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It's official. First breeding record of Little Ringed Plover for Loch Leven. Last Thursday (30th), four Little Ringed Plover chicks hatched, and by mid-morning the little white blobs could be seen darting about after the adult birds, on the small island at the back of the Carden Flood. A bit of...

This blog comes from our young volunteer reserve guide Richard, 15, who volunteers on a Saturday with his dad Martin. A glorious sunny June morning the reserve is moving with life, summer has arrived ! Me and my dad went down to the 3 hides to update the white boards because it was the first of...

Just a quick update to yesterday's blog with some photo's of the recent Little Gull and the Little Ringed Plover from Sunday, 19th; all images courtesy of regular visitor Stuart Gillies. Little Gull Little Ringed Plover on Carden Flood

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...

This blog comes to you from Richard, 15, who has just started volunteering as a reserve guide here at Loch Leven, along with his dad Martin. Richard takes great photos and has kindly agreed to share them on the blog with you, so look out for more from him in the future. And if you're around the...

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...

We've had quite a contrast here over the last couple of weeks. During the week before last, with the reserve completely covered in several inches of snow, almost all of the bird activity was confined to the feeder stations. Constant visits by Greenfinches , Chaffinches , Goldfinches , Great, Coal...

With the recent mild weather, the White-tailed Eagles had been absent from the area, however this cold spell has seen them return. , Eagle Turquoise H (2009 release) was seen on Reed Bower in the morning. Later in the afternoon, a second bird, Red 2 (2011 release) was seen on St Serf's. Both birds...

Well, here we are again at the start of a brand new year and, unsurprisingly, it's very similar to the end of the old year on the reserve. This week, a pair of Short-eared Owls were seen on the 3rd, the 8th and again on the 9th. A European White-fronted Goose ( Anser albifrons ) made an appearance...

‘Twas the night before Christmas’ - Well, really the day. Unlike the house in the poem, the reserve today was full of activity. The ice of two weeks ago has been converted back to liquid form by the recent mild weather and then topped up by the almost non-stop rain, meaning the water level...

On the plus side, it’s been dry and sunny; on the negative side, its been COLD! As a result, the birds have shunned the frozen ponds and kept to Vane bay; mainly, Mallard, Pochard, Tufted duck s, Whooper and Mute swans , with an occasional Goosander . Long-tailed tits have been regular visitors...

What a fantastic day! The day started off well with a peregrine flying in close proximity to the visitor centre, a perfect way to start a cold morning. Though the highlight of the day was watching one, of the two, male hen harriers fly around the flood being mobbed by the resident ketrels. Other raptors...

Four waxwings dropped in to RSPB Loch Leven earlier and brightened up our (rather dull) winter day.

Despite the chilly conditions we've had an excellent spate of sightings over the last few days, with today being classed as "bird of prey heaven" by Colin Ross (he's very excitable). So far today we've had 6 different species spied on the reserve and over the loch - all looking...

What a stunning day, the ground was frozen white and the sky clear and blue. And with the cold weather came one of our annual white tailed sea eagles, which was seen around castle island! On the loch there were plenty of ducks, including teal, mallard ,tufted duck and goldeneye and a mixed flock of whooper...

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...

Apoligies for the lack of blogging. What a fantastic day! The morning started well with a peregrine perching near the flood, and plenty of the usual buzzards and kestrels. Though even better than all that, in my opinion, was the female smew that showed well on the loch, it even got out of the water...

On Saturday, 250 whooper swans and a few hundred pink-footed geese were having a great time in the bay below our visitor centre. What a fabulous sight and what a wonderful sound! There is also a female smew on the phot - somewhere... trust me...

Well, the weather has been dreich this week, on the reserve (A combination of dull, overcast, drizzly, cold, misty and miserable weather. At least 4 of the above adjectives must apply before the weather is truly dreich). All the more enjoyable for that, when birds appear through the mist and drizzle...

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...