Birding at Loch of Kinnordy (1 Viewer)

[kinnordyvolunteer]

Those nest boxes were built by the local youth club. That area has only recently been turned into a nature area with the boardwalks etc being put inn just over a year to 18months ago. The nest boxes were supposed to have been natural colours to blend in with the habitat!!! I don't know if any birds have taken to them this year...just hope they're colour blind if they have.

Darell

 

[kinnordyvolunteer]

Wednesday 9th July

I arrived mid afternoon and it was quite pleasant. Lots of birds around including blackcap, woodpecker, dunnock, kestrel, sparrowhawk, buzzard, osprey x3, willow warbler, long tailed tits, water rail, lapwing, oycs, redshank, snipe, heron, tufties, mallard, wigeon, gadwall, mute swan.

Later on, our local rspb group held a BBQ and thanfully it didn't rain. In fact it was a nice evening up until we left.

After we had eaten we went to the gullery hide to have a look before it got too dark. A group of starlings 30+ were gathering and settled in one of the pine trees to the left of gullery, suddenly they all took to the air as the sparrowhawk came in to say hello. Just before departed, we did get a good look at the juv male marsh harrier before he went down into the undergrowth not to be seen again that evening.

Darell:t:

 

[kinnordyvolunteer]

A quiet day at Kinnordy today. Ken Hall popped in so it was good to put another face to a name.
While he was in the gullery hide, an Osprey came in and landed on one of the posts. He sat there for a good 45mins before the male from the local nest came in and sent the other one packing. It wasn't long before both disappeared into the distance.

I spent part of the afternoon helping the warden to repair and replace barbed wire fencing along at the west end. The highland cattle had broken some of it in an attempt to get to the grass on the other side. They have plenty on their own side but i suppose the grass is always greener on the other side!!!

Mute swans and cygnets, kestrel, buzzard, sparrowhawk, lapwing, oycs, crows, mallard, gadwall, tufties, reed bunting, willow warbler, treecreeper, dunnock, robin, goldfinch, linnet and wrens were among the other birds seen.

I am back on the reserve again tomorrow so if anyone would like to go for a walk at any time please come along.

Darell:t:

 

[Ken Hall]

Nice to meet you too yesterday Darell. I saw you were a bit busy as I drove past, after being to look for the wee bird. I found it OK, so many thanks for your help. My camera and lens survived their fall in the hide which is a relief. Here's a photo of the Reed Bunting that was shouting its head off outside the hide.

 

[kinnordyvolunteer]

Saturday 12th July

It was lashing down with rain when i arrived and continued to rain for most of the morning. It did brighten up in the afternoon and the sun came out to warm us up, asyou can see from my photo of the bumble bee on the thistle in the car park.

I started off this morning by going to see how the ospreys were getting on. Again, as you can see from the photos, it was driving rain and the birds didn't seem to be enjoying it too much. The male came into the reserve later in the morning and i managed to catch it on my camcorder but it disappeared not to be seen again today.

Tufted duck, gadwall, mallard, teal x34, wigeon 10, heron, coot, moorhen, little grebe, lapwing, oycs, rooks, crows, black headed gulls with juvs, common gulls, lesser black back, wren, robin, blue tit, great tit, goldcrest juv, treecreeper, swift 100+, sand martin, swallow, house martin, woodpigeon, blackbird, chaffinch, buzzard, sedge and willow warblers and reed bunting were among the birds seen today.

Todays photos are of a bumble bee on a thistle,Ospreys in the rain along with one of the two young and the little grebe in front of the gullery hide.

The Osprey photos were digiscoped as was the little grebe.

Darell:t:

 

[kinnordyvolunteer]

I am doing more guided walks on Tuesday 12th, Wednesday13th and Thursday14th of August.

Tuesday and Thursday will start at 10am and Wednesday at 2pm.

Contact the warden for further information and booking.

