31st. RSPB Crook of Baldoon. Drake still on lagoon north of car park.

28th. Fantastic views of a male Hen Harrier in front of the Meida Hide. Nice to see good numbers of Tree Sparrows at the feeding station outside the reception building. Chris Sutton. Ed. Apologies as lack of Internet access reason for delay in posting as can't access the online contact form, yet! 

30th. 5 feeding on the ornamental rowan berries again by the pharmacy.

Two Kookaburra were seen together in a Kirkcudbright garden by the golf course this morning. Presumably the ones that escaped last year. If they are male & female, I wonder what chance they have of breeding successfully? Nigel Willits. 

Still present at the Crook of Baldoon. Also today at WWT Caerlaverock, 1st-winter drake Greater Scaup still. Presumably Whooper or Folly Pond. Crook of Baldoon RSPB. Apart from the American Wigeon which was showing nicely this morning, there was a Green Sandpiper flushed from one of the infield ditches, as well as a Jack Snipe when I was working out in the fields. A Great White Egret flew across the northern fields heading east. On the rising tide the Common Sandpiper was present again as well as three Greenshank. Ivan Lang.  Ed. That's possibly at least 3 Common Sandpiper that have overwintered.

27th. Carried out the WinGS survey yesterday afternoon. Still working out the official number to be submitted based on the figures I recorded, but the number of gulls peaked at around 6000, with some birds moving off west before dusk. The majority were Common Gulls with Herring Gulls making up the rest with a handful of Great-black Backed Gulls. The surprise was the lack of Black-headed Gulls with just a few noted. Gavin Chambers. 

Seen in the trees that line the path to the Sandside footbridge. Heather (Hunter?). Ed. Many thanks Heather ☺️👍

2 Green Sandpiper remain, but the surprise came in the shape of a Common Sandpiper, the first wintering bird since one at Barnskirk Point some 14/15 years ago (or is it a very early summer migrant?). Bill Jamieson. 

Snow Bunting - 2 near the trig-point on Cairnsmore of Carsphairn. Greater Scaup at WWT Caerlaverock. Waxwings - 5 at Dock Park in Dumfries. American Wigeon - Crook of Baldoon. Drake still on lagoon north of car park. 

Am Wigeon showing well on the lagoon north of car park. Wigtown harbour pond: the partially leucistic Marsh Harrier over reeds before disappearing amongst them. Mick Whitehouse & Nancy Harrison.

LG reported (on WhatsApp, surely) at Monreith 1300-ish & Peter Jordan reports a drake GS at WWT Caerlaverock.

Looking east from Vendace Burn Cottage over reeds, was watching GWE when Bittern flew over the reeds for a 100m. Ivan Lang. Ed. Well someone had to see it eventually! Just not when I'm there 🙄

25th. 65 Whooper Swan at West Freugh this afternoon. Nigel Willits. 

Good light conditions at high tide gave spectacular views of an immature Great Northern Diver, Great Crested Grebes & Red-breasted Mergansers close in to shore. The latest storm blew in decent numbers of diving ducks & auks. Good counts of Eider, Common Scoter, Slavonian Grebe (21) & Long-tailed Duck (19). Auk counts: 16 Tysties, 1 Guillemot, 2 Little Auk & 4 Razorbill. A Shelduck snoozed on the Scar, alongside two Grey Plover, & an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull. Passerines incl 14 Meadow Pipit, 6 Rock Pipit, 1 Grey Wagtail, 2 Skylark & 3 'hybrid' Crows. 18 Mallard & 8 Teal are irregular visitors to the shore. Walking back through the woods reveal 1 Redwing, 3 Goldcrest, 1 Treecreeper, 1 Raven & a female Sparrowhawk. E. Grover. Ed. Grateful thanks for the comprehensive report ☺️👍

Blackbird singing off the car park 17:20! Peregrine on foreshore between Hogus & Borron Pts whilst doing WinGS. PJ

Crook of Baldoon. Am Wigeon still present also excellent count of 80 snipe on the same lagoon. Ivan Lang. 

RSPB Crook of Baldoon. Am Wigeon has returned to the lagoon north of car park now it has defrosted. Ivan Lang. Ed. Excellent news. I've yet to see it/one... 

