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Loch of Strathbeg Recent Sightings 14/06/13 (By Joseph Nichols)

IainHart87 — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 17:13:00 GMT

After a very productive end to May on the reserve - including Spoonbill a few Garganey, a Little Tern on the lagoon and Little Egret - June has been equally exciting, with an array of birds sustaining more than enough interest.

Just after the time of writing, myself, Iain and Ellie were out on Mosstown and had an adult Turtle Dove. Flushed out of one of the cottages in the fields, it flew southwest towards Savoch Farm at 3pm. A regional rarity that hasn’t been seen for a couple of years on site, it is worth keeping an eye out for this around Savoch Farm or similarly around the Visitor Centre itself, as it may well be hanging around in the area.

The main highlight of this week has been a single adult Spoonbill, which was a very pleasant surprise when I went in to the Visitor Centre shortly after arriving for my few day stay here. At first, as always seems to be the case with Spoonbills, it was slumberous, roosting for a good while amongst a flock of gulls. However, quite unlike the individual from late May it soon began to show-off after being disturbed by some aggressive Mute Swans, prancing around and ‘spooning’ busily on the pools right in front of the centre. It spent the night roosting on the reserve and stuck around until Wednesday evening, when it was last seen flying high to the south. Its relatively lengthy stay allowed for several visitors to enjoy fantastic views for prolonged periods (my best photo efforts are below). With a Spoonbill reported heading north past St Abbs Head in the Borders during Tuesday morning, its tempting to think that this was the same bird that turned up on the reserve early in the evening stopping off to recuperate, instead of the one seen on 28^th May.

The reserve has been teeming with warblers recently. Alongside the noisy, local Sedge Warblers, a run of beautifully still early mornings and late evenings have given us a chance to listen to Grasshopper Warblers. These songsters do a superb imitation of grasshoppers, their ‘reeling’ voices audible from some distance. If you are around on the reserve early in the morning, or in the last hour of light in the evening, you will have the chance of hearing up to 3 of these birds the vegetation along the new trail, though they are masters at keeping out of sight, singing from deep in the juncus. It is a very evocative sound, so it is well worth the effort making the walk towards Fen and Bay Hide from the visitor centre at this time of the day, especially with the added possibility of coming across a Badger or a Fox at close quarters. There has also been at least one Reed Warbler knocking about, from Fen Hide on Tuesday and from Tower Pool Hide on Wednesday evening.

Other birds from last month have also stuck around into this month. At least 2 Short-eared Owls have been seen in the fields over the back of the Low Ground, and are seen best from Tower Pool Hide or more distantly from the Visitor Centre. A female Marsh Harrier and up to 2 Ospreys can also been seen here daily. The Little Egret was also present again from Tower Pool Hide last weekend on 8^th and a drake Garganey was also here on 1^st. One visitor was also lucky enough to see a Black-throated Diver from Bay Hide on Tuesday evening.

A few straggling Pink-footed Geese and two Whooper Swans are on the loch itself, as well as a single drake Pochard and Pintail from the Visitor Centre. 55 Lapwing touched down on the Low Ground this afternoon, the first notable concentration of waders for a little while, whilst Redpoll and Siskin have also been seen briefly.

I have had a very enjoyable stay here at Strathbeg. Though I have been birdwatching here for a long time, actually staying at the reserve has allowed me to meet some great people and discover certain aspects of the reserve that were previously unknown to me. I leave you with an photo of a Badger, which I was lucky enough to bump into on my way back to the Visitor Centre from Fen Hide yesterday evening.

Photographs and blog by Joseph Nichols.

Botanical sightings and general ramblings: Part 2

AmyT — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 14:27:00 GMT

Another botanical blog from our residential volunteer, Claire...

Claires time at Loch of Strathbeg has now come to an end but we have enjoyed having her around and keeping an eye on our garden and plant life on the reserve. A warm thank-you from all the team for your hard work during your time here!

"As the days have been warmer, more and more flowers are starting to appear on the reserve.

A plant no one can miss are the spikes of blue flowers that have been around since the start of May, we aren't sure of what they are only that they are in the lily family, and perhaps horticultural relative of squill or star of Bethlehem, which isn't saying much really. If you do come into the garden and recognise this mystery plant, please let someone know what it is, it would be lovely to find out!

Also in the wildlife garden, the bistort is flowering. You will recognise it from the small rounded spikes of slightly fluffy pink flowers. The herb Robert has started flowering and the other geranium species are soon going to put on a show too.

For the moment the flower to look out for in the garden is the purple clematis montana which is climbing along a trellis on one of the garden entrances. Scrambling along the other side of the trellis is a honeysuckle, which will produce lovely orange flowers in a month's time, hopefully.

Two other lovely plants to keep your eye out for are the yellow welsh poppy and the light green spurge. There aren't many of them around in the garden, but their bright colours are a pleasure to see. But of course right now the stage belongs to the bluebells! Both in the wildlife and in the woodland gardens. You cannot miss them!

On a more aromatic subject, you will also find two different kinds of wormwood (possibly sea and field wormwoods), lavender, mint and a poor old thyme that was found to be still alive beneath a lot of dead twigs. Hopefully it'll regenerate and become a nice dome within a year or two.

In the vegetable patch, the onions are definitely distinguishable now. Something is still eating them however, and various measures have been discussed, including using coffee grindings to deter slugs.

Another plant that was a mystery to us a week ago has now been identified. You may have noticed clumps of bright orange flowers have come out, mostly towards the middle and back of the garden. After a few a few hours poring over plant ID books, we now know it is as a geum, a flower in the avens family. Actually, if you look closely in the ditches on the entrance road to the reserve, you may still spot some water avens in flower, although the common comfrey and russian comfrey may have crowded them out by now.

Out in the marsh the sea club-rush is out, its seed heads looking like cotton grass. The wood-rushes and the cinquefoil are starting to grow and the big butterbur leaves are very hard to miss! There is a lot of bright blue thyme-leaved speedwell around and of course still some changing forget-me-not in dryer areas of the reserve.

If you are walking past the rookery on your way here, you can spot some lovely pink purslane by the side of the road, under the trees! Keep a look out for lots of different plant on the road side, such as vetches, peas, trefoils, plantain, sorrels (some sheep's sorrel has been seen closer to the seashore), and various umbellifers (which could be cow parsley and sweet cicely).

Have a lovely time looking around!

Summertime Strolls

DianaS — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 10:17:10 GMT

Over 50 people turned out on Saturday morning to help us officially open the new trail out to Fen & Bay Hides. The Fraserburgh Wildlife Explorers group were on hand to cut (technically, untie) the big red ribbon and to lead us down the new path.

