It was a dreich WeBS count yesterday - hard to see with my wet bins and steamed up scope, but there were a few birds still visible.
The most unusual sighting was 2 Great Northern Divers bobbing around off the southern edge of St Serfs, they were doing their best at pretending to be Cormorants, but the sheer size and diving style was a give away. Unusually I saw more Red-Breasted Merganser than goosander on the loch, mainly around St Serfs. Pochard numbers seem to be on the rise, while Tufties and Goldeneye continue to make up the majority of the wildfowl on the southern edge on the loch.
A mix of Slavonian, Little and Great Crested Grebe were seen, mostly out in the middle of the loch. A couple of small flocks of Pinkies were moving around the area, while most of the Greylag were spotted on St Serfs with a couple of Canada Geese. One Dipper was spotted along the River Leven, but sadly no kingfisher.
Curlew numbers remain fairly buoyant anlthough they seem to have dropped a little. Oystercatcher and Lapwing have returned to the flood in small numbers, with the latter looking as though they want to start the breeding season early this year, with some display flights this morning. Colin Ross (retail manager) described the Lapwing behaviour as "fantastic, low-flying acrobatics", hopefully there'll be plenty more in the next couple of months.
Great Northern Diver - juvenile in winter plumage
Edwin Kats (rspb-images.com)