Darell

 

[kinnordyvolunteer]

While at Tentsmuir over if fife, i received a text from Hannah to ask if i had seen the pair of male ruddy duck yesterday before i headed for Glen Prossen. I hadnt so, i headed up to kinnordy to see if they were still there. They were sitting out in front of the gullery hide next to the bog bean.

We were so busy watching the ruddy duck that we hadn't seen the osprey come in and catch some food. We just noticed him when he was over the far side of the reserve, trying to gain some height with quite a large fish..partner would be pleased with that one.

Other birds seen while i was there this afternoon were mallard 250+, wigeon 10, gadwall 5, tufties, teal, lapwing 60+, oycs 7, buzzard, swans and cygnets, heron, spotted flycatcher, wren, blackbird, willow warbler, reed bunting, bullfinch, great tit, robin and blue tit.

Darell:t:

 

[Ben Nevis]

That is a big fish Darell.I think it is a Pike but cant say for certain.

 

[kinnordyvolunteer]

Yes it was a large fish and very pale too...i'm sure it was a pike and maybe it was white from fright from being caught!!!

 

[gus guthrie]

just back from Kinnordy, both Ruddy ducks sitting right in front of the Gullery hide. Went round to the Swamp hide but it was pretty quiet, as I came out I saw a movement down to my left off the boardwalk, It was a water Rail. I stood dead still and it came right up to to where I was standing, couldn't believe it ! Less than 4ft away ! Stood still for over 10 minutes while it foraged around for food, well worth the rain and midgies !

 

[kinnordyvolunteer]

I will be at kinnordy on sunday this week, so if anyone would like to go for a walk round the reserve please let me know with a PM or email to arrange a time.

Darell

 

[kinnordyvolunteer]

Sunday 20th july

I went up to take more pics of the young osprey to find them well and truly fledged. Both the youngsters were at the nest while mother was watching from close by and father...fishing somewhere.

The male came into kinnordy quite a few times during the day along with males from other nests.

One bird i saw today that i haven't seen for a while was the juv male marsh harrier and we got some good sightings of him throughout the day, although he did disappear into the grass for lenghthy spells.

On tuesday there were a pair of male ruddy ducks and today there were three males along with mallard, tufties, wigeon, heron, oycs, moorhen, coot, mute swan and cygnets, willow warbler, reed bunting, coal tit, great tit, blue tit, blackbird, sparrowhawk, buzzard, spotted flycatcher, chaffinch, redpoll, linnet, goldfinch, swallow, swift, hse martin, sand martin, wren, robin and treecreeper.

I also saw, got brief glimpses of a water rail beside the first boardwalk going towards the swamp hide. She was making quite a racket for some reason....male had probably done something wrong!!

Darell

 

[kinnordyvolunteer]

More pictures from todays visit to kinnordy.

Ruddy Duck, family of three whitethroat and more of the harrier and osprey.

Darell

 

[kawwauser]

darell i take it you were the person i met at the gullery hide who pointed out the lost property just before you left?i was the tired looking taxi driver sitting to your right, iv,e only just recently started birding on sundays, i finnish at 4.00am/500am sunday morning ,apart from not being able to get out untill afternoon im finding im also shattered for a few hours explaining why i thought that sparrowhawk might be a buzzard, good to meet you, after you left three ospreys were hunting over the east side of the loch,they flew for a while but never dived, one flew down and landed on the tree with the jackdaw nestbox on the opposite side,it only stayed for less than a minute then flew off, the 2 ruddy duck males eventually woke up and swam into the bogbean, there was 2 moorhens with 2 small chicks in front of the gullery hide and another adult appeared with a half grown juv in tow,there was 2 juv common gull perched at the east hide,a single osprey appeared at the east hide and came very close to the hide, it circled twice dived and caught a pike, iv,e not seen them come that close at kinnordy, maybe because of their numbers they are taking chances to get their catch,the bird in question had a missing tail feather which might identify it to one of the local breeders,after catching the pike the osprey flew west flying a few feet from the surface of the loch the entire journey, ive still not seen the marsh harrier this year or water rail ,still hope though ,after leaving kinnordy i headed for glen doll it was raining heavily so i was limited to a walk in waterproofs , good views though, heading back there was a rainbow reaching from behind the clova hotel towards rottal, either the clova hotel owner has gold or the field with the red legged partridges/rooks has some, a short but enjoyable day

pics

osprey hunting east hide
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/kawwauser/oss4.jpg
same bird missing tailfeather

