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Our
Expeditions:September 2025
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Week ending: 28th September: Broadwood Loch, Skateraw, Barns Ness, and Strathclyde Country Park
It was a rather nice week of weather this week. The days were mainly sunny with hardly any rain.
Monday, 22nd September: Broadwood Loch
I thought I’d start the week with a wee walk around Broadwood Loch in Cumbernauld. So after parking in the car park at the south end of the loch I set off hoping to see lots of birds. I snapped some early shots of a Mute Swan and its juvenile cygnet. I followed these with a photo of a well turned-out Black-headed Gull and another of a young Little Grebe just as it downed a small fish.
| Mute Swan |
Black - headed Gull |
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| Juvenile Mute Swan |
Juvenile Little Grebe |
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As I moved along the path on the east side of the loch I spied a quartet of Mute Swans flying in a line down the loch.
The loch seemed devoid of birds as I moved along the east side and I was therefore pleased to find a Great Crested Grebe and its juvenile near the north end of the loch. And at the North end there was a pair of Tufted Ducks diving for food.
| Great Crested Grebe... |
...Juvenile |
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| Tufted Duck... |
...Female |
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The picture below shows the dam at the north end. Note the Lesser Black-backed gulls gathered on the railings. But that was all I saw.
Tuesday. 23rd September: Skateraw
I awoke the next day to azure blue skies and so decided to head to the Lothian coast and decided to start at Skateraw.
Unfortunately the tide was low during the time I was there and there were several groups of dog walkers on the shore - so sea birds were hard to find.
There were some flowering plants and insects though so I started photographing some of those - starting with the Sea Sandwort that I found at the edge of the beach.
Sea Rocket was still in flower with some hoverflies, like Syrphus ribesii, feeding on them. At the far end of the small beach, a beautiful Wall butterfly fluttered onto a dandelion flower. Although the sea was far from the sandy beach, I did spot some Oystercatchers and Redshanks
foraging in the shallow pools left by the receding tide - until the birds were flushed by one of the walkers unleashed dogs.
| Hoverfly - Syrphus ribesii |
Wall Butterfly |
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| Oystercatcher |
Redshank |
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I climbed off the beach onto the west side of the bay and trekked around the high edge of what is called Chapel Point
Looking west from Chapel Point I could see Barns Ness lighthouse (the next location I visited). Note the Bass Rock in the distance.
As I admired the above panorama, I could hear the familiar calls of a Stonechat. I located it easily since those birds usually stand high on bushes or grasses. I walked around the coast and came upon a patch of Common Toadflax growing in an eroded section of the coastline. At a large bush I was surprised to see a pair of Stonechats at a much closer range (6m) than before. However, there wasn’t a single sea bird in sight so I decided to return to the car and head for Barns Ness. I did get another couple of flower sightings: Teasel and Red Valerian at the Bungalow by the beach.
Tuesday, 23rd September: Barns Ness
After parking I walked towards the shore and was immediately confronted with the sight of 27 wind turbines on the horizon - Berwick Bank Wind Farm. It is currently is at an advanced stage of development which will potentially deliver up to 4.1GW of power to the National Grid.
Like in Skateraw, the shore was a mass of bare rock, and once again there were no sea birds. However the wee birds came to the rescue. First, a Robin sat on a Gorse branch and started singing. Soon after that a juvenile Dunnock appeared near the Robin and just looked down on me.
Then a juvenile Linnet and then a female Reed Bunting did the same.
| Robin |
Juvenile Dunnock |
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| Juvenile Linnet |
Female Reed Bunting |
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Next my attentions turned to a seaweed pile washed up on the shore, which was attracting Rock Pipits and Starlings. I also spotted a Meadow Pipit. They were hunting invertebrates that were emerging from the rotting seaweed. Another Wall butterfly flew in and landed beside me on the
grass. I soon returned home slightly disappointed with my uninspiring set of shots.
| Rock Pipit |
Juvenile Starling |
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| Meadow Pipit |
Wall Butterfly |
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Thursday,25th September:Strathclyde Country Park
A couple of days later I spent the day at Strathclyde Park. I had fungi on my mind. After parking in car park 4, I walked to the footbridge across the River Clyde to check if I could see anything interesting - sadly I couldn’t, but it was a nice view.
