I hope everyone had a great Christmas and a safe start to 2010. This is my first week back after the holidays so I have been catching up with all my e-mails that seem to accumulate faster than the drifting snow! At home we have had a great time with lots of snow and an extended holiday for the family as the local school has been closed. On the reserve I was pleasantly surprised to see some snow but plenty of ice - I would guess that 80% of the wetlands are completely frozen (including 100% of the Loch). This has lead to us having to close the reserve as the entrance track is exciting to drive along at the moment and three vehicles have got stuck today! We hope to re-open over the weekend but I suspect that early next week is more likely!
Anyway on to the birds. Well as David said in his blog on the 4th we finished 2009 on 205 species which is going to be hard to beat this year. We are producing an annual report for last year that should be ready to e-mail by the end of the month so watch this space for updates.
2010 has started well - we are currently on 94 species for the year. This weather will I feel make some species even harder to record than usual - species such as kingfisher, bearded tit and bittern all of whom are at the edges of their range may well take a few years to recover from this prolonged spell of cold weather. The weather has also pushed many of our winter visitors further south (although I am not sure that they will find much in the way of relief) in particular our geese - numbers have plummeted from 37000 in December to less than 5000 now. It has certainly concentrated all the farmland birds and we have had some spectacular counts this year with several hundred yellowhammer, reed buntings, linnet and skylark all making the most of our wild bird cover as well as upto 6 brambling, 30+ snow bunting, 20+ twite and 10+ woodcock. Raptors have also been very much in evidence with upto four hen harriers (male and three female types), three merlin, three peregrines and Ralf along with the usual kestrel, sparrowhawks and buzzards.
Ralf has been very obliging in the last week or so and is rapidly mastering the art of hunting - he was seen downing a whooper swan last week as well as a couple of ducks.
With conditions starting to ease, at least on the coastal strip, it will be fascinating to see what the next few weeks bring us.
Dom
These are difficult times, to be watching my team! I think sticking to the birds is the answer!
For viewing or photography right place right time is everything. I'd rather be in the right place with poor kit than have the best kit and be in the wrong place.
I guess comiserations are in order then, although I am told the penalty should never have been given.
Happy New year to all up there! I was hoping to get to the Dundee group meeting tonight and see your talk, but I must duck this time as Liverpool are playing at the same time and I have been brain washed from an early age, can't miss them! I will get an run down from members at the next outing!
Hope to get up there soon!