So, yesterday we decided to go to Lochore Meadows for the day. Not a place I’d normally visit for the purposes of bird watching (It’s too full of people – dog walkers and fishermen!)
There wasn’t really much to see upon arrival at the car park, but it was a nice enough afternoon, so good for a walk, which was the main intention for the day.
As we started on the walk, as expected the Mallard started chasing us around near the park centre, assuming that we’d be feeding them. Wrong! I don’t tend to feed the ducks at these places. There’s more than enough people who do that already. A quick scan around showed that besides the mallard there were a few Black-headed Gulls and a couple of Mute Swans. As we carried on walking, we saw another Mute Swan and a couple of Tufted Ducks as we reached the channel between the mainland and Tod Island. Just past this we saw a Sparrowhawk fly across and into the trees on Tod Island. At this point we decided to wait for a minute or two to let some men and a young boy past (mainly because the young boy was on a bike which had a horn and he was keen to use it!). Another quick scan of the water showed a Cormorant and a couple of Goldeneye. As a result, there wasn’t much to be seen on the way round until they veered off towards the riding stables. All that was really seen were a few Blackbirds, a Robin or two and a Wren. As we moved further on, it got a bit quieter, and with less people about, there was invariably more to see. When we got to the point where we joined the single track road there were several Redwing, Blackbird and Chaffinch to be seen in about the hedges. There were Siskin flying overhead in small groups, too. The walk around the woods and to the nature reserve was pleasant, with lots of Robins and Wrens calling out. Along the way, we saw a small Goldcrest not six feet away from us, so we sat and watched it for a minute or so until it got scared off by a group of three women coming the other way. Along beside the path in the wooded area of the nature reserve, there is a small ditch. Part of the ditch was full of water, part of it was dried up. In one of the dried up parts we noticed a Short-tailed Vole scurrying about, no more than four feet away from us, yet completely oblivious to our presence. What a great sight!
As we crossed the bridge, a quick scan towards the loch showed another Mute swan and two Little Grebe.
We decided to take a quick visit to the hide to see if there was anything about on the large pool and it was actually quite busy. There were Teal, Wigeon, five Whooper Swans, more Mute Swans, Goleneye and Mallard and a Grey Heron was standing at the edge. We stayed there for a few minutes, just watching the birds go about their lives.
We were getting a bit cold by then, so decided to move on. There were yet more Blackbirds, Robins, Redwing, Chaffinch and Wrens in the trees, this time joined by several Blue Tits and a few Fieldfare and Song Thrush. A few scans of the water produced a Great Crested Grebe and another Sparrowhawk flew overhead as we neared the woods (It flew towards Moss Island). In the area in front of Moss Island, several Moorhen could be seen along with more Tufties and Goldeneye. There were also five or six Pochard here, which is always a good addition to a bird list
The rest of the walk was much of the same until we got near the large people populations. There were several Magpies flying about. When in a small group of woods, I could hear Bullfinch and eventually we saw them. There were four, comprising of two males and two females. And just as we were finishing up for the day as we were beginning to lose the light a Kestrel flew in and landed on a nearby tree. Some great views of that one!
Other birds seen were Carrion Crow, Woodpigeon and a small flock of Jackdaw went overhead.
I’m surprised how good an afternoon it turned out to be. It’s not a place I normally consider, but I guess because it was a weekday it was relatively quiet, so there was more to be seen. I thoroughly enjoyed it, though and I think I’ll be doing it a little bit more regularly!
I've attached a wee map showing the route taken. The route is the red line