I popped over to the Watersports Centre and got a snap of a diving Cormorant. I walked over to the Beach car park where there were a number of birds on the beach: Mallards, white Embden Geese, Greylags and Mute Swans. These were not unexpected, but what I didn’t expect to see on
the pebble lochside (but glad I did) was a Small Copper butterfly.
| Cormorant |
Mallard |
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| Embden Goose |
Greylag Goose |
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| Mute Swan |
Small Copper Butterfly |
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Near the Foreshore car park I witnessed a gathering of five Great Crested Grebes. I presume they were a couple of families, as so could these
be …..…
…. a family of Tufted Ducks.
Next I left the lochside and took to the woodland paths to search for fungi. In the woods behind M&Ds I discovered Blushing Bracket fungi on a rotting tree. Near the football pitches Brown Roll-rim and Common Puffball fungi were growing below pathside trees.
In the garden outside the derelict house at the football pitches there was a Brown Birch Bolete. Suede Boletes were growing below conifers near the far side of the footbridge I’d crossed earlier. A third bolete was growing below Larch trees at the park perimeter opposite the road junction that leads to the Watersports Centre. They were, as you might guess, Larch Boletes. A few Red-edged Brittlestem fungi were growing in the woods behind M&Ds. My final find resulted from the work done near the main Motherwell park entrance, by the park workers who were cutting down diseased trees, keeping park-users safe. There were pretty white fungi, Porcelain Fungus growing on the trunk of one of the felled trees.
It was a very busy and quite productive week - 45 species photographed. I would have liked more sea birds but I suppose the tide wasn't right.
I'll research the tide times next time.
Week ending: 21st September 2025: RSPB Barons Haugh, Strathclyde Country Park
It was another showery week with some extended periods of sunshine.
Tuesday 16th September: Dalzell Estate.
My first visit of the week was to Dalzell Estate, a heavily wooded area with well maintained paths and is immediately east of RSPB Baron’s Haugh. Once again I was on the hunt for pictures of fungi, and I got off to a flyer with a cluster of Velvet Shank mushrooms.
These orange fungi were growing just off the path on a decaying tree stump. I followed that with a shot of Artist's Bracket growing low on a thick tree trunk. My next two finds were special in that they were both newbies: Black Bulgar and Giant Polypore.
As I photographed the Giant Polypore I could hear a Robin singing, and after a brief search I located it on a branch a few metres above me. The woodland path eventually took me to the Clyde Walkway on the banks of the River Clyde, at an area called Adder’s Gill. There are sparse remains of brickwork which I think was a pumping station. I found an Ivy-leaved Toadflax plant growing on the bricks. Next I decided to walk west along the Clyde Walkway to get to the RSPB Baron’s Haugh reserve and encountered a couple of butterflies on the way: a Green-veined White and a Large White.
| Robin |
Ivy - leaved Toadflax |
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| Green - veined White Butterfly |
Large White Burtterfly |
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Eventually I reached a path known as the Chestnut Way and below is the view from the path looking back toward Adder’s Gill.
Tuesday 16th September: RSPB Baron's Haugh
There is significant flood damage to the path caused by the fairly frequent rise in the river water level. As a consequence, walkers are advised not to go along the path. However it is passable with care when the river water level is low and weather conditions are not extreme. I picked my
way around the damaged pathway and continued into the reserve. My first sighting there was of a Cormorant on the river. I was impressed by the profusion of Haw berries on the Hawthorn bushes - a result of the very mild summer. A Common Snowberry bush was hosting hungry hoverflies. The Snowberry is considered to be an invasive species, as is the beautiful, but destructive Himalayan Balsam, which was growing profusely all along banks of the Clyde.
| Cormorant |
Common Hawthorn |
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| Common Snowberry |
Himalayan Balsam |
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Eventually I reached the west side of the the reserve, at the site of the now demolished Phoenix hide and bund (embankment). The shot below shows the view over the Haugh as seen from the excavated bund.
