kinnordyvolunteer
Darell Berthon
BIOBLITZ starts tonight at 9!! All welcome to come along and take part.
Darell
Darell
-
Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.
Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
Birding at Loch of Kinnordy (2 Viewers)
- Thread starter kinnordyvolunteer
- Start date
How did the Bioblitz go Darrel.
Sorry I couldn't get there.
Sorry I couldn't get there.
kinnordyvolunteer
Darell Berthon
We had a really good time at kinnordy on friday night and all day saturday.
Friday night saw us walking round to the lilly pond to find some bats and anything else that was around.
We counted numerous plants and trees etc and then had both pipstrelle and dambenton's bats, smooth newt, toads and froglets. Two Tawny Owls were talking to each other from different areas of the pond area and one of the experts putting traps out to cathc thins during the night, heard and then saw the beever as it dived into the water near its dam. We had put out 3 moth traps so hopefully there would be plenty of moths to look at in the morning.
Birdsa seen on friday night included swift, swallow, sand martins, snipe, starlings 400+, oycs, teal, mallard, wigeon sedge warbler, water rail, reed bunting, buzzard and female marsh harrier.
We arrived back at the car park about 11.15, so it was home for a few hours sleep.
Saturday
I arrived early to have a look round to see what was around. It was a nice morning and would have been perfect if the wind hadn't been so strong. At first i didn't add anything to my bird list that i hadn't seen the previous evening. I headed round to the lilly pond area because i knew there would be others round there and right enough, yellowhammer, whitethroat, chiff chaff, spotted flycatcher, willow warblers more reed buntings and 3 mistle thrushes.
Going back along the path i added wren, robin, blackbird, treecreeper and house martin. Back at base camp, next to the feeding station there were chaffinches, long tailed tits, blue tits, geat tits, coal tits, blackcap and great spotted woodpecker.
By now, the others had returned and had started looking in the moth traps. We had caught nearly 400 moths...39 different species. I will get a list of them soon to put on here.
Lapwing, gadwall, coot, moorhen, tufties, heron, lapwing, song thrush, lesser black back, blackheaded gull, common gull, herring gull, meadow pipit, pheasant, wood pigeon, rook, crow and osprey were also added to the list. We did get really good sightings of the female marsh harrier for most of the day, but no male!!
In the afternoon, everone went round to the lilly pond for pond dipping. A Gazzebo had been put up on friday and when we went round in the afternoon, it had been wrapped round bushes by the wind!!
After the pond dipping it was back to the basecamp area for bug hunting and to see what else we could put on our ever increasing list.
It had been a really good event, only spoilt slightly by the wind. I think we might have had a lot more insects flying around and also butterflies, if it had been a warm, calm day. Never mind, you all now we can't order the weather we want up here, at any time, so we just got on with it. In the end, i thnk the number of different species was around 300. I know there will probably be more on the reserve, but in the time, the area covered and the weather, i don't think we did too badly.
Fiona, the warden, had done alot of organising for this event and she did a fantastic job. I just hope the RSPB keep her on at the reserve for longer than the 5 month contract she has been given.
The photos are of friday night as the sun went down along with flycatcher and willow warbler from saturday morning.
Darell
Friday night saw us walking round to the lilly pond to find some bats and anything else that was around.
We counted numerous plants and trees etc and then had both pipstrelle and dambenton's bats, smooth newt, toads and froglets. Two Tawny Owls were talking to each other from different areas of the pond area and one of the experts putting traps out to cathc thins during the night, heard and then saw the beever as it dived into the water near its dam. We had put out 3 moth traps so hopefully there would be plenty of moths to look at in the morning.
Birdsa seen on friday night included swift, swallow, sand martins, snipe, starlings 400+, oycs, teal, mallard, wigeon sedge warbler, water rail, reed bunting, buzzard and female marsh harrier.
We arrived back at the car park about 11.15, so it was home for a few hours sleep.
Saturday
I arrived early to have a look round to see what was around. It was a nice morning and would have been perfect if the wind hadn't been so strong. At first i didn't add anything to my bird list that i hadn't seen the previous evening. I headed round to the lilly pond area because i knew there would be others round there and right enough, yellowhammer, whitethroat, chiff chaff, spotted flycatcher, willow warblers more reed buntings and 3 mistle thrushes.
