The loch quickly froze over again after my last blog entry, and some of the wildfowl moved off to other sites. Much of what remains at Kinnordy is towards the west end where there is plenty of food available. There is a group of teal in the channel between main loch and swamp lochans though.
There was also a sighting of a bittern yesterday. It was seen from the Gullery hide just before 9am and apparently flew from the reeds around the lone pine toward the swamp hide area. Last year the individual we had on site became very brave and was frequently seen about lunch time on the edge of the reeds opposite Gullery Hide. So it is definitely worth spending some time in the next few weeks waiting for glimpses of this bird.
There are also plenty of good views of reed bunting to be seen at the moment. We often see them perched in the trees around Swamp Hide, but yesterday there was one hopping around on the ground just in front of Gullery Hide.
Activity at the feeders is a little more quiet than it was through the very cold spell, but we are still keeping them well topped up and there are still flocks of tits and chaffinches around. Also worth keeping your eyes peeled for brambling too, and I heard bullfinch again yesterday for the first time for a couple of weeks. I tend to hear / see them on the path a couple of hundred metres from East Hide as you walk towards Kirriemuir.
Whooper swans and greylag geese have been flying over too, so we are looking forward to the ice receding so that they start to come into the loch again.