Scotland Holiday Day 7: Loch of Strathbeg 4th June 2016
At this stage of our holiday we were more oriented to family than birding but, of course, we always manage to find a way to introduce a little bit so we dragged the family to Loch of Strathbeg. The whole place is being done up but none of it was opened yet so there was no visitor centre or loos or shop or anything like that. Instead we had to settle for a walk down to the hide. The fields were choc a bloc with Skylarks but we also got Meadow Pipit, Tree and House Martins, Reed Bunting etc.
At the hide the4 pools were totally dried out. I don’t know if we have ever seen them full and certainly never joined up to form the one loch. There were Shelduck and Grey Heron, Pheasant and Oystercatcher roaming around though. There were also Swallows and Swifts and a single Buzzard.
All in all it was a nice day for a walk and we introduced the kids to some birds that they didn’t know of.
Bird Sightings : Loch of Strathbeg
| Species | Count |
|---|---|
| Mute Swan | 70 |
| Common Shelduck | 4 |
| Common Pheasant | 1 |
| Grey Heron | 1 |
| Common Buzzard | 1 |
| Eurasian Oystercatcher | 2 |
| Common Swift | 4 |
| Eurasian Jackdaw | 6 |
| Rook | 16 |
| Carrion Crow | 2 |
| Sky Lark | 12 |
| Barn Swallow | 12 |
| Eurasian Blackbird | 1 |
| Common Starling | 1 |
| Dunnock | 2 |
| Pied Wagtail | 1 |
| Meadow Pipit | 1 |
| Reed Bunting | 1 |
| House Sparrow | 5 |
| Eurasian Tree Sparrow | 2 |