Birding at Loch of Kinnordy (1 Viewer)

I drove past today on my way to glen clova so popped in for a few moments.

Very quiet apart from 15 whooper swans, 3 cormorants, 3 herons and the usual quota of ducks.

I am at the reserve all day on monday and will be going for a walk round to the old barn on the opposite side of the reserve. I will be starting at 9am if anyone wants to come along. I noticed the farmer was spreading silage on the field today, so it should smell good over there!!

Next weekend we have two events on. On saturday we are in the local village of westmuir, which is just outside kirriemuir, as part of the feed the birds weekend. On sunday we will be down in "kirrie den" for the same reason and will have telescopes and bins for people to have a look for birds down there. Timings for these events to follow.

Darell:t:

Monday 22nd of October

I was up at kinnordy quite early this morning to see what was around before going off for a walk to the other side of the reserve to see if there were any dead birds around.

As i got out of the car, i could hear a robin singing and a couple of blue tits flying around. Overhead, the geese were starting to look for somewhere to find food and flew over in their hundereds. As i got on to the board walk going to the gullery hide, i could hear a srange sound coming from somewhere. Once in the hide, i sat down and openned the window to a loud sound of birds talking to each other somewhere over in the reeds. After about 5 mins a huge cloud of roosting starlings lifted from the reed beds. There must have been 1000+ of them flying around in this large cloud. After a while they all dispersed and went their own ways for the day. In front of the hide were shoveler, teal, mallard, wigeon and 2 little grebes. I could see lots of the same over towards the east end plus some goldeneye, tufties, gadwall, moorhen, 6 cormorants and 2 herons. I also spotted a further two little grebes in one of the channels.
Pink feet continued to fly over in their hundereds for most of the morning. I dont think i'd seen so many before today.

On the way to the swamp hide i found a flock of siskins in the bushes next to the boardwalk along with goldcrest and bluetits. From the hide i saw more teal, shoveler, gadwall, mallard, wigeon, a heron and a cormorant.

Off along the path towards the east end i saw chaffinches and greenfinches at the feeders along with the usual various tits. At the east hide i got closer views of the ducks and mute swans. No whoopers!!

Along at the plug i found a flock of bullfinches and quite alot of great tits. Over the first bridge and a pair of great spotted woodpeckers flew past followed by another flock of siskins. A sparrowhawk flew past trying to catch its mid morning snack but didnt succeed. Over the next bridge and turning left towards the lilly pond and i found three treecreepers climbing different trees and bushes. In among them were goldcrests and bluetits.

Off past the lilly pond i turned left past the tall fir trees and they were full of birdlife. Lots of chaffinches, goldcrests and coal tits along with jay and a woodpecker. Once at the stubble field, the smell of fresh silage became very apparent!! I found a flock of 5 skylarks flying high up above the field while crows found food in amongst the dung.

At the barn, i had a look in the pond there and found three female goosander, teal, wigeon, moorhens and mallard. Pheasants were flying eveywhere as i walked along the path and blackbirds were busy helping themselves to the berries on the bushes.

On my back, i spotted a jay flying overhead and as i was about to start walking again, a pheasant shot up in front of me. Well...i think my heart missed a few beats and was racing for a few mins afterwards. I didnt need clean trousers but might have done if it had been more than the one bird!!!
What a fright!!!

On the way back, i found another flock of bullfinches and lots of wrens and robins.

Back in the gullery hide it was really quiet. The sparrowhawk flew in and sat out front on the bog bean for a while and a group of 11 greylag geese came in and spent an hour on the reserve.

It had been a very grey and overcast day but not too cold and really quite enjoyable.

Darell:t:

I found my video camera the other day so decided to go up to kinnordy this morning to see if i could still use it ok.

There were some siskins flying between the bushes and trees and i could also hear redwing but didnt locate them til later on.

The view from the gullery hide was a very quiet one with nothing in front and only a few wigeon and goldeneye over to the far left hand side. There seemed to be alot of activity along at the east end though. The clouds were really low and the sun was trying its best to come through, so i could hear geese, but couldn't see them in and above the clouds.

The swamp end was also very quiet. Some mallard, moorhen, teal, shoveler and about 15 lapwing on the far side. On the way back to the car park i saw a bullfinch and reed bunting. I could also hear skylarks above the field on the other side of the road.

The feeding station was also quiet, even after i had filled all the feeders. Blue, coal and great tits were prominent and chaffinches waited below for scraps. I could hear a woodpecker tapping on one of the trees but couldn't see it.

