Merkinch Local Nature Reserve, South Kessock, Inverness (1 Viewer)

Hi there

I have spent last weekend at Inverness. Most of my allocated time was tied to my friends wedding, but I had some time to do a bit of birding.

My OH and I discovered a Local Nature Reserve called Merkinch Local Nature Reserve at South Kessock overlooking the Beauly Firth (close to the Kessock Bridge). It was based at the other end of Merkinch Industrial Estate, and much more of an internal reserve in Inverness town itself.

http://www.greeninverness.com/index.asp?pageid=43138

I understand it has only been open since 2007 and the people behind it where the Merkinch Greenspace (formally known as South Kessock Environment Company) a voluntary organisation with chartable status. The mention of this site was it was viewed as a semi-natural reserve.

We saw a great assortment of birds moving around the Reserve esturaries including Mallard, lots of Redshank, and shore birds of all sorts, Curlew, Wigeon, Oyster Catchers, Grebes (interesting what we saw as it was not a Grebe I have seen before?), Tufted Ducks and others not to be missed of course!
We only had a fleeting glance at the area ourselves and would say it is worth a look into any day.

The area is very built up before you reach the Reserve itself but I still think it is of interest to any birdwatchers. Part of the allocated walk includes being close to the Beauly Firth – so that is a bonus! The Reserve comes out at the Caladonian Canal at the other end.

Anyone else had an opportunity to visit yet? Love to hear what you have to say about it!

Regards
Kathy
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Hi Kathy, thanks for that. I appear to have found the site on the map - a possible venue if we ever manage to arrange a Bash ooop North LOL

D

delia todd said:

Hi Kathy, thanks for that. I appear to have found the site on the map - a possible venue if we ever manage to arrange a Bash ooop North LOL

D

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hi Delia

Anytime Delia :gh::gh::gh:

It adds to the interest on this Forum already, and that is what counts for everyone here. :t::t::t:

I have to say that I never expected to see an Internal Nature Reserve in the Inverness area.
I was at one of my Bed and Breakfast hotels and this one hotel has a leaflet about Merkinch Nature Reserve so it was quite interesting to find something so easy to visit.

We had no car facilities so we where foot bound and this Reserve was accessible foot bound. All the better for us.

Amazing what you find in everywhere you go - we took note of the usual places mentioned by yourself and others, but we where laden with commitments and limited to the me time we wanted.

By the way the Merkinch Reserve want feedback too. I will get in touch with the people involved to state what we have seen on our trip for extra support of the area. The more the merrier. :t:

Regards
Kathy

A Report on my 'bird' trip to Inverness 16th - 19th October 2009

Friday 16th October 2009

We set of from Bedford on Friday morning. It would mean a train ride, to Luton Airport then a plane flight to Inverness Airport The sky was clear on the plane trip up and the views of the Highlands below where something to look at. What a birds eye view we had – we where lucky with the weather.

We arrived at Inverness in the afternoon, and made our way by bus to the centre of Inverness. From the centre of Inverness, we got a Taxi to the Thistle Hotel and placed all our belongings in the allocated Hotel room. There were arrangements for us to join our friends to go to the Mustards Seed Restaurant for Friday evening as a pre-wedding meal before the main event.

As we had some spare time, we had a wander about town, and picked up information from the Tourist Information Office. At this point, my OH left his glasses in the Tourist Information Office so there was a panic about the glasses. (thankfully we got them back)

When my OH went on his own back into town once more on Saturday morning (to pick up his glasses) there was a person who was showing Owls for support of the Owl trust. A European Eagle Owl and a Long Eared Owl was on display for the public to see. Wish I saw that – never mind!

At 7.30pm, we had the most delicious meal at the Mustard Seed and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to know of a good eatery in the centre of Inverness. It was not all that expensive either considering we paid £20 a head for 20 people.