We then had a great walk during which I improved my standing with the Wildlife Explorers group by naming all the forthcoming Avengers movies, the birders from the local group scoped a potential Garganey (which turned out to be a Pintail), and we discovered a huge patch of four-leaf clovers and this fantastic Elephant Hawk Moth in the grassy fields at the start of the trail.

The trail is open until August, it's about 3 miles return including visits to Fen and Bay Hide. The walk on Saturday took us about two hours of easy walking with a few stops and a visit to Fen Hide in the middle. It's not suitable for dogs or buggies/puchchairs etc. because of cows and the underfoot conditions but is a generally easy walk.

After such a busy morning, Amy and I had a nice,quiet afternoon in the centre, we got a visit from the Osprey fishing the loch, and a female Marsh Harrier over the plantation. Mid-afternoon one of our regulars refound the Little Egret out on the low ground, just before it flew to the loch edge. It's possible it's been around all week and just hiding in the reedbed so still worth scanning for it if you're around this week.

Recent Sightings and Our New Trail...

DianaS — Sun, 02 Jun 2013 15:57:32 GMT

A pretty momentous morning today as I had my first proper walk out along the new Summer Trail to Fen & Bay Hide. We’ve been after a footpath to these hides for many years and after a winter of work by the wardening team, it’s now finished, signposted and ready for us to open to visitors.

The official opening ceremony for the path is on Saturday 8^th June at 10.30am, there will be celebratory coffee and cake and a guided walk along our new trail if you want to come along.

Sightings-wise, our run of big white things with long beaks continued. The Little Egret hung around until at least the 28^th (an odd thing to be excited about when you’re from further south but a bird that’s not been seen on the reserve up here for a good couple of years). On Wednesday 29^th we hit the hat-trick when Scott found this Spoonbill wandering about on the Low Ground (Spoonbill photo by Scott O'Hara).

A late night survey on Thursday picked up the sound of Spotted Crake calling behind Tower Pool Hide- the first of those on the reserve for a couple of years too.

For the more common birds, breeding season seems to have finally kicked off for the ducks with broods of Mallard and Shelduck splashing and diving around in the pools over the weekend. Garganey keep popping up on the low ground but are as always, quite hard to find when you’re actually looking for them.

There are still regular appearances by Osprey and Short-eared Owl and there’s been both Peregrine and a slightly out of season Hen Harrier (sadly not the Montagu’s that was reported a bit further south today) over the reserve in the past couple of days.

Finally, the sun has bought out a few more butterflies and the path down to Fen Hide had lots of Green-veined White on the Cuckoo Flower and this lovely Small Copper on the short grass of the track.

Walks On The Wild Side...

DianaS — Mon, 27 May 2013 17:12:00 GMT

Well, that was a busy weekend on and off the reserve... After the Great White Egret left in midweek we managed to attracted the smaller version- a Little Egret which moved up from the Ythan and was on the pools on Sunday morning. Sunday also bought two fly-over Cranes, and a Turtle Dove just off the reserve at Rattray Church.

I missed most of the action as I spent most of the weekend doing our bit for the Energetica Walking Festival. First stop on Saturday was the Bullers of Buchan just south of Peterhead. The promised Puffins turned up early on, which took a bit of the pressure off. We then extended the walk a bit more than expected and ended up going all the way to the ruin of New Slains Castle (which gave me chance to tell a few vampire stories on the way back...).

We were all feeling quite pleased with the morning until we got back to the reserve and I checked my phone- to find out that a pod of 6 Killer Whales had been reported in the bay just south of Slains Castle, just minutes after we left. We later found out there may have been as many as 15 in the group, including several big bulls. I've never seen Killer Whales before (they're very scarce off the East coast) and to miss them by just a few minutes was hugely disappointing, but you've just got to accept this kind of thing (albeit with a lot of grumbling and swearing) when there's unpredictable wildlife involved!

Sunday afternoon and we headed back out again, walking from St Combs out to the lagoon with 13 people and one very cheerful dog. A dozen or so seals followed us for most of the way, getting gradually closer as they got more and more curious.

We had a very experienced guide with us who helped with a bit of wader identification and who found a beautiful male Snow Bunting in white summer plumage on the beach. The best bird for me was (as usual) the Bonxie that turned up in the lagoon, feeding on a dead porpoise. Skuas are not everyone's favourite bird but there's something about them that I never get tired of watching.

The walk also showed just how much the bad weather this winter has moved and changed the dunes, one 30ft dune has almost entirely disappeared- to the point where Amy and I could barely recognise enough of the landscape to find our way out of the lagoon! Thankfully we made it to the Cut just before we had to make the decision to climb out way out via the remaining dunes.

Thanks to everyone who came along on the walks. As they were both so successful we may well run the walks again later in the spring, so keep an eye on the website- www.rspb.org.uk/lochofstrathbeg and we'll add our guided walks in as soon as we've set the dates.

Plant Sightings and Botanical Ramblings

DianaS — Fri, 24 May 2013 10:36:41 GMT

The blog this week is written by Claire, one of our long-term volunteers at Loch of Strathbeg

As the weather this week hasn’t been at its best and seems these past two days to have taken a turn for the worst, it’s difficult to realise that summer is less than a month away. As I sit here in the office listening to the wind whistling through every small crack it can get through in the house, seeing the trees bent with the force of the gale, and looking at the thermometer registering temperatures under 10 degrees, it feels like a day at the start of March.

The plants and flowers around the garden however, tell a different story. At Strathbeg this week the cuckoo flowers are putting on a show! They have come out and created lovely patches of delicate pink near the side of the entrance road, and some have been seen of a lighter colour, almost white, further in the lowground. Flowers are starting to unfurl in the large swathes of comfrey also by the side of the entrance road and they will probably really be out by the start of next week. The dandelions, usually at their best in April in most of the country, have finally really started to flower, and the daisies have carpeted the scrubland on the way to the airfield giving it an almost snowy aspect. The fields in the reserve are dotted with red campion, and the sides of ploughed fields and roads are full of coltsfoot and wild rhubarb. Even the smallest of flowers can show you a change in the seasons, like the hairy bittercress, admittedly growing as a weed in the wildlife garden, that has finished flowering and seeding.

