Spring migration has been the main highlight of the past week.

The Black-tailed Godwits are still around in numbers, with 28 being seen on the 29^th (April) and 22 on the 3^rd (May).

 

Black-tailed Godwit feeding on Carden Flood (courtesy of David Veitch)

After the Ringed Plovers from last week, two Little Ringed Plovers were present around the Carden Flood on the 2^nd.

 

Little Ringed Plover {Ben Hall (rspb-images.com…

It's been a busy month for breeding birds on the reserve.

Lapwing have been active all month, and can be regularly seen mobbing and chasing off predatory Crows. There are, as of now, a minimum of 19 nests, with most of these on the east side of the reserve. Visitors can view the nests from the cafe window, where a panoramic guide to the positions of the nests is located.

                    Lapwing

Our first Swallows were…

We’ve had fairly stable weather conditions over the past ten days. Unfortunately, it’s consisted of cold easterly winds and almost constant light snow showers. On the plus side, the ground temperature has remained above freezing most of the time, allowing the birds to continue to feed on the reserve.

 

View of RSPB reserve and Vane hill on the 21st.

Oystercatcher numbers increased, with 29 counted on the…

This blog comes to you from Richard, 15, who has just started volunteering as a reserve guide here at Loch Leven, along with his dad Martin.

Richard takes great photos and has kindly agreed to share them on the blog with you, so look out for more from him in the future. And if you're around the reserve at weekends, why not take a trip out onto the reserve or down to the hides with him and his dad and they'll show you…

We’ve had a couple of seasons in the past few weeks.

Spring-like weather with clear skies and sunshine resulted in large flocks (100+) of Lapwings returning to the reserve, with many birds actively displaying over the grassland. Pre-breeding flocks of Curlews too, have been prominent, with regular sightings of flocks of 80-100 birds feeding. Oystercatchers were frequently observed.

The fair weather brought the…

It may already have come to your attention that Monday was the beginning of Fairtrade Fortnight, and we thought this was the perfect excuse to combine our commitment to ethical ingredients with our love of cake to bring you... the Loch Leven Big Fairtrade Bake Off!

So, if you've ever been perusing our cake cabinet and thought 'I wish they would make coffee cake' or 'I quite fancy a slice of chocolate beetroot cake',…

Whew! What a couple of weeks we’ve had!

Our new multi-coloured sightings board with, using state-of-the-art blackboard pens, is up and running.

The new Cafe library, comprising of a number of wildlife books, generously donated by an unknown benefactor, will allow visitors to browse a book whilst enjoying a coffee or tea.

One of our 2 video cameras is now working again, giving visitors closer views of the birds…

We've had quite a contrast here over the last couple of weeks.

During the week before last, with the reserve completely covered in several inches of snow, almost all of the bird activity was confined to the feeder stations.  Constant visits by Greenfinches, Chaffinches, Goldfinches, Great, Coal, Long-tailed and Blue Tits, Siskins, House and Tree Sparrows, Robins, Dunnocks and Bramblings emptied the feeders within…

Morning all, its another snowy scene here at Loch Leven this morning.

Despite the snow, the visitor centre, hides and trails are open as usual, and a snow plough is on its way to clear the car park. The surrounding roads are clear too.

So come and see us! Come, build a snow man (or a snow bird? or an igloo!), warm up with a hot chocolate in the cafe, treat your feathered friends to some fine fat balls, and chat to us,…

With the recent mild weather, the White-tailed Eagles had been absent from the area, however this cold spell has seen them return. , Eagle Turquoise H (2009 release) was seen on Reed Bower in the morning. Later in the afternoon, a second bird, Red 2 (2011 release) was seen on St Serf's. Both birds were identified using radio tracking. For most of the day, a Great Norther Diver could be observed on the loch, midway…

Well, here we are again at the start of a brand new year and, unsurprisingly, it's very similar to the end of the old year on the reserve.
This week, a pair of Short-eared Owls were seen on the 3rd, the  8th and again on the 9th. A European White-fronted Goose (Anser albifrons) made an appearance on the 4th. Three Red Grouse were spotted on the top of Vane hill on the 5th. Two Redpolls visited the feeding station outside…

‘Twas the night before Christmas’ - Well, really the day.

Unlike the house in the poem, the reserve today was full of activity. The ice of two weeks ago has been converted back to liquid form by the recent mild weather and then topped up by the almost non-stop rain, meaning the water level has risen by around a foot (300 mm in metric).