At the east hide, a cormorant was sitting on the new perch. It had been put there especially for these birds so it would make the task of seeing the rings alot easier. I wish someone had told this cormorant that because it sat with its back to the hide so making a proper i.d practically impossible. I could just make out the ring on its right leg but couldn't see what colour it was.
Teal, gadwall, wigeon, tufties, goldeneye, heron and three female goosanders could be seen from the hide. A flock of 400+ common gulls flew in from the fields for a drink and then departed again. 23 mute swans were also present.

I walked along to the plug area to see if there were any bullfinches around. Yesterday i got some good video of a couple and had brought my tripod along to get some steadier views. Alas they didn't appear...we didn't sign a contract with them so they probably took the huff!!

As i departed, the sun had come out and it was a glorious day again.

photo 1 Bullfinch ot the way back from the swamp hide
photo2 Cormorant sitting on the new perch
photo 3+4 from the feeders
photo 5 Greylag geese taking off from the east end yesterday

Darell:t:

i headed to kinnordy early this morning,when i left dundee it was misty but you could see the sun shining through the mist ,beyond birkhill the was a lot of ground frost, on arriving at kinnordy the first birds i saw were two robins chasing each other around the car park,i noticed there was no bird sounds coming from the usual small birds in the trees, i headed for the feeders and found one robin sitting on the top feeder not even feeding,i then went to the east hide, plenty of activity here,the mute swans were still present and the swans with the cygnets had also moved over to the east area,there was more wigeon than last week plus plenty mallard/gadwall/teals, moorhens were sitting on ice at the edge of the loch and a cormorant was sitting on its usual perch far to the right,another cormorant was sitting right in front of the hide on the new perch,it had its back to me and i thought it was just ignoring me but it looks like it was ignoring darell too,



on the way back to the gullery hide i passed the feeders and found they had suddenly sprung to life, great tit blue tit coal tit and a few chaffinches, the robin was still there but sitting in the background,



i saw another one robin plus a dunnock before reaching the gullery hide plus some coal tits high in the tree where the feeder is,the bushes to the right of the hide were unusually bare,
the gullery hide produced mallards four wigeon and three teals, with no wind and no bird sound it was looking very peacefull,
heading for the swamp hide i heard some siskins but couldnt see them then just past the boardwalk nine appeared out in the open and stayed long enough for me to get some pics,











the east hide had more activity than last week and a male pheseant was lurking around in front of the hide


a heron was sitting on the the perch



some mallards/gadwall were swimming around,six teals landed and some common gulls flew past looking like the were about to land,a small flock of lapwings were sitting on the other side of the loch and were calling now and again, the rooks were sitting in their nesting trees and didn,t seem to notice a buzzard sitting nearby, the buzzard was sitting near the trunk of the tree and was probably hard to see,





it eventually flew off and put the rooks in a panic,
heading back to the carpark i again heard the siskins but couldnt see them, a cormorant was making a very wide flight over the loch and over the fields, there was a lot of noise from rooks/ jackdaws,
at the car park a robin was singing in a tree, i tried to get a pic of it but it was obscured by the branches



while waiting to see if it moved to a better location two redwings landed but these were also hidden in the trees



here is a pic taken 2006 march i think ,shows you the difference in size

Nice photos again kawwauser. I saw the siskins alot yesterday but never got close enough to get a photograph. I managed to get some on the video camera on monday though.

The two events this weekend at Westmuir on saturday and Kirrie den on sunday both start at 10.30.
Darell:t:

I was back up at kinnordy this morning. It was really sunny when i left Dundee, hit a blanket of fog at Glamis which was really thick until i started climbing the hill towards westmuir, and then it suddenly cleared.

The autumn colours were very much in evidence, even though most of the leaves have fallen. The different shades of green, gold and red are wonderfull.

The population of ducks seems to be increasing by the day. There were at least 15 goldeneye and teal well into their hundreds. Gadwall are still there in good numbers and the goosander total went up to 12 today with a mix of both male and female. Cormorants have appeared in greater numbers as have the tufty population.

Thursdays is volunteer day at the reserve, so the hides were getting a clean up of cobwebs etc. The paths were also getting cleared of leaves again.

A few flocks of siskins continue to fly around the reserve in good numbers and bullfinches are also much in evidence. Around at the lilly pond area, i saw a couple of jays, a redpoll and a few redwing and fieldfare.
As i came out of the swamp hide, a large flock of fieldfare flew over making a racket as they went by. There must have been about 50 of them.

The water rail were also showing well in front of the gullery hide and one flew from one side to the other just as i put my camera down!!!

