• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Birding at Loch of Kinnordy (1 Viewer)

I went up to Kinnordy again this afternoon


So did I! I guess that was you Darell that I spoke to in the car park as you were leaving (about 4.30).

I spent about 45 minutes in the gullery and east hides. Lots of teal, mallards, wigeon, coot and tufties on the loch and a couple of gadwall right at the far side. A couple of herons at the edge of the reeds and of course all the lapwings at the edge of the bogbean. An osprey made a couple of circuits of the east end of the loch and eventually caught a small fish, which it took to a conifer on the far side to eat. As usual, my attempts at digiscoping were fairly hopeless - the first two osprey shots were video captures and the shot of it perched was really pushing the distance limits.
 

Attachments

  • Lapwing.jpg
    Lapwing.jpg
    245.2 KB · Views: 152
  • Osprey1.jpg
    Osprey1.jpg
    143.8 KB · Views: 148
  • Osprey2.jpg
    Osprey2.jpg
    113.3 KB · Views: 163
  • Osprey hovering.jpg
    Osprey hovering.jpg
    149.1 KB · Views: 157
  • Osprey perched.jpg
    Osprey perched.jpg
    143.8 KB · Views: 153
Delia spots Red Kite at Kinnordyo:) :t:

I arrived at Kinnordy at about 9 this morning in glorious sunshine. I first of all went into the gullery hide and found 5 ospreys flying round, the marsh harrier and a water rail chick sunbathing. The ospreys were using the tall fir tree across from the hide, to perch on. One of the birds flew around for ages with a fish connected to its talons and didn't seem to know what to do with it. Eventually it decided to put down at the top of the tree and enjoy its early lunch.

Apart from the ospreys, the reserve was pretty quiet. A common sandpiper had been seen earlier in the morning but i didn't see it and the water rail had been seen at both gullery and east hides. I saw frequent activity across in the bog bean opposite the gullery hide.

Along at the swamp hide, it was the usual suspects in attendance...mallard, tufties, coot, moorhen and gadwall. The east hide was even quieter with the two black headed gulls on their tree and a few ducks, in the reeds on the far side.

A flock of 60+ lapwing arrived, divided up into two groups with 20 landing on the far side at the swamp end and the others going towards the gullery. Another flock of 200+ then circled before heading off in the direction of egno moss across the road.

Well, at 11.50 Delia arrived for the guided walk so off we went to the swamp hide. Same birds as earlier on in the day but we started to watch the buzzards on the other side of the loch, above the hill. We counted 6 before Delia started to get a bit excited.."I'm sure thats not a Buzzard"...and before i could get a look, it had gone down behind the trees. It came up a few moments later and Delia was sure it was a kite. Thankfully it stayed up long enough for me to see its long forked tail and confirm the sighting. Well done Delia!!!! Thats a first for me at Kinnordy and i'm going to check to see if its a first for Kinnordy!! The kite was last seen heading west, towards Delias' patch...well thats what she hopes!!!

After that, the walk was a bit flat. Not many birds to see, but we did make it round to the lilly pond for lunch and hopefully a sighting of the ospreys on their dead tree. As we approached the pond, a sparrowhawk flew past over head.

Guess what...no ospreys!! One did a fly past but decided to keep on going. Some cows in the neighbouring field came over to see us, but Delia soon got them under control!! It must have been the cup of tea they were after...or they were just wondering what we were doing sitting around, looking at nothing!!!

After lunch, it was back off to the carpark and even the walk back was quiet. A few warblers, wrens, robin and coal tits.

Hopefully tomorrow, the weather will be just as good and we WILL see some ospreys in the tree. I was going to post a photo with 8 superimposed ospreys on it but someone said they would spill the beans!!

