I spent a few hours at the reserve today but also had a walk round on friday evening. On friday it was lovely and sunny where as today it was overcast and not quite as warm.
On friday evening i walked down to where the beavers had built a dam, next to the second bridge. The water in the channel had definitely risen by a few inches.
We went along to have another look today, to find someone had taken the dam away and the water was running quite freely again. The last time, about ten days ago, when someone took the dam away, the beavers had rebuilt it in a couple of days!!! When the person took the dam away last time, he got a ticking off!!!! As I've already said, the water had risen quite a lot since the rebuild, and thankfully there hasn't been any rain. The whole beaver thing seems to be really controversial, but if the water in the loch rises too much then the marsh harriers nest would be put at risk and i know which speices i would rather see.
The marsh harriers were visible for a lot of the day but the ospreys were not. I only had a fleeting glimpse of one during the 6 or so hours i was there and i kept telling visitors that they would be along SOON!!
Mallard, tufties, shoveler, coot, moorhen, redshank, curlew, lapwing,mute swans, reed bunting, sedge warbler, willow warbler, blackcap, yellowhammer, blackbird, sparrowhawk, buzzard, shelduck, heron, black headed gulls, common gull, lesser black back, dunnocks, great spotted woodpeckers, crows, jackdaw, rook, woodpigeon, pheasant, chaffinch, song thrush, swallow, swift, house martin, sand martin, robin and starling.
Darell