After a few drinks or two or three we made our way back to the Thistle hotel. Luckily it was a 20 minute walk form the Thistle so it was no problem to get back to our Hotel room. The room was comfortable. I have to say that the mattress on the King sized bed was lop sided LOL so we had a laugh about that.

Part 2 continued......

Saturday 17th October 2009.

Saturday 17th October 2009.

Next day we packed up our belongings, and made our way to the next Hotel where the wedding would take place. It was at Bunchrew House Hotel. What a wonderful place to visit. The ground where set in a beautiful area. You could look across the Beauly Firth and see for miles.

We where situated in the ‘Fraser’ room. It was stunning, as you can see on the second link.
http://www.bunchrew-inverness.co.uk/history.htm
http://www.bunchrew-inverness.co.uk/roomslideshow/fraser.htm

The views where out of this world. The nearby water was so still except for a few shores birds scavenging about the beach searching for molluscs and tiny shrimps between the beach stones. The tide moved about all day so exposing a lot of beach area on a constant basis more than once a day so it was a continual tide flow. For the birds so it must have been a feast for them.

The beautiful setting was exquisite for any wedding to take place. It reminded me of a place out of a Jane Austin novel with the grand gardens and the grand entrance to the hotel itself. All of this can be seen in the link I have sent on this report.

So we went through the wedding ceremony at the same hotel. only to have another delicious meal once more. The place has 2 rosettes so the chef is highly recommended indeed. Lots of champagne flowed and everyone enjoyed themselves. Luckily there was another nature enthusatic so it was good to talk about the birds close-by as we watched over the beach front.

The sun was out today and the weather was just the best ever to have for a wedding.

Looking over the Beauly Firth waters, there where lots of Wigeon, and Mallards in a large group close-by. The Wigeon's looked drab in their winter colours. Oyster Catchers making their continual high pitch trill as they flew about in small groups near to the hotel grounds, a Cormorant flew past and then moved around to fly in another direction once more although it was not sure where to go in the sky. Other shore birds moved about in all directions, and all for the sake of eating the tiny shrimps as the tide changed. This seemed an ideal spot for them because of the shifting tides.

The hotel grounds are private so there must be little disturbance for them too. There is a caravan site next door to the hotel, so the odd person appeared but the birds did not seen to be afraid of the human presence too much.

A lot of geese flew overhead. Many Greylags and Pink Feet where noted in their V formations. I thought this was them moving about from the water to the fields to feed and then back to the water later in the day. Lots of honking, and calling continually going on in the sky above. People looked up at the sky in awe, as they past overhead. It was a beautiful, sunny day and it seemed to bring the bay to life which added to the beauty of the place.

The Oysters Catchers where at their most active as my friends where being photographed by the professional photographer. It would have been a gesture of good luck to have birds flying past and they where found behind you in your wedding picture. I must have a look at their pictures once they are available as we have some pictures of our own to share with them too.

A one stage the photographer asked us all as a group to look up at the windows (he looked down at us as a group) and a Red Admiral Butterfly was caught inside the same room. We all said let the butterfly go and the photographer did. Quite romantic as it represented freedom and good luck once more.

So we stayed in the grounds for the rest of the day and chatted to everyone. The party of people had expanded to 80 or so sot there was no shortage of people to talk too – the drink flowed and the day went to evening and the dancing began. My OH, and I decided to retire to our Fraser room, as we where feeling a bit tired at this point, and people where free to enjoy themselves and that was the main thing.

During the night I was woken by a ‘hunting’ call from a Tawny Owl. It was the icing on the cake for the place we where staying in would be an ideal spot for an Owl to hunt. Lots of ‘ancient’ evergreen Trees, broad leaved Trees, as part of their hunting grounds so they would find lots of rodents, and it would be their type of hunting ground any day.

We found a lovely little card placed behind our door to state that we where invited to breakfast next day. So we arrived at 9.15am and we indulged in a full Scottish breakfast of Sausages, bacon, egg and really enjoyed that – not good for the figure though LOL.

