Trip reports

Vane Farm RSPB Reserve - Mid week Outing

Wednesday, 11 February 2009

On a lovely crisp winter's day, eleven Group members met at Vane Farm RSPB Reserve. The sky was blue, the hills were snow-covered and the Loch was frozen, fortunately not completely. We felt that there was no point in going along to the far hides, as the lagoons were indeed frozen, but called in at the first hide where we were told a water rail had been seen. After our fleeting glimpse at Millichen on a previous midweek outing, this was quite an obliging bird, walking about on the ice at the edge of the pond in full view to the delight of all those present. From there, we headed off on the recently opened Loch Leven Heritage Trail which gave us reasonable, if distant, views of the ducks and swans on the few stretches of open water. Mallard, teal, wigeon, pochard, tufted duck, goldeneye, goosander and whooper swan were all seen. Our walk took us to a bridge over the river and here we really struck gold, with sightings of kingfisher, grey wagtail, about a dozen herons and, most exciting of all, an otter. Other birds recorded included robin, wren, tits, redwing, fieldfare, pink-footed geese, kestrel, sparrowhawk and two peregrines. An excellent day, even although the leader forgot to take the eyepiece for his telescope!

Gordon Jamieson