Darell
 

Attachments

  • Kinnordy in sunshine.JPG
    Kinnordy in sunshine.JPG
    59.6 KB · Views: 170
  • Ospreys tree.jpg
    Ospreys tree.jpg
    71 KB · Views: 180
  • DSC_0006.JPG
    DSC_0006.JPG
    115.6 KB · Views: 179
You certainly shouted that from the tree-tops Darell:-O

Oh I am made-up though being the first I've seen anywhere in this area:D :D

After you left I spent some time in the East Hide but no more sightings of the Ospreys but a Sandpiper came and sat on the perch - also on it at various times were a rather sleepy juvenile Black Headed Gull, and an adult and juvenile Moorhen ... not looked at the pictures yet so don't know if they're any good.

Did the frogs come out?

D
 
More photos from today.

The channel has been widened in front of the gullery hide to allow better viewing.

The lapwing had just been visited by a sparrowhawk and took ages to settle down again.

The cows who came to see us while we were waiting for ospreys!!:t:
 

Attachments

  • from gullery.JPG
    from gullery.JPG
    56.3 KB · Views: 145
  • Lapwings recover from sparrowhawk.JPG
    Lapwings recover from sparrowhawk.JPG
    65.2 KB · Views: 149
  • cows.JPG
    cows.JPG
    66.1 KB · Views: 140
Rain, rain and more rain today. It did stop for a while at midday to let me take a few people for a walk around the reserve.

I arrived about 10 o'clock and it was really quiet. At the gullery hide i could hear the water rail in the reeds to the left of the hide, but apart from some coot and moorhen it was quiet.

I went along to the swamp hide and saw mallard, coot , moorhen, tufties, gadwall, teal, a lesser black backed gull, a mute swan and four lapwing. Soon, the female marsh harrier appeared on the far side, circled round and headed east. A wren was outside the hide along with a robin but not many small birds. Blue tit, great tit and willow warbler were added to the list on the way back to gullery. Coal tits and long tailed tits were now in the trees next to the boardwalk and goldcrest were high up in the pines.

Off to east and more coots, tufties and a group of 20 or so wigeon. A flock of 80+ lapwing flew in, circled for a while and landed at the edges of the bogbean. In among the flock of lapwing was a single starling. I think he either had a identity crisis or he just wanted to go with the pack!!

Off for the walk and we saw a couple of wrens, robins and willow warblers along the path. A great spotted woodpecker flew across in front of us while swallows darted among the power lines. Sand martins were also around in numbers. Yellowhammer, chaffinch and pied wagtail were soon added to the list. The only bird on the lilly pond was a moorhen. No ospreys to be seen and only a buzzard to add.

As we started the walk back it started to drizzle with rain. The only bird we saw on the way back was a mute swan at the sleus gate. Back at the east hide, the black headed gull chick was asleep on its tree and the lapwing continued to lift and fly around.

Back at the gullery hide, we noticed that alot of the ducks were flying from the swamp end and over to the reeds at the east end of the loch. One group of about 40 included 6 snipe. We couldn't see anything unusual that would have disturbed them all.

Just as i was about to leave, an osprey came into view, flew over the loch and went to its favourite dead tree at the east end.

Darell:t:
 
I forgot to mention in my report that a female hen harrier was reported seen, yesterday afternoon. It must have been after Delia and i had left. Worth keeping an eye out if you're at the reserve. I haven't seen one there since Jan/Feb this year.
 
Should have posted this before...

I was at Kinnordy on Monday afternoon, much the usual suspects there, loads of Coot and Mallard. The Swans with the 3 cygnets had moved from the lily pond to the main loch in front of the Gullery Hide.

Two Ospreys came in at the same time and hung around for quite a while - one definitely an adult but couldn't make out the other.

Only there for about an hour so not much else to report really.

D
 
I went up to kinnordy late afternoon/early evening today to find it really quiet and stayed in the gullery hide for a couple of hours. Young moorhens were out infront of the hide along side a few dabbling mallards. Over towards the east end i could see alot of coots, tufties, mallard, teal and wigeon. A heron was sitting in the bushes at the far east end and sat there for ages.