If you do happen to go through the wildlife garden, here’s what you can see right now: there is quite a collection of primroses, that are coming to the end of their flowering time, but are still quite colourful, and the saxifrage is still in full bloom. The common solomon’s seal is out too, impressive pendulous white flowers hanging all in a row. There are lots of other plants that are becoming more obvious as the days go on, although the flowers haven’t appeared yet: the herb robert and other geranium species are growing bigger day by day, as are the lavenders, the hostas, the strawberry plants, the dogwoods and the dog rose.

Alison and I are doing our best to wage a war on the creeping buttercup, grass, docks and rosebay willowherb, but you will see those too, and to be honest they are lovely plants when they come into flower (yes, even the grass).

A vegetable patch has also been started in the garden! Iain has sown red onions, carrots and mixed lettuce in there at the moment. They have started to grow, but there seems to be a vegetable-loving creature around that has been nibbling at the onions! What is to be done? More to come on both these matters in next weeks’ Botanical Sightings blog.

In the woodland garden the bluebells should be out by the start of next week and there are hints of meadowsweet leaves here and there.

Of course the best places to see meadowsweet growing are in the very damp areas of the reserve, like the marshlands, where marsh marigolds and lovely little marsh violets are flowering right now. The flag irises are loving the areas that the ponies have grazed, but there aren’t any signs of flowers yet. There is also quite a lot of wild angelica, and of course the prehistoric horsetails that can be seen growing in the burn that crosses the new path to the Fen and Bay hides that will soon be open.

If you go up towards the Tower Pool Hide, look out for the tiny white flowers of the sticky mouse-ear and the even smaller yellow or blue flowers of the changing forget-me-not, that like growing on the bare gravelly ground at the side of the path.

The lovely gorse bushes that are so common in the countryside here are often overlooked, but it is really worth stopping to admire them for a moment. Their golden yellow flowers dominated the landscape at this time of year and their scent is a superbly exquisite tropical coconut smell that, even in the coldest windy weather, can transport you to warm sunny lands.

Last but not least in this list of plants to see right now are the sea cliff flowers at Troup Head and Fowlsheugh: red campions! They are beautiful and they are everywhere. Dotted here and there amongst them are some white campions and stichworts too. Thrift is also carpeting large areas of the cliffs with its pale pink flowerheads, and scurvy grass is creeping in between the ledges full of birds down the cliffsides, decorating them with green and white. No sign of squill at Troup Head yet, although we’re expecting those little blue flowers to appear very soon, but look closely and you may see some woodrush amongst the grass.

So if the weather is getting you down and you feel like it is midwinter, go into your garden, a nearby wood or come to Strathbeg, and look up at the trees or lower your eyes to the ground at your feet. Yes, spring is here and summer is definitely on the way.

Loch of Strathbeg Recent Sightings 17/05/13

IainHart87 — Fri, 17 May 2013 17:07:33 GMT

Happy Friday Afternoon.

Anyone checking out the visitor centre this week who spared a glance out the window could have seen this weeks star guest... a Great White Egret! This week he/she has been mostly feeding on the edge of the reeds. Once you'd got over that you stood a chance to see a Cuckoo, 1 Fieldfare, up to 3 Garganey (displaying), 2 Arctic Terns, 2 Common Terns, 1 Canada Goose, 2 Little Gulls, 1 Wood Sandpiper, a Marsh Harrier and multiple Osprey Sightings most days. Other birds of no less importance included 1 Dunlin, 2 Pairs of Gadwall 1 Pair of Shelduck, 8 Tufted Ducks and 1 Lapwing.

Lots of stuff out in front of Tower Pool Hide this week including a Short-eared Owl and a Marsh Harrier seen on the 16th as were both Ospreys, with individuals being seen on the 10th and 11th also. In addition to 1 Common Sandpiper, 1 Wood Sandpiper, 3 Little Gulls and 10 Swift, Garganey have been seen here everyday almost with the high number of 4 (3 males and 1 female). Other birds seen up tower pool way this week include 1 Common Tern, 1 Shelduck, 1 pair of Gadwall, 4 Dunlin, 2 White Wagtail, 2 Ringed Plover, 1 Moorhen, 2 Coot and 44 Curlew. Those so secretive as to be heard rather than seen include 1 Water Rail, 1 Grasshopper Warbler and 2 Sedge Warblers.

Been down to Bay Hide this week? Those who did had the chance to see the Great White Egret regularly since the 14th as well as up to 10 Swift everyday. Last weekend was busy also with an Osprey, 1 pair of Garganey, 1 Pair of Great Crested Grebes, 1 Pair of Gadwall and 1 pair of Shovelers. Round the way at Fen Hide visitors got a nice if somewhat more distant view of the Great White Egret fishing amongst the reeds at the rear of the loch. An Osprey was seen flying past with a fish for its tea to an audience of around 40 Pink Footed Geese, likely just filling the tanks for their flight to Iceland, Lesser and Greater Black Backed Gulls with 2 Sedge Warblers singing away out in front of the hide.

Lots around this week including a few big names and firsts for the year.

Cool relevant pic coming soon..

Iain

Help us clean up and turn the tide on marine litter

AmyT — Mon, 13 May 2013 15:59:00 GMT

The beach at the north end of the reserve, near St Combs, will be receiving a thorough clean on Saturday 18^th May as part of the MCS ‘Beachwatch’ Scheme.

Beachwatch is a year-round UK-wide beach litter survey and clean up, organised by MCS that encourages local volunteers to survey marine litter every 3 months. Volunteers remove all the litter from a measured area of their local beach, recording every item that they find. The data gathered from Beachwatch every September is published by MCS in the Beachwatch Report. This information is used at national and international levels to raise awareness of the impacts of marine litter, to promote measures to reduce litter at source and to campaign for marine litter legislation.

We would like to see more volunteers than ever before lend a hand to make this latest clean the biggest yet and ensure that the local beach remains clean and safe for everyone to enjoy.

The event starts at 10.30 until 4pm, meeting at The Tufted Duck Hotel in St Combs, people are welcome to turn up throughout the day and it promises to be a fun and informative social occasion.

The tide of litter washing up on our shores is not just unpleasant to look at; it can harm and even kill some of our best-loved marine wildlife. Over 170 species including seabirds, turtles and whales have mistaken marine litter for food and actually eaten it, which in many cases has resulted in starvation, poisoning and ultimately a slow, painful death. Plastic packaging and discarded fishing nets also injure, entangle and drown some of Britain’s favourite marine animals, including seals and dolphins.

MCS surveys have recorded a steady increase in the amount of beach litter since 1994. The four main sources of litter found on UK beaches come from the public, fishing, sanitary waste (particularly cotton bud sticks) and shipping.