Going back along the path i added wren, robin, blackbird, treecreeper and house martin. Back at base camp, next to the feeding station there were chaffinches, long tailed tits, blue tits, geat tits, coal tits, blackcap and great spotted woodpecker.
By now, the others had returned and had started looking in the moth traps. We had caught nearly 400 moths...39 different species. I will get a list of them soon to put on here.
Lapwing, gadwall, coot, moorhen, tufties, heron, lapwing, song thrush, lesser black back, blackheaded gull, common gull, herring gull, meadow pipit, pheasant, wood pigeon, rook, crow and osprey were also added to the list. We did get really good sightings of the female marsh harrier for most of the day, but no male!!
In the afternoon, everone went round to the lilly pond for pond dipping. A Gazzebo had been put up on friday and when we went round in the afternoon, it had been wrapped round bushes by the wind!!
After the pond dipping it was back to the basecamp area for bug hunting and to see what else we could put on our ever increasing list.
It had been a really good event, only spoilt slightly by the wind. I think we might have had a lot more insects flying around and also butterflies, if it had been a warm, calm day. Never mind, you all now we can't order the weather we want up here, at any time, so we just got on with it. In the end, i thnk the number of different species was around 300. I know there will probably be more on the reserve, but in the time, the area covered and the weather, i don't think we did too badly.
Fiona, the warden, had done alot of organising for this event and she did a fantastic job. I just hope the RSPB keep her on at the reserve for longer than the 5 month contract she has been given.
The photos are of friday night as the sun went down along with flycatcher and willow warbler from saturday morning.
Darell
Attachments
Mark Tulley
Member
Glad the Bioblitz went well - I didn't know about it or I would have been along on Saturday. I am particularly interested in the plants, so would be grateful for a plant list from the event. Who can I email to get one ?
Not sure why I missed the notices about the Bioblitz - we are members of RSPB living quite close.
Darell, really appreciate your weekly notes on Kinnordy.
Mark
Not sure why I missed the notices about the Bioblitz - we are members of RSPB living quite close.
Darell, really appreciate your weekly notes on Kinnordy.
Mark
It's nice to hear from you again Mark.
What a great weekend you had Darrel ('twas a bit blowy wasn't it!) and a super species list too, y the sounds of it.
What a great weekend you had Darrel ('twas a bit blowy wasn't it!) and a super species list too, y the sounds of it.
kinnordyvolunteer
Darell Berthon
Hi Mark
I think its going to take a while to collate all the information for the plants because a few were taken away for i'd.i think the plants total was around 140!! Fiona Mckenna is the person to email at the rspb. She is the warden at the moment.
Hi Delia, yes it was a good and worthwhile venture. It was also good to see a marsh harrier again. Pity they failed this year though.
Darell
I think its going to take a while to collate all the information for the plants because a few were taken away for i'd.i think the plants total was around 140!! Fiona Mckenna is the person to email at the rspb. She is the warden at the moment.
Hi Delia, yes it was a good and worthwhile venture. It was also good to see a marsh harrier again. Pity they failed this year though.
Darell
kinnordyvolunteer
Darell Berthon
Hi Mark
I think its going to take a while to collate all the information for the plants because a few were taken away for i'd.i think the plants total was around 140!! Fiona Mckenna is the person to email at the rspb. She is the warden at the moment.
Hi Delia, yes it was a good and worthwhile venture. It was also good to see a marsh harrier again. Pity they failed this year though.
Darell
I think its going to take a while to collate all the information for the plants because a few were taken away for i'd.i think the plants total was around 140!! Fiona Mckenna is the person to email at the rspb. She is the warden at the moment.
Hi Delia, yes it was a good and worthwhile venture. It was also good to see a marsh harrier again. Pity they failed this year though.
Darell
kinnordyvolunteer
Darell Berthon
The young Osprey at Kinnordy has now fledged.
Darell
Darell
markhammonds
Well-known member
Excellent!
Hello
Hi, I would like to introduce myself as the new contract assistant warden at Loch of Kinnordy. My role is also split between Loch Leven too. It is great to see so many wonderful photos and sightings posted on here from our beautiful reserve. We desperately need photos to post on the RSPB Kinnordy page also, so if anyone has any they wouldn't mind being shared on our page too please contact me.
