The bittern(s) continue to provide a good show for some of our visitors to Fen Hide; regular Brian Sandison had some fabulous views this weekend (12/13 March) of both the bittern and an equally obliging otter.

Otter (Brian Sandison)

 Bittern (Brian Sandison)

This morning’s WeBS count recorded 20,100 pinkfooted geese using the reserve, along with a great crested grebe of the year, red-headed smew, a goosander, three water rails calling, over 100 curlews, and the usual selection of ducks. The reserve was an extremely noisy place as the sun came up, with the geese, oystercatchers, whooper swans, mallards, rooks and jackdaws all calling, singing skylarks, corn buntings and yellowhammers, and a great spotted woodpecker drumming loudly in the Rookery. Roe deer are quite active at present; we’ve seen up to seven in the fields beside the access track.

Visitors to Tower Pool Hide will notice that we have reduced the water levels on the Savoch Low Ground significantly; this is so that we can do some topping of the rushes, and for access by Scottish Hydro-Electric who are due to put up our osprey platform over the next week or two.

Construction continues on the new office – the solar panels are on, quite a lot of the internal work is done including wiring and radiators, and we have been choosing flooring! We don’t have a final date for moving in yet, but it looks like some time in April.