MCS Beachwatch results are vital in turning the tide on litter. They have helped influence changes to laws on the disposing of waste at sea, and resulted in investment in better sewage treatment at the coast. Local beach cleans like the one at all help towards highlighting this serious issue.

RSPB staff will be on-hand helping out throughout the day and will have a supply of bin bags, survey sheets and litter pickers for volunteers. Volunteers just need to bring themselves, some warm clothing and stout footwear. Teas and coffees will be available for volunteers during the clean-up. We want people take part in an event that will not only make the beach look great for visitors, but will also help MCS identify where the litter comes and try to stop it at source.

So please come on down and show your support!

For more information or to join in contact us at:

E-mail: Strathbeg@rspb.org.uk

Telephone: 01346532017

Ringing The Changes

DianaS — Wed, 08 May 2013 15:34:00 GMT

First of all, thanks to everyone who came to our first ringing demonstration on Sunday morning. We were blessed with good weather (despite the odd ringer complaining that it was too sunny...) and we had a great turn-out. We managed to ring Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Blue Tits, Sedge Warbler, Willow Warbler, Yellowhammer and a host of Goldfinch. One of the highlights for us and the ringers was the chance to see Tree Sparrow and House Sparrow side by side. They're not often caught (or seen) in the same spot and we were all a bit amazed by the size difference. The ringers also managed to retrap a Goldfinch which had originally been ringed in Kent so clearly chose to spend the winter somewhere a bit warmer before heading north to Strathbeg to breed. Special thanks to Jenny, Raymond and Jane from the Grampian Ringing Group for running the demo and to Mark and the rest of the RSPB Local Group for organising it in the first place. If you're interested there's more news from the Grampian Ringing Group on their blog at http://grampianringing.blogspot.co.uk/ and more about the Local Group at http://www.rspb.org.uk/groups/aberdeen

Spot the difference...

Along with Sunday's unexpected Bewick's Swan, we're sticking a flurry of new species on the year list. Whitethroat, Arctic Tern and 3 Pectoral Sandpipers have all turned up in the past couple of days. We've also been getting some more of our passage migrants including this lovely drake Garganey and two (one adult and on 1st winter) Little Gulls.

Very bad picture of a Garganey. To be honest, we've posted worse photos on the blog than this.

Adult Little Gull. Told you we'd posted worse.

Hopefully we'll keep building the year list up over the week, especially since we're holding the yearly Big Sit in the centre on Sunday and I'm away on holiday, which is a combination basically guaranteed to make something good turn up ...

Finally, for those of you who get excited by Puffins- our Pick Out A Puffin walks at Fowlsheugh start tomorrow evening, and you can find all the details at www.rspb.org.uk/fowlsheugh

Loch of Strathbeg Recent Sightings 5/05/13

IainHart87 — Sun, 05 May 2013 20:47:00 GMT

Yep I'm going to go ahead and say it. Spring is definitely here. Probably.

We've had a busy weekend at Strathbeg with the warm weather bringing quite a few visitors to our doorstep. Just to mix things up on the birdy side of things I'll start with Bay hide where I popped in yesterday for a break from all the hard work I do here. Conclusion: Tufted Ducks. 98 of them actually. We also had 22 Shelduck, mostly in one large flock, 14 Gadwall, several Golden Eye ducks and 2 Red Breasted Merganser. Earlier in the week visitors logged 10 Swallows, 2 Great Crested Grebe, 2 Shoveller, 2 Pintail and fantastically precise "Black Headed Gull X many". A little quiter round at Fen hide with a total of 3 Great Crested Grebe spotted alond with 2 seperate Osprey reports, 1 Sedge Warbler and an Otter on the 29th April.

Up at the old Tower Pool hide today I was treated to 20 minutes of an Osprey eating a fish while several Sedge Warblers sang away in the reeds. Many Sand Martin can still be seen flitting around away to the left and up to 5 Moorhen and 4 Coot have been seen by the reed edges. Teal and Wigeon seem to be the dominant ducks down this end of the reserve with 60+ of each at various locations. I bagged a Bewick's Swan for the life list today at around 3pm too thanks to a gentleman who knew much more than I do about swans.

Both the male and female Marsh Harriers have been spotted regularly from the Visitor Centre and sightings of Osprey are now a daily occurance, but still worth bragging points I feel. A few people with more luck (and perhaps determination) than myself have spotted 2 Yellow Wagtail and a Grasshopper Warbler this week too. A total of 14 White Wagtail can be seen tail-wagging around on the low ground alongside 2 Redshank, 1 Ruff, 4 Black-tailed Godwitts and 2 Little Gulls.

Pic: Adult female Marsh Harrier taken by Duncan Goulder.

Still no sign of Cranes spending their days on the reserve any more,wet socks testify to an expedition into the reedbeds checking out their habitat but 4 were seen flying over at the start of the week so fingers crossed they're still in the area. The wildlife garden has come up trumps though for the ringing demo today with Tree Sparrow, House Sparrow, Goldfinch, Chaffinch, Yellowhammer and Willow Warbler being caught.

Ciao

Iain

Loch of Strathbeg Recent Sightings 28/04/13

IainHart87 — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 17:58:24 GMT

Hiho

Anyone frequenting the Visitor Centre this past week had a good chance at seeing a nice range of birds. The Osprey are still cruising around and individuals were seen on the 21st 24th 28th and a pair seen together on the 23rd. Other raptors were out in force also including 1 Short-eared Owl, 1 Merlin (should've been here on Monday James) and a juvenile male Marsh Harrier. Presumably fleeing in terror from all this raptor action were 23 Black-tailed Godwits, a pair of Pintail, 1 Lonely Lapwing on the low ground, 1 Greenshank, 1 Little Gull (good job Angus), 1 Ringed Plover, 1 Dunlin, 1 Swift and 2 White Wagtail.

Tower pool hide has been particularly lively this week, again particularly on the raptor side of things with frequent sightings of an Osprey on the 21st and 23rd including a pair (likely the same seen from VC) seen together. We also had reports of a male Peregrine and a Short-eared Owl so plenty of big names down tower pool way. Calling away just out of sight, as usual on the 24th was one Water Rail and at least one Sedge Warbler (the first of the year for the reserve) while strutting about with a little less secrecy was a couple of Moorhen, 1 Whimbrel (another reserve year tick), 4 Gadwall, 33 Curlew, 2 Pintail, 1 Greenshank, 3 Ringed Plover, 1 Dunlin, 25 Black-tailed Godwits, 5 White Wagtail, 5 Shelduck, 2 Swift and around 100 Sand Martin. You can still see good numbers of Wigeon and Teal here too. If you want.

