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Right then, this weeks data is in - this week thanks to our LTV (that's Long Term Vol if you were wondering).

Rothes is still in the area around Varela in Guinea Bissau. She's had a flight out over the sea but is seemingly keeping to a pretty localised area. Mallachie is also not showing any inclination to move to a new area - the area around Jarreng Tenda and Ba Faraba Island in The Gambia is good enough for her.

Below is the first post from our LTV Douglas - we decided we couldn't let him be outside all the time...

Hi all,

I’m the current long term volunteer at RSPB Abernethy NNR and will be helping out in this wonderful Highland location until April 2010, which I’m sure will come around all too soon.

I would like to take this opportunity to let you know about some of the work undertaken and the wildlife on offer throughout the winter season on the reserve.

Since starting my placement on October 7^th,  as well as black and red grouse I have been lucky enough to see three male and several hen Capercallies, these magnificent birds are a target species for conservation on the reserve and indeed throughout Scotland.

So far, my work has included heather burning, wetland construction, deadwood creation, deer fence maintenance and salmon counting on the river Nethy (note from Alice as one of you asked about this - we do this by walking downstream and counting the fish, not by electrofishing), all done under the expert guidance of the enthusiastic team up here.

As my experience increases, the team have given me more responsibility for individual tasks and I would like to relate a magical experience I had on the hills just the other day. I had been asked to assess repair work needed on a section of deer fence high on a hillside and as I approached the top, a Golden Eagle rose no more than 30 feet in front of me! Now I have seen these birds before but usually just a speck in the sky, this was a mature bird and I was close enough to see the golden brown nape feathers and powerful talons and beak. I did manage a picture on my point and press camera but the one in my memory bank will stay with me forever, truly a magnificent bird.

There have been great flocks of fieldfares and redwing feeding on the rowan and hawthorn berries in the area, fattening up for what I am sure will be a very cold few months ahead.

It’s another day in the hills for me tomorrow, this time with the wardens, and I am sure I will be seeing and doing things that will appear in my forthcoming writings.  Cheers for now…  Douglas

Sorry not to write this update earlier - trailer wheel brake issues and a salmon count - and since it was such a fantastic day, frosty and sunny (-8 degrees C last night) it seemed justifiable to download the latest data later on - as I'm writing this at 4.30pm it's nearly dark...

Anyway I've put the data in for Rothes and Mallachie. The points I'm getting are 9am and 5pm each day. Rothes has stayed put in the area between Varela and Nhiquim - she's taking it easy and enjoying the winter sun?

Mallachie meanwhile is in the same area of the Gambia, but dodging about a bit more - she's roosting in different places (unlike Rothes who may almost have picked her favoured tree...).

Anyway so both are moving around. The next update will come through next Saturday  and I'll update you all again next Monday.

On the reserve front, our Goose Roost Watch yesterday was very successful (sort of...) Richard's written a bit about it below:

The Goose roost-watch on the shore of Loch Garten last evening, was a spectacular success, attended by no-less that 85 people, a simply magnificent turn out, including ten children and many local people amongst them, and out-numbering the geese by…………….85! Yep, a complete blank on the goose-front, which was just a tad humiliating for Alice and I, but nevertheless, it was a wonderful evening. The loch was glassy-calm, giving perfect reflections of the Craigowrie hills beyond, the sunset was superb and the light at the gathering gloaming was just stunning. Add to that the frosty conditions, (which dropped to minus 8 degrees C later last night), and it all made for a beautiful hour or so at the loch side, bar the geese of course. But pah! Who needed 'em? Well, if I'm honest, one or two would have been good, to at least have had the event live up to its billing.

There were a mixture of other wildfowl including a few each of goldeneye, goosander, mallard and wigeon, plus assorted large gulls wafting in to roost. Just no geese. Yet there are, as I was vainly attempting to impress on the gathered throng last night, (some would say clutching at straws, maybe), many hundreds if not over a thousand greylag geese in the Strath right now, somewhere. Earlier in the day I had passed Loch Pityoulish a few miles away where 250+ were loafing, but who clearly opted to stay put rather than shift to Loch Garten. The bright, moonlit evenings of late might not have helped the situation either, as in such conditions, the geese can remain feeding out in fields, as moonlight enables them to be alert for predators.

But hey, we had a fun time (he says optimistically), and we are grateful to all who made the effort to come along, just sorry it was a disappointment. Alice skillfully disarmed any pending rebellion, with pacifying cups of tea & coffee, and the banter was good, and it really was a stunning end to the day, in contrast to the thrashing rain we had last week - though we did at least have geese on that occasion! What is it they say? Never work with animals and…..geese.

Anyway, that's all for now - more next week.

I've checked again for new data today (Friday 6th) but there's none available yet. It's looking like it'll become available tomorrow - as that's 7 days into November. Unfortunately I don't have access to a computer at the weekend - so it'll be Monday before I can get hold of it. Monday morning it'll be the priority job (unless something more urgent turns up...).

In the meantime, if you are around this Sunday it's the last of this year's Goost Roost Watches at Loch Garten - if you're in the area come along - it's looking like the weather will be better than last Sunday. It's on between 4 and 5pm - no guarantee of geese, but we had some last time even in the torrential rain. If we're lucky we might get to see and hear them whiffling as they come into land.

Have a nice weekend.

...for a few days at any rate.

Well the last of the hourly data is in (thanks to the volunteers). The latest point I got for Rothes was 12 noon on Saturday (31st), and for Mallachie it was 2pm. The data shows both of them to have hung around their respective patches - Rothes near Varela and Mallachie near Sotokoi.

I'll check for new data regularly until I find out which day we'll be getting it through. In the meantime I'll not write any new blogs until I have some data to write about. So there'll be a bit of a gap in blogs for a little while.

The Goose Roost Watch went better than Richard and I expected - there were actually some geese and people. There was also quite a lot of rain - fortunately we didn't get the flooding they got over in Aberdeenshire...

I'll update again soon...