[kinnordyvolunteer]

Friday 4th Jan

When i left Dundee the snow had been washed away by the rain during the night. It was a different story a few miles north. I soon hit a blizzard and did think about turning round and heading home. I'm glad i didn't because, although there was quite alot of snow at kinnordy, it really was beautiful. The roads were clear apart from the one from kirrie to the reserve. It too was alot clearer when i returned home.

There was a good 3-4cm of snow in the car park and on the paths. I got the food out and filled up the feeders which the birds and red squirrels were glad to see.

Goldcrests, blue great and coal tits, chaffinch and dunnock were the birds around the feeding area at gullery. As i walked towards the feeding station i stopped to put some food on one of the tree stumps. As i put the lid back on the food a sparrowhawk lifted from the ground near by....camera in the car!!!

At the feeding station it was all the usual suspects waiting to get fed.

It was back to the car to get my camera to start taking photos of kinnordy with snow. From the gullery hide it was pretty bleak with very few birds on the water. Mute swan, teal, 2 male goosanders, wigeon, goldeneye and mallard.

Hannah arrived so we headed along to the sleus bridge to get the water level etc. The paths were ok with the occational patches of no snow but lots of surface water. At the plug area we found a mute swan cygnet sitting on the bank across from where we were standing. It didn't look very keen on going anywhere soon. The water levels were very high and will get even higher once the snow melts.

We carried on along the path to the lilly pond area and found buzzards and a kestrel busy hunting for anything they could find.

If anyone is going to the reserve soon then best taking wellies. Walking boots are fine on the main path but once you head for the lilly pond its definately wellies terrain.

One bird we hadn't seen were the whoopers and not even a sound until we got to the sleus area. We could hear them along at the swamp end and seemed to sound as if they were going somewhere else.

Once we got back from the walk, we went along to the swamp end and found 9 whoopers and that increased to 12 and then 17 and we finally counted 20 but there could have been more as they seemed to be sheltering out of sight. Now and again a head would pop up above the reeds.

Other birds seen this morning were

Blackbird, redwing, great spotted woodpecker, siskin, robin, woodpigeon, jackdaw, crow, rook, gadwall, tufties and reed bunting.

Todays photos are of
1 the car park,
2 view from east hide,
3 the boardwalk between gullery and swamp,
4 the mute swan cygnet and
5 the kestrel hovering.

Darell

[kinnordyvolunteer]

Here are some more photos from todays visit to kinnordy.

1. Entrance to the gullery hide

2. The path between the two bridges

3. Red Squirrel looking form nuts!!

4. Moorhen fling for cover

5. Another robin

[kinnordyvolunteer]

I will be at kinnordy again this sunday and will be going for a walk at 11am...weather permitting. Bring wellies if you are intending on coming along. A flask of something hot would also be advisable!!!

Darell

[kinnordyvolunteer]

What a difference 48hrs makes. On friday it was all snow and today it was all water. With all the recent rain and then the melting snow, the water levels were the highest i've ever seen here. The measuring post at the swamp end had almost disappeared and the stream that leaves the loch and goes down through kirrie had burst its bank between the two bridges.

It was nice and bright when i arrived at 9am and i proceeded to the gullery hide. Goldeneye, mute swan, goosander, wigeon and teal were present but seemed to be a bit on edge. Five minutes later we discovered why. Three otters appeared over on the bog bean and played around for a few minutes before heading towards the east hide end.

Goldcrest, gt spt woodpecker, dunnock, blue great and coal tits, chaffinch and blackbird were present at the end of the gullery boardwalk along with a red squirrel.

I ventured along to the swamp end and found the path flooded just before the boardwalk. Goosander, goldeneye, teal, wigeon and mallards were present along with 70+ whoopers. I thought i saw a female hen harrier but wasn't certain so i decided it wasnt.

Going back to the gullery hide i was glad i had wellies on. The feeding station was very quiet with not very many birds about. At the east hide it was goosander, tufties, goldeneye, teal, wigeon, mallard and moorhen.