Round the way at Fen hide there was a mixture of the "usual" including 3 Shelduck, 4 Pintail, 68 Tufted, 4 Goosander and 50+ Black-headed Gulls as well as 2 Willow Warbler, 2 water Rail and 4 Great Crested Grebes. Further excitemet arose with reports of a possible Snow Goose on the 25th on the Island in front of the Hide with an accurate and relible descriptin to back it up. This was a seperate bird to the previous possible Snow Goose seen from the Visitor Centre earlier in the week. Bay Hide saw its fair share of sightings this week with a stonking 22 Gadwall today (28th), 2 Great Crested Grebes, 2 Pintail, 2 Shoveller, 12 Shelduck (another good number), various Osprey reports, 1 Buzzard and a Sparrowhawk to add the the raptor list for the week.

(pic. Osprey 1 : fish 0)

Elsewhere around the reserve 1 Willow warbler was seen in the wildlife garden while 1 Sandwich tern and 6 Whimbrel popped up onRatray beach.

Lots of stuff around again this week so keep the reports coming in and theres plenty of chances to bag one for the reserve year list.

Iain

On The Move...

DianaS — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 14:03:00 GMT

It almost feels like spring's back on track this week. Migrants are creeping on to the year list with increasing regularity, this Willow Warbler (yes, there is a Willow Warbler in there somewhere, I promise!) was in the Wildlife Garden earlier, and we've had the first Sedge Warbler of the year in font of Tower Pool Hide this morning. One Common Crane was down at Rattray yesterday, but was moving between fields and hasn't yet reappeared back on the reserve.

Staff seem to be on the move a bit as well. I've had my first trip of the year down to the re-opened Fowlsheugh (more details on that here) and we've also been up to the Macduff Marine Aquarium to check out the new camera feed from Troup Head (more on that later too). The Kinnordy ponies are settling in well and have ventured down as far as the loch edge, so they're happily coping with the wet mud out on Mosstown Marsh. The Koniks on the low ground also performed exceptionally well for a visiting group from the North Scotland Area Fell Pony Society. Interesting to chat about how their domestic but often similarly unhandled ponies differ from our 'wild' Koniks.

For me the spring highlight is always the return of our first Ospreys and we've now got at least two fishing in the loch almost daily, one pale bird which may the regular male from last year and this unfamiliar, dark looking bird who pulled this cracking trout out of the loch on Saturday and was right outside Tower Pool Hide around yesterday afternoon.

Loch of Strathbeg Recent Sightings 21/04/13

IainHart87 — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 18:24:00 GMT

Birds. Birds everywhere.

This week we have been mostly watching... the 2 Common Cranes strutting around by the old pump tower! Definitely the celebrity couple (hopefully) of the moment and anyone who is anyone has been along for a look over the past week with them being visible most days. A few of our dedicated Crane watchers have reported "courtship like" behaviour so lets hope they decide to make Strathbeg their home for the summer.

In other news the reserve has been vibrant with wildlife these past 7 days. Mondays Wetland Bird Survey came up trumps with just over 10000 Pink Footed Geese still at Strathbeg, many times more than remained here this time last year and likely a result of the late Spring delaying travel plans to Iceland. Joining the Pinkies were (deep breath) 2 Barnacle Geese, 59 Mute Swans, 14 Whooper Swans, 11 Oystercatcher, 86 Curlew, 3 Goosander, 15 Red Breasted Merganser, 90 Tufted Ducks, 227 Golden Eye, 55 Mallard, 4 Pintail, 3 Grey Heron, 158 Wigeon, 228 Teal, 1 Scaup, 1 Great Crested Grebe, 1 Water Rail, 4 Lapwing, 4 Pochard, 1 Ringed Plover, 10 Shelduck, 4 Moorhen, 1 Gadwall, 40 Cormorant, 206 Black Headed Gulls, 1 Ruff, 3 Redshank and 10 Coot.

This positive plethora of birdlife has been a regular feature this week. From the Visitor Centre window on the 18th we had the first 2 Black-Tailed Godwits of the Year, 2 Chiffchaff and a Garganey. On the 17th was a solitary Greenshank while on the 16th was the years first Common Tern, a White Fronted Goose and a female Marsh Harrier. Throughout the week 2 different Osprey were seen fishing in the Loch on differnt days. Up the way at Tower Pool Hide good numbers of Meadow Pipit and Pied Wagtail have been flitting around the low ground while 2 Pintail Ducks, 8 Shelduck, 15 Sand Martin, 4 House Martin, 3 Greylag Geese, 1 Little Gull, 1 Peregrine, 2 Osprey sightings and several records of a male and a female Marsh Harrier on the 18th. Fen hide yielded, in addition to the usual culprits 30+ Swallows, 67 Tufted Ducks, 4 Pintail and 4 Great Crested Grebes on the 20th. Earlier in the week Bay hide was good for 2 Great Crested Grebes, 8 Pintail, 2 Little Grebes, 2 Gadwall, and a female Scaup. Later on 6 Pochard and 4 Red Breasted Merganser joined the party.

So to sum up there's been well loads of birds here and we're all dead excited about the Cranes. Also Ed saw a Wheatear on the reserve before Vicky did. Just so everyone knows.

Iain.

Putting On A Display

DianaS — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 10:22:00 GMT

There's been one outstanding highlight on the reserve this week. Two Common Cranes have been visiting the reserve for a few days (we've had a single bird around this reserve since April 5th). They've usually been tucked away in the marsh behind the loch and have been surprisingly hard to see, but on Wednesday they came out into the middle of the low ground in full view of the centre and Tower Pool Hide.

Just to see two Cranes on the reserve is always special, but these two had a bit more in mind. After quietly feeding for a while, one of them suddenly began to display- a leaping, wing-flapping dance that's equal part impressive and utterly ridiculous. The first 'dance' was pretty brief, but as they became more comfortable they put on a proper display for a good ten or fifteen minutes.

Luckily, John (one of our regular visitors who posts on the gallery as Scotview), was in the centre with digiscoping equipment set up and got this fantastic video. (If the video link doesn't work then click on- https://www.youtube.com/user/scotview)

(Please visit the site to view this video)

Cranes are an annual visitor up here but none of us have seen this kind of display on the reserve before (although there is a story of one very confused Crane displaying to a Fox a few years ago!). We'll keep watching them closely over the next couple of days but we don't know how long we'll stay around, so if you want a chance to see this for yourself then make sure you plan a visit to Strathbeg in the next few days.