As I was photographing a bee (unidentified) that was feeding on a Himalayan Balsam flower, a Magpie descended onto the path and pecked up something which it then carried up into the tree branches. Next, I managed to photograph a Black Slug (brown form) that was labouring its
way across the dried mud. Then, to my surprise, a Great White Egret came into view fairly close to where I was standing. I fired off a few shots of the Egret then …..
| Bee T.B.C. |
Magpie |
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| Black Slug ( Brown Form ) |
Great White Egret |
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…. a flock of Lapwing flew in from the south, circled the Haugh a few times, and then landed in the shallows at the opposite side of the water.
I continued my walk until I reached the Causeway hide. I could see some of the Lapwings mingling with the other birds such as Canada Geese and Teal. I also noticed a pair of Green Sandpipers and even a Little Egret made an appearance.
| Canada Goose |
Lapwing |
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| Green Sandpiper |
Little Egret |
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Satisfied with my brief time at the Causeway hide, I relocated to the Marsh hide, but was disappointed to find that the scrapes were flooded due to a few wet days.
It was sunny though when I watched the Mallards that were slowly changing their eclipse plumage into the more familiar breeding plumage. A few Coots were diving for pondweed in the deep water in front of the hide. I also spotted a few Gadwall in the waters beyond the scrapes. On my way out of the hide there was a Green-veined White butterfly sunning itself on a blade of grass. My final picture was of a Speckled Wood butterfly that was resting on foliage beside the path that would take me up the hill towards the car park.
| Mallard... |
...in Eclipse plumage |
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| Coot |
Gadwall |
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| Green - veined White Butterfly |
Speckled Wood Butterfly |
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Thursday, 18th September : Strathclyde Country Park
On Thursday I set off around Strathclyde Park, again looking mainly for fungi. In the field adjacent to the Alona Hotel I found some Brown Roll-rim and Fairy Ring Champignon . I followed this with a find of Glistening Inkcap fungi that was growing by the path through the woods that leads to the Caravan Park. At the other end of the park, I walked across the footbridge, heading for the main road, and along the wooded footpath, where I found a Wolf’s Milk slime mould growing on the end of a felled tree trunk and Artist’s Bracket on a rotting tree trunk.
| Brown Rollrim |
Fairy Ring Champignon |
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| Glisening Inkcap |
Slime Mould - Wolf's Milk |
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| Artist's Bracket... |
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On the park between the Loch and M&D’s there is a huge bed of wildflowers that were mainly Wild Carrot flowers and pretty yellow and dark orange flowers called Plains Coreopsis.
Just south of the flower bed, on the park grass, was an arc of white Field Mushrooms.
The gills of Field mushrooms start pink but darken as the mushroom ages. I checked the Wrinkled Field Cap mushrooms that I found a few weeks ago, just east of the Foreshore car park. Their wrinkles are getting more pronounced with age. Next a Peacock butterfly fluttered past and landed on the ground, allowing me to get a pleasing shot. At the dipping pond I stood at the water’s edge watching for dragonflies - and it wasn’t long before a pair of mating Common Darters fluttered across the surface of the pond, frequently dipping into the water, as they laid their eggs .
| Field Mushroom |
Wrinkled Field Cap |
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| Peacock Butterfly |
Dragonfly - Common Darter |
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At one end of the pool there was an Apple Tree I’d not noticed before, and it was loaded with ripe fruit. On my way back to the car I passed some Monkey Flowers growing at the edge of the Loch. I also got a nice shots of a young Great Crested Grebe and a Grey Heron that was hiding under the road bridge over the South Calder river.
| Aiples.. |
Monkey Flower |
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| Juvenile Great Crested Grebe |
Grey Heron |
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I end this blog with a couple of shots taken near the Watersports Centre. The first is a photograph of birds that were situated at the foot of the Finishing Tower. The picture show a pair of Toulouse Geese with a single white Embden Goose as well as Lesser Black-backed Gulls, a female Mallard and a Carrion Crow.
