GARTMORN DAM is a sanctuary for wildlife throughout the year. There are mute swans, mallards, tufted ducks, greylag geese, sand martins, thrushes, and a myriad of other birds that call the dam house.
It is likewise a crucial environment for moving winter season nasty, consisting of Canada geese and pink-footed geese.
One of the rarest birds ever to be discovered there was a Desert Wheatear in the late 19th century.
On 19th January 1881 at the Royal Physical Society of Edinburgh in Nicholson Street in the capital, a Mr Gibson, on behalf of John Dalgleish, showed a bird which had actually been shot near Gartmorn Dam. It was believed to be a Desert Wheatear which had actually been killed on 26th November the previous year by a gamekeeper used by Alexander Bruce, sixth Lord Balfour of Burleigh.
Dalgleish informed those put together that the bird had actually never ever been tape-recorded as having actually checked out the UK, or certainly Continental Europe as it hailed the dry, dry, and sandy areas of the world, such as the Sahara Desert and Egypt.
The bird was a male with what was called ‘fall plumage,’ although it was believed that it was not a ‘lagger’ however a bird that had actually made the nation house, for that reason it was advanced that it ought to be categorized as a British bird.
Mr Watt, the gamekeeper, was out shooting on the south side of Gartmorn Dam when he struck the bird. He had actually never ever seen one like it prior to and as it was so uncommon, had actually kept it and offered it to the Manager Mr Taylor. Taylor went on to protect it.
There was some doubt over the credibility of it being a Desert Wheatear as the plumage was not rather best however was really close and where it was shot was discovered to be comparable to the environment these birds liked, open countryside or sandy, stony waste ground. It was Taylor who ultimately concluded that it was certainly a Desert Wheatear.
Understanding that the bird did not typically winter season in Scotland he made more queries to Mr Dalgleish which was when he saw the bird for the very first time. Dalgleish likewise provided his consent for the bird to be revealed at the Royal Physical Society.
Today it is unusual to see a Desert Wheatear in Scotland, however it does occur.
At Loch Strathbeg in 2012 one was spotted however whether any more sightings have actually been made at Gartmorn Dam is unidentified.
