Join us at Loch of Kinnordy on Sunday 13th May between 1-3pm for a guided walk that will be enjoyable and educational.
Loch of Kinnordy is home to some fascinating migrants during the summer months that have travelled thousands of miles, from as far away as southern Africa.
The walk will guide you around the trails and hides and give you the opportunity to see many interesting summer migrants including spectacular raptors such as magnificent Ospreys that dramatically dive for fish in the loch and nesting Marsh Harrier that cruise over the reedbed.
Watch aerobatic Swifts, Swallows and martins pursue insects low over the water and in the woodland listen to the variety of warblers as they join the resident birds in song. Also on show are a variety of colourful breeding ducks, geese, waders and a noisy gull colony.
We shall also look at the diversity of flowers that the reserve boasts as they blossom across the woodland floor.
Remember to bring your camera and binoculars, meet in Gullery hide. Only £1 per person. For information, please call 07879113409 or e-mail: Mark.Wood@rspb.org.uk
Leo
Konik ponies are the latest management strategy adopted for the reserve. This breed has its origins in Poland and has been selected due to their hardy and robust form and their specialist adaptations to feeding on wetland vegetation.
These horses are used on many other conservation projects throughout the UK including other RSPB reserves such as Loch of Strathbeg. The four individuals now present at Loch Kinnordy were brought here from Ireland in early April. It is hoped their grazing of vegetation at the West end of the reserve will prohibit the regeneration of willow scrub and help maintain the habitat to suit nesting and feeding waders such as Snipe, Lapwing, Oystercatcher and Redshank.
Since their arrival they seem to have settled well and can be seen in the newly fenced area to the west of the reserve, near the highland cattle. They have names too – Harry, Paddy, Ted and Wex. They are very sociable and have a strong herd instinct, so never venture far from one another.
Because they are so well suited to living in these harsh environments and adapted to surviving on poor quality vegetation they require the most minimal of intervention from people. So virtually no extra feed is provided – they take care of themselves. They are also remarkably hardy and can heal from many wounds without need of a vets care.
While they are friendly and approachable, these are semi – wild horses and are not used to much human contact, we would ask that you do not attempt to pet or feed them as they are easily frightened and could become ill if fed inappropriately. In the future it is possible that other individuals may be introduced and create a small grazing herd.
Mark Wood -Resi - vol-
Its now the middle of the month and the signs of summer continue to encroach despite the freezing air and the odd snow shower.
I'm sure many of the regular visitors to the reserve are now aware of the new Konik ponies that arrived last week. They can be located at the far west of the reserve near the highland cattle, theres four of em' and they're a hardy bunch despite their friendly appearence. This breed of horse has its origins in eastern Europe and are supposedley quite adept to living on marshy grassland and in harsh weather conditions. These particular individuals have been brought here from an RSPB reserve in Ireland in the hope that they will graze the vegetation out there and reduce willow regeneration that has plagued much of the reserve.
The return of the first Osprey and Marsh Harrier occured about three weeks ago within a day of each other and have since been sighted very regularly. The return of a female Marsh harrier last week brought hope that they would nest again and very soon they were seen displaying and carrying nest material, with mating being witnessed today. So hopefully the happy couple will successfully fledge some offspring later in the summer.
The Ospreys appear to be everywhere and are seen catching fish throughout the day (generally Pike). Most Ospreys seen at one time so far is four.
Other new visitors this month have included the arrival of Chiffchaff and Willow warbler, a few Sand martins and Swallows and more Meadow Pipits. Passage birds have included Wheatear, a single Greenshank, a Ringed Plover and flock of about 40 Golden Plover.
Aside from all the new comers there are plenty of other breeding birds including, a pair of Great Spotted Woodpecker, Siskin, Goldfinch, Bullfinch and Tits in the Woods. Out on the water theres quite a few Shoveler, Gadwall, Mallard, two pair of Shelduck, as many as 80 Black - headed Gull, a dozen Lapwing, Snipe, Redshank, the odd Curlew and Water Rail - if your lucky !
Other birds of interest seen lately include, singing Tree Sparrow, a flock of marauding Redpoll, Reed Bunting, Yellowhammers, a pair of Goldcrests and Treecreeper.
As ever there are a few Red Squirrel in the woods, Roe deer everywhere, lots of Brown Hare, sometimes in front of hides and Otter - of which a big male was seen today swimming around outside Swamp hide.
Mark Wood -resi vol-
Join us at Loch of Kinnordy on Easter Day some for Easter family fun.
We are holding a fun packed family fun day at the hides on Sunday 8th April between 1-3pm.
We have four exciting activities lined up for visitors to take part in.
Firstly our treasure hunt which involves locating several tasty goodies scattered around Loch of Kinnordy based on some clues we’ll give you. Secondly is our best Easter-inspired fancy dress competition! Whether you fancy dressing as the Easter bunny or Humpty Dumpty, come along and show off your outfit! Then there’s our Paint the Egg activity which allows you to show off your flair for creativity. Paint whatever you want on the boiled eggs and we’ll give a prize for the best! Finally, we have our Egg and Spoon race which will give the young at heart (whether old or young in age!) the chance to show off their sporting prowess!
Plus there is lots of spring wildlife to see; including the return of our summer visitors - the osprey and marsh harrier.
Cost; Adult non-members £3, members £1, children £1, families £5. For further information please e-mail loch.kinnordy@rspb.org.uk
It's been an exciting couple of weeks here at Kinnordy. In recent weeks there has been more regular sightings of a few of the more uncommon visitors to Kinnordy; including a male smew, white-fronted geese, green-winged teal and the elusive bittern!
The male smew over-wintered at Kinnordy. He appeared, with a female smew to start with, around mid-December and stuck around to the end of February. Seeing him was really great; he always showed up really well from both Gullery and East hide. The last sighting of the smew was on 21st Feb. The white-fronted geese also stuck around at the loch for longer than expected. There was a regular group of 15 white-fronts - including 1 greenland white fronted goose - seen from mid-Jan onwards. More recently their numbers have dropped, but a small number have been seen in and around the site within the last week - 2 white-fronts were seen in the vegetation directly infront of East hide; they well so well comoflagued, they were almost missed! The green-winged teal has been in and around the reserve since the 22nd Feb. At first he liked spending time on the bog-bean islands infront of Gullery hide, but since then he has become harder to find, usually hiding and blending in well in the far N.East corner of the loch. The end of Feb (29th) saw the first sighting of a bittern since Nov last year. He showed up really well in the reeds directly opposite Gullery hide (by the lone pine tree with a nestbox). The bittern was then seen less than a week after, on the 5th March.
On the management side of things we have a few projects going on on-site during Feb-March. At the west end of the reserve, a new fence line in the middle of being erected. This fence line is for an enclosure for Konik ponies that Kinnordy are expecting! Basically the Koniks ponies are our new lawn mowers, alongside the existing mowers (the highland cattle) - we are bringing them on-site to graze the fen and marsh on the middlemarsh. More information about the Koniks will be available once the Koniks are on-site, but if you are interested in knowing more then please feel free to get in touch with me (warden). More recently a contract to clear up some more willow scrub at the North side of the reserve has started - so you may see some smoke over at the back of the reserve the next time you come to the hides. Then, from next week, we are expecting the return of the Truxor! Since it's successfull trial in December we have been eager to get the Truxor back to chop up the bogbean islands infront of Gullery. So from next week, please bear this in mind and you should expect that the Truxor may cause a small disturbance to the black-headed gulls that have already started to take up resident on the bogbean islands.