Spring is an exciting time of year, awaiting the arrival of our summer visitors and seeing the last of our winter visitors leaving. The timing of the northerly spring migration is dependent on the weather, not just locally, but throughout the whole length of the migration route.
An immature bird. Unusually there have been a number of records of Iceland gull in March.
Photograph: Elizabeth Smith
This March, with periods of cold easterly winds even towards the end of the month, it felt as if spring was on hold. The month was colder than last March and started the way that February had finished. With most of mainland Scotland covered with snow and biting, freezing winds from the east, the low lying snow-free fields of Arran and the shore itself were areas that seemed to be alive with many species of birds foraging for food, including blackbird, fieldfare, lapwing, mistle thrush, redwing, reed bunting, skylark and song thrush.