The feeding station was quite busy or rather the seed holder was busy. The birds don't seem to want the peanuts until the seed has all gone. Its the same in my own garden as well.

Can some one tell me why i came across a couple of blackbirds with black beaks today and not yellow? Are they visitors from somewhere? Photo included.

Other birds seen today include large flocks of both lapwing and golden plover, buzzard, long tailed tits, lots of pinkies, song and mistle thrushes, all the usual crow family, wigeon, shoveler and woodpecker.

Photo 1 buzzard flying past the east hide
Photos 2 + 3 Siskins
Photo 4 Blackbird
Photo 5 Water rail outside the gullery hide

Darell:t:

I was in at kinnordy early this morning before heading to Westmuir for our feed the birds event.

The large roost of starlings was there again and all lifted as one to form a huge cloud. A female sparrowhawk was hunting in the reeds and rested on one of the posts to the left of gullery. I was so busy wathching the starlings that i didn't notice her taking off.

Other birds at the reserve were mute swan, shoveler, goosander, teal, wigeon, goldeneye, gadwall, tufties, mallard, moorhen, heron, gt spt woodpecker, siskin 50+, redwing, dunnock, goldcrest, linnets, long tail tits, coal tit, blue tit, great tit,cormorant, jackdaw, lapwing, reed bunting.

At Westmuir, the community have this area of woodland which they have fenced off and put boardwalks and paths. Its really nice and will develop over the years to come. The local youth club have made and put up nest boxes.

Birds seen there today were jay, golden plover, robin, bluetit, collard dove, redwing, kestrel, buzzard, goldcrest, blackbird, goldfinch, starling, greenfinch, chaffinch, song thrush, woodpigeon, wren, great tit. Lots of pinkfeet flying over plus a flock of 80+ fieldfare.
Westmuir is a mile south of kinnordy and well worth a visit if you are in the area.

There are alot of fieldfare in the area. Over 200 were seen on thursday. Also seen flying across the reserve on thursday was a raven. The warden is alsoc certain that she saw one of the white tailed eagles across the reserve yesterday. She didn't have her bins with her to be certain, but it was a BIG bird of prey.

Tomorrow, we are in kirrie den for a few hours with another feed the birds events.

Darell:t:

I think I know where you must mean Darell... is that the new car park just off the main road?

It sounds very interesting and a good community project.

D

yes thats the one. Its the first time i'd been and was quite impressed. The only strange thing is the colour of the nest boxes. The youth club were given instructions on how to make them and to paint them in natural colours. Well there are bright red ones, bright blue and other bright colours. I just hope the birds are colour blind!!!

Well there are bright red ones, bright blue and other bright colours. I just hope the birds are colour blind!!!

Click to expand...

Perhaps they're conducting an experiment to see which colour works best:-O

D

kinnordyvolunteer said:

Can some one tell me why i came across a couple of blackbirds with black beaks today and not yellow? Are they visitors from somewhere? Photo included.
Darell:t:

Click to expand...

Yes, they're immigrants. They always turn up at the end of October/beginning of November, are strongly social, and very nervous and flighty (much more so than British Blackbirds). The dark bills are typical (as also is the slightly sooty grey sheen to the black plumage). There have been some across the road from me this week, with Redwings, demolishing the berries on a Rowan.

When I used to live in Wales it was a regular event every November that the hedgerows would suddenly become alive with these sooty-black immatures.
Local British Blackbirds seem to maintain their territories year-round, and thus do not tend to form feeding flocks so readily.

In past years I've had over two hundred go over the house here in Aberdeen at dusk in the first week of November, presumably having just come in off the sea, and on one memorable day at Girdleness about five years ago saw over 500 around the golf course and allotments at Girdleness.

Cheers,

well done on the blackbird darell ive never seen this species,you must have a quick finger to catch the buzzard in flight like that,all my in flight shots are from behind once the bird has flown past,a cormorant flew past the east hide last week but i coudnt focus quick enough

I managed to get 40mins at kinnordy this morning before going to kirrie den. It was the usual sightings again with goosander, teal, gadwall, goldeneye, tufties, heron, cormorant, lapwing, little grebe, redwing, buzzard, mute swan, greylag goose, common gull. We went back after the event and saw two water rail to the right of the gullery hide. There were also between 300 and 400 common gulls around. Alot of the fields in the area are being ploughed at the moment so they are coming into drink. We hope an iceland gull might pop in again soon. Well last years seemed to enjoy itself!!

In Kirrie Den today we had the feed the birds event which went really well. We were getting the kids to make small bird feeders from pine cones with lard scraped onto them and then dipped into a large bag of seed.