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/kawwauser/oss1.jpg

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/kawwauser/oss2.jpg
the splash
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/kawwauser/oss5.jpg

take off
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/kawwauser/wng.jpg

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/kawwauser/oss8.jpg
three osprey taken from gullery hide
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/kawwauser/3osp.jpg

raibow glen doll

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

 

[kinnordyvolunteer]

It was good to meet you too. Nice photos of the osprey. The male with the missing tail feather is the one from the local nest.

I'm going up again tomorrow morning and hope the weather is as good as todays.

Darell

 

[kinnordyvolunteer]

Today was Osprey Day for me. I started at 8.30 and sat watching them for nearly three hours. In that time, both adults were off fishing leaving the youngsters to take care of themselves for a while. Mum eventually came back with a fish and one of the youngsters acted like it was its prize. Soon the male came back into the area and the young one with the fish, took off from the nest to show its father what it had.

Soon all four were circling round the area and going in different directions before coming back together. The male then took off for more food and the youngster was still carrying his around where ever it went. I think there were quite a few scraps in the nest its self because the other one was scoffing at bits and pieces.

It was brilliant to watch. The young took to the sky again while mum continued to call to them from her perch in a near by tree. For one moment i thought they were headed for the loch but they turned round in the wind and headed back to mum...comfort zone.

Eventually i headed off for the reserve and it wasn't long before the male came in and in no time at all, caught some lunch for the family. Later on he came back and sat on one of the perches.

In the afternoon i headed for the swamp hide to see what was there and guess what, the ospreys flew past headed for the east end. When i eventually got back to the gullery hide i could see that there was an osprey on the perch at the east end. I hadn't seen one on that post before so after taking a few pics from gullery i decided to move to the east hide to get a bit closer. I thought the osprey would probably move while i was hurrying along to the hide, but it must have read my mind and stayed exactly where it was. After a while he did move and dived into the water about half a dozen times to try and wash the scales off his talons. Its really good to watch as they free fall into the water, splash around a bit and then take to the skies again. After drying off, he continued to hunt for while before landing on the other post opposite the east hide.

In between seeing the osprey, i also saw 2 male ruddy ducks, mallard, teal, coot, heron, willow and sedge warblers, reed bunting, swans and cygnets, linnet, goldfinch, goldcrest, dunnock, pheasant, stock dove, sparrowhawk, buzzard, blackcap, wren, mistle thrush, meadow pipit, redpoll, stonechat, common gull and moorhen who have a new brood of 5 chicks to the left of the gullery hide.

Darell:t:

 

[kinnordyvolunteer]

More photos of the oeprey, this time from having a wash along at the east end.

You get a good view of the missing tail feather in the acrobatic pose.

Darell:t:

 

[Ben Nevis]

Sounds like a great day Darell.Your going to miss them,when they leave.:-C

 

[kawwauser]

intesting behavior shots,ive read about ospreys doing this but have never witnessed it

 

[kinnordyvolunteer]

I was at kinnordy for 5 mins this afternoon and had great views of the young marsh harrier. Alas i didn't have my camera with me...typical. Its packed away ready for my trip to new york tomorrow.

It was also good to see there are still 5 young moorhen chicks outside the gullery hide aswell.

I hope to do a report on my trip to new york, washington and baltimore while staying with my american friends. Dont know how much bird watching i'l be able/aloud to do, but the bins are hidden at the bottom of the suitcase...wonder how they got there!!??

Darell