First of all I'd like to dedicate this blog to Andrew Painting, in memory of his dedicated circumlocution.
Its been a windy one this week and the farmland bird survey has been postponed as reliably identifying some species is hard enough when they aren't flying backwards at 50 mph. Still theres a full wetland bird count on monday so that'll tease out any rarities hiding under the radar.
Life on the pools goes on as usual. 22 Teal doing their bit today in front of Tower Pool with regular sightings of small groups throughout the week. No sign of the Green Winged Teal who made an apperarance the last couple of weeks. There was a nice looking Goosander mooching about along with the regulars; tufties, Goldeneye, around 25 Whooper Swan, one or two reports of Redshank and a Waterrail seen this evening. Viewing from the vistor centre has added a couple of Gadwall also along with several sightings of kestrel since monday.
Not too much to report from the airfield hides. Still sparse reports of Bittern coming in however and regular sightings of Pintail and Merganser. The Long Tailed Tits have been seen again with a flock of 9 headed towards the mini woodland outside Starnafin house.
Today was a perfect day for a brief skive to walk up the arable path towards tower pool. Linnet are still flitting about in large flocks as are Starlings and the tops of the hedgerows have proved good for 8 Reed Bunting, 3 Yellowhammer and the odd Brambling. Also out and about today in the car park was our ermine stoat (pic below) and keep your eyes peeled for a Short Eared Owl seen flying above the track to the reserve.
With the recent addition of Twite and Sparrowhawk to the reserve year list we are now sitting comfortably on a 104 species. Not bad for mid February but with some easy catches such as Treecreeper still up for grabs it's still very much anyones game.
Thanks again folks.
Iain