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We've had our fair share of 'unusual' sighting on the reserve this winter - jay, nuthatch, water rail, jack snipe, but we have also been lucky enough to be visited at out feeding station by a beautiful, charismatic little singer, the yellowhammer. For many, these are a common sight and sound. I can remember very clearly the first time I ever heard one singing it's heart out. I had just arrived at T in the Park (also my first festival experience!) to help out on the RSPB stall we had that year and whilst walking from the coach stop to the main site, I could hear a yellowhammer singing over all of the din! "What a shame" I thought, "this little bird is probably singing the best song of the whole concert, and only i've been lucky enough to hear it, or at least to pay attention!" I then proceeded to tell visitors to the stall about them for the rest of the day in the hope that someone else would get to enjoy it!

Anyway, I digress...this year we have had not one but two of these beautiful little birds at our feeders, with several staff and visitors managing to catch a glimpse and a photo or two. Now, to put this into perspective (most birdwatchers have probably seen yellowhammers in huge flocks!) this is our first reserve record of the bird for 9 years and before that only one was seen since 1992! So for me and for others watching, this was exciting.

Yellowhammers, along with many other farmland birds, used to be incredibly common, but were one of the species that suffered as a result of the introduction of the Common Agricultural Policy and the resulting changes in farming practises that ensued. The species has since joined the red list of birds of conservation concern in the UK. The RSPB has been trying to halt it's decline through research and implementation of simple practises that can help this and other similiar species, such as planting wild bird crops on set aside land and working with farmers through the RSPB's Volunteer and Farmer Alliance Scheme.

Some facts about yellowhammers:

• They belong to the bunting family.
• They have 792,000 territories in the UK in the summer
• Their main habitats are grassland and farmland
• They lay 3-4 eggs per year
• Their Gaelic name is Buidheag-bhealaidh and their Welsh name is Melyr yr Eithin
• The rendition of the familiar song of the Yellowhammer as a "little bit of bread and no cheese" was made popular by Enid Blyton in her children's novels
• They have declined by approx. 55% since 1966.
• You can find out more by visiting http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/y/yellowhammer/index.aspx

To finish, a nice photo, courtesy of Chris Gomersall, rspb-images.com.

 The Big Garden Birdwatch is still the biggest event in the RSPB's calendar, with over half a million people in the UK taking part every year! What an amazing way to find out how our favourite garden birds are doing across the country.

Over the past 30+ years, the Big Garden Birdwatch has helped us to identify changes in the status of many of our well known species. Without it we wouldn't have known how about the drastic decline in house sparrows (by half) or starlings (by three quarters!). The survey helps us to identify these changes but, more importantly, it helps us to aid their recovery. All this for just one hour of time.

This weekend at the reserve has seen our 'Get Ready for the Big Garden Birdwatch' event, something that we hold every year to make sure that people have all of the information they need to be able to do the survey. We focussed on three areas this year:

1. Get birds to visit your garden by putting out the right types of food. For this we made bird cakes and played the 'good food, bad food' game. Lots of people were really good at this game which is great, because it means our birds are getting the best foods possible. Find out more about the right types of food here: http://www.rspb.org.uk/advice/helpingbirds/feeding/index.aspx

2. Know/learn how to identify which types of birds you are getting. This year we had the 'guess whose beak' game out, which is surprisingly hard! Also, lots of bird puzzles and a garden birds activities booklet.

3. Find out how to do the survey. So, although the Big Garden Birdwatch is not until next weekend (30th & 31st January) we wanted to make sure that people knew how to do it, so we did our own surveys in the visitor centre, every hour this weekend. The most important thing to remember about the survey is that you are looking for the maximum number of birds seen at any one time, or peak count, so that you are not counting one individual bird that keeps going away and coming back, three times!

You might be reading this thinking "this sounds interesting, but what do I need to do" so here are my top tips for taking part in this years Big Garden Birdwatch:

1. Put some food and water out in your garden or local park (if you can)

2. Grab a pen and some paper and perhaps a bird ID book or chart

3. Make yourself some refreshments

4. Find yourself a comfy chair with a good view of your garden

5. Sit back, relax, watch your birds enjoying themselves and write down what you see (don't forget it's the highest number at any one time)

6. Send your results in to the RSPB

It really is that easy! And you only have to do this for one hour in 48, so pick whichever one you like (although a daylight one is probably best!)