Birds seen in the den included greywagtail, jackdaw, rooks, blackbird, fieldfare, redwing, bluetit, great tit, wood pigeon, house sparrow and chaffinch. 1500 pinkfeet flew over about 2pm heading west and must have been heading back to lintrathen. It did seem early but then they didn't put their clocks back last night!!

On the question of the blackbirds, i found out that they are migrants and young ones...first winter.

Thanks kawwauser...just get one lucky shot now and again. The auto focus doesn't help sometimes with a small far away object. Thankfully the buzzard obliged by flying quite close by.

I put out another thread this week concerning 14 mallard ducklings that were born in scone on wednesday. Has anyone else found young birds recently? Really strange!!

I will be doing a walk this sunday starting at 1pm. I think the weather forcast is good, although it is starting to get colder. If you do want to come along, make sure you wrap up warm. We will go round to the lilly pond and maybe further, depending on time and weather.

There are alot of starlings roosting on the reserve at the moment and the best time to see them is early morning or late afternoon when they are returning to the reed beds. As we left on sunday at about 3pm, quite a few hundered had already started to arrive.

Darell:t:

i headed for kinnordy early today,the weather leaving dundee was very sunny,two miles out all grey skies:C
i stopped off at westfield to have a look,very nice as darell said this place will develope,the walkway was very impresive
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/kawwauser/w1-1.jpg
there was a lot of bird calls and i saw blue tit/great tit/jay/chaffinch/redwing/robin and i was only there for 15 mins,
the nestboxes did look rather weird but at least the nesting birds will find them in low light
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/kawwauser/nst3.jpg
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/kawwauser/nst.jpg
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/kawwauser/nst2.jpg
on the road between westfield and kinnordy i came across a buzzard trying to lift some roadkill ,it was a medium sized rabbit and the buzzard could not carry it ,it quickly gave up and flew off,arriving at kinnordy i could hear geese flying overhead but could not see them,i headed for the feeders to find them totally deserted,the trees between here and the east hide were also quiet,
the east hide was again the main area, 25 adult mute swans spread right across the imediate area,plus the three cygnets,6 goosanders,mallards/wigeon/tufted ducks/moorhens,a heron was sitting on the post on the right which will hopefully be used by the ospreys when they return,two cormorants were on view one on the stick on the right and one sitting on the perch in front of the hide,it was facing the hide today and i noticed it was a ringed bird,looking at the birds in the background i think i may have missed a goldeneye
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/kawwauser/crm3.jpg

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/kawwauser/crm4.jpg

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/kawwauser/crm2.jpg

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/kawwauser/crm1.jpg

when i left the east hide i saw a small group of long tailed tits making their way towards the feeders via the treetops,i headed back to the feeders waiting for them,again the feeders were jumping,the chaffinches chased the blue tits off the feeders then the great tits chased the chaffinches,in between coal tits took their chance,i always try to get a pic of a bird sitting on the branches as it looks more natural than sitting on the feeders but its hard as the lure of the feeder leaves you little time to catch them,
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/kawwauser/gt.jpg
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/kawwauser/rbn-1.jpg
the long tailed tits didn,t show,the trees beside the gullery hide were very quiet and the hide itself only produced mallards/wigeon and one cormorant swimming on the far side,i opened the window looking to the west and saw 1 wren as i closed it two blue tits landed about two feet away and as i tried to open it again very slowly they took off,the area between the gullery hide and the swamp hide had rooks/jackdaws/robins/calling siskins,i couldnt see the siskins, i think i just landed lucky last week,the swamp hide had mallards/wigeon/1 shovelar/a flock of 12 lapwing flew around circling for a while and some geese flew overhead,5 common gulls were sitting in the water and one was having a long fight with a crow,when i was getting into my car i noticed some common gulls flying low and looking as if they were about to land near the east of the reserve,i was looking at them through the trees and there seemed to be a non stop stream of them,i didn,t have time to go back but there must have been hundreds of them ,driving past the swamp hide i noticed a group had landed there
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/kawwauser/cgll.jpg

between kinnordy and dundee i passed another two large groups of common gulls sitting in fields,
the newtyle road just south of kinnordy had many fieldfares feeding by the roadside and i caught my first one out in the open
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/kawwauser/rd3.jpg
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/kawwauser/rd2.jpg
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/kawwauser/rd1.jpg
i also saw two buzzards watching the activity this one was joined by a jackdaw
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/kawwauser/bzd.jpg

WOW!!!! More later:-O:-O

D

After excellent visits to both my Patch and Lintrathen (see relevant threads) our last port of call was to Kinnordy.

