6th. A tidy 3 seen in the environs around Kingholm Quay, Dumfries. Still 4 Avocet at Browhouses. 

7th. Brother saw Water Rail, Green Sandpiper at Whooper Pond, Spot Flycatcher, Sparrowhawk & mating Southern Hawker. Back Pond water level down to ground now.

7th. A calling bird close to the Wigtownshire County Golf Club. Today, 2 reported off the river Bladnoch walking south along the river from Wigtown LNR. A bird still around RSPB Crook of Baldoon & Glasserton nr Whithorn village, now has 2 calling birds. 

Overlooked this, published on July 26th. https://awanderroundthewig.blogspot.com/2026/07/quality-not-quantity-bird-report-for.html?m=1

7th. Newbie Barns & Barnkirk Pt. 1620-1830, incoming tide, Little Stint (3), in with a few Ringed Plover. Showed well for quite some time, feeding in short bursts before resting then repeating the process, brilliant viewing. Also a single Bar-tailed Godwit, a single Golden Plover, with a few Whimbrel. At Barnkirk Point, 11 Greenshank were counted in with the Redshank army that’s currently here. Bill Jamieson. Ed. Top news from BJ.

Alyn had a calling Quail in crop field opposite entrance to the Wigtownshire County Golf Club, Glenluce, this morning & a Snow Goose of very suspect origin in harvested field by Kirkmabreck farm off the A716 between Sandhead & Ardwell. It was amongst Greylags & Canadas and included multiple leucistic &/or farmyard type white/beige Greylags. Gavin. 

Carol Oz from Gretna has been in touch. "Lost…African grey from Gretna she is ringed and tame I am disdraught lost 7/8/26 she went heading north , please call 07817361313 carol". Can you help??

1ea of Whimbrel, Bar-tailed Godwit & Greenshank, 120 Curlew & 2 Grasshopper Warbler near Whitefield Farm east of Auchenmalg. Swift over Dumfries.

Bankend Road & back road to Glencaple 1530-1700 ; 3 at least calling Quail in barley fields. 1 here; https://maps.app.goo.gl/N9nbaxQVVDLgiHdY9 , 1 still here; https://maps.app.goo.gl/aZZv8GvtRJwk3CqX7?g_st=ac & 1 still here; https://maps.app.goo.gl/HjXFLJCWmS8oj3ELA?g_st=ac . Along Nith from Glencaple quay, 6 Greenshank far shore inc at least 2 juvs. Further along Shore Rd south, 3 Black-tailed Godwit. Loads of gulls, c200 Greylag, plenty Lapwing & Curlew, 25 or more Goosander.

Quail still at Glasserton. 5 Black Guillemot at Stranraer old terminal. 2 Swift over Craigs Rd Dumfries. 3 Sand Martin at Applegarthtown Wildlife Sanctuary & a Tree Sparrow at Eskrigg NR.

1 Glossy Ibis still at WWT Caerlaverock on new dig ponds. Yet another Quail, one heard at Glasserton, west of Whithorn village.

31st July pm. 75 Manxies west in 45 mins, plenty Gannets, Guillemots with chicks, tysties, Kittiwakes, Razorbills, juv Wheatear and c3 harbour porpoise. Ian Bainbridge.

c1445-1500. A calling Quail in both barley fields to the right off the road to Glencaple heading from Bankend Road. Possibly 2 in one of them.  https://maps.app.goo.gl/NpbSAw6vB2ZkFRW69 https://maps.app.goo.gl/HpwFBApGdW1B2mCg6?g_st=ac During the fruitless search for the Ruddy Shelduck, a Med gull was found resting on Kirkconnel Merse, opp side of the Nith from Shore Rd. Apols for the poor image of the distant bird!

1430 - 1730. To the distant east, 6 Avocet, 12 Greenshank, 10+ Comm Sand & 1 Black-tailed Godwit. In front of the cottages, 1 juv Ruff, c500-1000 Dunlin but no Curlew Sand spotted ☹️, c30 Ringed Plover, 1 Golden Plover, several Little Egret inc the ringed H4 bird again. 22 Avocet on the English side! 