And the best place for you to find out more information is here: www.rspb.og.uk/birdwatch

I look forward to hearing about everyone's garden delights next weekend!

Paula

Hi all,

Many regular may be aware that for the last few months, we have been running a Wonderful Whoopers Date With Nature project here at the reserve. Unfortunately, the weather hasn't always agreed with us, and the severe frosts have meant there have been very few, if any, waterbirds to be seen! This has not phased our resident whooper swan project assistant, Sarah Sanders, who writes this update for you all:

Down at Lochwinnoch the Wonderful Whoopers project (A Date With Nature project) has now been running for 7 weeks. Before Christmas we had 8 whooper swans land on the frozen Aird Meadow (including a juvenile) although none had leg rings and we have had a few other small groups landing on the loch before flying onwards. We also have one resident whooper swan that can usually be spotted on either the Castle Semple or Aird Meadow Loch with the resident mute swans. This bird actually spent the summer months here as well (most unusual) because it had damaged it's flight feathers. It quite happily fitted in with the mute swans, however, and has been seen feeding in the open water during the recent cold snap.The guided walks have been very successful so far, with sightings including kestrel, buzzard, woodcock, water rail, jack snipe, snipe, lapwing, teal, goldeneye, grey wagtail, dipper, bullfinch and even some whooper swans! The next two walks will be this Saturday (16th Jan) and Saturday 30th Jan and with what seems to be a bit of a thaw hopefully we shall see some more whoopers landing on the loch as well as a return of all our waterbirds.There have also been frequent sightings of whooper swans in the local area (for example, the Black Cart, Hogganfield Loch and the fields around Glasgow Airport) with some flocks containing over 150 swans! For more information on local sightings, why not visit the reserve and the project? We have a map of the local area detailing where and when whooper swans have been seen, so pop down to Lochwinnoch to find out more. 

And finally, did you know that Whooper Swans have clawed toes to help them grip on the ice? 

Sarah

The whooper swan project is running from now until the 14th February, with guided walks every weekend. For more information phone us on 01505 842663, or email lochwinnoch@rspb.org.uk.

Paula

Happy New Year to everyone, and what a cold start to the year we're all having!

Since 23rd December, all three lochs have been completely frozen. Over two weeks of severely cold weather will really be starting to have an impact on our birds. We have seen some unusual sights as a result of the big freeze, as many normally shy birds have gathered around areas of flowing water, as these are the only places available for eating and drinking!

These have so far included water rail, jack snipe, snipe, moorhen, grey heron, mute swan, whooper swan, dipper, teal, goldeneye and mallards, plus lots of black headed and lesser black backed gulls sitting on the ice. Woodcocks and brambling are also being frequently reported around the local area.

On the reserve, the feeding station has been completely mobbed as hungry birds desperately try to eat and keep their energy up to survive the freezing cold nights. This has brought in lots of the normal species as well as some unusual sightings, including a yellowhammer (the first on the reserve for over 10 years), 10 blackbirds all feeding at the same time, reed buntings, fieldfares & bullfinches.

Whilst this cold weather persists, there are a few things to remember to make sure that our birds are well fed and looked after:

1. Feed your birds. If you normally feed birds in your garden or local park, please continue to do so. The birds will be relying on these food sources as there is very little else available at the moment. If you don't normally feed your birds, please consider doing so. Kitchen scraps and rotten fruit and vegetables can be just as valuable as seeds, fats and peanuts. There are, however, quite a few foods to avoid including salty, mouldy and stale foods and many dried foods. Also, avoid using left over cooking fats from meat/poultry as this can carry harmful bacteria and cause birds to become very unwell and die. For advice about feeding birds, visit http://www.rspb.org.uk/advice/helpingbirds/feeding/index.aspx

2. Put water out. People often forget that during times of frost and snow, although there is plenty of frozen water available, there is little or no drinking water available for birds. Just today, at a nearby loch, the swans were so thirsty from eating so much bread that they were almost chocking on it. 5 minutes of clearing a bit of slushy ice soon brought all of the swans over who quickly swallowed the water down. You will have to check your bird bath, margerine pot or ice cream tub (whatever you choose to put water into) daily as it is likely to freeze overnight. Just pouring a kettle full of warm water will give the birds a drinking water supply again.