The morning saw a large flock of Whooper Swans move off the Carden Flood;…

This week's guest blogger is the wonderful Fine Wohlfahrt, who is currently on an internship with RSPB Scotland. .

Fine is at university in Germany, and came to Scotland to volunteer with RSPB to get some practical experience of working within nature conservation.  She has been an absolute joy to have around the reserve, pitching in with everything from repairing fencing out on the reserve to working in the cafe, and…

On the plus side, it’s been dry and sunny; on the negative side, its been COLD! As a result, the birds have shunned the frozen ponds and kept to Vane bay; mainly, Mallard, Pochard, Tufted ducks, Whooper and Mute swans, with an occasional Goosander. Long-tailed tits have been regular visitors, and four Waxwings made an appearance on the 6th near the Visitors Centre.

The highlights, however, have continued to be…

What a fantastic day! The day started off well with a peregrine flying in close proximity to the visitor centre, a perfect way to start a cold morning. Though the highlight of the day was watching one, of the two, male hen harriers fly around the flood being mobbed by the resident ketrels. Other raptors included plenty of buzzard and reports of a sea eagle around the burleigh sands area. On the loch plenty of duck were…

Four waxwings dropped in to RSPB Loch Leven earlier and brightened up our (rather dull) winter day.

Despite the chilly conditions we've had an excellent spate of sightings over the last few days, with today being classed as "bird of prey heaven" by Colin Ross (he's very excitable). So far today we've had 6 different species spied on the reserve and over the loch - all looking glorious in the winter sunshine. A white-tailed eagle has been seen regularly around the loch since Saturday, it's likely…

What a stunning day, the ground was frozen white and the sky clear and blue. And with the cold weather came one of our annual white tailed sea eagles, which was seen around castle island! On the loch there were plenty of ducks, including teal, mallard ,tufted duck and goldeneye and a mixed flock of whooper and mute swans. The pools of the reserve were frozen so the only birds on the wetland were a handfull of buzzards…

This week saw winter arrive with a vengeance. The views of the loch from the cafe, however, were especially good in the clear, dry and cold conditions, as was the latte and freshly baked scone. The Carden Flood and smaller pools were frozen over today, and consequently showed little activity apart from the odd Black-headed Gull standing on the ice.

Amongst the 50-60 Greylag Geese grazing on the reserve was a single

…

We first met Sam when he and his mum came into the visitor centre last thing on a Friday afternoon during half term. It was getting dark, and they were both tired and muddy from their long cycle round Loch Leven from Vane Farm to Kinross, and back again, all in the name of birds!

So we asked Sam to write this blog to tell us (and you!) all about his sponsored cycle. It turns out that not only is Sam a top bird spotter, and…

Apoligies for the lack of blogging. What a fantastic day! The morning started well with a peregrine perching near the flood, and plenty of the usual buzzards and kestrels. Though even better than all that, in my opinion, was the female smew that showed well on the loch, it even got out of the water to preen. The bay was full with over 250 whooper swans and a mixture of pink footed and greylag geese, so as you can imagine…

On Saturday, 250 whooper swans and a few hundred pink-footed geese were having a great time in the bay below our visitor centre. What a fabulous sight and what a wonderful sound! There is also a female smew on the phot - somewhere... trust me... 

Well, the weather has been dreich this week, on the reserve (A combination of dull, overcast, drizzly, cold, misty and miserable weather. At least 4 of the above adjectives must apply before the weather is truly dreich). All the more enjoyable for that,  when birds appear through the mist and drizzle.

A treat for participants in last weeks Evening Goosewatch (on the 8th) was the appearance of a Short-eared Owl. On Monday…

What a glorious autumnal day on the reserve today. It stayed dry with some long sunny periods (yes, indeed!); though a bit windy in the morning, the afternoon turned out calm. Lots of the usual birds around, looking bright and colourful in winter plumage, with large numbers of teal and widgeon on the Carden flood, along with 80 odd lapwings and 20 whooper swans (its always worthwhile stopping and having a closer look…

It's been a couple of weeks of phone calls, emails, excited conversations and nervous anticipation, but yesterday it all came together when Chris Packham and the BBC Autumnwatch crew spent the day filming at Loch Leven!

We've long known that Loch Leven is an amazing place for wildlife, so we were pretty chuffed when the Autumnwatch team wanted to feature the National Nature Reserve in this year's series.…