I went off for a walk to the lilly pond and found the path between the two bridges flooded with the water about 6 inches deep. There was alot of water around at the back of the reserve near the lilly pond. Kestrel, jay and heron were added to the list.

On my way back, treecreeper, bullfinch and siskin were also seen between the sleus bridge and the plug area.

Sitting down to have a cup of tea and some lunch in the gullery hide, i suddenly saw something disappear under the water over to the right. We all went quiet as an otter popped its head out of the water and headed in our direction. We followed the bubbles as it got closer and then it came up for air before diving down and under the ice and under the hide. We watched it come back out and break the ice below the hide. It must have either seen or heard us because it disappeared, not to be seen again.

After that excitement i headed to the swamp end to try and recount the whoopers but they were hidden by the long grass. Some of them were out on the water but most were at the back, only popping their heads up now and again.

A buzzard flew across the water from right to left before a bird on the far side appeared... a female hen harrier. She flew along the top of the grass and reeds before dropping down. I'm now certain it was her that i saw earlier in the day.

Other birds seen today included

Great black back gull, common gull, black headed gull, redwing, fieldfare, wren, rook, crow, jackdaw and reed bunting.

Todays photos

1 The boardwalk going towards the swamp end

2 The path between the two bridges

3+4 The otter coming towards the gullery hide

5 All the water round towards the lilly pond

Darell

[Dormouse]

Water levels at the reserve are extremely high, even to get to swamp hide wellies are advisable, as parts of the path are just below ankle depth in water. Good for the birds though:
Teal ~300
Mallard ~150
Whoopers 70+, but not seen well from hides.
Goldeneye 68 - more than last years peak.

Also a Hen Harrier showing well this week, best seen from swamp hide.

[kinnordyvolunteer]

Saturday 12th January

When i arrived at one o'clock it was lovely and sunny with no wind. It was baltic though. Ther entire loch was frozen solid. I only stayed for a couple of hours before heading back to the car and home.

I went into the gullery hide and there was nothing out front. The only life on the ice was down at the east end. Now usually along there, there is at least a small patch of water that isn't frozen for the ducks to swim around in...not today, completely frozen.

Mute swan, whoopers, teal, tufties and mallard were there. I decided to go along to the swamp hide and its just as well i had my wellies on. There is one large area of water just before the boardwalk and it was frozen solid. I was able to walk right across it and there was another stretch of water just before the swamp hide boardwalk and again, i was able to walk across it.

From the hide it was whoopers only who were in the grass etc over to the far left. They were very agitated and i could see a couple walking across the field not too far from the swans so their heads were all up waiting to see where the people were going. I scanned to the right and had a great view of the female hen harrier who has been showing well all week.

I was trying out my new digi adapter for my scope and camera but couldn't get it put together in time to get any decent pictures. Hopefully the harrier will hang around for the winter so i can get photos.

Back to the gullery hide and we got more good views of the harrier from there, but only short ones and not enough time to digi-scope.

A male goosander flew round, landed....skidded on the ice and took off again straight away.

That was that for the afternoon. I filled up the feeders before i left which left the usual suspects happy.

Tomorrow i'm out with the local RSPB group so i hope we might find the avocet and lesser yellow legs at montrose....a couple came in to kinnordy today and hadn't had any luck with either. Just hope they come back tomorrow!!!

Todays photos are

1 very bad one of hen harrier...taken with camera and not digi scoped.

2 Rooks in the pines near the swamp hide...digi scoped

3 Frozen east end

Darell

[kawwauser]

i visited kinnordy for an hour yesterday,,still loads of water about,the birds all seemed to be on the opposite side of the loch even at the east hide,2 buzzards,3 male goosanders,1 redwing,mute and whooper swans,gs woodpecker,robin,the siskins were groundfeeding,black headed gulls were flying over and landing now and again,the small birds were scarce untill hanah filled the feeders then they flew in,i spotted a magpie in the field west of the loch this is a couple of times ive seen it here

coal tit

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d9...er/coal15b.jpg

mute swan

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d9...user/mte15.jpg

mute swan

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d9...ser/mte15b.jpg

mute swan

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d9...ser/mte15c.jpg

[kinnordyvolunteer]

Saturday 19th January

As i arrived from the west of the loch, i noticed that the swamp end of the loch had thawed with the water levels still very high.