The second photo is a wide angle shot of the same scene (the birds above are at the bottom right of the tower).
It was quite a productive week with 45 species photographed. My favourites were the fungi, especially the newbies, and the Great White and Little Egrets. Next week’s weather is to be dominated by a high pressure system - usually resulting in sunny weather - that'll do me.
Week ending: 14th September: Strathclyde Country Park, RSPB Baron’s Haugh and Hogganfield Park LNR
It’s been a week of showers, but thankfully they’ve been separated by generous intervals of sunshine.
Tuesday, 9th September : Strathclyde Country Park
My first outing with the camera was to Strathclyde Park where I was
pleasantly surprised to find that, despite the rain, a fair number of
butterflies were on the dwindling number of wildflowers. Speckled Woods
and Red Admirals were the most common, but only a few Green-veined
Whited
and and even fewer Small Tortoiseshells were seen. I was even more
surprised to come across Common Darter dragonflies on the sun-warmed
pathways of the quieter areas of the park. There were still some
hoverflies, like the Syrphus ribesii (below) on Chicory flowers.
| Speckled Wood Butterfly |
Red Admiral Butterfly |
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| Green - veined White Butterfly |
Small Tortoiseshell Butterfly |
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| Dragonfly - Common Darter |
Hoverfly - Syrphus Ribesii |
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The park has a sizable colony of Cormorants, based near the mouth of the South Calder river, …
7a cormorantH_SP090925C
…… but they can be spotted in all areas of the park, e.g.
by the starter’s tower at the Watersports Centre…..
….or on the docks, or in the water diving for fish. Whilst
photographing the Cormorants at the Watersports Centre I was approached
by three domestic geese, two of which were Toulouse Geese and the other was an white Embden Goose (which was probable hybridised, since it has some grey markings on its neck).
Finally, since most UK fungi appear during the Autumn month, I was
expecting an upsurge in the sightings of fungi. So, during my walk in
the park, I was glad to come across several fungi, namely Brown Roll-rim (by the path just north of the Alona Hotel), Birch polypore and the Goblet (by the path from footbridge to Hamilton Road), Chicken on the Woods ( (by car park2), Wrinkled Fieldcap (east of the Foreshore car park) and Clustered Toughshank (40m down the left hand path at the Motherwell entrance). I look forward to finding more in the coming weeks.
| Brown Roll Rim |
Goblet |
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| Birch Polypore |
Chicken of The Woods |
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| Wrinkled Fieldcap |
Clustered Toughshank |
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Wednesday, 10th September: RSPB Baron’s Haugh
On the next day I made a brief visit to Baron’s Haugh. Just as I left the car park I nearly stood on a Toadlet
which might have been invigorated by the rain. Just before the Causeway
hide I snapped a Woodpigeon as it sat on a fence. From inside the hide
there were quite a few birds scattered across the Haugh, most obviously
some Cormorants and a trio of Black-tailed Godwits
| Juvenile Common Toad |
Woodpigeon |
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| Cormorant |
Black - tailed Godwit |
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There were other godwits visible but they were much further from the hide.
An eclipse Teal was feeding near the Cormorants and a few Lapwings were
hiding in the grassy banks. A few Mute Swans were parading around the
shallows and a lone Grey Heron made an appearance by the far reeds. My
final shot at the Haugh was of a Cormorant fishing on the deeper
areas of the waters. I was hoping to see it with a fish, but I was disappointed.
| Teal in Eclipse plumage |
Lapwing |
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| Mute Swan |
Grey Heron |
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| Moorhen |
Cormorant |
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Thursday, 11th September: Hogganfield Park LNR
My final visit of the week was to Hogganfield Park in the east side of
Glasgow. As usual, there was a sizeable flock of Mute Swans loitering
by the edge of the car park.
