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Lapwing Andy Hay (rspb-images.com) With May being Lapwing Month at Loch Leven, it should come as no surprise that this iridescent wader has been prominent, both visually and vocally, all month. So far 36 nests have been identified, of which 19 are still active. The first chicks were seen on the 7...

Spring migration has been the main highlight of the past week. The Black-tailed Godwits are still around in numbers, with 28 being seen on the 29 th (April) and 22 on the 3 rd (May). Black-tailed Godwit feeding on Carden Flood (courtesy of David Veitch) After the Ringed Plovers from last...

It's been a busy month for breeding birds on the reserve. Lapwing have been active all month, and can be regularly seen mobbing and chasing off predatory Crows . There are, as of now, a minimum of 19 nests, with most of these on the east side of the reserve. Visitors can view the nests from the...

We’ve had fairly stable weather conditions over the past ten days. Unfortunately, it’s consisted of cold easterly winds and almost constant light snow showers. On the plus side, the ground temperature has remained above freezing most of the time, allowing the birds to continue to feed on...

We’ve had a couple of seasons in the past few weeks. Spring-like weather with clear skies and sunshine resulted in large flocks (100+) of Lapwings returning to the reserve, with many birds actively displaying over the grassland. Pre-breeding flocks of Curlews too, have been prominent, with regular...

Whew! What a couple of weeks we’ve had! Our new multi-coloured sightings board with, using state-of-the-art blackboard pens, is up and running. The new Cafe library, comprising of a number of wildlife books, generously donated by an unknown benefactor, will allow visitors to browse a book...

This week saw winter arrive with a vengeance. The views of the loch from the cafe, however, were especially good in the clear, dry and cold conditions, as was the latte and freshly baked scone. The Carden Flood and smaller pools were frozen over today, and consequently showed little activity apart from...

What a glorious autumnal day on the reserve today. It stayed dry with some long sunny periods (yes, indeed!); though a bit windy in the morning, the afternoon turned out calm. Lots of the usual birds around, looking bright and colourful in winter plumage, with large numbers of tea l and widgeon on the...

Today's update comes from Ken, one of our volunteer reserve guides. As well as coming in twice a week to act as a 'guide in the hide', helping visitors to spot wildlife and tell their mallards from their moorhens, he has kindly agreed to help keep our sightings up to date online too. Cheers...

Another day, another WeBS count - what did I spy yesterday? The loch is a little on the quiet side - many of the birds are hiding away while they moult, but good numbers of mute swans are very obvious as they gather on the loch to moult. A large raft of greylag geese remain on on the loch - regularly...

What a wet day! The rain hasn't stopped all day, though that has not put off a lot of the birds. There are plenty of gadwall on the flood, along with large numbers of tufted ducks and some cute little shelduck chicks. Talking about chicks, our goslings are now huge and have formed a huge group on...

We now have a large crèche of greylag goslings, all feeding with their parents. On the wetland there are plenty of teal, mallard, a surprisingly large number of tufted duck and shelducks everywhere. A single osprey has been seen from the visitor today, though there was also one at burleigh sands this...

The reserve today is full of ducks, all feeding in the ponds. There are gadwall, teal, wigeon, tufted ducks and a couple of pairs of shell duck. We also have the first group of greylag goslings on the reserve, with a smaller group also on St Serfs. The lapwings on the reserve are busy nesting along with...

What a fantastic day, I have seen a new species for myself at the reserve- a tundra bean goose. Also I have seen my first osprey of the year flying over the loch, towards the Kinross pier. The bean goose was mixed in with a flock of pink footed geese, two of which had neck collars on but they were too...

Well, I'm just back from a fantastic week on the isle of Mull where I was lucky enough to see sea eagles, golden eagles and hen harriers. Though there's no eagles here at loch Leven there are plenty of other great animals to keep us occupied. Again, this morning, a tawny owl flew over the picnic...

What a beautiful day it has been, the sun is still shining over the whole of the reserve. And with this spring weather many of our spring birds are starting to arrive- the lesser and greater black backed gulls are beginning to arrive on St Serfs, though there are still many pink footed geese on the island...

Unfortunately the two sea eagles have not been seen today, though there are plenty of other birds to hold our attention. There are pochard, teal, mallard.and tufted ducks all grouped together in the bay along with a small group of fishing gooseander. Smaller numbers of whooper swans are still present...

I hope that you have had a great Christmas period and new year! Today the new year has started well with fantastic sightings of the two sea eagle(wing tag H and X), they were preying on a bird this morning and soaring over St Serfs Island. Away from the sea eagles there are plenty of tufted ducks, pochard...

After not seeing the sea eagle last week, I was rewarded today by seeing two sea eagles. We had great sightings of them flying and some lucky visitors saw them catching a duck. Staying on the raptor theme we have had a peregrine on St Serfs island, buzzards all over the reserve and a single kestrel hovering...

We have really got in the Christmas spirit here at Vane farm and the cafe now looks like a winter wonderland with tinsel and stars. After my optimism last week, in request for a sea eagle , we were rewarded with our annual visitor. Though as usual I didn't see the sea eagle today, it was seen on...

As I write the blog this evening a large flock of pink-footed geese are descending on the shallow water of the bay. Though today has been really windy there are still many birds using the reserve and the loch. In the bay there are huge numbers of teal and lapwing - along with some pintail, shoveler and...

As I walked up the path to the visitor centre this morning, I was greeted by a single male bullfinch feeding in the trees-what a way to start your morning. On the reserve there are plenty of teal , eight curlew and a few pink-footed and greylag geese . The female smew is still on the loch, though it...

The first of the smews, for this winter, have turned up with a female fishing on the loch today. The numbers of geese are higher than last week with the lucky individuals, on the goose watch this morning, seeing 14,000 pink footed geese coming off the roost. There is a great variation of ducks on the...

The reserve is totally "jam packed" full of about 10,000 pink-footed geese along with a single greenland white-fronted goose that was seen this morning. The whole of the back of the reserve is black with geese and there are what looks like islands of geese dotted all over the loch. Huge numbers...

Monday's WeBS count (Wetland Bird Survey) provided several large flocks both on the reserve and the loch, tufted duck numbers continue to grow, with over 1000 recorded near Findatie. Vane Bay remains a bird hot spot - pintail, gadwall, mallard, teal, lapwing, whooper and mute swan, greylag geese...