A beautiful day at Loch Leven! And it's good to be here on my first day as writer in residence for the reserve. The residency is part of a year-long celebration of the 50 years since the RSPB first took the land here into its care. Throughout the year we'll be sharing visitor's memories, stories and photos from 1967 to the present day. So if you have any stories you'd like to share from your visits to Loch Leven please do get in touch (LochLeven50th@rspb.org.uk)!
On arrival, I was struck by the sounds of Loch Leven, from the chirruping of tits in the trees to the piping and whistling of ducks as I approached the hides. The "pipers" turned out to be teals. Such a simple name for such a dazzling dabbler! In the sunlight, the colours of these ducks were astounding: from the chestnut head with its glossy green sides to the pale yellow under-tail. And, as if showing off, a small group of males put on a flight display directly in front of Carden Hide, the green bars of their wings clearly visible.
The resident mute swans were in territorial mood at the Carden Hide and one male in particular was determined to "see off" two youngsters. He spread his feathers to full capacity, tucked his golden beak to his neck and harangued the youngsters until they paddled furiously with their black legs to take off in a great hurry. Whooper swans were visible too, as were the occasional oystercatchers, curlews, grey-lag and pink-footed geese, wigeons, coots and of course our resident little egret. Heading over towards the sluice gates, a flock of 50 or more tufted ducks bobbed easily on the water, happily feeding.
There were two further highlights to the day. The first was the joy of seeing a peregrine falcon fly directly overhead, then away into the distance. The second was a kestrel hunting directly in front of the Carden Hide and using the fence-line as a staging post. The sandy buff of its feathers was striking and I gazed for a long time as it held itself so effortlessly in the air - its tail fanned, its head searching below, its wings fluctuating or holding perfectly still, like my own breath.
In the words of Nan Shepherd: “approach nature without expectation and you will receive remarkable glimpses into its being." I came away from my first day at RSPB Loch Leven feeling inspired.
Other wildlife sightings this week in the wildlife garden include a treecreeper, a goldcrest, bullfinches, long tailed tits and large flocks of goldfinches. Over in the bay towards St.Serf's Island there have been a male and female smew. A raven has been flying over the woodland with red squirrels playing below. At the scrape today we have a couple of young scaup. The song birds are in full song and we've already seen our first snowdrops!
Anita John
Writer in residence, RSPB Scotland Loch Leven
Photo credit: Paul Ashcroft - teal; Alex Gilfillan - mute swan; Alex Gilfillan - peregrine