3. Don't disturb groups of water birds. Birds that usually rely upon water bodies for food, water and safety from predators will be lacking in all of these things due to the severe frosts. It is vitally important that these groups are not disturbed as every time they have to move or fly away, this uses up more of the little energy that they have left. Please avoid walking near them or being tempted to do so because the birds are not as active as normal. Please also keep dogs under control where possible as they can easily cause distress to birds.

4. Keep your nestboxes up. Whilst this may not be something that people would usually consider doing or thinking about at this time of year, nestboxes can provide much needed shelter from the cold for many species in the winter. Wrens in particular collect in large groups and will roost together in nestboxes. You may notice them arriving at your box from dusk onwards. Over 50 have been known to roost together in one box! If you have a nestbox camera, it may be worth switching it back on during the winter to see if you have any creatures using your box as a roost site.

For further advice about looking after you birds, please visit www.rspb.org.uk/advice/helpingbirds/

Thank you for all of your help during this freezing spell. The birds will certainly appreciate it as do we all, and you never know, you might get something new or unusual in your garden too!

Finally, a really nice picture of the water rail, take by reserve manager Zul Bhatia on Christmas Day.

Time for one more blog before our Christmas break, and I thought I'd dedicate this one to the hardy buzzard that has been delighting visitors almost every day.

When we first noticed the bird, we thought it was a female hen harrier. One of the main distinguishing features of a female hen harrier in flight is a pale rump. It was also flying very low over the reed bed, exactly how we always see the hen harriers. However, we were very wrong! The bird then proceeded to sit in a tree (not like a hen harrier at all!) with it's back to us, and it's surprising how difficult it is to identify either bird from it's back! Eventually the bird turned around and we realised it was a buzzard, but then we were shocked by how pale it was and thoughts were abound of rough legged buzzard! However, before we let our imaginations run away with us, we saw the birds legs (rough legged buzzards have feathers all the way down to their feet) and concluded that it was in fact a common buzzard - not that this wasn't just as exciting, it was sitting in a hawthorn tree very close to the centre and giving us a fantastic show.

This all took place in one day, but the next day he/she was back...and the next...and the next. Some days it would be eating worms from the muddy bits of the Aird Meadow, others eating frogs from the edge of the pond, and others just sitting in its favourite hawthorn tree. It also gave us some fantastic close up views as it fed on a carcass in front of the visitor centre.

As I type this, it is sitting in the snow on its favourite tree looking stunning, and as an extra treat, our reserve manager managed to get a stunning picture of it which I have attached below.

Over Christmas, the visitor centre is closed on the 25th & 26th Dec and the 1st & 2nd January but open at all other times. Our normal opening hours are 10am - 5pm, but on the 24th Dec & 31st Dec we will close at 3pm. The reserve trails and hides will remain open at all times, so if you fancy a nice walk on Christmas or New Years day, please do go ahead.

From all of us here at RSPB Lochwinnoch, have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Buzzard Copyright Zul Bhatia 2009

This week has seen us all get into the festive spirit, with our Festive Fun event yesterday and Christmas night out. Our Young Volunteers Group spent a lot of time organising this year's event, to make it one of the best Festive Fun days we've ever had! Father Christmas popped in to see us and we were told he was on top form! We also had a raffle, bottle tombola, name the robin competition and a selection of crafts including making whooper swan christmas tree decorations, yule logs for the birds and christmas cards - we raised over £250 towards the RSPB's vital conservation work, so a big thank you to everyone who came along and took part!

The rest of the week, like many places in the UK, we have been plagued by foggy conditions, making wildlife watching difficult to say the least! However, our feeding station has kept us amused with bullfinches, reed buntings and fieldfares proving to be the highlights of the week. And during the clearer patches of weather, the otter has been seen outside the Aird Meadow hide several times, a treat not to be sniffed at!

So 2009 is coming to and end, and I will try to get a final blog in before Christmas, but if I don't succeed, Seasons Greetings to all and have a Happy New Year!

