Took a trip to Kinnordy today and it was definately worth the trip as the cranes appeared! I headed to the swamp hide and was greeted by a shelduck flying overhead along with the calls from the black-headed gulls, one of which certainly seemed to be in a bossy mood dive bombing a poor shoveler who was sat nicely at the edge of the water and chasing the little teal until they dived under water! A greater spotted woodpecker flew across from one patch of trees to the next flying right in front of the hide followed by three rather cute looking blue tits. The tufteds stayed at the other end of the loch along with the mute swan. A lonely greylag goose looked a bit lost flying in and landing in front of the hide. And then of course the four cranes appeared as if from nowhere! They didn't stay for long and soon took off again flying high up into the sky and heading out of sight, just as a pair of teal (one of my favourite ducks) came swimming up the channel at the side of the hide. The male did a bit of displaying to his lady friend before both started to tuck in to a meal.
A quick visit to the gullery hide resulted in seeing two gadwall and a lovely little sedge warbler, and I don't think I need to mention the lapwings that are determined to be heard above the gulls lol
Cranes:
Gadwall:
Shoveler:
Teal:
Nice one KatTai, If it was not for my Owl obsession I would of been up there today after the Cranes. Great post and pictures! Still not got up to those Dippers yet, Spring and I need to be everywhere. :-)
John :-)
Hi John,
Unfortunately I haven't seen any sign of the dippers since the river flooded again so I'm not even certain they are still around :-(