I then heard and spotted a green sandpiper fly from the bog bean to the left of the hide and flew to the back of the reserve. An osprey then appeared at the east end and was succesful in catching a small sized fish. It might have been the same one, sent back to get something a bit larger, but an osprey soon appeared at the swamp end and also managed to catch something straight away.

Water rail were seen flying between the areas of bogbean in front of the hide and could be heard calling for most of the time i was there.

A family came into the hide and were desperate to see the osprey and they weren't to be disappointed. One came in but wasn't interested in fishing. It dived into the water at least a dozen times to clean its self. It was a wonderful sight and the family went away happy.

There were a few swallows and sand martins around but not many. A few lapwing flew past to be followed some time later by another larger flock before a group of 30 decided to circle and land at the edge of the bogbean.

Between three and four hundered common gulls passed through aswell. Some landed on the water for a wash before flying off again, but most flew through, heading west towards lintrathen and backwater reservoirs. A group of twelve lesser black backed gulls also came in and stayed around for a while.

No guided walks this weekend. I am not on duty at all, but there will be one the following sunday...2nd september. Details to follow next week.

Darell:t:
 
Sunday 2nd September

It was a grey start to the day as i arrived at kinnordy.The day did brighten up in the afternoon and became really pleasant.

The first bird to be seen from the gullery hide was the female marsh harrier. A juv female was spotted at the reserve yesterday by the warden, so there must have been a nest somewhere close by this year. It was the adult female that was seen today.
There are a couple of birders who come to the reserve most sundays and the marsh harrier is the one bird that is missing from their list. They were in the east hide this morning when the bird could be seen over at the old barn, and when they departed, out came the harrier again along at the swamp end!! Maybe next week.

Although they missed the harrier, they did get to see a couple of ospreys fishing at the east end of the loch. There are still three birds close by, but they could depart at any time now. Who could blame them after the summer we've had.

A flock of lapwing were the next to appear accompanied by three snipe who continued to fly round the reserve. 10 Gadwall were also to be seen from the gullery hide along with some mallards and teal. I moved off to the swamp hide and on the way, just at the end of the first boardwalk, i saw a spotted fly catcher. I'd been looking for them all summer at the other end of the reserve and was beginning to give up on seeing them this year. There were a few willow warblers and blue tits around at the same spot.

At the swamp hide, along with the female marsh harrier, there were another 15 gadwall, lots of mallards, moorhens and coot. A pair of mute swans flew in along with another large flock of lapwing. After a while, i decided to head off for the east hide. As i passed the gullery entrance, i saw long tailed tits, treecreeper, coal and great tits in the trees next to the path. Robin, wren, blackbird and a great spotted woodpecker were soon added to the list as i headed for the hide. At the east hide there were lots of coot, wigeon, teal and mallard. At the far side of the loch i could see several shoveler and tufties in among the bushes and reeds. On the way back to the gullery hide, a large flock of long tailed tits could be heard and seen around the feeding station area. The feeding station will be up and running again at the beginning of next month.

Back at the gullery hide i soon saw a juv little grebe, heron, reed bunting and buzzards. There were alot of sand martins and swallows around along with the odd house martin. Flocks of lapwing continued to arrive, fly around and then either fly off or land at the edges of the bogbean. I counted nine snipe in among them at the edge of the water, to the right of the hide. They were either sunbathing or flying around chasing each other.

Water rail could be heard from all directions and i eventually saw one beside the snipe and lapwings. In the afternoon, one flew across in front of the gullery hide and carried on squeeling away.

The ospreys appeared a few times in the afternoon which was good for the few visitors that we had. A kestrel and more buzzards were also seen.

All in all it had been a good day for watching birds. It was good to see the Ospreys still present and hopefully they'l hang around for another week before they head off for their winter holiday. The birds at Loch of the Lowes have already gone off for theirs.

Darell:t:
 
Here are some photos from my visit to kinnordy today.

