One of the first tasks completed during week 2 was the creation of a ‘bird feeding station’ outside the window of the RSPB accommodation. I fashioned a simple length of timber that could be bolted onto a solitary gatepost, whereby a triplet of feeders could be mounted. This enabled an assortment of food types and quickly had bickering Starlings and House Sparrows vying for their time at the table! It also helpfully attracted both lurking Dunnock and somewhat shyer Robins into the vicinity, mopping up falling crumbs.
David and I continued fence repairs during the early part of the week, constantly finding posts needing replacement, and eventually erecting a new section of barbed wire to help keep the cattle out. Tensioning the barb was a fiddly job owing to it being high tensile but after devising a useful pulley system we quickly had it in hand. At one point during the repair we watched bemused as a solo (and impatient) cow scaled the fence further along…a section evidently still in need of repair!
We also took the opportunity in good weather to use the services of the tractor to help break down a huge pile of hay bales into silage in a paddock used for early Corncrake cover. Heavily matted together they required rolling, turning, pushing, lifting and shaking and were eventually in a much better position to break down into essential fertiliser.
Mid week we carried out a trial run for the impending WEBS survey of wetland birds, walking a substantial section of the reserve in order to notate a number of Lochs that were due to be included in the survey. Again, it was a beautiful day for it, though the conditions and wind direction didn’t necessarily seem to suit bird-life as it was a quieter day for sightings as a whole. In the Breachacha bay river estuary we watched a huge flock of Common Gulls, interspersed with Herring and Great Black-Blacked, Ringer Plover, Sanderling, Redshank, Oystercatcher, Golden Plover, a solitary Grey Plover in flight and a group of 6 distant Red-Breasted Merganser across the bay. We also saw a group of Common Seals lounging on rocks close to shore. In both Canal Loch and Loch Ballyhaugh there were a number of Grey Heron, Moorhen, Mallard and Teal. Much of the wetland route was bone dry due to the lack of rain and hence many birds were largely absent.
In the latter part of the week I carried out some essential reserve maintenance tasks including the replacement of a car park hazard bollard (indicating a ditch) that had been unwittingly pulled from the ground by a vehicle at some point. I also replaced RSPB signage at a number of locations across the reserve, helping to inform members of the public when on RSPB land and therefore to take necessary care to maintain the habitat for breeding birds. It was also a decent day for sightings and at Loch Ballyhaugh I notated five Whooper Swans and four Wigeon, along with Mallard and Moorhen. Across other parts of the reserve were Meadow Pipit, Stonechat, Pied Wagtail, Lapwing, Curlew, Linnet, Golden Plover, Snipe, Grey Heron, Teal, Hooded Crow, Buzzard and Hen Harrier amongst others.
The final weekly task was to put in place some plastic netting to shelter an early cover area for Corncrake. The wind helpfully chose to blow from entirely the wrong direction (from the East) bulging the net in all the wrong places. This required the three of us to hold it, flatten it and ultimately screw it in place. Hopeful that the netting would potentially survive a Coll winter, we were a little dismayed to discover one section hadn’t even survived the construction process! The small rip was actually more likely down to excess strain from the tensioner and David and I swiftly bandaged it up, ready to take on the winds. It’ll be interesting to check on its progress next week…
With a prospective change in the wind direction, next week will likely see the arrival of the winter Geese!…
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N.B. The Geese have indeed arrived, with small flocks of Barnacle Geese first seen arriving from the 16th October. White-Fronted Geese seen and heard arriving from 19th October.