Also, it was a notable surprise to see Moorhens and Coots foraging in
the same area. I was, though, not expecting a Grey Heron to be standing
so near the cars. A few Tufted Ducks and a solitary female Scaup were diving about 20m out from the bank.
| Moorhen |
Coot |
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| Grey Heron |
Drake Tufted Duck |
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| Female Tufted Duck |
Female Scaup |
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A pair of Gadwalls were also diving with the other ducks.
A large spherical buoy, which I’ve photographed many times,
usually with a gulll on top, was on this occasion, carrying a bold
Cormorant. I also noticed that some of the drake Mallards were now
beginning to show their more familiar and more colourful plumage. A
detour from the main park
road to the east end of the park resulted in on a couple of shots - a snap of some Red Bartsia,
with pretty pink flowers, so small you might easily pass them, and a
few shots of a cluster of decaying mushrooms, which I’m still
trying to identify.
| Cormorant |
Mallard |
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| Red Bartsia |
Fungus T.B.C. |
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Back at the car park I spotted a shy, juvenile Moorhen and a not-so-shy
Canada Goose mingling with the swans. My final shot at Hogganfield was
taken after a brief shower and shows the southeast section of the loch
with the island in the background and the attractive border of Purple
Loosestrife in the foreground. The final shot below was actually taken in my garden. I believe it it is most likely an Orange Milkcap. They sprouted in a tub of Hydrangeas, to which some bagged compost has recently been added.
| Juvenile moorhen |
Canada Goose |
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| View |
Orange Millcap |
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It was a very exciting week in many ways. The weather was bright one
minute and pouring with rain the next - so I was in a constant state of
alert, watching for the next, preferably dry, photoopportunity and
while searching for those I had one eye on the sky to try to predict
when the
advancing grey clouds would drop their rain. Despite all that, I
photographed 40 species. My favourites being the fungi, butterflies and
the wee Toadlet. More bouts of rain are predicted for next week - more
of the same then.
Week ending: 7th September: Broadwood Loch, Musselburgh and Morrison’s Haven
Autumn leaves are starting to fall and the fine weather we experienced in recent weeks are but a pleasant memory with showery weather predominating this week. However I managed to capitalise on the brief sunny intervals to accumulate a fairly decent set of sightings.
Thursday, 4th September: Broadwood Loch.
It was sunny when I arrived at the car park at the south end of the loch, and I immediately set off on the footpath around the loch. There were about 40 Mute Swans on the water which had a surface partially covered by green pond weed.
The swans were mainly feeding but there was a quite a bit of posturing as they intermingled. A few Black-headed Gulls were in the mix, but not as many as I expected. Two Great Crested Grebes, an adult followed by its chick were at the very southern tip of the loch. The chick was following the adult constantly crying for food. The adult repeatedly dived for fish and…..
| Mute Swan |
1st Cycle Black - headed Gull |
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| Great Crested Grebe |
Juvenile Great Crested Grebe |
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…. occasionally surfaced a fish such as in the scene below where it appears to have caught a like a small Roach.
A female Scaup paddled past the grebes and as I photographed it, an Azure Damselfly fluttered past me and landed on a Bulrush (or
Reedmace) leaf. Near the Scaup was a lovely Mallard in eclipse plumage which is very like the female’s plumage (I find the yellow bill with a black tip distinguishes the male from the female - whose bill is grey and orange).
| Female Scaup |
Azure Damselfly |
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| Reedmace |
Mallard in Eclipse plumage |
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Below is a view of Broadwood Loch as seen from the southern tip looking north towards the Kilsyth Hills (which is the eastern side of the more extensive Campsie Hills).
I next made my way along the tree-lined eastern side of the loch where the flowers and hips of a lovely white Japanese Rose. In a gap between the trees, a single Moorhen and eight Mute Swans were gathered, obviously finishing off some bread chucked in by another walker.
| Japanese Rose Fruit |
Japanese Rose |
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| Moorhen |
Mute Swan |
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At the next gap in the trees I spotted another adult Great Crested Grebe feeding its chick. Although they were in the middle of the loch I got some OK record shots.