To all D&G birders, local and visiting, We are in the process of gathering all the 2023 bird records in preparation for sending to the Bird Report team.  If you still have records from 2023 to be submitted, this is a polite nudge to ask you to get them in by early February. The preferred methods of submission are through Birdtrack, iRecord and eBird or you can send them direct to ourselves at dgrecorder@gmail.com Please note that any sightings sent to various online platforms such as this group (DGBN) or social media accounts won't automatically become records, so please do use the above methods to make sure your records count and provide a more detailed picture of what species we enjoy in the region. Perhaps you've never sent in records, could this be the year to start? Mobile apps for the three main methods above are easy to use while out and about and records will be passed on to where they need to go (County Recorders, Local Records Centres etc) where ever you ...

This report is based on an image added to the WhatsApp group taken by Brian Henderson which clearly shows a hybrid aythya species. The mantle isn't coarse enough and shape isn't quite right for a pure LS. I've also been sent another image which shows enough for me to be a hybrid. Unfortunately, it would seem that you need to sign in to Birdforum to get those images at a larger scale, so you'll have to take my word for it that they show what I consider to be a hybrid aythya. Cheers, Gavin Chambers. 

A photo by Brian Henderson clearly shows a lack of scalloped mantle, so a hybrid of some sort. Nigel Willits. Ed. Many thanks to those involved in resolving the doubts. So... where's the Lesser Scaup! 😁😉

David Henshilwood reports; Auchenreoch Loch 1100. 8 sp of duck sharing a small ice-free pool opposite the lay-by, including both (the uncertainty of) Lesser Scaup & ♀️ Long-tailed Duck. Ed. It seems we do need someone to grab a record shot for ID to allay doubts. PJ

Searched the ditches & runnels at the NW side of Milton Loch a.m. & found a Jack Snipe & Water Rail. Also 2 Red-legged Partridge in a field at Milton Village. After reading about the Mandarin Ducks went down to Auchenreoch at 1.45pm. Both ♂️ Mandarin Duck were there & also the Long-tailed Duck. No sign of LS. Late yesterday afternoon I walked down the Kirkgunzeon rd from Milton & in the ditch below Byreside Farm in one's & two's I had 11 Snipe, 2 Grey Wagtails & 2 Stonechat. Anna White. 

Tractor birdwatching at the Crook. Apart from the possible Eastern spp Stonechat there were a number of common Stonechat picking up insects in front of tractor. Buzzards, Red Kite, various gulls enjoying the disturbance & a particularly excellent view of a ring-tailed Hen Harrier cruised by. Also numerous Snipe, a couple of Jack Snipe + Woodcock flushed from the field. Ivan Lang. On further research the bird I saw was most likely just a Common Stonechat a variation showing more white in the rump area, but not showing enough white for it to be a Eastern type. Ivan Lang. 

Quite a few Tufted at CL but spotted nothing scaup-like against the light. Returned to AL but a couple more scans before 3.15pm didn't reveal any LS/hybrid, nor even the Long-tailed or Mandarin Duck seen earlier. 2 Whooper were at both sites mid-pm. 😑🙏 PJ

No scaup-like duck found in the congestion of the west end whilst I was there. An immature or winter ♀ Long-tailed Duck yes, plus 2 drake Mandarin c12pm. Peter Jordan says Lesser Scaup here 10am. 

With regards the Lesser Scaup, I've been pointed towards some photos posted on BirdForum on Monday (another source of bird info!) that were added asking whether they'd photographed the Lesser Scaup. The replies have suggested it is in fact a hybrid, apparent green sheen to head, slightly larger than Tufties and general shape/jizz not quite right. I would agree with these comments based on the photos provided (see here -  https://www.birdforum.net/threads/lesser-scaup-id-needed-scotland.450714/#post-4581717 ), but we know hybrids have existed on these lochs so I can't be certain it isn't a different bird to the Lesser Scaup being recorded. Has anyone else managed any photos? Or perhaps seen a hybrid as well this, winter around the Auchenreoch and Milton Loch area? Just looking to establish a bit more information given the appearance of these photos. Gavin Chambers.