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After a short spell of wintry weather the spring is back on track, with beautiful sunshine and pleasant temperatures. New channels at the Aird Meadow are now taking shape as the works are due to be finished in a couple of weeks. And there is plenty of wildlife of course! Highlights of the week include...

After a long, cold and gloomy winter we can finally say – spring is in the air! Some parts of the reserve are carpeted in snowdrops and first daffodils have started to come out. Other sure signs of spring are the catkins on willows, first green buds on dog rose bushes and, off course, a beautiful...

It’s been another fantastic week at the reserve with beautiful weather, loads of visitors and some “first of the year” bird sightings. The number of species seen this year is now up to 85. The highlights of the week include a drake smew , which finally arrived on 21 February and is...

Hello from snow-covered Lochwinnoch! It’s beautiful today – everything is covered in a white layer and there’s a lot of birds on the feeders. Despite the snow, our brave contractors are working hard to finish habitat project on time. The rest of the week was very exciting too, with...

It’s been raining a lot recently and water level at the Aird Meadow is very high, giving us a taste of what it is going to look like when the habitat work is completed. If you haven’t been to the reserve recently you might be very surprised how quickly the works are progressing! It was also...

It was another very exciting week at Lochwinnoch, with sparkling new shop re-opened on Sunday, a lot of work done on the Aird Meadow and a temporary crossing (which will be used to move spoil to improve the bund) completed. Cold weather has forced birds to seek food provided by humans, which means that...

It is a beautiful, crisp and frosty day here at Lochwinnoch, one of the days that are perfect for wildlife watching. There has been a lot of movement around the reserve, with diggers working on our new pond and contractors sprucing up the shop. We also had some amazing bird sightings in the past week...

The first snow of this winter has fallen this week and the lochs are now frozen. Our Young Volunteers have decorated the visitor centre with the Christmas tree and colourful garlands, getting us all into a festive mood. On top of this the wildlife is not disappointing us. What else would we need to start...

What a cracking week at Lochwinnoch! Sun is shining brightly, lochs are deep blue and very calm, and the morning frost paints grasses and reeds white. Lochs and feeders at the reserve are absolutely bursting with birds – the big and the small. A place that at the moment is particularly good for...

Last week of November starts tomorrow and we can feel the winter drawing nearer and nearer with every day. Mornings and evenings are dark and gloomy, and the rest of the day is not much brighter, especially when low clouds are shrouding the entire area. But if you think it’s not worth to visit...

It’s been raining almost constantly since Monday – not a perfect time for both people and wildlife. Heavy rainfall, fog and high winds may affect migrating birds, causing death of individuals, exhausted by the journey and struggle with the elements. At this time of year, it’s particularly...

Another week of the autumn has gone past, but what a week that was! A male hen harrier was visiting the reserve nearly every day, to the delight of our visitors – for many of them it was a first ever opportunity to observe this extraordinary bird. On 6 November it has flushed over 20 snipe from...

What a grey and gloomy day today! Even birds seem to dislike it. However, the rest of the week was rather nice and we had some very interesting bird sightings. The highlight of the week was certainly a male hen harrier , hunting above the reeds on the Aird Meadow on 28 and 29 October. This beautiful...

Trees around the reserve are loosing more and more leaves and days are getting shorter but we are nowhere near being depressed because of that. Quite the contrary – it’s a really exciting time, with all the winter migrants arriving to the reserve in large numbers. Tufted ducks , wigeons ...

What an amazing week at Lochwinnoch! Despite changeable weather we had loads of exciting sightings, including a male hen harrier searching for voles and other small animals on the Aird Meadow on 9, 12, 14 October, and on Barr Loch on 16 October. Large amounts of wildfowl were observed on the lochs over...

The area of high atmospheric pressure over the west coast of Scotland has brought dry and sunny weather to Lochwinnoch. Mornings are frosty and lochs,enveloped in a layer of mist, look magical. Later on, when the mist lifts off, it gets very warm and visibility becomes excellent. These are the perfect...

As all of you have probably noticed, autumn is now at full throttle. It’s an exciting time for Lochwinnoch Nature Reserve. More and more winter visitors arrive each day and when the weather is calm, Barr Loch is teaming with mute swans , mallards and tufted ducks . We also had over 50 wigeons and...

The weather in Renfrewshire has been very changeable recently. In the past week or so, we had clear blue skies and heavy grey clouds, rain and sunshine, strong wind, most beautiful rainbows, and even some morning frost. Some trees along the Aird Meadow Trail have already turned fiery orange. Some swallow...

Finally, some sun after many days of wind and rain. Our feeders are teeming with garden birds enjoying sunshine (and delicious sunflower hearts). Blue and great tits , chaffinches , goldfinches and siskins , as well as an occasional great spotted woodpecker , are making a lovely view – we could...

With each passing day, we observe more and more signs of approaching autumn. The vegetation is slowly changing colour from lush green to yellow, brown and orange. Brambles , hawthorn , wild rose and rowan are covered in ripening fruit that will help birds to survive autumn and winter. It is getting colder...

One could be forgiven for forgetting which season we’re in, given the grim weather we have had over the last few weeks. But if we take a closer look, there are tell-tale signs that despite the lack of sunshine, summer is definitely here. The mild, rainy weather has given a boost to the vegetation...

It will come as no surprise to most that birdwatchers like to keep lists. I myself am not a list keeper (not for birds anyway, perhaps for moths...) but can see why many find list keeping so enjoyable. Earlier in the year, RSPB Lochwinnoch started it's on list, looking back through the records for...

This morning Allan and I set out to carry out a bird survey on Kilbirnie loch. The rain had stopped and it seemed like a good opportunity to go and see what was about, especially with reports of guillemots and black terns around the local area. However, we seemed destined for failure today. Firstly,...