Trip reports
Sunday Morning on Portrack Marsh
Sunday, 17 February 2008
An overview of the reserve from the top showed us coot gathered on the island, with most of the water frozen. Three snipe were soon spotted, also on the island, and closer views were obtained down on the riverside path before they flew, one by one, across the lake. Later, a further half dozen snipe flew high overhead.
Moving onto Teal Lake, we picked out a common gull among the herring and black-headed gulls on the only patch of open water. Almost immediately a red-head (female) smew flew in to join them. We had great views while it dived and emerged briefly onto the ice.
A dozen redshank sat quietly among the rocks on the riverbank, undisturbed by dog-walkers but taking flight up the river when we walked past. As we made our way downstream, we were pleased to see cormorant, red breasted merganser and little grebe on the river, with bullfinch and reed bunting alongside the path.
The bright sunshine showed off the colours of teal in the beck and of a perched kestrel and a posing stonechat. Back at the barrage, a herring gull grappled with a wriggling eel, presumably stolen from the nearby cormorant. A grey seal surfaced under our noses by the fish ladder, looking enormous. The barrage's long-staying yellow-legged gull stood in sunlit splendour for some time before giving us a flypast as finale to a very pleasant morning.