i was at kinnordy for a couple of hours this morning, driving in from the west end there was a large congregation of greylags with large juvs grazing in a patch near the road,i stopped intending on counting them but it was a bit dodgy parking here,i took some pics but they rapidly split into 3 groups ,I estimate there were about 30 juvs with them,this might be the most successful year they have had here, redshanks and oystercatchers were perched on the posts,at the swamp hide a lapwing and a redshank were feeding in front of the hide,sedge warblers/reedbuntings/willow warblers/great tits were close by,an osprey flew in and rapidly flew out,a carrion crow landed on the half submerged branch and walked along it until it was half submerged itself,a bemused pair of gadwall swam past directly behind it,at the gullery hide the female marsh harrier put in an appearance, it flew up and landed in the lone pine tree, the far side of the tree unfortunately,15 mins later it flew again landing back in the reeds rather than feeding,amazing bird,a water rail was very vocal to the right of the hide,although the bh gulls have again been wiped out one pair landed and began showing an interest ,a mute was being very aggressive to other mutes here,no cygnets seen,all four hirundines were flying but the stars are certainly the swallows which were constantly landing on the perch in front of the hide and calling,between the gullery hide and the lilly pond I came across a lot of the smaller birds/blue tits and great tits with youngsters, bullfinch/goldfinch/chaffinch/robins/willow warblers/1 chiff chaff/yellowhammers ,wrens were singing most of the way,one bird was nest building in vegetation just above the height of the water,herons /buzzards/pheasant and lssb gulls were also seen,there is evidence of recent activity from the beavers between the bridges,roe der and 1 hare were also seen
at backwater a male cuckoo was on the lines for over an hour calling and diving down ,a family of ravens was seen along with 1 jay skylark/linnet/common sandpiper/pied wagtail juvs/willow warblers, a kestrel was circling giving out an alarm call, it spotted prey on the ground and started hovering still giving the alarm calls ?