It was a nice afternoon but still quite chilly. From the gullery hide, it was still icy for a good 100m or more. Ducks and swans were still sitting on an ice shelf, although the water at the east end had also thawed like the swamp.

One of the people in the hide had been there quite some time and reported seeing two hen harriers. One female and what he thought to be a juv male. I saw the female later on in the afternoon but not the other one.

I put my wellies on so i could go and have a look along at the swamp end. Not much there apart from some teal, goldeneye, mallard, wigeon and whooper swans. Just outside the hide, in the trees to the left i saw a treecreeper and a pair of goldcrest. The rooks were making a racket, especially when a buzzard decided to do a fly past their roost.

I didn't hang around the swamp end very long and made my way back to the gullery hide. Blue coal and great tits helped themselves to peanuts at the gullery feeders while i also saw chaffinches, robin, wren and bullfinch outside the hide. A pair of woodpeckers could also be seen and definately heard.

From the gullery there were goldeneye, teal, goosander, wigeon, mallard, moorhen, cormorant, a single shelduck, shoveler, tufties, heron, crows and more buzzards.

Before i headed home i filled up the feeders to the delight of many birds. It was also good to see the hours of daylight starting to lenghten. I left just before 4pm and the light was still pretty good. In past weeks it has been darkening at 3pm.

Todays photos

1. A view from the road at the swamp end. More water with the thaw and the water marker at that end of the loch has almost disappeared altogether.

2. Group of teal resting on the ice sheet in front of the gullery hide.

3. A line of shoveler that passed by almost unnoticed.

4. A female goosander....i counted 22 goosander today which is by far the most i have seen this winter so far.

Darell

[kinnordyvolunteer]

Sunday 20th Jan

Every time i come up here two days running, its never the same. Yesterday, most of the water had thawed and today it was back to mostly frozen again.

I arrived again from the west and stopped to see what ducks were showing at the swamp end. Mostly mallard, teal and goldeneye. Over on the far side of the loch i saw the female hen harrier come up from the grassy area and back down again just as fast. I thought that maybe that for the day but it wasn't to be and i saw her about seven times during the first hour. Later on, we got fantastic views of her as she headed east towards the lilly pond and then came back again. We did hope she might come past the gullery hide but she opted not to!! We saw her again later on in the afternoon. We had been along to the west end and on our way back we saw a couple of snipe go up followed by the appearance of the harrier. This time she circled and went westwards to do some hunting...again, great views.

The water in front of the gullery hide was still frozen and so was the east end, although there were a few patches where the ducks etc were able to swim and feed.

I went for a walk round to the old barn on the opposite side to the gullery hide. Not much to see round there apart from having a better view of the harrier for a few mins. Kestrel and jay were the only two birds i hadn't already seen.

If anyone is thinking of going for a walk in that direction then be very careful. The path between the two bridges is still very much flooded and the path throught the woods is blocked by three or four fallen trees. It is possible to get round them with extreme care.

Other birds seen today were

Woodpeckers...lots, bullfinch, chaffinch, long tailed tits, goldcrest, siskin, robin, wren, blue tit, coal tit, great tit, blackbird, rook, jackdaw, crow, woodpigeon 400+, pied wagtail, meadow pipit 20+, mutes, whoopers, pink feet, greylag, lapwing, shelduck 2, wigeon, tufties, goosander.

We saw the meadow pipits and pied wagtails together along at the west end feeding on the ice.

