News archive

Sunday, 5 July 2009

Millichen Farmland Bird Project 2008-09

The eighth year of the Group's Farmland Bird Project has been completed in the Millichen area of Glasgow. This report concentrates on the efforts of the volunteers who have visited the area in all weathers. As ever, they counted the birds seen and this short report reflects their efforts.

Wildfowl and Waders
As per previous years, the 'flood' actually flooded and attracted a range of wildfowl. The greylag goose flock peaked at 800 birds, whilst there were regular sightings of pink-footed geese with the maximum count reaching c.770 birds! Other geese to be seen included 6 Greenland White-fronted geese, whilst other peak counts for wildfowl included 97 wigeon and c.40 mallard.

The highest count for lapwings was 142, whilst in August, 19 black-tailed godwits were seen.

Raptors
6 species of raptor, including merlin and peregrine, have been reported with the highlight being an osprey that made a brief, but welcome, visit in June.

Farmland Birds
Once again our volunteers put out grain, from October-April, and undertook counts on a weekly basis. For consistency with past counts, all birds seen by the volunteers in the vicinity of the feeding station at West Millichen Farm, as well as at Millichen Steadings, East Millichen Farm and Millichen Flood, were noted. Glasgow City Council's Countryside Ranger Service also supplied count details.

During this period, peak counts of key 'red' or 'amber' listed species were as follows:
• 18 skylark
• c.90 starling
• c.65 house sparrow
• 24 tree sparrow
• c.180 linnet
• 32 yellowhammer
• 50 reed bunting.

Other Species
Special mention has to be made of the one sighting of a water rail and a couple of records of woodcock.

Results and Conclusions
In total, 66 species were recorded between October 2008-April 2009 (with a further 10 recorded over the summer months).

The counts for key species appear to be similar to recent years, although its sad that, following last year's 'comeback', grey partridge was not recorded during the year. However, the total number of birds seen show that Millichen is well worth a visit, but be warned you have to work to find some of the species; but that is part of the fun, isn't it?

Jim Coyle