It's amazing. I have just been given the fantastic news that the first fledged black headed gulls since 2007 were seen today, thanks to the otter being about! I believe 3 young gulls took to the air during the commotion, and around 20 more took to the water, several of these looking close to fledging themselves.

It is so good to know that our small colony of gulls can fight all the odds (and predators) and protect…

The otter seems to have found Kinnordy again in the last couple of weeks, and is being seen relatively frequently. Most sightings are from the Gullery hide where the black headed gulls alert us to the intruder with their characteristic way of going silent and all rising from the bogbean to fly over and mob the intruder.

Despite the added stress this must have on the small colony there are still black headed gull chicks…

Well there are now several nests of black headed gull chicks, some of them looking quite big. The bogbean is growing fast around them, so it is becoming harder to keep an eye on them, but hopefully soon some of them will take to the water and we will be able to get a better idea of how many we have.

The first brood of mute swan cygnets is now out and about (four of them) with their parents which is good to see, and juvenile…

Springwatch is about to hit your TV screens again, but Loch of Kinnordy seems to have jumped the gun a little, and the excitement of the season has started already. I was delighted to get a text on Thursday night telling me that there were black headed gull chicks! The first to be seen since 2007 - I could hardly contain my excitement. Sure enough there are some fair sized fluffy bundles to be seen in the nests in front…

Saturday was National Moth Night, and a few folk joined us to see what goes bumb in the night. It was a little chilly and damp, which kept numbers of moths down, but we did manage to see and hear pipistrelle bats on Saturday night, and we caught a flame carpet and a scalloped hazel (moths) to get a closer look at. On Sunday morning we had a few more species to look at which were caught in the trap over night.

Sunday…

My first mallard ducklings of the year - a brood of 2 in front of the Gullery hide, lovely to see and made the early morning even more special.

Although possibly the highlight of my survey this morning they were by no means the only excitement, a flock of about 40 greylag geese circling the reserve had a barnacle goose in with them, and a flock of 26 Golden Plover were feeding in a ploughed field on the north shore…

I made a dusk visit to the reserve tonight, and was rewarded with views of two otters swiming across in front of the reeds at gullery hide. They darted up and down, skilfully avoiding the dive-bombing black headed gulls, then just capered around with each other.

The next couple of weeks will be the time to see them on the reserve, they are generally most active early morning and evening, but can appear at any time.…

An early morning visit to the reserve this morning to celebrate International Dawn Chorus Day. Although a chilly start to the day, there was plenty around to be seen and heard.

It is particularly nice now to be able to walk around listening to willow warbler, sedge warbler and blackcaps which are back from Africa, I have also been told of a whitethroat seen this morning.

Robins, wrens and chaffinches seem to be a…

No sign of the cranes since Monday, but they may be back.

There were 28 black tailed godwits around yesterday, and I saw one still around this morning.

The black headed gull numbers have increased again - there were around 130 on site this morning, and definite nesting behaviour. Just in the background there was an otter feeding as well.

Still a small group of 7 whooper swans at the west end feeding in the marsh…

The title says it all. Although they weren't reported on site yesterday, they were seen in the vicinity. Today they were resting in front of the swamp hide, and easily seen, before flying over to the large ploughed field on the north side.

Shortly after watching them land in the field I swa one take a huge leap into the air - so graceful.  

As you will see from Darell's photographs in the Gallery we have had 4 common cranes at the reserve today.

They were spotted by visitors dropping in last night shortly before dusk, and quickly confirmed by a Kinnordy local (who was back at 6 am with his daughter!).

The birds have been very obliging, choosing to feed in the fields on the north side, or rest on the far side of the swamp lochan as a group. They did…

The ospreys seem to be very obliging already this year, and are frequently being seen. We spotted one on the pole across from the hides this afternoon, and realised it has a darvic (plastic ring) on the left leg. Unfortunately it was too distant for me to read the letters, but if any of you is able to read it would be great to know.

Apart from the osprey everything seems a bit quiet - I think mainly because there are…

Driving up to the reserve today I caught a glimpse of a large bird ahead. Thinking it an odd place to see a heron I quickly realised that was because it wasn't a heron: I was in fact getting my most amazing view of a juvenile sea eagle! I pulled in and watched it calmly fly right by, and off towards where I'd just come from.

Not happy with that as the sighting of the day, I made a quick detour to check a local…

It's always exciting visiting Kinnordy at this time of year. From the moment I entered the car park I could hear the Black headed gulls, although there are only a few so far.

A beautiful pair of gadwall were dabbling in front of the Gullery hide, and another pair were sleeping nearby. Four male shoveler were showing off to a single female, who seems to have made her choice already, but that wasn't going to put the…