I actually went up to kinnordy yesterday afternoon. It was a lovely day and i wanted to see how the reserve was. As i drove past the swamp end there were no birds to be seen and in front of the gullery hide it was the same. There were lots of mute swans at the east end and a few ducks. mallard, wigeon, coot, gadwall and shoveler were there in very small numbers. No teal to be seen and no snipe flying round.
I walked along to the east hide and from there i spotted a female goosander...first one this autumn. 4 swallows flew past and at the feeding station there were the usual suspects plus a woodpecker.
I only stayed an hour and in that time a few more ducks did appear from the back of the reserve. How many they managed to shoot i don't know.
This morning it was lovely and sunny when i left Dundee after having to scrape the windscreen. There was a blanket of fog around the Auchindorie area before kinnordy and i couldn't see the pool of water at the bottom of the field to see if there was anything there, but after turning right and heading towards the farm, the fog disappeared and it was a glorious morning again.
After sitting in the gullery hide for a few mins it got really quite cold and i wished i had brought gloves with me. Nothing in front of the hide but, over at the east end i could see there were plenty of ducks of various varieties. Mallard, gadwall, wigeon, teal, shoveler, coot, goosander 2 females, cormorant, mute swans 31 plus 9 juvs and 3 herons. After a while i went and got my scope from the car and when i returned, all the ducks near by and snipe who were on the muddy bits, took to the sky as the female marsh harrier flew over their heads. I really didn't think i would see her again this week, especially after the shooting yesterday.
I went off for a walk round to the lilly pond. Treecreeper, blue tit, great tit, coal tit, great spotted woodpecker, chaffinch, siskin, robin and wren all in the feeding station area. Long tailed tits, bullfinch, blackbird, meadow pipit, goldfinch, redpoll, pied wagtail and whitethroat were all seen round at the back of the reserve, but not in great numbers. It was really quite quiet for a change round there but good to see the whitethroat still there.
Swallows still passing through in good numbers with one youngster trying to get in the gullery hide. I think it was being fed under the hide last week and now getting ready for a longer flight.
Snipe were still present in large numbers infront of gullery and the mute swan numbers are increasing all the time. We had a few skienes of pink feet flying over during the day and also large numbers of common gulls coming to drink and wash after following tractors in the fields.
A really lovely day. Very cold to begin with, but lovely and warm when in the direct sunshine.
Other birds seen today were Goldfinch, jay, skylark, buzzard, sparrowhawk, lapwing, pheasant, woodpigeons, jackdaws, crows, rooks, goldcrest and reed buntings.