I also hope that everyone appreciates that the RSPBs blog is a light hearted round up of reserve news, meant to be easy reading for all ages and backgrounds. Hence why complex issues such as predation and why the black headed gull colony has nearly disappeared are not addressed on there. Loch of Kinnordy is a complex site to manage, and as my first paid contract with the RSPB I hope that you can all appreciate the learning curve it is for me and be patient and understanding
I can assure you all that I am doing my best to raise funds for the reserve as I too love it and think it deserves a bit of extra care. Any fundraising ideas, and help to do so are greatly appreciated.
p.s. I will check if I am allowed to share the bioblitz species list once it is complete (cant see why not but you never know), then I will either share it on our blog, or set up a mailing list. Apologies to anyone that missed the advertising for the event, any ideas on where to advertise future events are welcome - I am still learning things as I go along I'm afraid.
Hi, I would like to introduce myself as the new contract assistant warden at Loch of Kinnordy. My role is also split between Loch Leven too. It is great to see so many wonderful photos and sightings posted on here from our beautiful reserve. We desperately need photos to post on the RSPB Kinnordy page also, so if anyone has any they wouldn't mind being shared on our page too please contact me.
I also hope that everyone appreciates that the RSPBs blog is a light hearted round up of reserve news, meant to be easy reading for all ages and backgrounds. Hence why complex issues such as predation and why the black headed gull colony has nearly disappeared are not addressed on there. Loch of Kinnordy is a complex site to manage, and as my first paid contract with the RSPB I hope that you can all appreciate the learning curve it is for me and be patient and understanding
I can assure you all that I am doing my best to raise funds for the reserve as I too love it and think it deserves a bit of extra care. Any fundraising ideas, and help to do so are greatly appreciated.p.s. I will check if I am allowed to share the bioblitz species list once it is complete (cant see why not but you never know), then I will either share it on our blog, or set up a mailing list. Apologies to anyone that missed the advertising for the event, any ideas on where to advertise future events are welcome - I am still learning things as I go along I'm afraid.
Last edited:
Hi Fiona and welcome to Birdforum from all the Staff - and to the best thread:-O
We have a pretty good article here in Opus covering the reserve, which I try to keep up to date (perhaps you could help with this too?)
If you scroll to the bottom you'll see a link to our Gallery - if you find any pictures in there you'd like to use, I'm sure there wouldn't be a problem if you ask - there's some cracking ones to go at and some good ones in this thread too.
Hopefully we'll bump into each other some time.
We have a pretty good article here in Opus covering the reserve, which I try to keep up to date (perhaps you could help with this too?)
If you scroll to the bottom you'll see a link to our Gallery - if you find any pictures in there you'd like to use, I'm sure there wouldn't be a problem if you ask - there's some cracking ones to go at and some good ones in this thread too.
Hopefully we'll bump into each other some time.
richardblackburn
Active member
Hi Fiona,
I have several sets of photos taken at Kinnordy on Flickr that you can use, as long as you let me know and give the credit to me.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/richardblackburn/sets/72157632505925009/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/richardblackburn/sets/72157629799505697/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/richardblackburn/sets/72157628936282785/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/richardblackburn/sets/72157626552157167/
I have several sets of photos taken at Kinnordy on Flickr that you can use, as long as you let me know and give the credit to me.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/richardblackburn/sets/72157632505925009/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/richardblackburn/sets/72157629799505697/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/richardblackburn/sets/72157628936282785/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/richardblackburn/sets/72157626552157167/
Caledonian
Well-known member
Hi Fiona,
Good luck with your new job as Assistant Warden!
Any Idea if the following Vacancy is still valid or is it you that already took this place?
http://www.rspb.org.uk/vacancies/details/350924-assistant-warden-tayside-reserves
Thanks in advance
Cheers,
Rik
Good luck with your new job as Assistant Warden!
Any Idea if the following Vacancy is still valid or is it you that already took this place?
http://www.rspb.org.uk/vacancies/details/350924-assistant-warden-tayside-reserves
Thanks in advance
Cheers,
Rik
Hi, I would like to introduce myself as the new contract assistant warden at Loch of Kinnordy. My role is also split between Loch Leven too. It is great to see so many wonderful photos and sightings posted on here from our beautiful reserve. We desperately need photos to post on the RSPB Kinnordy page also, so if anyone has any they wouldn't mind being shared on our page too please contact me.