Todays pics

1+2 are of the Hen Harrier

3 Red Squirrel at the feeders

4 Whoopers on ice again

5 Kinnordy Lawnmowers

Darell

[kinnordyvolunteer]

I popped in this afternoon having been to Montrose to find the Avocet...pictures of that on the Tayside/Angus thread.

I only stayed for an hour at kinnordy but saw quite alot of birdlife.

Whooper swans, Mute swans, shoveler, teal, wigeon, cormorant, shelduck, mallard, goosander, goldeneye, moorhen, buzzard, kestrel, rook, crow, jackdaw, blue tit, great tit, coal tit, siskin, robin, gt spt woodpecker, woodpigeon, chaffinch, dunnock, blackbird, goldcrest, pheasant and wren.

There seem to be fewer mute swans than usual but many that are around seem to have paired up.

The reserve has thawed completley for the moment with the paths still flooded in areas.

I will be back tomorrow although we are doing a garden bird watch event down at westmuir from 11 o'clock.

Todays photos
1 A very watery kinnordy now that the ice has all melted...lots of water before the thaw and even more now.

2 The feeder at the gullery hide was very busy while i was there, with this siskin making the most of it.

3 Cormorants back this week now the ice has melted.

[kinnordyvolunteer]

Sunday 27th January

I arrived about 8.45 to the sound of the woodpecker, tapping away on one of the pine trees next to the car park. It wasn't until later in the morning that i actually caught sight of it. Along with the gsw were quite a few goldcrest. I counted 8 between the gullery area and the swamp end.

First of all, i filled up the feeders...much to the delight of the birds and red squirrels.

At the gullery feeder it was the tit families, chaffinches and a single siskin...same one as yesterday. Underneath the feeders a pair of dunnock looked for any scraps they could find.

At the other feeding station it was the tit families, robins, chaffinches and underneath...pheasants.

Back at the gullery hide there were lots of teal, wigeon, mallard, tufties and goosander. It was quite a bright day but with a strong wind which seemed to make most of the ducks look for cover next to the reed beds. There were also lots of goldeneye around and in amongst the wigeon i found two pairs of gadwall. I hadn't seen gadwall here this year so it was a pleasant surprise. Lots here towards the end of last year until they all seemed to disappear. Moorhen and coot were also present. Alot of the ducks headed skywards as a sparrowhawk flew past the hide in the direction of the feeding station!! Once they settled i saw five shovler...three males and a couple of females.

I decided to go for a walk along to the plug area. As i passed the feeding station i noticed a pair of long tailed tits helping themselves. At the east hide i saw alot of goldeneye and tufties...little else of note. There were only a few mute swans around..8 counted while the whooper numbers at the swamp end also seemed to be fewer than usual.

More long tailed tits at the plug area along with a robin and wren.

I walked back and headed to the swamp end to see what was there. The whoopers, some wigeon, mallard and teal while a kestrel flew up from the reed bed opposite.

Back at the gullery hide we saw common gull, black headed gull, herring gull, treecreeper, redwing and the sparrowhawk flying in the opposite direction. A small flock of lapwing could also be seen along at the westend while both pinks and greylags were seen flying over. There have been 400+ pinks roosting at the westend along with the whoopers.

Todays photos

1 Long tailed tit at the feeding station.

2 One of the shovlers passing by

3 Mute swan landing in front of the gullery hide

Darell

[choughed2bits]

Happened past Kinnordy on Friday afternoon and had some good views of the birds on the water - wigeon, teal, mallard, gadwall, shelduck, shoveller, tufties, goldeneye, goosander, mutes, whoopers, a couple of greylags, no pinkfeet to be seen but they could be heard on the other side of the reeds. The crows were creating a right racket and there were still a few black headed gulls flying around. Saw the occasional moorhen kicking around in the shallows, pheasants on the path and at the feeder siskins, chaffies and great, blue and coal tits. Elsewhere in aongst the trees there were wren, blackies and robin.

And then on the feeder a cheeky wee red squirrel came down and started blagging some peanuts. It hung around feeding for about five minutes showing really well, then it got dark and i went up the road. All very satisfying.

