Quite a quiet week here but the highlight for me anyway was the drake Garganey that appeared in front of the Tower. It was here on Tuesday and worked its way along the bank close into the reeds. It was such a great moment to see it for me and, just going off topic for a moment, justified those hours of scanning bird-less areas.
The Greater Yellowlegs is still here but occasionally is being its elusive self. In other wader news, we do have a flock of Ringed Plover hanging around the 24/25 mark who seem to be sticking to the back of the Low Ground but I won’t tempt fate and produce a map of where they are because I’ve learned my lesson from the Yellowlegs! 2 Knot were in front of the Tower Pool hide today also.
One bird that has been a bit more reliable (for once) is the Green-winged Teal which is back on the Visitors Centre Pools.
'A' & 'Z', our 2 White-tailed Eagles, are still hanging around on the dunes and one of them did fly across the main body of the reserve and then followed the Loch south on Wednesday evening. The Osprey hasn’t been seen again and nor have the Cranes but that is not to say that these won’t reappear again.
The goose numbers have dropped off and our last Grey Goose Count of the year will be on Monday so we will have to see how many do remain.
We also have Swallow and Sand Martin back in the reserve in good numbers and House Martin has been recorded also.
Warblers have also made it back with 3 species being recorded in various areas of the reserve during the week: Willow Warbler, Grasshopper Warbler and Sedge Warbler. Sedge, I would suggest, is the most public accessible warbler at the moment with it being heard in front of Tower Pool Hide yesterday and today.
It was a good job I just asked in the office whether there was anything that I had missed off because I had forgotten about our terns! 3 Common Terns flew over the Visitors Centre early this morning and a single Sandwich Tern flew past the kitchen window!
I think this is pretty good collection but hopefully finding a few of these will help towards a few lucky finds:
Here are the weekly numbers though of bird on the reserve: Garganey 1, Willow Warbler 1, Grasshopper Warbler 1, Sedge Warbler 1, White-tailed Eagle 2, Greater Yellowlegs 1, Knot 2, Ringed Plover 24/25, Green-winged Teal 1, Redshank 1, (7 on Tuesday), Common Tern 3, Sandwich Tern 1, Swallow, Sand Martin, House Martin, Short-eared Owl 2, Hen Harrier 1, Pintail, Gadwall, Teal, Wigeon, Mallard, Tufted Duck, Curlew, Oystercatcher, Red-breasted Merganser, Great-crested Grebe, Black-headed Gull, Common Gull, Herring Gull, Greater Black-backed Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Cormorant.