It's been the time of year and the type of weather where anything could turn up at Strathbeg, and we've spent the past few days playing hide and seek with all sorts of passing wildlife from very tiny to impossibly huge!
The biggest (in every sense) wildlife hunt was today when one of our regular visitors rang to say she'd spotted a Humback Whale breaching just off Peterhead, and it was heading north! Richard was just coming back in after being out on the reserve, and was no doubt slightly surprised by the sight of his entire staff and volunteer team abandoning the office mid-email (luckily none of us were on the phone.) and flying past him out the door. Sadly, despite a very windy hour and a half at the seawatch point, we had no sign of the Humpback from the reserve. Another of our regular visitors did see the Humpback just south of Aberdeen on Friday, so if you're near the coast in the next couple of days, especially around the Broch and Kinnaird Head, it's worth spending a few minutes looking out to sea.
Coming slightly down the size scale, our White-Tailed Eagle Red A has been a touch tricky to track down as well. After spending most of Friday on the reserve, he disappeared on Saturday then was back on Sunday when he spent most of the morning ont he low ground eating an eel and then slunk away again today. Tom's determined to film him with the Hidden Strathbeg Trail Camera and on Sunday... well, you'll have to have a look at our Facebookpage in the next couple of days to see what happened!
Our tinest find turned up on Saturday evening when Tom and James tracked down a Yellow Browed Warbler in the plantation. These very pretty yellow and green warblers have come all the way from Siberia and are a lovely thing to find on the reserve. Typical of wildlife watching that you can find a tiny 10cm warbler, but can't see a 15 metre whale or an 8-9ft Eagle. Just goes to show that Loch of Strathbeg is full of surprises!