Bird seen in the vicinity of Hollands Hide, Caerlaverock NNR.

Is this the kind of small-minded, low IQ nonsense embedded in the farming "industry"? Job required - environmentally sensitive farming practices manager to run team of Conservation Farmers. Essential Skills - Brains. "Buzzard blamed for cereal crop fire" https://www.fwi.co.uk/news/buzzard-blamed-for-cereal-crop-fire#:~:text=Buzzard%20blamed%20for%20cereal%20crop%20fire,-Philip%20Clarke

1900-2020. Curlew Sandpiper (2), Ruff (2), Greenshank (4), Common Sandpiper (3), huge numbers of Dunlin, lots of Redshank, 2 Avocet (adult and juvenile) and a few Golden Plover. Bill Jamieson.

Ruddy Shelduck this morning close by road - observed from 4th lay-by past Glencaple. Robbie Purdie.

Saturday 25th. Shelduck 8, Goosander 15, Avocet 45 (already noted), Ringed Plover 1, Lapwing 100, Curlew 50, Black-tailed Godwit 13, Common Sandpiper 5, Redshank 75, Dunlin 50, Little Egret 1.

A Willow Tit in the vicinity recently. 

25th. 45 Avocet feeding on the falling tide & presumably straddling the border with England to whatever extent.

Apparently seen earlier at Kennethbank nr Glencaple. Current location unknown. Probably escapee I'm told. 

Quail year continues with a bird calling still at RSPB Crook of Baldoon. Has a WWT Ibis jumped ship & turning up at RSPB Mersehead lunchtime today? Also, another Quail heard there mid pm. 

23rd. Quail NE of Lockerbie, nr Boreland. At least 1 Willow Tit nr Stroan Loch, Raiders Road. GWE flying upriver on the Dee at Threave NTS.

Not much water & mud left on Folly Pond to hold a passage migrant now. The 2 Glossy Ibis for the time being remain tripping between ponds with more water & the remnants of Folly. 2 White Wagtail & a Green Sandpiper briefly, spotted by bro, around Whooper Pond. Latter dived into the area of Back Pond (?). Soon afterwards a couple of photographers were poking around there so it probably flushed elsewhere. Also the juv Water Rail showed well for a while in front of the Scottish Water Hide. Plus Snipe.

2 Glossy Ibis at WWT Caerlaverock where 3 juv LRP have been reported. Quail at RSPB Crook of Baldoon. From the Cairnryan ferry in Scottish waters, 50 Manx Shearwater.

Wildlife photographers' "obsession" with image quality could be detrimental to birding research, warn citizen scientists   By Hillary K. Grigonis The drive for better bird photos is actually contaminating valuable resources, researchers warn in the new era of AI photo editing. As a photographer I'm always striving to level up my images, but researchers are warning bird photographers that one way to "improve" a bird photo may actually end up contaminating valuable citizen scientist databases with misleading data. In a recent op-ed from the journal Nature, researchers from citizen science databases including iNaturalist and the Macaulay Library told a startling story of a Red-Winged Blackbird found well outside its usual range in Brazil. The problem? The bird was actually a common Epaulet Oriole but, when the photographer asked an AI platform to "improve this photo", AI removed the bird's yellow coloring, making it look like an altogether differe...

Large number of returning Whimbrel, maybe 20+. A fabulous still summer Knot. A Sandwich Tern was a late addition & in the fields behind Hogus Pt, a Quail was calling a few times around 3.30-4pm.

The Med Gull in Carse Gut was harassing a Bh Gull. 4 Whimbrel on Carsethorn foreshore. Apart from the Med Gull, in Carse Bay off Carse Gut low tide, 4 Comm Sand, maybe 25 Redshank & a minimum of 130 Curlew looking like they'd just arrived. At 5.30pm a pair of Peregrine were calling & circling overhead North Carse before heading west, accompanied by a probable Sparrowhawk until they moved on.

Gavin's bird briefly seen opposite the old pier 1230, Carsethorn.