Thought I'd put up a picture of the Whoopers today since they've been around all weekend and today we had a grand total of 22, including 2 cygnets which were beautiful. In an ideal world though I would have a picture of the Smew sighted over the last few days - the male was seen on Friday and Saturday on Heron Lochan and today we saw a red-headed Smew (either the female or a juvenile) in the same spot, quite…

The sun came out at Kinnordy this morning which was a welcome sight! We met Ed & bruce (local volunteers) who said they had seen a Bittern hiding in the reeds from Gullery hide - an exciting start. Two flocks of Lapwings circled above the Loch for a long time, we managed to count around 50 in total, they put on a beautiful display for us, twisting and turning in the air. Overall a lovely morning at the reserve!

October saw the arrival of many of our winter visitors and as November progresses we have had fantastic sightings of geese and other wildfowl. Today saw the largest number of Greylag geese so far with 500 counted on the Loch this morning, with a Barnacle goose and 3 White fronted mixed in for good measure. The geese have been doing a great job at trampling down the over grown bog bean vegetation on the islands in front…

To coincide with Feed the Birds Day and Halloween, Loch of Kinnordy is holding a family fun day on Sunday 30th October 2011 between 2pm and 4pm

There will be fun and games for all the family, including: 
• Bird Feeder Making 
• Petrified Pond dipping and Mini-beast Hunt 
• Spooky Scavenger Hunt 
• Frightful Face Painting 
• Fancy Dress Competition with prizes

Tell all the family and have a wicked Halloween…

Ever wondered what is was like to be a residential volunteer at Kinnordy? Read on to hear a taster of some of the things our valuable residential volunteers like to get up to while they are here.

"Anna and I arrived at the Kinnordy Estate Home Farm in the dead of night one Sunday, after an epic journey across most of the country, involving three Megabusses, one non-Mega bus and one extremely baffling taxi ride. Kim…

You can tell it's autumn time again here at Kinnordy; fallen leaves litter the paths and any leaves left on the trees have started to turn. It makes a beautiful scene from the hides and along the paths, seeing all those red and golden tones. What's even better is that now some of the willow scrub has been removed from the north end (in front of Gullery hide and continuing along to the left) we get more of a spectacular…

Please be aware that Loch of Kinnordy nature reserve will be closed for two Saturdays during September.

The dates of closure are: 10 and 24 September 2011

The car park gates will be closed on both those days.

Apologies for any inconvience this may cause our visitors. We appreciate and value your patience.

It's official! A marsh harrier pair have successfully managed to breed for the first time ever at Kinnordy!

As if it wasn't exciting enough knowing that the marsh harriers finally had one fledged juvenile, it turns out we now have TWO juveniles!

It's great watching the family of 4 flying over the reedbed, near the nest, and west over middlemarsh. Food passes are now more amazing with the male feeding both the…

This is the news we have all been waiting for...

Yesterday (Tues, 9th Aug) there was a sighting, by one of regulars, of a juvenile marsh harrier flying with both parents!!

Looks like the marsh harrier young has finally come out of hiding. All the waiting and patience endured by staff, volunteers and visitors, alike, has paid off and it's good news. After months of speculating if the pair had successfully produced young…

What a summer it's turning out to be - not that you'd think it has been summer recently with our lovely Scottish weather!

Half the time, the volunteers and myself are still wrapped up in our winter gear and waterproofs thanks to all the wind and rain! The rain hasn't helped much with the water levels. The water levels are still fairly high for this time of the year in comparison to previous years. Although I…

We rely a lot on the time and dedication of the stream of residential volunteers that pass through here at Kinnordy. Without our volunteers I don't think our reserve would be as great as it is. Every volunteer is appreciated whole-heartedly and the work they do is amazing.

Amy Telford, a new Residential Volunteer who started a couple of weeks ago, thought it would be a good idea to share some thoughts about the time…

Breeding season is always a wonderful and exciting time of year, especially at Kinnordy.

Lots of family groups have been seen on a daily basis. Last count was; 3 mute swan families - 1 pair with 1 cygnet and 1 pair with 5 cygnets seen from East hide and another pair with 4 cygnets seen from Gullery hide. Perhaps thats not all with another 4 pairs of mute swan based at the reserve? Also from Gullery hide you can sometimes…

What a beautiful sunny day we had at the reserve today! Is this the start of summer? I hope so :)

The osprey and the female marsh harrier were both out for awhile enjoying the sun too. The osprey managed to catch a couple of fish while at the loch. It looks like we now have two mute swan families; both with 3 cygnets each. And a female mallard was seen with 8 older ducklings, so it looks like they might make it. There…

Yesterdays first ever "Marsh Harrier Watch" was a great success.