Yesterday (Sat 5th December) we were lucky enough to be able to take our Young Volunteers group to 'The Wave' climate change march in Glasgow. A few weeks ago I thought that this would be a great thing for our young vols group to be involved with, as it is potentially something that could have a huge impact on their future as well as all of our own.

We went along to the march, not really knowing what to expect and as we got to Ibrox subway station, we realised that this would be something special. Hundreds of people were getting of the trains and making their way to Bellahouston park. People of all ages, ethnicities and backgrounds who wanted to have their voices heard about the future of our planet.

As we got to the march we were greeted by thousands of people! What a fantastic sight! The RSPB had a great presence, lots of people had flags, banners and placards, and there were people from all sorts of organisations there: Oxfam, Christian Aid and Greenpeace to name but a few partners in the Stop Climate Chaos Coalition.  Drumming groups such as SheBoom set the mood and created that much needed atmosphere so that the procession was not just seen but heard, with SambaYaBamba joining in once we reached the squinty bridge and a pipe band leading the march.

The point at which we realised just how may people were involved with the march was just as we passed the SECC, we walked along a horseshoe shaped piece of road. We were stopped briefly at the top of the road to allow the march to catch up, and here you could see many thousands of people all gathered. Someone started a mexican wave, which passed all the way around the horseshoe and looked amazing!

In the park we listened to some very good, empowering speeches and had a look at some of the stalls organised by the coalition members. I later discovered the final total for the day was an estimated 7,000 people!

A great experience and turnout! Lets hope it gets the message across to the politicians who will be attending the Copenhagen Climate Change summit, and deciding the future for us all!

Hi all,

It has been a bracing week to say the least! I came in on Wednesday to find some of our roof tiles had been damaged by the bad weather and that a small tree had fallen down across the path as well as some further ones along the Aird Meadow trail - nature's destructive qualities in all their glory.

Tuesdays showing of 'The Age of Stupid' was very succesful, the film was excellent and a real call to arms for many of the audience, the first step for many of them being to join in with, The Wave on Saturday 5th December (for more information, visit www.the-wave.org.uk/scotland)

This week has also seen the start of our whooper swan project, which will be running from now until mid-February. Sarah, our resident whooper swan knowledge box, will be at the reserve every weekend talking to visitors about all sorts of species, but especially looking for the incredible whooper swans. These birds start arriving from around Mid-October from Iceland to spend the winter in the UK, and Lochwinnoch is one of the spots they choose to come and rest. They are incredibly beautiful and elegant, as well as being much more vocal than our well know mute swans. Why not pop along one weekend, to join in with our guided walks, learn more about this underrated bird and perhaps have some fun and games as well! More details will be posted on the RSPB website when these become available.

Left: Whooper swan (RSPB-images.com) Right: Mute Swan (Zul Bhatia)

Last, but not least this week, we have found an invasive water weed in the pond on the left hand side of the visitor centre, known as New Zealand Pygmyweed or Crassula helmsii.

Crassula helmsii (New Zealand Pygmyweed) Courtesy of NNSS

This plant was introduced to the UK by people in 1911 as an oxygenator for ponds, but unfortunately has become one of the UK's most damaging species, especially when found on a wetland site, because of its ability to spread and the difficulties in controlling it.

This was not good news for us, as you can imagine, but luckily, the patch of plant that has been found is limited to one of our small ponds. The plant can be difficult to control; it grows back very easy when cut, cannot be killed by herbicides (without killing everything else!) and can spread from one water body to another from only one small fragment (1-3cm) of plant material.

This will mean that we will have to drain the affected area of water, treat the plant with rock salt and cover the plant with plastic sheeting, and then fill the pond in. Once we are sure the plant is under control, we will create a new pond near to the feeding station, so that our visitors can continue to enjoy close up views of the ducks. We will have to act quickly to prevent the spread, so you may notice this work beginning to happen within the next few weeks.