The robin was trying to be a kingfisher or was trying to show where the kingfisher should place its self!!

The long tailed tits were around for most of the time i was around. Thankfully one did sit long enough for me to take some photos.

The osprey did a fly past in the afternoon but hopefully not for the last time this year!!
 

Attachments

  • Robin on stump.JPG
    Robin on stump.JPG
    72.1 KB · Views: 151
  • long tailed tit.jpg
    long tailed tit.jpg
    57.2 KB · Views: 153
  • osprey fly past.jpg
    osprey fly past.jpg
    15.4 KB · Views: 152
The reserve will be closed this saturday, until around mid-day. The landlord has shooting parties on a couple of saturday mornings in september. This saturday is one of those days. The reserve will be open again after that, but dont be surprised if the ducks are still hiding in the reeds etc.

I will be at the reserve again on sunday, so will be doing another guided walk starting at mid-day. Meet as usual in the car park. Hopefully the ospreys will still be around, but who knows.

Darell:t:
 
At Kinnordy for a short while this afternoon.

Assorted ducks flying everywhere - I've not seen them so active for ages LOL and Common Gulls seem to have replaced the Black Headed.

An Osprey came in to fish and managed on the third attempt, quite a biggy too. Struggled to get out of the water and flew of Westwards with his prize never managed to get above the telegraph poles and I lost him eventually behind the trees.

Shame there was non-one else there to watch.

Heard a Water Rail but couldn't locate it.

D
 
Seeing it was such a lovely day today, i decided to go up to Kinnordy to see if anything was still around, after the shooting this morning.

I arrived at 1.30 and went into the gullery hide...two young moorhens out in front, two others on the far side to the left, along with a single wigeon and that was that!!

Off to the swamp hide and it wasn't much better. A few mallards, a mute swan and a couple of teal and that was that. I waited for a while and eventually a group of 13 gadwall flew in from the east end and 40+ lapwing circled and landed at the far end. They were soon airbourne again due to a fly past of a peregrine. There must have been more lapwing in the surrounding fields because the numbers doubled just after the peregrine had disappeared. 4 buzzards could be seen circling above the hills but no red kite to be seen!!

Back to the gullery hide and there seemed to be a lack of small birds. Only a wren and robin added to the list. In the book at the gullery hide, the osprey had been seen earlier in the day and the juv female marsh harrier had been seen yesterday. 3 herons were chasing each other on the far side and a few more ducks seemed to be getting a bit braver and coming out of the reeds from the back of the reserve. More wigeon, teal, gadwall and mallards were to be seen. We could hear young water rail to the right of the hide, but we didn't see any. A male hen harrier was spotted on the hill, but by the time i got my scope to it, the bird had gone behind some trees, not to be seen again. Maybe tomorrow!!

Off to the east hide and there wasnt much activity there. There were a few common gulls around. Delia had reported seeing some at the beginning of the week. They tend to come in to Kinnordy during the day and then go off to roost at either Lintrathen or Backwater reservoirs.
After a while, i spotted an osprey, fishing along at the swamp end. I did ask it to come eastwards but it obviously didn't hear me or chose to ignore my polite request.

There were a few house martins and swallows around but no sand martins. No snipe either to be seen. Hopefully they're all going to show themselves tomorrow.

The forecast for tomorrow is very good, so if you want to come for some exercise, the walk starts at 12 o'clock...meet in the car park as usual.
Darell:t:
 
Sunday 9th Sept

I arrived at 7am this morning to get a good early start to see what was around the reserve.

I started at the swamp hide due to the fact that as i drove past, there seemed to be alot of duck activity. 27 gadwall, 12 teal, 17 wigeon, 48 mallard, 2 shoveler, 9 snipe, 25 lapwing, coot, moorhen and water rail. There was also a single mute swan in among the ducks. Quite a good start to the day, although it was quite chilly even with the sun shining. There were quite a few rooks around along with numerous jackdaws, which was a bird i hadn't seen here for a while. There were 6 buzzards up above the hill and lots of woodpigeons.

