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A large-headed, long-bodied, thick-necked duck with a slender, long, hook-tipped red 'sawbill' would be GOOSANDER.

This bird is often seen in small groups at Lochwinnoch increasing to larger flocks towards the end of the day when they gather to roost on the water of mainly Barr Loch.

Male Goosanders are very obvious with a white body, black back and a dark green head.

Females have a grey body, reddish-brown head with a crest, an obvious white throat and a brown neck.

Goosanders feed on a wide variety of fish including young salmon, young trout and eels.  They even take small mammals as food!

 A few Goosander facts for you:

• Goosanders can live for 9 years or more.
• 8,900 winter in Britain.
• 2,600 breed in Britain.
• A few of the Britsh Goosanders fly to Norway to moult each year.
• Goosanders are members of the sawbill family so called because of their long, serrated bills, used for catching fish.
• First recorded breeding in Britain in 1871 in Scotland and since 1970s has slowly spread into England and Wales.

The most common medium sized black and white duck seen on areas of water in Britain is the TUFTED DUCK. 

Tufted Ducks are a diving duck with a short neck, rounded head and a relatively flat bill.

Males are strikingly black and white birds with a long crest - hence called a tufted duck.  Note that it has a white patch on its side and a black back.

Females are generally brown with a suggestion of a crest.

Tufted ducks spend a lot of time diving for food.  The main food items are freshwater mussels, insects or plant material.

Large numbers of black and white diving ducks, the tufted ducks, the goosanders and the goldeneyes are currently at Lochwinnoch nature reserve.

A few Tufted Duck facts for you:

• 7,000 - 8,000 pairs breed in Britain every year
• Up to 60,000 individuals winter in Britain - most coming from Northern Europe.
• They dive up to a depth of 2.5 metres for around 15 to 20 seconds.
• Up to 100 dives per hour are common.
• Tufted ducks can live up to 15 years.

Look out for a black and white medium sized duck with a large domed head and a small bill.  You will be looking at a male GOLDENEYE.  Look a little closer and you will see that it has a greenish black head with a white patch in front of its yellow eye.

Goldeneyes visit us from Northern Europe to winter in the warmer British climate.  They form small groups that are constantly diving for insects, small fish or plant material.

Females are normally part of these small groups but are not black and white but mottled grey with a chocolate-brown head, square white wing patch and white collar.

Also look out for the male goldeneyes doing their courtship display by throwing their heads back to display their white breast - it is a sight to see and it is happening on a loch near you during January and February.

 Large numbers of black and white diving ducks, the Goldeneyes, the goosanders and the tufted ducks are currently at Lochwinnoch nature reserve.

A few Goldeneye facts for you:

• The weight of a Goldeneye is anything between 600-1,200g so around the weight of a bag of sugar.
• Their wings make a loud whistling sound.
• They live up to 8 years.
• Over 33,000 individuals winter in British waters.
• Around 100 pairs now nest in Britain mainly in the Highlands - in and around our reserves at Abernethy and Inch Marshes.
• They started nesting in Britain since 1970 using specially designed nestboxes on trees close to the water.

It may look like nuts in that nut feeder but it is not - It is fruity nibbles!

For the last few months we have been trying fruity nibbles instead of nuts and the results have been startling.

Fruity nibbles are made of suet, raisins and contain over 35% fruit.

From our experience by observing the behaviour of birds at our feeding station the top three fruity nibblers are:

NUMBER 1: The small blue and yellow bird with a white face - the Blue Tit.  The blue tit was the first of our feeding station birds to discover the fruity nibbles and they can't seem to keep off them with as many as five Blue tits at once on this small nut feeder.

NUMBER 2: Next to discover the fruity nibbles was the bird with the red under tail - the Great Spotted Woodpecker.  In particular, our female quickly took a liking to these nibbles.  She is often seen on the feeder just a few metres away from our viewing window when it is busy with our human friends.

NUMBER 3: Over the last few weeks the tiny black, white and pink bird has discovered these nibbles - the Long-tailed Tits.  Coming in numbers of around six at a time, these birds can't keep away from our feeders at the moment and they always head directly to the fruity nibbles.

The secretive Woodcock takes out bird year list to 48 species so far for 2009.

This large bulky wader with short legs, very long straight, tapering bill and large eyes was seen for the second time in two weeks flying past the visitor centre.

It is often difficult to see this wader, the only wader that takes woodland to be its home instead of the marshes.  You tend to see this bird either by almost stepping on it as it is so camoflashed or at dawn and dusk when this bird is most active, flying around the edge of the wood.

Look out for a large wader, rusty coloured with broad rounded wings when you are next out at dusk and perhaps you will see this secretive bird.