Lots of people managed to find them time to come and were amazed to see the male marsh harrier when he decided to make an appearence. I've never seen some many people in the Gullery hide, but luckily that didn't put people off! Swamp hide were getting good views of him too. The wind did stopped the male harrier from coming out for long peroids…

The reserve is now fully open again as of this evening (Tues 24rth May)

Many thanks to all the hard work of our volunteers. All paths have been safely cleared of any fallen branches.

Back to birdwatching - it looks like there may be good news on the marsh harrier front! Since the end of last week, only the male has been spotted flying round the reserve. A food pass witnessed on Sunday (22nd) suggests the possibility…

Due to the severe winds yesterday the decision has been made to close the footpaths and car park for a short while today (Tues 24rth May). For health and safety reasons the footpaths will be closed in order to get broken branches safely removed from blocking the path.

Apologies for any inconvenience. Thank you for your patience.

The reserve will be fully open again tomorrow (Wed 25th May).

Apologies for a delay in keeping up with the blog.

Last week saw our surprise visitors back again for a short period. Two cranes were spotted on the 3rd & 4rth May. I think it was just a quick visit this year - blink and you would have missed them. No sign of them since the 4rth. Maybe next year they'll come and stay agin for longer.

The Marsh harrier pair are still keeping us all excited. Still nest building…

What a wonderful day at Kinnordy yesterday. Even after the otter has been about there are still reasonable numbers of black headed gulls in front of Gullery hide, and they continue to let us know when any prospective predators are about. This certainly helped us to know when the Marsh harriers were up and about, and when the Ospreys were coming in to fish.

Spectacles yesterday morning involved both these species, with…

Some exciting news!

I got a text from the residential volunteers saying that it was all go, go, go at the reserve yesterday.

Things were looking really positive for the prospect of the marsh harrier pair attempting breed at Kinnordy. The Marsh harrier pair have been seen regularly for almost two weeks now, after returning from a small disappearance! Lots of sightings of both the male and female gathering nest material…

Today has been quite a busy day at the reserve.

First thing we had a female mallard with a brood of nine ducklings swim right infront of Gullery hide! There was also reports over the weekend that another female mallard was seen with a brood of 10 ducklings (or perhaps its bad news already with one duckling gone!). Im sure over the next few weeks more parent and offspring sightings will be seen all around the reserve…

Today we had the most fanatastic view from Gullery hide - a splendid male garganey! There were few reports from the weekend saying he's been spotted before now. At times he was very easy to loose when you took your eyes off him - sneaky devil - which is surprising given his striking white eye stripe!

He was there for most of the morning and I'm sure a view regulars birders managed to pop by to see him. I wonder…

I think we can finally admit it is truely spring here at the reserve.

Lots of paired up birds with hidden nests in the reeds. There is a coot's nest and a mute swan nest directly opposite Gullery hide, and a further couple of possible mute swan nests over by the East end of the reserve. Plenty of pairs of mallard, teal, wigeon, gadwall (last count was 4 pairs), shoveler (with 3 pairs now) seen on a daily basis.

I know I have been harping on about it for ages, but it really does feel like spring is here now.

We carried out a water rail survey this morning and found 11 pairs, plus there are a few males hanging about which might yet get a female. Part way round we spotted the osprey fishing, and saw the female marsh harrier - fantastic.

With lapwing displaying, redshank calling and snipe chipping it really is a wonderful place…

I've just heard there is a pair of marsh harriers at the reserve today.

I believe the male has a green wing tag on the right wing, which may indicate it is the same male which was present at the reserve last August, at which time I had a report that the pair present then were seen displaying. A possible new breeding species for the reserve? We'll keep you posted.

A cold and wet start to the day allowed the feeling of spring to escape us for a while. While a few of the birds braved the elements, the reletively low numbers of some species suggests many were seeking shelter elsewhere.

Whooper swan numbers seem much lower again, suggesting that the latest group decided to beat the weather and head off north, leaving just a hanful behind at the reserve. There were only around 18