I looked out of the breakfast room window to see lots of Shore birds feeding together on the shore line as the tide changed they birds followed the tide line. By the time I finished my breakfast they had disappeared from view so I did not find out what they where.

After breakfast, we had another get together with the family and friends and them everyone started to depart and move on to other places.

Part 3 continued ...

Sunday 18th October 2009

Sunday 18th October

We left just after 12pm and moved to our next Hotel. This one was back in the centre of Inverness. The hotel is called Kingsmills Hotel and we left our belongings in our allocated room once more

Today was our day to bird watch and that is what we did. Luckily I found information about a place called Merkinch Local Nature Reserve towards one of the main industrial Estates at South Kessock.

Here is a link explaining a bit more about the area
http://www.greeninverness.com/index.asp?pageid=43138

So we set of with our binoculars, and camera in hand and walked there from Kingsmills Hotel onto Merkinch LNR. We walked along beside the River Ness in the centre of town. In between the two small in-town road bridges was the place that birds seemed to like to be.

I counted 4 Red Breasted Mergansers, one Golden Eye in its winter plumage while it continually dived for food. Lots of Wigeons in large groups once more congregated on the river. They seem to be a common bird up this neck of the woods. Lots more Mallard everywhere.

We walked on and we could see lots of feeding birds situated on the River Ness. There where lots of Gulls of all types – immature, and adult alike. There was one GBB Gull and one lone Hooded Crow. At one stage a person threw down a bag of chips and the birds went for the food with gusto. Not really good for the birds or people alike as feeding gulls are being led astray by well meaning people

We moved on, and headed to the Nature Reserve. We passed 2 birders who said they saw a Red Kite in flight by the Kessock Bridge. It was a brief chat between us. Sadly, they had to catch a coach so they could not hang around for too long.

We reached the Merkinch Local Nature Reserve and found it to be in a built up are. We wanted to see what was there. We walked on through the Reserve gates and along the shore line overlooking the Beauly Firth. A large group of Crows remained together, and they where searching for food on the shore line and I am sure that the tiny Prawns where part of what they where looking for. The local beaches seemed to be full of this food type therefore would suit many types of feeding birds. No wonder it was bird heaven.

The Crows flew above our heads, although they where enjoying catching the wind thermals. They danced in the air above us and landed in a group on Hawthorn bushes. They landed close by so it was great for a good opportunity for a picture or two. We took the same opportunity to catch the same Crows in flight.

We continued our walk towards the estuaries. We past by a Heron and a Cormorant doing what they do best and that is stand around like statues.

There where 2 large areas of water to the left and the right of us. I looked over the left pool of water, and I could see 2 Grebes though I was not too sure what type they are. They looked too large to be Dab chicks. I wondered if they where Great Crested Grebes in winter plumage (but still that was at a guess LOL)
I had a look across to the area of water to my right and there was a good assortment of shore birds. I could hear the call from a Curlew and I could see 2 of them on the furtherest bank (close to the small Weir) using their bills to filter food from the bottom of the water. One disappeared in a large hole on the high bank, and then the same bird re-appeared once more. A large group of Redshanks moved about, and other smaller groups of the same birds moved about the area. The Redshanks where so easily seem over the other birds – reddish legs on display.
Oyster Catchers made their presence known with their loud trilling call and they tried to compete with the resident Curlews in a call competition, A group of Tufted Duck swan about in a group, and remained together as they always do. Then of course more Wigeon where very apparent once more, and the ever well known Mallard mixed with the other groups as happily as they do.
A little weir bridge was seen at the end of the pool of water so it must be part of the Caledonian Canal going out to the Beauly Firth. At the end of the pathway, we ended up coming out on the Caledonian Canal end and continued our walk back into town.

