned out that there were two and not one as these photos suggest. I managed to get some decent shots but they are proving far more elusive than The last time I saw them here.
Eventually they began to turn up everywhere but sadly all to far away or in inconvenient places e.g. a dark, confined bush behind a brick wall only viewable through a mess gate! The rest of the time, before lunch provided very little except for a handful of swallows. After lunch we returned to have a look once more and things began to look up immediately. A siskin had begun feeding on the bird feeders in the entrance area so I was able to get some real siskin record shots. It was not a tame bird and that made photography even harder but it eventually paid off.
I decided to stay here and watch the bird feeders whilst my family walked round to see the rest of the plants. Eventually they came back and said that they had seen some baby swallows in the roof of one of the buildings, so I went to look!
I found some nests but no baby swallows which was disappointing. Luckily there were some small cheeping birds on the adjacent wall which, on photo analysis turned out to be spotted flycatchers which are always nice to see!
Since we still had some time we decided to go and have a look round Portpatrick. On the way there however we saw this buzzard, possibly a juvenile, feeding on the side of the road. I found it difficult to take pictures because the car had not yet stopped. Luckily that was not an issue as when I uploaded them to birdguides they got a personal record of 17 thumbs up and 4 comments which I was very pleased to find out about!
At Portpatrick itself there were only the black guillemots that were particularly interesting but one particular adult (see below) had caught a long-spined sea-scorpion and was trying to get to its nest but was somehow finding to difficult. As a result it just kept swimming about below us offering some great photos that I am very pleased with!
I do not recall seeing anything back at the campsite and I have noting written down and so i can only assume that i was busy packing for the return journey home the next day. I have had a great time in Scotland with 2 new birds and a new dragonfly and butterfly and damselfly its quite a hefty haul. Still, tomorrow is threave gardens which means woodpeckers, jays and red squirrels.
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