Nearly halfway there!

Creaking up to a mighty 49% with a fine Osprey over Meikle, flocks of migrating golden plover overhead and the first swallow! Still ahead of Reg but only cos he doesn't join in. Come on Reg, tell us your score...

galley is the new deeside

After yesterday's singing wood warbler, today's quality mig was a tree pipit - all I need now is a wintering great grey shrike and some lekking black grouse and I'll be sorted!

welcome back after the break

Perhaps being off-patch for the 1st 10 days of April wasn't the wisest move, however, I've mostly got away with it, nailing Saturday's long staying Wood Warbler this morning (patch tick - phew!), along with swallow and shelduck - all good!

Migrants trickling in

A quieter weekend of doggin' but with Wigeon and Swallow on Saturday and then Sand Martin and Chiffchaff today moving me to the heady heights of 2nd place (until Roy Castle posts an update). Keeping up the pictoral postings, here's a colour-ringed Mipit on the Rifle Range today that seemingly is one of Clive Mackay's from Tayside (unless he gave some rings to Raymond to slap on the ones he was ringing last autumn at Blackdog).

Statto

Wish you were (wheat)ear

No strains of Pink Floyd were to be heard above the howling gale on the patch today, but my buffeting was rewarded with a couple of 'ears at last. Weeks after I had them elsewhere I managed to nail them back on da patch (the time it has been since I last got up the hills certainly explains the delay - too busy doing the Lothian coast for such trivialities).

A Touch of the Exotic

Saturday finally brought a proper migrant to Blackdog with several Sandwich Terns offshore. Add in the first Tufted Duck and Velvet Scoter of the year (a drake of each on the sea) and the list was walloping along.

Sunday brought altogether higher quality. After an uneventful walk around Blackdog Links, the Rifle Range and then down through the willow plantation into Blackdog Burn, an evening look out from the dunes revealed two Med Gulls, evidently paired up, cavorted on the beach. Both were in gaudy summer-plumage with one being adult and the other a 2nd-summer. They continued to flaunt their stuff, posturing erotically to each other, chasing Common Gulls and generally larging it in the evening sun. Just recorded previously in 2008 (2 separate birds that year).

Statto

Can't touch this - (Yellow)hammer time

Spring seems to have finally hit the Don with a singing willow warbler, a swallow over the garden and 21 sarnie terns on the beach. A couple of yellowhammer put in an appearance too and at last I nailed linnet and reed bunting today, don't know how I've avoided them so far. So I'm on to 65.8%