As Merkinch Local Nature Reserve is a little gem of an area, it was great to find out about it on such short notice. I will e-mail the appropriate people and mention that I really enjoyed seeing the bird life there, and the species noted on our walkabout. There was an advertisement placed on a local notice board saying that the associated bodies wanted feedback about the ‘newish’ reserve.

After our day out of many hours walking about, my OH and I retired to the local pub and had a hearty pub meal, and we relaxed for the rest to the evening before retiring to bed.

Next day, it was back to Bedford. The weekend was super and I really enjoyed the fact we stayed at 3 separate hotels all of which where excellent. We got the Thistle Hotel room for £41 pound on last minute.dot com so that was a good price for us. The two hotels (mentioned) where a lot more expensive, much more of a treat to some people as it ate into your money very easily. It could get quite expensive indeed, and it would need to be planned ahead to be honest.

All in all a busy weekend though we where tied to our wedding plans. We will some back another day and do a lot more bird watching at the other larger known reserves.

Pictures coming up shortly. :t:

Pictures of the Hooded Crow situated between the 2 town road bridges

This one was not too worried about your getting too close to him or not.

Regards
Kathy
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...and more of the hooded Crow and the last one of the River Ness in town.

Regards
Kathy
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More pictures of various birds that we saw

Picture 1: Wigeon (found at back of Bunchrew House Hotel)
Picture 2: Female Golden Eye
Picture 3: Red Breasted Meganser
Picture 4: Red Breasted Meganser

The last 3 pictures are taken on the river through Inverness between the 2 road bridges

Regards
Kathy
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Picture 5: Juv gull (not sure what one?)
Picture 6: Red Breasted Megansers
Picture 7: Red Breasted Megansers
Picture 8: Black Headed Gull
Picture 9: Great Black Backed Gull

All these pictures where taken on the river through Inverness between the 2 road bridges


Regards
Kathy
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Hi peewit, good to see someone mentioning the merkinch reserve! I come from Inverness and have been visiting this site on and off for a good few years now but not since i've moved south to Dunfermline, the Grebes you talk about are interesting, i've never known GC Grebes to found there, that's not to say they were'nt GC's but they are very scarce up in the 'sneck' area and are usual only ever found in 1's or 2's on the sea, mostly from Alturlie point, a couple of miles east of town......this would be a good record for the reserve!
Next time you visit, try getting there early i.e, before any dog walkers, you'll be in with a really good chance of getting 1 or maybe even a pair of kingfishers, they usually turn up in autumn and stay till breeding time and if you're REALLY quiet and stay still, you might get a glimps of a water rail. Best place to find both is at the start of the path that leads from the canal side, there's a little open patch that allows views up the channel looking towards the small industrial site. At the top of the channel, you should see a 'fishing perch' sticking out of the right hand side of the water, this dead branch was put here a few years back and it seems to be a favoured spot for the kingfishers to sit. This is also the place i've usually seen the water rails, more often than not, swimming from one side to the other.
Other notable birds that have been seen there in the past include Spotted Craik and Citrine Wagtail, so it is a great wee site and to be honest, not a lot of people know about it.

Yet more pictures of Merkinch Local Nature Reserve

The pictures speak for themselves

Enjoyed reading all that Kathy. Sounds like you had an excellent time so I hope you'll come up this way again.

I hadn't heard of the Merkinch Local Nature Reserve so that's really useful to know. We occasionally go to Inverness for bits and pieces that we can't get locally so in future OH can drop me off to do a bit of birding whilst he does the boring bit :-O.