But where and when does one have to be to see the otters?

Any information would be helpful.

Regards,

kev.

[kinnordyvolunteer]

I've been very fortunate to see the otters once in November, December and January. In november it was lunchtime on a sunday, it was lunchtime on a saturday just before xmas and in january we saw three otters at 9.15am and a single one at lunchtime.

I havent seen them again since, but the loch has been frozen for the best part of the month.

Some say its best first thing in the morning or last thing at night but the three recent sightings i've had have been around mid day. Some people have been going to the reserve for years and have never seen them.

I think they are present most of the year...you only had to watch the black headed gulls last year as they mobed the otters every time they came any where close to the nests.

It really is just pot luck i'm afraid. We had an Otter and Osprey evening last summer and we saw no Ospreys and no Otters!!

[choughed2bits]

In the media they say "never work with children and animals" - i suppose thats a bit of a luxury working on a nature reserve.

Did see the black headed gulls going mental on a regular basis last year and figured the otter was about but not visible. I shall maybe get down for some sunrise starts at the weekends in summer. It's my girlfriend that really wants to see them so i'll have to see if i can wrestle her away from her duvet - little chance of that with the weather at present. It's howling gale here in Glasgow and just driven down from near Stonehaven this morning - looks like the whole country is in for a battering.

Got some cracking views of the Osprey fishing the loch last autumn, and was hoping to head back at some point to see the ringtails in better light - i caught a glimpse of it through the fog a couple of weeks ago. And of course am still trying to get sight of the water rail too.

Anyway, thanks for the helpful advice Darrell. Much appreciated.

regards,

kev.

[kinnordyvolunteer]

The ringtail hasn't been seen for nearly two weeks so am not sure if its moved on. I am up there this sunday...depending on the weather, and will report back if i get a sighting of it.

Darell

[kinnordyvolunteer]

Sunday 3rd February

Here we are and February already...where did January go!!

It was very windy today at kinnordy and when i got there, everything seemed to be hiding under cover...who could blame them though.

There was very little life outside the gullery hide when i arrived about 8.30. A few teal and wigeon. I heard some geese and saw some descending into a field opposite the swamp hide. I hadn't noticed the other 200+ that were already present in the field!! I headed for the swamp end with the scope to see if they were all pinkies. Openned the window in the hide, sat down and got the bins out to have another look at the geese and they weren't there!!! I'm sure i hadn't been seeing things, but they were no longer there and i hadn't heard them take off...i did have to go back to the car to get the scope and then go along to the hide...well during that time they disappeared!! There were a few greylags around in the field next to the one that the pinks were in, but they didn't hang around much longer either.

At the swamp end there were 40+ whoopers, 5 mutes, goldeneye, teal mallard, wigeon and tufties. Not much on the water but quite alot at the edges, sheltering from the wind and rain. A pair of gadwall decided to copulate in front of the hide... i didn't know which way to look..bit early in the morning, but lets hope its made and bred at kinnordy!!!

Off back to the gullery hide for a proper look to see what was around. It was still all the usual suspects while a large buzzard was finding it difficult to get where it wanted to go due to the wind.

I filled up the feeders at the gullery and went along to the main feeding station. I got the seed feeder down from the branches and proceeded to try and fill it up...what i hadn't noticed was a bit from the side was missing so as fast as i put the seed in, it was falling out of the side...it was like one of those moments where it took a few seconds for the penny to drop..took less than that for the seed...so the birds had their food from the ground rather than up on high.

I just knew it was going to be one of those days. I headed off for a walk along to the sleus and two bridges to see if it was still flooded. It was, but i still decided to try and get round the side of the path and along to the furthest bridge..without wellies!!! Not a good idea cos i took one step at the side and my foot sunk in the mud. I decided to retreat back to the hides to do some birding.