After a while, i decided to go along to the gullery hide. Just after the first boardwalk, in the bushes on the left we came across a spotted flycatcher, nearly at the same place as last week, which was good to see. Wren, bullfinch and great tit were added to the list on the way.

At the gullery hide there were a few teal, some more gadwall and moorhen youngsters. I went back to the car to get a fleece as it was still quite chilly. As i came out of the hide, a robin sat on the wooden railing. I stood still as it jumped down onto the boardwalk and then hoped on to my boot. Camera was still in the hide!!

As i stood in the car park, a pair of mistle thrushes flew over head along with a number of linnet. Back at the hide, there were a few common gulls flying around along with a couple of lesser black back gulls. A couple of new posts have been erected for birds to perch on. Both have been put up, hoping the ospreys will take to them next year. Well this morning the osprey was sitting on its favourite perch, the dead tree at the back of the bushes at the east end. Eventually it decided to do some fishing and flew right the way around the reserve. As it neared the swamp end another osprey was being mobed by the rooks and jackdaws. It was good to see there are still two birds around.
6 mute swans along with 3 cygnets were also around at the gullery area as were a few swallows and house martins. We did see one or two sand martins but not many. A redpoll was the next bird to be added to the list as it flew past the hide. A sedge warbler was also present in the reeds to the left of the hide along with a number of blue tits. The water rails could be heard squeeling away at both sides of the hide and eventually one flew from the right, landed in the water, turned round and flew back into the reeds, just as i got a really badly blurred picture. Another one did come out a little while later and was walking round in the reeds below the gullery hide windows.

We went along to the east hide and added great spotted woodpecker to the list along with blackbird and chaffinch. In the field next to the hide, there were a few meadow pipits and 50+ linnets. There were 3 herons to be seen from the hide and one came and sat on the perch infront of the hide. It wasn't long before a second came along and knocked the other one off, and off they went chasing each other to the other side of the water. More buzzards were across at the far side while we could see a kestrel way down at the swamp end.

Back to the gullery hide and the car park to see if anyone had turned up for the guided walk. 6 people accomanied me around the reserve, including Delia. We went along to the swamp hide and there were a few mallards, a mute swan, wigeon and a heron but little else. No gadwall or snipe...sorry delia!!
We then went back along the path and headed for the east hide. After the gullery entrance we added a dunnock to our list and also heard the woodpecker as it flew through the trees. As we got to the east hide we found a song thrush sitting in a bush eating berries. There wasn't much to be seen from the hide apart from 4 swans and a few gadwall on the far side. Off we went and soon found a flock of chaffinches and a few blue tits. In the field, sitting on one of the hay bales was a buzzard which sat for a while before moving further away. We eventually got round to the lilly pond area and saw alot of swallows on the way, along with the odd house martin and lots of linnets. After eating lunch in the wooded area, out of the wind, we made our way back. Towards the large house belonging to the estate we spotted a jay flyting through the trees and soon afterwards a peregrine hunting for its lunch. Apart from some brown hares laying very still in the fields, there wasn't much to be seen on the way back.

I stayed on for a while afterwards but the only new bird for the day was a sparrowhawk which flew across the hide at the swamp end.
It had been a long but succesfull day. Lots of birds to see and a count of 52 species.
I think there is shooting again next saturday morning. I will confirm that later in the week.
I have added some photos from today.
Blue tit in the reeds, fly past of the osprey, the buzzard keeping watch over the farmers work and the new perch at the east end.
Darell:t:
 

Attachments

  • Blue tit.jpg
    Blue tit.jpg
    68 KB · Views: 148
  • DSC_0025.jpg
    DSC_0025.jpg
    25.3 KB · Views: 146
  • DSC_0054.jpg
    DSC_0054.jpg
    45.4 KB · Views: 154
  • new perch.jpg
    new perch.jpg
    130.8 KB · Views: 138
Nice report and pictures Darrell.