Loch of Strathbeg Recent Sightings 14/4/13

DianaS — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 13:16:00 GMT

Iain's been allowed to go on holiday for the weekend so I'll round up this week's sightings (most of which have not been seen by me) in his place.

Most recent sighting first and we've had our first White-Tailed Eagle of the year over the low ground this morning- Yellow 3, a female from the ESSE project . She spent about half an hour on the low ground and was still around at 5pm today, although perched up in a field and very hard to spot. Our eagles often tend to hang around for a few days so we'll be keeping an eye out in case she returns. We've not seen Yellow 3 on the reserve before but we'll try and get a bit more info about where she's been since her release in 2010 and let you know more in a future blog.

The other main highlight of the week has been the Avocet that appeared on Tueday morning on the pools outside the visitor centre. We've also had a couple of repeat sightings of the Common Crane which seems to be hanging around the same area of dense reed and may be on the reserve a lot more than we're actually seeing. The Visitor Centre and Tower Pool Hide seem to be the best vantage points for a glimpse of the Crane, although Fen Hide may be worth a visit too.

We're finally getting a few more spring visitors on the reserve. No Osprey as yet (although they're reported in the area) but we've had the first two (possible three) Marsh Harriers during the week and this weekend has seen the first Sand Martins appearing over the loch and the first Swallow around the visitor centre. The Black-headed Gull colony outside the centre is still growing steadily and some of the birds are now mating and nest-scraping on the island. No Common Tern as yet, but hopefully it won't be too long before the first ones arrive.

The last of the winter geese from further south are now starting to move through on their way to Iceland and we're once again seeing the occasional Barnacle Goose and White-Fronted Goose in with the Pink-feet. Goose numbers still seem to be in the thousands (the goose count tomorrow will be interesting). There's still at least one Short-Eared Owl visiting the reserve as well.

The Ruff is still about, usually on the Starnafin Pools or the low ground, often with the odd Redshank. Oystercatchers are everywhere and there's some nice flocks of Ringed Plover on the beach and in the lagoon.

That Looks Familiar...

DianaS — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 11:47:10 GMT

You can generally predict the arrival of a good new bird at Strathbeg- usually any time I'm at a meeting at the regional office and not on the reserve! This week it was this superb Avocet that dropped into the pools just outside the Visitor Centre on Tuesday mornning. Avocet are pretty scarce anywhere north of the border but we've had at least one at Strathbeg almost every year since 2002. Unfortunately by the time I got back from Aberdeen it had slunk away and hasn't been refound yet, but they often stay in the area for a day or two so watch this space. I've also just noticed while checking for the last Avocet record that the painstakingly proof-read and nearly finished 2012 Bird Report doesn't have an entry for Avocet despite one being seen that year. Back to the drawing board on that one...

Hopefully the Avocet (and the weekend's visiting Crane- seen on Sunday but not since) are signs that we're finally getting into spring. We've also seen our first summery birds of prey with a couple of Marsh Harriers passing though. No Osprey yet, but surely it's only a matter of time..?

Finally a thank you to everyone (visitors and stall holders) who came to the Craft Fair on Saturday. We've raised over £160 altogether and we're planning on using the money to build a new Toadstool Trail in the mini-woodland for young families and our school groups to explore.

Loch of Strathbeg Recent Sightings 7/4/13

IainHart87 — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 21:12:00 GMT

Evenin' all

It's been a lively week here at Strathbeg with the years first sightings of a Crane on friday evening (acompanied by a frantic answer phone message from Vicky) and again today from tower pool hide. Much of my weekend has since been invested in catching a glimpse for myself without much success although a goodly number of dabblers such as Teal (over 40) and Pintail (up to 8) have been making a show of themselves.

Folks attending the weekends craft fair has a glorious sunny view from the Visitor Centre of 40+ Wigeon and over 60 Teal on the pools. These were joined by around 20 Curlew, 10 Oystercatcher, 6 Pintail, 4 Shovellers, 2 Coot, a Red Breasted Merganser, a redshank, a Ruff and a single Sparrowhawk representing the raptors for the week. Small numbers of Lapwing (usually 2 or so) have been seen around as well so attention is on them with fingers tentatively crossed for some signs of breeding behaviour now spring seems to be here.

Round the way at Fen Hide there were reports on the 2nd and 4th April of a Scaup, possibly the same bird seen a couple of weeks ago. There were also a couple of sightings of a Little Grebe and a Great Crested Grebe before that so Fen Hide remains a great spot for some of the most interesting species. Mustn't forget our ducks and small flocks of 20 or so Pochard, Tufted Duck and Golden Eye have been regularly reported here. Our Bittern have been keeping a low profile this week with no reported sightings and 90 minutes of my Saturday being spent staring forlornly at the reedbeds to no avail. Bay Hide has seen some action this week with the Great Crested Grebe reported on the 3rd April. Regular reports of Red Breasted Merganser keep coming in and I saw a group of 6 in from of the large island on Saturday. A small group of Shelduck (4 or 5) and 2 Pintail can reliably be seen from Bay Hide at the moment also.

(Photo by Keith Bruce. A Crane. Not the current one.)

This blog was brought to you by the Loch of Strathbeg.

Iain

ETA- late news yesterday afternoon of the first Bar-tailed Godwit of the year on the low ground too.

Cliffs and Crafts

DianaS — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 15:02:00 GMT

The three-week long live trailer for Game of Thrones seems to finally be over and we're getting some vaguely spring-like weather and blue skies again (although it's a bit worrying that you're talking about how balmy it is when the car thermometer reads 3.5 degrees). I managed to get out at the weekend and visit one of the nearby seabird colonies at Bullers of Buchan. We're running a guided walk there at the end of May and it was a change to get an early look at what the seabirds were doing and make sure it was possible to walk to Slains Castle and back within 2 1/2 hours without it becoming a forced march along the clifftop.

As expcted there were no Puffins back yet. It's still quite early for them so we'll have to wait and see if the numbers have been hit by the recent Puffin wrecks along the coast. There were over 100 Razorbill (far more handsome than Puffins if we're honest) on the sea and plenty of Kittiwake and Fulmar already nesting and displaying on the cliff ledges.

This is a really stunning bit of coastline and well worth exploring, if you fancy coming along on the guided walk it's on 25th May, part of the Energetica Walking & Wildlife Festival and you can find more details (including our other seashore walk here at Strathbeg) at http://www.energetica.uk.com/festival/

Fulmar courtship. Not as threatening as it looks.