It was a different world when i got back to the hides...in front of the gullery hide there were 150+ teal, 68 wigeon, lots of mallard, 4 shoveler, 9 goosander and 30 tufties. Over towards the east end there were the same amount of teal again plus lots of goldeneye, wigeon and mallard. After about half an hour something spooked them and all to a teal, took off and scattered to different parts of the reserve. The bit in front of the gullery was completely empty of birds. I looked skywards to look for a bird of prey...nothing and then scanned to see if the otters were around but nothing.
It took a good hour before anything ventured back into that area again.

It remained very windy until i decided to call it a day.

Other birds seen today included

blackbird, redwing, moorhen, kestrel, cormorant, black headed herring and common gulls, siskin, blue great and coal tits, chaffinch, robin, wren, pheasants, jay, crow, rooks, lapwing and water rail.

No sign of the ringtail so i think she must have moved off to pastures new.

I did take photos today but i think you've probably had enough of goosander and swans for a while.

[delia todd]

Hi Darell... you do get yourself into bovver sometimes don't you

We went over yesterday (intended to go to Lintrathen but couldn't park beside the new hide... tractor and huge lorry in the parking bay and thick, thick churned up mud all around).

We saw some Pinkies coming in, as you said, opposite the Swamp Hide in the top right hand corner, where the grass field meets the ploughed field. Ten of them, but as they landed I realised there were already some there; a few more came in after that.

You don't mention Shelduck... there were about 6 there yesterday - have they gone?

D

[kinnordyvolunteer]

Hi Delia,

No shelduck today. There have been one or two in during the past couple of weeks but 6 is a good number. I think i said in a previous post that there have been alot of pinkies 400+ roosting at kinnordy lately. You saw them too so its good to know my eyes weren't playing tricks with me!!!

Hopefully our paths will cross next sunday. I think we are going for the bean geese first and then the red kites.

Darell

[delia todd]

Hopefully our paths will cross next sunday. I think we are going for the bean geese first and then the red kites.

Aye, with any luck Darell... we haven't sorted a running order for Sunday yet

D

[kinnordyvolunteer]

Saturday 9th Feb

After my accident with the car, i managed to get a lift to Kinnordy for a couple of hours.

It was all the usual birds around but great to see coots coming back at last. I had 8 and most of those were from the swamp area.

The path between the gullery and swamp hides is no longer flooded and the water has definately gone down a bit.

Goldcrest, long tailed tits, dunnock, chaffinch, blue tits, and great tits were all to be found in the area of the gullery feeding station with a woodpecker in the trees not far away.

On the water it was teal, wigeon, shoveler 9, shelduck 2, coots 8!!!, moorhen, goosander, cormorant, gadwall 14, goldeneye, tufties mute and whooper swans.

Other birds included robin, wren, rook, jackdaw, buzzard, kestrel, heron and pheasant.

Just a couple of photos

1 Goldcrest in the trees at the end of the gullery boardwalk

2 Coots are back!!!

Darell

[kawwauser]

large flock of teal in front of the east hide today,it was very foggy and the loch was mostly covered with ice but there was plenty of birds to be seen,the whoopers were all at the swamphide sitting at the west side,the east hide had all the teals plus mallards/gadwall/tufted /wigeon/shovelar/mute swan,a buzzard was sitting just left of the gullery hide it seems to be using this tree regulary,plenty of coots on the loch,plus some common and blackheaded gulls,the trees had blackbirds and several robins,i heard the gs woodpecker but didn,t see it, i did see two red squirells together,first time iv,e seen this,the feeders were empty and i spotted a squirell in the background,i moved to the tree in front of the feeders and suddenly all the tits/chaffinches appeared,it only took seconds for them to work out i wasn,t filling the feeders and they flew off,i only managed two pics but when i checked this one on my computer i had the feeling it was saying (nope thats not darryl)
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d9...auser/gt-1.jpg
i saw two greylags at the west side of the reserve and on the way to kinnordy i passed two pairs of crows sitting by nests, no redwings or fieldfares this week,is this the usual time for them to depart ? the good weather should come soon plus the ospreys

some pics

3 coots sitting on a submerged part of the perch doing whatever coots do on a branch ,then the mute on the left attacked them and spoiled whatever they were doing
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d9...auser/k5-1.jpg

robin
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d9...ser/robin2.jpg

greylag
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/kawwauser/gg2.jpg

mixture of 5 ducks
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/kawwauser/k2.jpg

buzzard on a post south of kinnordy

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d9...auser/b2-2.jpg

[kinnordyvolunteer]