We are asking people to be vigilant for this plant in their own ponds and in places they may visit, and there are a couple of things you can do to help us, should you so wish:

1. Check you own pond/water bodies for this plant, you might have already found it to be a problem. The plant is sometimes found in garden centres and is mislabelled as Tillea recurva, so be on the look out for this.
2. Have a look at other water bodies when you're out and about, and inform landowners/managers where possible
3. Please do not bring your own pond dipping equipment to the reserve. We have many nets that we are happy to provide you with. This will also stop it from spreading to your own or other sites water bodies
4. Visit the UK non native species website to find out more information about this species and what you can do to limit it's spread. www.nonnativespecies.org/ and search for New Zealand Pygmy-weed

 Alternatively, pop in to see us at the visitor centre, where we can provide you with more information and an ID chart to take home with you, email us at Lochwinnoch@rspb.org.uk or phone us on 01505 842663.

Paula

Hi everyone,

Firstly, I want to apologise for leaving the blog so long. I'm hoping we can get back to our weekly entries again soon, especially as we have an additional two members of staff to assist us over the winter months!

It has continued to be a great month for otters, with visitors and volunteers seeing them almost every day on either the Barr Loch of outside the Aird Meadow hide! Definitely worth coming along to have a look before the water starts to get much frostier. They are still being seen in the middle of the day as well, so worth popping down any time you have a few spare minutes. Also, more regular sighting of hen harriers and lots of winter migrants around. Find out more by visiting www.rspb.org.uk/lochwinnoch and going to 'recent sightings'.

You may be wondering about the title of todays blog. This is in aid of the film show that we are having on Tuesday 24th November (7.30pm - 9.00pm). Some of you may have already read about this, but if not, we are holding an exclusive showing of the critically acclaimed climate change blockbuster 'The Age of Stupid'. We have managed to get hold of a licence to show this in the visitor centre for one night only and I have been told it is very inspirational and would like to invite as many people as possible to come along and watch it.

For those who are not familiar with the film itself, it is directed by Franny Armstrong (who also directed McLibel) who has become famous recently not because of her film making, but because Boris Johnson (Mayor of London) recently rescued her from an attempted mugging! It stars Pete Postlethwaite (Brassed Off, The Usual Suspects) as a man living in the year 2055 on a now devastated planet, looking back at archive footage from 2008 and wondering, why didn't we do something when we had the chance?

So, why not come along and find out more? Watch the film and see what you think. It may not change your life but perhaps it will be the first step to helping change the lives of others and protecting our planet at the same time. I personally can't wait to see it and prove that I'm 'not stupid'.

For more information and to book tickets for the showing, please contact us on 01505 842663 or email lochwinnoch@rspb.org.uk. Tickets cost £4 and most be booked in advance.

What a great week it has been for birds and wildlife on the reserve, with otters, hen harriers, ducks, geese and swans around to delight us and that's not including all of our feeding station birds, including daily great spotted woodpeckers, lots of chaffinches and goldfinches and plenty of house sparrows.

There has been an otter seen feeding outside the Aird Meadow hide at least once a day this week, and on the Barr Loch several times as well. We have been very lucky with the quatity and quality of sightings that we have been having, some visitors have been reporting that they are getting very good photos as well. I have not yet seen it myself, too much time on the computer and not much time for otter spotting, but if I manage to get any good photos, I will put them on the Lochwinnoch Facebook page...please feel free to add your own as well!

Wednesday saw the first hen harrier for the winter as a male bird swept across the Aird Meadow, attempted to hunt and then was promptly mobbed by three crows, who chased him away. Great views though as the crows forced the harrier to come very close to the building, providing us and all of our visitors which a superb swooping display.

There have been very good counts of duck, geese and swans on the Aird Meadow, towards the beginning of the week (8th - 10th) including a ring necked duck, lots of gadwall (our second highest count, ever!), great crested grebes, canada geese, wigeon, teal, goldeneye and over 30 swans. There have also been more sightings of whooper swans on the Aird Meadow, moving over to the Barr Loch, but not yet settling as they will do later in the month.

This weekend we have been running our 'Amazing Autumn' event - one of my favourites! and for the most part the weather has been kind to us, giving us lots of time to go outside searching for fungus, crunchy leaves and making homes for mammals and insects for the winter. The fungus hunts have been very interesting, turning up at least 20 different species (some of which we can't identify and some which we can!) including honey fungus, sulphur tuft, common puffballs, milkcaps & birch bracket fungus (otherwise known as a polypore). Some other interesting finds have included plenty of toadlets still finding their way, and fox, deer and vole footprints, as well as the obvious and pugent smell of a fox that has been territory marking.