It was good to meet up with Mike again too.

D

ps You make a good nurse;)
 
Kinnordy is open all day on saturday of this week, but closed for the morning on the 22nd september for more shooting. They didn't manage to shoot very much last saturday!!

The red kite has been seen again this week, above the hill opposite the reserve. Its usually in with the buzzards so keep your eyes peeled for it. 47 gadwall were recorded on monday evening. The ospreys haven't been seen since sunday and the marsh harrier seems to have gone aswell.

Some greylags have been seen so the others should be arriving soon along with the other geese and whoopers...that time of year again!!

Darell:t:
 
Sunday 16th September

Well, not the nicest of days, in fact the weather was awfull. I arrived at 7am to do a bird count and it was already pouring down with rain. After a while it did seem to clear up..well it stopped raining, but just as we thought we were in for something better, down came the rain again and stayed for the next few hours. I usually stay till about 4pm, but at the back of twelve i decided that was that.

Gadwall were present in big numbers again with 54 being counted. Most were at the swamp end with the others to the left of gullery. Also at the swamp end were 27 wigeon, 46 mallard, 36 teal, a shoveler, 9 lapwing, 3 snipe, a pair of mute swans,moorhen and coot. The water rail could be heard to the left of the swamp hide but not seen. They could also be heard at both the other hides but didn't want to show themselves. A sparrowhawk flew past the swamp hide windows while 5 buzzards could just be made out in the mist, above the hills.

We went along to the gullery hide and there were a number of teal, mallards and morhens just infront of the windows. As we started to count them, they were spooked by something and off they went in all directions. As we sat down, we could hear a redshank calling and right enough, one flew past heading west. That was the first time i'd seen one here for quite a few weeks. The mute swan with three cygnets was over at the far side along with gadwall, mallard and a single tufted duck.

Off to the east hide and from there, all we got was teal, mallard and ten more mute swans. The swan count seems to get bigger each week and the numbers of coot on the reserve seems to be decreasing every week. A curlew flew westwards while the sparrowhawk could be seen hunting over at the other side of the reserve.

Back at the gullery hide, quite a few skeins of pink footed geese could be seen with numbers ranging from 12 to 150+. Herons, linnet, common gull, swallow, house martins, 3 sand martins and more snipe were also seen.

In the fields opposite the reserve, two had been harvested and one contained square bales and the one next door, round ones. On the square bales were 18 pheasants and on the round ones, two pheasants. Just goes to show that 9 out of ten pheasants prefer square bales!!! The things you do while birding in the pouring rain!! The buzzards and crows also seemed to prefer the square bales!!:-O

Next saturday morning, the reserve is closed again for shooting. I will be in attendance on saturday afternoon and will do a walk at 2pm for anyone who is interested.

The ospreys have gone and the geese are starting to arrive in large numbers. It doesnt seem that long ago that the geese were leaving and the ospreys arriving. The ducks are starting to arrive in large numbers and the whooper swans won't be that long in arriving either, so there should still be lots for everyone to see over the next few months.

This weeks photos are of some of the pinkfeet flying over, a snipe at the swamp end and the square and round bales of hay i thought you would love to see!! Sadly the pheasants are no longer sitting on them!! You can count the bales if you want....normal sanity resumed next week!!:t:

Darell
 

Attachments

  • pink feet.jpg
    pink feet.jpg
    10.6 KB · Views: 178
  • snipe.jpg
    snipe.jpg
    49.2 KB · Views: 197
  • square bales.jpg
    square bales.jpg
    56.1 KB · Views: 168
  • round bales.jpg
    round bales.jpg
    61.1 KB · Views: 189
You must have been bored Darrell.... time you got a life as they say:-O:-O

And you get Snipe again this week just to rub it in somewhat:-C

D
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top