The chick had difficulty swallowing the fish and the parent bird had several attempts at presenting the fish to the chick before it managed to get it down. Next, as I snapped a Large Bindweed then a Meadow Cranesbill, I could feel raindrops starting to fall. I walked at pace for cover beneath the tall trees just before the boardwalk, stopping momentarily to photograph rain pelting a Moorhen feeding.
| Juvenile Great Crested Grebe |
Large Bindweed |
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| Meadow Cranesbill |
Moorhen |
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The rain passed after about 10 minutes and I was soon crossing the boardwalk where I watched a Little Grebe diving for little fishes. I rounded the head of the loch and nearly managed a nice shot of a Willow Warbler as it moved about a Alder Tree. The tree was in fruit. Note the two types of flowering parts: long (female) and conical (male). Near the tree, pretty Marsh Woundwort flowers be-decked the long grasses.
| Little Grebe |
Willow Warbler |
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| Alder Fruit |
Marsh Woundwort |
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As I passed over the dam at the north end of the loch, there was a large Lesser Blackbacked Gull standing on the railings around the sluice gate. Another cloudburst held me up as I approached the west side of the loch, but when it stopped I watched a lovely wee Robin singing it’s heart out. There was a disappointing lack of water birds along the west side of the loch, but when I reached the final stretch of path that leads back to the car park, I stopped at a wide patch of flowering Water Mint where Droneflies, (eg Eristalis arbustorum), Hoverflies (eg Syrphus ribesii) and Carder Bees were on the pretty spherical flowers. My final photos at Broadwood were of a gorgeous Red Admiral that landed on another patch of Water Mint by a small wooden footbridge.
| Lesser Black - backed Gull |
Robin |
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| Hoverfly - Eristalis Arbustorum |
Hoverfly - Syrphus Ribesii |
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| Common Carder Bumblebee |
Red Admiral Butterfly |
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Friday, 6th September : Musselburgh and Morrison's Haven.
A couple of days later I was in Musselburgh where the weather was cloudy to start with, but brightened up by lunchtime. The tide was low but rising.
The reason I was in Musselburgh was due to a report I’d read in X, posted by @birdinglothian, that there was a Marsh Sandpiper and a few Curlew Sandpipers on the Morrison’s Haven scrapes. Well, to be honest, I was unaware of that scrape and had to search for it when I first arrived. My plan was to park at the Levenhall Links car park and walk the short distance east along the coastal path to Morrisons Haven, hoping the scrape would be obvious. From that path I saw a Goosander diving offshore. Also, a Curlew and a juvenile Cormorant were on the shore, as were a few Turnstones. Just before the Morrison’s Haven car park I was delighted to see a large Grey Seal basking close to the seawall. As I photographed the seal I heard a Greenfinch calling from a bush behind me. It was a juvenile.
| Female Goosander |
Curlew |
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| Juvenile Cormorant |
Turnstone |
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| Grey Seal |
Juvenile Greenfinch |
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I then spent some time - too much time - searching the coast in vain for the scrapes. Reluctantly, I walked back towards the Levenhall Links car park, but, luckily, I met a birdwatcher who was carrying a spotting scope. When I asked him if he knew the location of the Morrison’s Haven
scrape he was pleased to direct me to a path that runs (out of sight) behind the trees that line the approach road that leads to the Levenhall Links car park. Within a few minutes I was standing on that path, observing the scrape.
I was very pleased to see that there were quite a few birds on the scrape, most obviously Dunlin and a couple of Ruffs. The Marsh Sandpiper was fairy easy to find since it was slim and more pale than the other birds and was foraging along the far end of the scrape.
There were Curlew Sandpipers wading with the Dunlins. These birds are very similar, but Curlew Sandpipers are a bit taller and have white underparts with no black streaks. Other birds there were Herring Gulls, Black-headed Gulls and Redshanks.
My couple of outings productive (36 species photographed) and were very entertaining, especially seeing the Great Crested Grebes at Broadwood Loch and the Marsh and Curlew Sandpipers at Morrison’s Haven. Wetter and colder weather is predicted for next week, but that’s never stopped us before.
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