In our craft room we have been making new displays for the tower entrance hall, by decorating a variety of leaf shapes. We have also been making autumn garlands using leaf rubbings, which have worked really well!

At the feeding station today we have been seeing a lot of house sparrows, between 15 - 20 at any one time! And 6 goldfinches all hanging onto the clinger feeder is a wonderful sight as well.

Friday and Saturday evening were also National Moth Night. For those that don't know, NMN falls at a different time each year, as moths have such varied flight seasons that one date wouldn't capture enough information. So this year the dates fell at the start of autumn, in the hopes of catching some of the beautifully camouflaged autumnal moths. Friday night did not disappoint, with 15 species including Canary Shouldered Thorn, Pink Barred Sallow and Sallow - showing their beautiful autumn colours - "They look just like leaves!" one child exclaimed. As for Saturday, as some of you may have felt at home, the temperature dropped, so there were only a few moths in the trap this morning, but a good number and variety over the two nights. For more information about National Moth Night, visit  http://www.nationalmothnight.info/.

Canary Shouldered Thorn and Pink Barred Sallow, by Paula Baker 2009

The heavy rain overnight has left the roads around us flooded, as well as the ends of both trails. Hopefully the weatherman will be correct and the rest of the week will be a lot drier. Over the past few days the main highlights on the reserve have been a sparrowhawk that has been sitting very close to the visitor centre - it seems to be a young bird and has been doing this for a few weeks now, but it is a very welcome sight for our visitors to be able to have such a close up view of these birds.

Apart from that, the juvenile woodpeckers have been providing some entertainment - especially when they are down when the sparrowhawk appears! It is amazing how still they sit on the feeders when they know a predator is around, and they really do wait until the coast is clear before they even consider flying away or feeding again.

There have also been quite a few mallards around, having a splash around in the full to bursting pond, and as the water levels have risen, quite a few snipe have been seen flying away as well.

Paula

It has been a very interesting week and the weather has not even been half of it! The water level on the reserve got pretty high, but we weren't worried, the road wasn't flooded and we've seen the water level marker in the Aird Meadow pond disappear before, and the centre has still remained high and dry. Touch wood...

Last night was the second of our Bat and Moth nights for this year, led by the brilliant Clyde Bat Group, who kept everyone thoroughly entertained. The rain stayed off for us mostly and we managed to get plenty of Soprano Pipistrelles. No Daubentons this year (water level was too high to go to our usual spots.)

This morning we came back to empty the moth trap, it looked like it would be a good evening when we left, warm, cloudy and drizzley (perfect moth trapping weather!). We were not disappointed, and got a good variety of moths in the trap. The complete list is as follows:

Large yellow underwing, lesser yellow underwing, copper underwing, lesser common/common rustic, crescent, double lobed, butterbur (?), small phoenix, rosy rustic, small square spot, iron prominent, small wainscot, common marbled carpet, flame shoulder and dark arches.

I spent my lunch break photographing butterflies on our buddleia bush, a spectacular sight including red admiral, painted lady, small tortoiseshell, peacock and large white butterflies. It has been great to see so many on the bush this year, let's hope they continue to thrive.

Peacock butterfly by Paula Baker, 2009

Then, after heading along the trails to investigate a query, I stopped by our woodland feeding station to see what was about and was amazed by the amount of bank voles I saw there. There must have been at least 5, all of them feeding at some point whilst the others ran in and out of their holes and hid in the bushes. It was fantastic to be able to get so close to them and I can now understand why we ended up with so many pictures of them in our photography competition this year!

However, the highlight of the week has to be the weasel vs magpie face-off that I witnessed this morning. On my way out to get the moth trap, I popped into the photography hide to alert the photographers that I was coming, and one of them pointed out that there was a weasel trying to get past a pair of magpies. What followed was hilarious, the weasel kept running out of the bushes and leaping into the air at the magpies, which then proceeded to chase the weasel back into the bush. This happened several times, each time the weasel appeared from a different spot in an attempt to out-wit the magpies. Finally, the weasel just went for it and shot past both magpies who looked as surprised as the rest of us did! Fantastic!