Saturday 23rd February

Fog at the beginning of the week, more rain later on towards the end of the week so it was no surprise arriving at Kinnordy as it was blowing a gale. Even so, there was quite alot of activity today both on and off the water.

Oycs and Lapwing were present in large numbers in front of the gullery hide. 200+ Lapwing and 56 Oycs together with 12 shoveler (10 males + 2 females) lots of teal and wigeon. The coot numbers continue to rise..well into double figures today and the water level has definately lowered considerably over the past couple of weeks. Doesnt seem like two weeks have past since bumping into the scottish bash contingent.

The wind didnt let up at all during my stay this afternoon so i was happy not to open the windows along at the east hide. A buzzard flew past the window and i did manage to get a few photos of it but wish now that the window had been open...next time maybe!!

On the feeders at the gullery hide it was blue tits, great tits and siskins that seemed to rule the roost with chaffinches waiting beneath for any unwanted scraps.

The whoopers seemed to be spread over the entire reserve this afternoon and were to be seen at at the swamp, gullery and east areas. There must be about 46 of them and will probably be thinking of backing up and leaving soon. I will have to have a look at last years notes to see when they departed then. The mute swan numbers have been decreasing over the past few weeks and the remaining ones seem to be pairing up. We had 12 cygnets last year so lets hope for the same or more this time.

Other birds seen today were rook, jackdaw, black headed gull, common gull, herring gull, gt Spt woodpecker x2, heron, cormorant, goosander, mallard, wren, robin, woodpigeon, goldeneye and tufties.

This weeks photos are

1 Oycs and Lapwing

2 Buzzard from behind the window at east hide

3 Wren beside the reeds at gullery

4 Lapwing in front of gullery

Darell

[delia todd]

Nice reports Kawwauser and Darell... great to see the waders returning.

I was planning to go up last week, but as I couldn't see the neighbours houses....

How's the car Darell?

D

[kinnordyvolunteer]

The car is ok thanks Delia. Just waiting for the parts to arrive so i can get the repairs done.

It was good to see the waders again in large numbers. Its usually around this time that the redshanks and godwits pop in en route so we'l be watching out for them.

[kawwauser]

200 + fieldfares in the field west of kinnordy today(the one with the sheep)at 12.35 today,most iv,e seen of this species, they were spread from one side all the way to the other side of the field,in between were some starlings,also 20+fielfares calling noisly in trees beside the east hide,kinnordy was full of bird sounds today, first up from the car park were the bh gulls, followed by the rooks, the smaller birds were also making themselves heard,the whoopers have spread themselves over the loch and could be seen at all three hides, the swamp hide had a large flock of common gulls on the far side,there were 6 greylags siiting on the west side but they were disturbed and flew off, the tufted ducks seem the most numerous ducks and were also at all three hides,the rooks were gathering twigs from the trees beside the boardwalk,teals/wigeon/coot/shovelar/goldeneye/cormorant/mute swam were also present,the east hide was the quietest for a change ,the feeders were deserted but one robin was fluttering about just west of the feeders, the great tits are also full of song,the two squirells were again together

some pics
2x robins (wont be long untill there gone)
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/kawwauser/rn5.jpg
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/kawwauser/rn4.jpg

teal
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/kawwauser/tl1.jpg

fieldfare
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/kawwauser/ff1.jpg

bh gulls panicking even before they breed
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/kawwauser/bh1.jpg
the red sq with some natural food
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/kawwauser/sq1.jpg

a view from the gullery hide
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/kawwauser/kd1.jpg