I also hope that everyone appreciates that the RSPBs blog is a light hearted round up of reserve news, meant to be easy reading for all ages and backgrounds. Hence why complex issues such as predation and why the black headed gull colony has nearly disappeared are not addressed on there. Loch of Kinnordy is a complex site to manage, and as my first paid contract with the RSPB I hope that you can all appreciate the learning curve it is for me and be patient and understanding
p.s. I will check if I am allowed to share the bioblitz species list once it is complete (cant see why not but you never know), then I will either share it on our blog, or set up a mailing list. Apologies to anyone that missed the advertising for the event, any ideas on where to advertise future events are welcome - I am still learning things as I go along I'm afraid.
Last edited:
kawwauser
Well-known member
a female marsh harrier was hunting between the gullery hide and the east hide today,it was showing for over an hour at 1,00 ,it seemed to be determined to grab a bird,it nearly caught a lapwing had a swoop at a common gull sitting on the perch and had many dives at the ducks,it was hovering about 3 feet above the ducks but when it dived the ducks went underwater,the water levels are high just now I wonder if this has anything to do with this behaviour,each time it flew opposite the east hide it spooked a flock of lapwings/snipes/teals,a juv shellduck landed at the east end but was promptly chased off by some mutes,a pair of mutes still have 4 youngsters,there were 12 wigeon in front of the east hide with tufted ducks/mallards/1 coot,3 herons were standing opposite the hide,the feeder area was very busy with mostly coal tits and blue tits,great tits and chaffinches /willow warbler/great spotted woodpecker/robin(adult and juv)woodpigeon were also seen here,an adult buzzard was sitting in the trees and a juv could be heard calling,sedge warbler and a male reedbunting were in front of the gullery hide,a water rail was also heard calling,an osprey flew in and caught a fish while I was walking between hides,there are still reports of a kingfisher (being chased by swallows)
Attachments
I had an enjoyable couple of hours at Kinnordy this afternoon and saw your Marsh Harrier Kawwauser - she gave a couple of fly pasts.
Mike in his usual place saw a Kingfisher damn' him - I've not managed one there yet!!
Two groups of Canada geese flew in (1 lot leaving later). I can't recall ever seeing any at Kinnordy before.
Mike in his usual place
saw a Kingfisher damn' him - I've not managed one there yet!!Two groups of Canada geese flew in (1 lot leaving later). I can't recall ever seeing any at Kinnordy before.
Darell seems to have gone walk-about, hope he's OK.
Met Gus the other evening and he's in fine fettle.
Anyway thought I'd mention my last visit there on the 8th; the ducks seem to be coming out to play again and there's loads of swans and gulls roosting too.
I wondered what the white neck was that I saw wandering through the reeds to the left of the hide. It eventually appeared in the channel very briefly, then turned and went back again - that was the last I saw of it.
Anyone else seen a white goose there before?
Met Gus the other evening and he's in fine fettle.
Anyway thought I'd mention my last visit there on the 8th; the ducks seem to be coming out to play again and there's loads of swans and gulls roosting too.
I wondered what the white neck was that I saw wandering through the reeds to the left of the hide. It eventually appeared in the channel very briefly, then turned and went back again - that was the last I saw of it.
Anyone else seen a white goose there before?
Attachments
gus guthrie
gus guthrie
Popped out to the loch this morning for a look around, plenty small birds around such as Siskin, Treecreeper, Bullfinch and a nice Redwing.
On the water were Goldeneye, several Goosander, Shoveler and Wigeon. Teal numbers had also increased as the loch is thawed just now.
A flock of Pinkfeet came in to land on the water at the east end and I picked out a blue morph Snow Goose in among them, they only stayed around 15 minutes and then headed north. Luckily I got some pictures and a video grab before they left.
Then I found the Green-Winged Teal at the Swamp Hide showing really well with a small group of Eurasian Teal.
Back at the Gullery Hide the drake Smew appeared and swam around for a while before doing his disappearing act.
On the water were Goldeneye, several Goosander, Shoveler and Wigeon. Teal numbers had also increased as the loch is thawed just now.
A flock of Pinkfeet came in to land on the water at the east end and I picked out a blue morph Snow Goose in among them, they only stayed around 15 minutes and then headed north. Luckily I got some pictures and a video grab before they left.
Then I found the Green-Winged Teal at the Swamp Hide showing really well with a small group of Eurasian Teal.
Back at the Gullery Hide the drake Smew appeared and swam around for a while before doing his disappearing act.
