The end of July saw a number of waders passing through the reserve, with green sandpiper, pectoral sandpiper and curlew sandpiper, and an elusive lesser yellowlegs seen in the lagoon on 29 July. Reasonable numbers of dunlin and golden plover were also seen on the seaward side of the reserve. A little stint appeared on 13 August, and since then numbers of waders have been steadily growing - a sure sign that autumn is on the way. A juvenile black tern was seen from the Visitor Centre on 22 August, but didn't stop for long.
There are still a few young common terns on the island at Starnafin; although their parents are still feeding them, it won't be long before they are on their way south for the winter. The swifts seem to have departed, and swallows and house martins are gathering in large numbers prior to their own departures, although we still have swallows feeding young in the outbuildings. Greenshank and ruff can usually be seen from the Visitor Centre. There are still ospreys fishing over the Loch, although they will also be setting off to Africa in the near future. Marsh harrier and peregrine have been sighted recently.
Young Swallow - Tom Marshall, rspb-images.com
Our herd of Konik ponies continues to work hard at reducing the amount of rushes, and a recent trip to Mosstown Marsh saw over 200 curlew and at least 25 snipe on the areas that have been cut or grazed - the most we've seen there in a very long time, which is excellent news and bodes well for the fen meadow restoration project. This year's foals are growing fast, and the yearlings are almost as big as the adult ponies; we're still waiting for the additional five geldings to arrive some time in September.
Haworths' minor moth (Paula Redman)
A number of 'Bat and Moth' nights saw a keen group of visitors hanging 'wine ropes' in the trees and painting fence posts with a gooey mix of syrup and over-ripe banana to attract moths, and tracking our farmyard pipistrelles with bat detectors. The really keen came back the following morning to see what the moth trap had gathered overnight, and have been rewarded with a wide variety of stunning moths, from garden tigers to elephant hawk moths. There's another 'Bat and Moth Night' on Friday 5 September, starting at 7.30 pm; why not come along and see what we find? We've also got a number of other family-friendly activities coming up - check out our reserve events pages for details!
Sallow moth (Paula Redman)
Our gannets at Troup Head are still feeding their youngsters, and over the weekend of 30 and 31 August we'll be celebrating their success with 'Glorious Gannets Weekend' at the Macduff Marine Aquarium. Details of this event and the guided walk on Saturday 30 August are on our website.
The next milestone will be the return of the pinkfooted geese - we expect the first 'scouting parties' around the middle of September. Numbers should build up quickly, and we will be running our autumn dawn 'Goosewatch' programme of events - watch the website for details. Put 11 October in your diaries too, as the date for the 'Goosefair' - a combination of craft fair and activities for all.