As you may have guessed from the title of this post, we've been seenig otters on the reserve this week. One was spotted slinking into the water outside the Aird Meadow Hide on Friday afternoon and other visitors have reported seeing them in various places around the reserve. Gary (one of our volunteers) found spme spraints (for those that don't know, that's otter poo!) along the Dubbs Water trail, a surefire sign that they are going along that way quite regularly. Excellent!

However, we have also been spotting mink on the reserve, one of the few species that can be easily mistaken for an otter. Mink are non-native predators in the UK that have been proven to locally affect some breeding bird populations.

To tell the two species apart, i've often heard people say that, 'otters are cute looking, mink look mean' - well i guess that depends on you definition of 'mean' (and cute for that matter!). To clear up any confusion, here are some quick otter/mink comparisons that might help you work out which it is you are seeing:

European otter (Lutra lutra):

Appearance: Otters are always brown with a pale coloured stomach with long bodies, strong tails and webbed feet to help them swim quickly through the water. Their eyes are located at the top of their heads and they have sensitive whiskers growing around their snout which can help them detect prey. Otters benefit from a double-layer of fur: a thick waterproof outer coat and a warm inner one

Size: Males measure 115cm from nose to tail. Females are slightly smaller at 100cm

Weight: 7-9kg

Lifespan: Up to four years. There are rare instances recorded of otters living up to 12 years

Diet: Mainly fish and crabs but carnivorous otters also eat birds, small mammals and frogs

Family: Otters belong to the Mustelid family along with badgers, polecats, weasels, stoats and mink. Otters are the only amphibious family-member

Lakes, rivers and rocky or coastal areas are the otters' natural habitats, and they can also be spotted hunting their prey in quiet stretches of the canals. Otter territories are vast, covering up to 25 miles (40km) of watercourses and dense vegetation or wooded areas, which they use for resting purposes and for breeding holts. However, otters are timid and not often observed by humans. You are more likely to come across one of their smaller and more confident cousins, the mink.

European otter by Chris Gomersal (rspb-images.com)

American Mink (Neovison vison):

Appearance: Feral mink are naturally a chocolate-brown colour but farm-bred animals can vary in colour from white or grey through to black. Limbs are short and tails are approximately one third of their body length

Size: 42-65cm

Weight: 600g-1kg

Lifespan: Up to 8 years. Few survive beyond their second year in the wild

Diet: Mink are opportunistic predators who will happily eat a variety of fish, small mammals, birds and invertebrates

Family: Mustelidae

The Mink's long slim body is covered in glossy, thick dark brown fur with a white patch under the chin. They have short legs with partially webbed feet, which make them excellent swimmers. They can be found in wooded areas and fields near streams and lakes. They do not dig burrows, but instead take over dens abandoned by other animals.

Mink are semi aquatic predators able to hunt both aquatic and terrestrial prey. They can dive under water like an otter to capture fish, crayfish, and frogs. They can also capture terrestrial prey like birds, snakes, mice, voles, and rabbits. Mink are generalist predators focusing on whatever prey is most available and easily captured. These animals are mainly active at night and do not hibernate.

(Thanks to Wikipedia & British Waterways for this information)

So, next time you see a large water mammal, have an extra peek and see if it happens to be a mink, or if you are very lucky, an otter, and be sure to let us know either way!

Paula

What a great time we've had on the reserve for ospreys during the last few weeks...at one point it seemed as if one was visiting every day! On one day in particular, we saw the same bird three times, at 10.30, 12.30 and 16.00. The first time it managed to catch a small fish, but this obviously wasn't enough as we saw again two more times, although it didn't manage to get anything as the wind picked up making the water below very choppy indeed - not good for any sort of fishing!

Now, with all of the osprey excitement at Loch Garten, this pales in comparison. So, to put this into perspective we usually (if we're lucky) get about one or two osprey sightings PER YEAR at the reserve, so to see 3 in one day is excellent, and for the bird to keep returning to fish in the loch is superb. Our visitors got excellent views and one lucky person even managed to get a few shots of the bird carrying its 'catch of the day.'

Some of you may or may not know, that we have erected two osprey platforms on the reserve, one next to each loch, in the hope that we might be able to attract a pair to breed here. Fingers crossed with all of the recent activity, one of the birds has noticed our hard work and is considering using it as it nest next year.