Back at Strathbeg we're still waiting for spring to really kick off properly. The Black-headed Gulls have started nest scraping, although there's no sign of any terns joining them just yet. We have put up a fence around the pool this year (the orange netting you can see from the centre) in the hope that it will put off a few of the Otter that caused so much havoc last year. We've had the first few signs of migrating waders as well with the odd Ruff appearing on the pools and low ground, and the beach at St Combs has had Snow Bunting and a large flock of Rock Pipit reported in the past few days.

Aside from that we've been busy with preparation for the Craft Fair on Saturday- latest to arrive are this great batch of British bird garden planters. The fair opens at 11am on Saturday and we've got plenty of stalls, art, cake and a spinning and weaving display as well as some pond dipping for the kids.

Loch of Strathbeg Recent Sightings 31/3/13

IainHart87 — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 10:58:00 GMT

Well the birds are all back.

Firstly I would like to take this chance to apologize for the sparsity of the birdlife the week before the 23rd of March, clearly they all had somewhere else to be and the weather probably didn't help. The week gone has been much more lively with 30 Pochard on the Loch , 20ish shelduck around the reserve and 5 Pintail on the silt trap by the Savoch Burn. A Great Spotted Woodpecker has been seen (and heard) drumming on trees around the rookery and also the tree right outside my window which woke me up this morning at around 6:30. It can often be seen on the feeders from the visitor centre window too. Lapwing have been seen in good numbers (up to 210) on the reserve again which is good news as well as frequent small groups of Oystercatcher (totalling around 30) and 1 Redshank. While out to check on the Koniks yesterday I had the fortune to see a Kestrel and flushed a Snipe in the rushes to the right of Starnafin pools. A wander up to Tower Pool Hide after work was good for 7 Tufted Ducks, 25 Teal, 2 Goosander and 12 Oystercatcher while the island in front of the Visitor Centre is host to around 40 Black Headed Gulls.

Now a toast to everyone who took part in Fridays dawn goose count. The score was 16100 Pink Footed Geese which, while slightly higher than the previous count is well below the winter peak and so it seems that the the great trip back to Iceland has started. Bon voyage.

(Tower Pool Hide in the snow)

This winter has been particularly good for viewing farmland and garden bird species and recent peak numbers on the wild bird cover around the reserve have included 100 Yellowhammer, 30 Skylark, 30 Linnet, 20 Tree Sparrows and around 80 Reed Bunting. A few small flocks of Starling are still cruising around also.

A few migrants have been seen including a couple of Song Thrush and Vicky saw a Chiffchaff in the plantation. Yay for her.

I never did get to look for the lesser Scaup reported by Tim but the south end of the loch is worth a look and you'll probably see the Cormorants displaying on the island down there.

Iain

Still Wild and Windy...

DianaS — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 19:16:27 GMT

We're thankfully snow free up here at Strathbeg but still right in the path of a howling easterly wind that's keeping it bitterly cold. Most of the Tree Sparrows seem to have set up in the lee of the visitor centre and I almost got mugged by a flock of them when I wasn't quite fast enough filling up the feeders this morning.

There have been a few hardy souls out on the reserve this weekend. The Fraserburgh Wildlife Explorer Group went ahead with their spring Easter Egg Hunt. Enough chocolate eggs were provided to keep their energy up and they managed to scour the reserve for hidden eggs, just diving back in the centre for the occasional hailstorms. They also learned a bit about real eggs and nests and got a sneak preview of our Osprey nest-platform that's hidden away in the barn until we can get it put up out on the low ground. While that was going on I did an impromptu, and slightly windblown, interview for manonabeach.com/ who's touring the whole of the North East over the next week or so.

Iain had a couple of busy days too, leading a visiting work party of volunteers from a solicitors down in Edinburgh. They've done some significant path repair out on the reserve and have helped with the endless job of filling in the potholes (yes, again!) on the entrance track. As a reward today they got a guided tour of the reserve and the chance to visit a field (I didn't ask...) near St Combs.

Thankfully my main engagement this weekend was indoors, giving a talk at the Annual Grampian Birders Meeting on Saturday night. I just about managed to run through the history of Ospreys in England and Wales in 15 minutes. Hopefully I didn't leave too much out (or bore those who weren't interested) and thanks to Chris, Paul and Hywel for letting me natter about Ospreys for a while.

Just to prove that it is nearly Easter, we are finally getting a few bulbs coming thorough so I'll finish with a picture of some crocuses in the wildlife garden- proof that spring is on its way. Eventually. Soon...

White Out

DianaS — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 12:30:50 GMT

The past few days on the reserve have felt more like December than the middle of March. We've had bitter winds and driving snow (not much on the ground but that's because it's mostly been blowing horizontally, gravity hasn't really stood a chance) and unfortunately the forecast doesn't seem to be getting much better any time soon. The cold temperatures have bought quite a bit of our resident wildlife out into the open, taking advantage of any break in the weather to get out and hunt for food. The feeders by Willow Hide have been heaving with Goldfinch, Badgers have been out and about on the airfield and there's been a group of Roe Deer regularly wandering by the entrance track and out in the marsh. The visitor centre Stoat has been showing off as well, it's just starting to shed its ermine and is gradually moulting back to its summery red-brown (although it seems to have kept a patch of white on its nose...). We've also had a possible Lesser Scaup (a rare North American duck) at the South End of the Loch, although the weather and the general rubbish visibility has made tracking it down to confirm the ID almost impossible.

The wardens and volunteers have been out despite the weather, putting up a new gate and clearing some old pens and fencing. They've spent much of today out surveying the fields for goose droppings. Sounds a bit bizarre but it's one of the ways of seeing how much the geese are using our grass fields during the day. Looking for droppings rather than counting feeding flocks gives a much better picture of where they geese have been throughout the whole day, especially since geese will never appear in the field you're surveying when you're actually surveying it. Each goose poos roughly six times an hour (there's a goose fact for the day!) so by counting the droppings, you can also work out how long the geese are using the fields for and which fields they're using the most. Quite logical when you think about it...

If you're braving the weather to visit this weekend, we've got the Fraserburgh Wildlife Explorers in on Saturday morning for a Spring Easter Egg hunt. If you want to go out but don't fancy a walk, it's the annual Grampian Birders Night at the Ythan Hotel at Newburgh, starting at 7pm. There's talks, a quiz, beer (very important) and the chance to have a chat with lots of local wildlife enthusiasts about where to go and what to see in the local area. I'll also be giving a talk on the return of the Osprey to England & Wales, and the work of Rutland Ospreys and the Dyfi Osprey Project tracking down Ospreys in West Africa. Look forward to seeing some of you there!

