If there's one thing we're not short of at the moment, it's rain! The reserve is almost as wet as I've ever seen it - much to the delight of the wildfowl and waders, if not the poor wardening staff and volunteers who are still digging trenches for our new otter fence. Current fashion is not so much RSPB blue as a nice shade of mud!
All the water has drawn in good numbers of ducks, with three scaup (2 males and a female) seen on the loch between Fen and Bay Hides on 27th, and a long-tailed duck on 25th and 29th, seen from Tower Pool Hide. Star birds this week are the whooper swans, who are here in force, around 220 since the weekend, and putting on a good show on the flooded Low Ground. The snow goose is still around, and is usually reported feeding in the fields off the Rattray road to the south of the loch. Greylag numbers are up as well, with 63 seen on Monday 27th.
Two woodcock on 29th (one over the boardwalk and one over the Visitor Centre car park) bring the reserve year list to 88. Mammal sighting of the week has to go to Richard, with his great view of an otter from the Visitor Centre yesterday morning; ironically, it was investigating the (incomplete) otter fence!
There are still a few spaces left on our Stargazing at Strathbeg event on 8 Feb, and we will be making nestboxes to celebrate National Nestbox Week on Sunday 16 Feb - check out our events page for details.
I'll leave you with this rather nice image, taken by Ed Grace, of some of the whooper swans and pinkfooted geese. Let's hope the weather improves!