Loch of Strathbeg Recent Sightings 27th October

Whooper swans are the wildlife spectacle of the week. It seems wherever you go on the reserve or in the local area Whooper swans can be seen or heard. We are not sure exactly how many we have, as we haven’t done a full early morning wildfowl count for a couple of weeks. However, today there were 220 on the reserve and at least the same number again are probably flying off the reserve early in the mornings. The next Pink-footed goose count isn’t for a couple of weeks, but in the meantime, other species of geese are stealing the limelight. Two “blue” snow geese were seen this morning on the dry fields beyond the Low Ground. While I was writing this blog, I received a text to say they had arrived back onto the low ground with a large flock of pink-foots. So my writing was paused while I raced down to the Tower Hide to see them. There were three people in the hide who had never seen a Snow goose before, so they were very happy people! A single White-fronted goose (Greenland race) was with the Pink-foots this morning. Barnacle geese peaked this week at 150 on the 21st. Greylag geese are starting to trickle in, with a peak of 28 seen today. The drake American wigeon is still with us and has been seen most days, along with 2 Scaup today from Fen Hide. The first Long-tailed duck of the winter was noted on the 26th and another 2 were seen from Tower hide this afternoon. 114 Pochard were counted today, which is a good number for Strathbeg these days and 24 Pintail were seen on the 26th. Waders continue to pop up: on 21st there were 8 Ruff, 5 Black-tailed Godwit and 60 Golden Plover on the Low ground in front of the Tower Hide. It’s probably impossible to say how many Snipe are on the reserve, but we easily see at least 15 every day. There is a particular Jack snipe hot spot at the moment in the Marsh and a total of seven were flushed today (this is the highest number recorded on the reserve). Lapwing remain constant at 450 and Curlew peaked this week at 245. A brambling was heard in the garden on the 26th. Small groups of Redwing, Fieldfare and other thrushes are still moving through. Other common migrants such as Robin and Wren have also arrived and Goldcrests today were heard from Bay Hide. Bird of prey highlights this week included a Merlin and a Sparrowhawk over Starnafin Pools on the 22nd and a Peregrine falcon from the Fen Hide yesterday. The mild Autumn means we are still getting surpising invertebrate sightings, a very tired and ragged Red Admiral during the week and a Common darter was seen from the Visitor Centre this afternoon. An Otter was seen from the Fen Hide on the 24th and yesterday, guests attending our first Goosewatch event of the year had great views of 6 Roe deer on our farmland. I've attached a very grainy photo of Snow geese from a couple of years ago (credit for the photo goes to David Parnaby). It's a nice shot comparing "white" and "blue" Snow geese. Vicky Anderson and Matthew Smith