Having driven past the swamp end and only seen a couple of Mallards (not forgetting the Highland cattle), I decided it would be better to go to the East Hide first, so we could look at the feeders whilst there was still some daylight - 1 Coal Tit, 1 Chaffinch! but a Wren calling nearby.

There was lots of activity at the east end, with Whooper and Mute Swans, Goldeneye, Tufties, Gadwall, Shoveler, Cooot oh etc! All in good numbers though. A first there for me this winter was a male Goosander.

At 3 we moved back to the Gullery Hide not much happening right in front of it but big movements of Common Gulls.

We sat until 4pm and then the action really started.

Large skeins of Pinkfeet flew over heading West, then more and more Common Gulls - they just seemed to keep on coming.

At last, what I was hoping to show Ant... Starlings started to arrive ... a large group swirling round, joined then by ever more groups arriving from all directions (the estimate on the board was 1000, but there were many more than that I'm sure.

What a spectacle - entertaining us for about half an hour before finally dropping into the reeds - half of them to the left of the hide the rest over by the lone pine.

I do hope they stay for the rest of the winter - it was a brilliant display.

A few 'record shots' of the Starlings, which doesn't really do them justice

D

Another beautiful autumns day at kinnordy. It started off quite chilly, but once the sun had come out it turned into a fine day.

I arrived at 7.30 hoping to see the starlings lift from the reed beds again, but as i approached the reserve i realised i was too late. Indeed i had because the only sound i could hear from the car park was the noise of a small group of greylag geese that were along at the east end..19 in total. As i looked through the swans, i noticed a single whooper among the 32 mutes. All the other usual ducks were around as well.

I went along to the swamp end and saw a pair of goosander, some mallard, teal, lapwing and wigeon. Soon, 4 whooper swans came in and landed on the water. They stayed for a couple of hours before heading westwards. Goldcrest, chaffinch, blue and great tits were to be seen in the bushes between gullery and swamp along with a pair of dunnock.

The feeders were quiet apart from some chaffinches and coal tits. A new feeder just for the squirrels has been put up in the feeder area. I didn't see any red squirrels today on my travels around the reserve which is unusual. A robin sang in a bush not far from the path and was around all day. It was very keen for me to take its photo as long as i provided the meal worms!!! I didn't quite manage to get it to eat from my hand but almost.

From the east hide, the cormorants sat on their usual perch facing the wrong way while goldeneye, tufties, wigeon and gadwall fished around for food beneath the perch.

Thousands of geese flew over the reserve in the morning and as i left at about 4.15, they were once again flying over, heading back towards lintrathen.

I went off for my walk to the lilly pond and found it unusually quiet. A few wrens and tits on the way but nothing else until i got to the gap between the two bridges. There i found the same young blackbirds that i saw last week. A bit further along i came across goldcrests and a flock of long tailed tits. On my return journey i found a pair of bullfinches. There aren't as many around now as there were a few weeks ago. A treecreeper was also added to my list on the journey back.

Later on in the afternoon, 7 more whoopers arrived at the east end. Three didn't stay very long but the others, including a couple of youngsters were still there when i had departed.

I stayed on til dusk to see the starlings arrive. At almost 4pm on the dot, 5 starlings started flying round and then the group gradually got bigger and bigger before as one, they disappeared into the reeds to the left of the gullery hide. Soon another group arrived and the same thing happened until they too decided to go into the reeds. I had to leave, but as i got into my car, lots more starlings flew over head towards the waters edge and the reeds. If you get the chance, go along and see it for yourself. The sight in the car park of all these starlings plus all the geese returning to their roosts was quite something.

Snipe(10), lapwing 200+, heron, greenfinch, gt spt woodpecker, redwing, fieldfare, sparrowhawk, buzzard, siskin, pheasant, woodpigeon, little grebe(2), common gull 400+ and reed bunting were also seen during the day.

It was a really good day for birds, nice sunshine and lots of visitors. Its hard to believe its november with all this good weather.

Todays photos are
1 Robin
2 Goldcrest
3 new squirrel feeder
4 whoopers landing at the swamp end
5 heron joining the rooks

Darell:t:

More photos to follow.

Here are some more photos from todays visit to kinnordy.

1+2 are of the starlings

3 forgot to put the water rail in my report. It was showing well this morning at the right hand side of the gullery hide.

4 Blanket of leaves that are still around

5 Pheasants in the pine trees getting a birds eye view.

I will be going for a walk round the reserve again this sunday, weather permitting, at around twelve if any one is interested. I will be staying on til after 4pm to watch the starlings again.

Darell:t: