Lots to look out for on sea and land over key weekend

Published on Thursday 18 September 2008 20:58

AUTUMN migrations are under way, with a range of interesting birds heading for Scotland, giving readers plenty to see in The Scotsman's Wildlife Watch, which begins today.

While summer migrants such as ospreys and terns head south for the winter, geese, ducks and wading birds are starting to return to our shores.

Wildlife Watch, our quarterly nature survey, runs until Monday and is your chance to get involved with conservation.

Send in your photographs, videos and notes about the creatures you see in your garden or the countryside this weekend.

The information collected by readers will be passed on to Biological Recording in Scotland (Brisc), which will distribute the data among its network of local recorders and record centres.

Over time, it is hoped Wildlife Watch, which is supported by the Scottish Wildlife Trust (SWT), will help to map how Scotland's creatures are adapting to changes in our climate and in our land use.

Professor Roy Watling, a retired head of mycology and plant pathology at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, has also asked readers to take photographs of four types of fungus.

Records of the following fungi are very welcome: ballerina or pink waxcap; porcelain fungus; golden bootleg; and earthstars.

Readers should not eat fungi they find or lick their fingers after handling them, unless they are experienced in collecting edible mushrooms.

The summer round of the nature survey, in June, led to a first for Wildlife Watch – Sandy Edwards spotted three spindle ermine moth caterpillars in St Andrews, the first time the species had been recorded in Fife. Sandy's excellent picture of the caterpillars appeared in Monday's Scotsman.

So which species are readers likely to see this weekend during the autumn Wildlife Watch?

The first pink-footed geese have started to arrive back in Aberlady Bay in East Lothian: the Scottish Ornithologists' Club is holding its annual "goose watch" on 16 October, by which point thousands of geese will have flown in to roost in the area.

Members of Wild Scotland, the national wildlife and tourism operators' association, have also reported interesting sightings over the past weeks.

Wild Scotland operators sign up to a code of conduct, which means they do not disturb the wildlife that they take their visitors out to see.

Lee Mott, of Shetland Photography Holidays, said: "We're always on the lookout for a south-westerly gale that may blow some unusual, rare or vagrant bird off-course to Shetland.

"Around our base at the Orca Country Inn, the trees were alive with common migrants: chiffchaff, willow warbler, garden warbler, lesser whitethroat, pied flycatcher, spotted flycatcher, grey wagtail, redstart, blackcap and wood warbler.

"But when you get such numbers of birds, the possibility of finding something more unusual is always exciting and indeed there was just that – a scarlet rosefinch."

Hannah Thompson, from Northern Lights Charter, which runs boat trips from Oban, said: "Late summer and early autumn is a great time for cetacean sightings.

"Guests aboard our boats have enjoyed encounters with up to 100 bow-riding common dolphins in recent weeks.

"Basking shark numbers have been healthy this year too, with groups of around 50 spotted on several occasions. Only minke whale numbers seem lower than normal this year."

Colin Aston, who runs Seafari Adventures boat trips to the Bass Rock in the Firth of Forth, said: "A couple of young and very curious common seal pups have been closely approaching our boats, much to the delight of the passengers onboard.

"We have also had good sightings in Craigleith of a very unusual occurrence, an albino cormorant, seen earlier in the year on Inchkeith as a youngster."