TS

The Hairy Highlander said:

Hi peewit, good to see someone mentioning the merkinch reserve! I come from Inverness and have been visiting this site on and off for a good few years now but not since i've moved south to Dunfermline, the Grebes you talk about are interesting, i've never known GC Grebes to found there, that's not to say they were'nt GC's but they are very scarce up in the 'sneck' area and are usual only ever found in 1's or 2's on the sea, mostly from Alturlie point, a couple of miles east of town......this would be a good record for the reserve!
Next time you visit, try getting there early i.e, before any dog walkers, you'll be in with a really good chance of getting 1 or maybe even a pair of kingfishers, they usually turn up in autumn and stay till breeding time and if you're REALLY quiet and stay still, you might get a glimps of a water rail. Best place to find both is at the start of the path that leads from the canal side, there's a little open patch that allows views up the channel looking towards the small industrial site. At the top of the channel, you should see a 'fishing perch' sticking out of the right hand side of the water, this dead branch was put here a few years back and it seems to be a favoured spot for the kingfishers to sit. This is also the place i've usually seen the water rails, more often than not, swimming from one side to the other.
Other notable birds that have been seen there in the past include Spotted Craik and Citrine Wagtail, so it is a great wee site and to be honest, not a lot of people know about it.

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Hi Hairy Highland

Love your name by the way LOL, and thank you for your reply.

Thanks for the extra information about Merkinch. OH was pleased to hear that, and we will come up agian sometime in the future. He loves Kingfishers. The next time it will be for birding and nothing else!

Tree Sparrow said:

Enjoyed reading all that Kathy. Sounds like you had an excellent time so I hope you'll come up this way again.

I hadn't heard of the Merkinch Local Nature Reserve so that's really useful to know. We occasionally go to Inverness for bits and pieces that we can't get locally so in future OH can drop me off to do a bit of birding whilst he does the boring bit :-O.

TS

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Hi Tree sparrow

Thank you for your kind comments about the report. Yes, I wondered how well known it was. I typed in search Merkinch on the BF search engine and nothing came up.

It will be great to hear of others experiences there. Yes, it is a good spot if you are in Inverness town as there are buses to the Merkinch LNR front gates! LOL - Only from the industrial end though.

Regards
Kathy
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Hi there

I have got in contact with the people who look after the Reserve by phone and e-maii, and I have sent the list of birds noted on my report

The same people have mentioned that there is a large Heronary closeby to Merkinch LNR for extra interest.

Regards
Kathy
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hi i've just been reading this thread on the merkinch reserve, i am very lucky as i live on the sea front on the kessock bridge side just a short walk away. i'm glad other people are getting a lot of enjoyment from it as well as us locals. myself and a friend are relatively new to birding and this is where we can get quite close to the birds therefore with the help of our books can try and name them.
we were at the ponds yesterday and saw little grebes, moorhen, widgeon, redshanks, herons, teal, mallards, curlew, mistle thrush and a red kite flew overhead.
we were there two weeks ago and thought we saw red necked grebes but they disappeared into the reeds before we could positively i d them.
there is also snipe and a kingfisher here but although we have seen them in the past they didn't come out for us yesterday.

Hi Kathy, I've enjoyed reading your report but can I just add that the photos of the Red Breasted Mergansers look like Goosanders. There appears to be a sharp neck border as opposed to the diffuse border of a RBG.

DaveN said:

Hi Kathy, I've enjoyed reading your report but can I just add that the photos of the Red Breasted Mergansers look like Goosanders. There appears to be a sharp neck border as opposed to the diffuse border of a RBG.

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Hi Dave

Thank you for your reply

I think you have a point there. I was going by the scruffy plumage on top of the head.

Thanks for the observation. I had a look at a couple of comparison pictures and I think you are right in what you say.

I brought a basic RSPB book with me and it had no pictures to show the difference between the two bird species. So I was a bit lost. My OH did state Goosander so he was right after all! :t:

Regards
Kathy
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I've just noticed that I put RBG instead on RBM

DaveN said:

I've just noticed that I put RBG instead on RBM

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Must be catching Dave the species thing. LOL

I will correct what I can with my reports. I do not think i can edit my report now, but this edit is here and that is the main thing.

Post 9 and 10 have the photos to check for the correct species! :t:

Regards
Kathy
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