Loch of Strathbeg Recent Sightings 15/3/13

IainHart87 — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 16:49:46 GMT

Good afternoon, anyone got that Friday feeling?

It's been all go here the past couple of week with a number of big projects underway, somewhat hampered by the snow at times.

Life out on the pools proceeds as usual. Our 2 Gadwall have become a constant feature of the view from the Visitor Centre and groups of up to 20 Teal and Wigeon are often nearby. The back of the pools as viwed from Tower Pool Hide has proved good for views of another 20 or so Teal, 2 Shelduck, between 2 and 5 Shoveler Ducks and Varying numbers of Curlew again, often up to 80 on the edge of the back fields. The mixed arable bird cover by the side of the TPH path was excellent on thursday for garden and farmland birds and Mintlaw Primary school received some prime views of Yellowhammer, Tree Sparrow and Reed Bunting.

(Right: Fen Hide board walk taken by Iain Hartshorne)

As for the Airfield Hides a wander down to Fen and Bay Hides over the past week would have been worth a Red Kite, 3 Goosander, 2 Coot, 18 Tufted Ducks, 1 Long Tailed Duck, Water Rail (heard but not seen), frequent views of both Bittern to the sides of Fen hide most mornings, 80 Golden Eye Ducks, 11 Wigeon, 6 Black Headed Gulls, 3 Shelduck, 2 Pintail Ducks and a Red Breasted Merganser.

The Wetland Bird Survey on Monday gave us a total of 120 Whooper Swans, almost as many Golden Eye, just short of 10000 Pink Footed Geese and many of the same species listed above in typical numbers so the dawn and dusk goose flights are still impressive although numbers are likely to decrease over the coming weeks so get on down here if this is something you are yet to experience.

So quite a lot of many different things about on the reserve right now. Thanks for stopping by.

Iain

Snow, Art Shows, and Slightly Chilly Ponies

DianaS — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 10:42:56 GMT

Apologies for the lack of blog updates in the past week- a combination of holidays, a surprisingly busy weekend, a very early start on Monday for WeBS and having the day off yesterday to watch Hurricane Fly in the Champion Hurdle has kept me away from the computer for a while.

We've had a small amount of snow over the past few days, although very little compared to some parts of the North East. The Koniks seem to be coping with the low temperatures much better than the staff are- something to do with the advantage of natural fibres over even the best thermal clothing. The cold weather does seem to have kept the goose numbers low again, with fewer than 10,000 on the reserve for the WeBS count on Monday morning. We've also lost about 2,000 Wigeon, but gained over 200 Goldeneye and around 30 Pochard on the loch. Nothing unusual turned up on Monday, and almost nobody braved the reserve on Saturday and Sunday, but the Bittern is still lurking around Fen Hide and the Desert Wheatear is still hanging on at Rattray Head.

Unfortunately, the snow meant that we had to slightly cut short our planned art workshop on Saturday and Sunday. The Fraserburgh Art Group wisely decided that sketching in a white-out wouldn't be that productive (unless you're Kasimir Malevich) and we settled for a hot drink in the centre and a display of their fantastic Loch of Strathbeg-themed art which they've been working on for the past couple of weeks. They also got to chat to our visiting artist Elinor Grieve and get some advice about drawing and painting wildlife. Hopefully the group will be back in June when it should (should!) be slightly better weather and we can get outside and explore the reserve a bit more. If you're in the Fraserburgh area and fancy getting involved, then the group meet at the Dalrymple Hall at 10am on Wednesdays and anyone with an interest in art (including beginners) is welcome to drop in and join them.

Along with the visit from the art group we also had a fantastic exhibtion of wildlife art from Elinor Grieve http://www.artbyelinor.com/, Karen Hartnell http://karenhartnell-artist.weebly.com/, Kath Hamper, and photographer Cain Scrimgeour http://cainscrimgeour.co.uk/ (some fantastic photos of Troup Head in particular). The artists have generously left their work with us for a little while so we'll have the exhibtion up again this coming weekend. All of the work is for sale and will be available at our Craft Fair on Saturday 6th April.

Winter Sun and Secret Projects

DianaS — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 15:59:00 GMT

It's been a fantastic couple of days weather wise up here, freezing cold in the mornings mind you, but it's nice to see a bit of sun and some blue sky overhead for a change. The arable fields are full of birdsong, Skylarks and Corn Bunting especially, Water Rail are snorting in the reeds in front of Tower Pool Hide and there was a very loud, piping Oystercatcher over the farmhouse this morning, which is probably the first one I've seen away from the coast this year. It's made for a very nice wander round the reserve for a couple of colleagues from Edinburgh and Aberdeen, here to have a look around at our hides, paths and visitor centre and to chat about what we can do to make the reserve even better for our visitors (the answer to their questions of "Isn't it lovely?" and "Is it always like this?" are yes, it is and sadly, no it isn't!).

Starnafin looking exceptionally pretty in the sun this morning

The wardens have been taking advatage of the weather to get started on a very exciting new development on the reserve, one we've been waiting for for a very long time. We can't reveal quite what it is until it's finished in around mid-April, but this very well-hung gate frame is just the start...

No News Is Good News...

DianaS — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 14:58:03 GMT

There's been a couple of extra surveys on the go this week at Strathbeg. This weekend was the date set for the National Beached Birds Survey. This is a nationwaide survey diesgned to count the number of 'wrecks' or dead seabirds on our beaches and if any of them (and if so how many) seem to have died because of oil or other pollution out at sea. It's also a great excuse to go for a walk along thefantastic beach between Rattray and St Combs. I was on transport duty this time round and so I dropped Iain, Katherine and Jessica at Rattray (I may or may not have taken to opportunity to have another good look at the Desert Wheatear while I was down there) and left them to it.

Beached Birds is one of the few surveys where finding nothing is good news and I'm glad to report that they found no dead birds on the beach at all this time round. There were plenty of live birds including Eider, Long-tailed Duck and Red-throated Diver, lots of Sanderling and a very close encounter with a Grey Seal on the tideline. If you fancy an explore on the beach, we'll be running a guided walk to and from the lagoon on the afternoon of Sunday May 26th so keep an eye on our events page or give us a ring for a bit more information.

This morning was time for an extra Goose Count. It had been a very clear night and a full moon so we weren't expecting huge numbers. On the plus side I got to see the sun rise over Rattray Head on a clear day for the first time, the only other time I've done a count at the north end was in truly miserable weather about two years ago. As expected the final count for the morning was just under 10,000 Pink-feet. We'll know in a few weeks time if this is an odd low count or if this is the first sign of our geese heading north for the summer...