Yep I'm going to go ahead and say it. Spring is definitely here. Probably.
We've had a busy weekend at Strathbeg with the warm weather bringing quite a few visitors to our doorstep. Just to mix things up on the birdy side of things I'll start with Bay hide where I popped in yesterday for a break from all the hard work I do here. Conclusion: Tufted Ducks. 98 of them actually. We also had 22 Shelduck, mostly in one large flock, 14 Gadwall, several Golden Eye ducks and 2 Red Breasted Merganser. Earlier in the week visitors logged 10 Swallows, 2 Great Crested Grebe, 2 Shoveller, 2 Pintail and fantastically precise "Black Headed Gull X many". A little quiter round at Fen hide with a total of 3 Great Crested Grebe spotted alond with 2 seperate Osprey reports, 1 Sedge Warbler and an Otter on the 29th April.
Up at the old Tower Pool hide today I was treated to 20 minutes of an Osprey eating a fish while several Sedge Warblers sang away in the reeds. Many Sand Martin can still be seen flitting around away to the left and up to 5 Moorhen and 4 Coot have been seen by the reed edges. Teal and Wigeon seem to be the dominant ducks down this end of the reserve with 60+ of each at various locations. I bagged a Bewick's Swan for the life list today at around 3pm too thanks to a gentleman who knew much more than I do about swans.
Both the male and female Marsh Harriers have been spotted regularly from the Visitor Centre and sightings of Osprey are now a daily occurance, but still worth bragging points I feel. A few people with more luck (and perhaps determination) than myself have spotted 2 Yellow Wagtail and a Grasshopper Warbler this week too. A total of 14 White Wagtail can be seen tail-wagging around on the low ground alongside 2 Redshank, 1 Ruff, 4 Black-tailed Godwitts and 2 Little Gulls.
Pic: Adult female Marsh Harrier taken by Duncan Goulder.
Still no sign of Cranes spending their days on the reserve any more,wet socks testify to an expedition into the reedbeds checking out their habitat but 4 were seen flying over at the start of the week so fingers crossed they're still in the area. The wildlife garden has come up trumps though for the ringing demo today with Tree Sparrow, House Sparrow, Goldfinch, Chaffinch, Yellowhammer and Willow Warbler being caught.
Ciao
Iain
The 4 cranes earlier in the week did briefly land on the reserve. I was in the Tower Pool Hide at the time and got a great view of them out in the open on the low ground for 2-3 minutes, calling to each other before they took off again and did a big circuit of the reserve before heading inland.