Good news! The Greater Yellowlegs has a friend! Or at least the newly arrived Greenshank was hanging around with it yesterday afternoon when it arrived. This does mean though that finding the Yellowlegs may take a bit more time than previously.
The Greenshank arrived after the Craft Fair had finished but during the day, 3 Cranes drifted onto the reserve and were nicely viewable from the Visitors Centre. Only record shots of the birds were taken before they took off again heading towards Crimond and beyond.
Edit- Two Cranes reappeared briefly this afternoon, again landing on the low ground for about 20 minutes before flying off, this time to the north- Diana
Also making a timely appearance for the Craft Fair were the 2 White-tailed Eagles which were seen on the northern part of the reserve for the first time since the day that 'A' arrived. Which Eagle it was, 'A' or 'Z'. no-one is quite sure but in mid morning one of them did a nice fly-past over the Centre. A was still at the south end of the loch this afternoon.
Waders though still make the headlines and mostly for their absence. Lapwing and Redshank numbers are well down on what we hoped for. In nicer news, Knot and Dunlin are returning and Ringed Plover numbers are hovering around 8/9.
The Green-winged Teal is occasionally appearing on the Low Ground or in front of the Visitors Centre but only occasionally. An Iceland Gull is also around but being seen on a similar basis as the Teal.
Swallows are back on the reserve since the March the 23rd bird with a single bird sitting on the wires over the yard and a pair seen on Wednesday flying around the centre.
The Hen Harriers are around too with Short-eared Owls also still being seen and a Sparrowhawk has been around Starnafin over the weekend.
The week's numbers though are: Green-winged Teal 1, Greenshank 1, Greater Yellowlegs 1, White-tailed Eagle 2, Sparrowhawk 1, Kestrel, Hen Harrier 2, Short-eared Owl 2/3, Great-crested Grebe 10+, Redshank 2, Lapwing, Swallow 2, Iceland Gull 1, Tree Sparrow, Tufted Duck, Wigeon, Teal, Goldeneye, Curlew and others!