Two early mornings for us this weekend- the first of our Dawn Goosewatches on Saturday and an early Wetland Birds Survey (WeBS) and goose count this morning.
Despite a few people being put off by the forecast, we had a great start to our first Goosewatch. With not too many geese on the pools, as soon as it was light we headed down to Tower Pool Hide and the geese obliged with flocks a couple of thousand strong lifting off the low ground. Whooper Swans put in a few nice fly-pasts as well, and we had a fascinating few minutes with a very engaging toad, who was crossing the Tower Pool Path as we walked down. Both Wednesday and Sunday's Goosewatches are now fully booked but there are places available on all the others (dawn and dusk) so give us a ring on 01346 532017 to book your place. Check www.rspb.org.uk/lochofstrathbeg for all dates and times.
Whooper Swans in flight taken by John (Scotview) one of our regular visitors. Have a look in our Gallery to see more and to add your own photos.
There were still good numbers of geese on the low ground this morning as well as a lot down at the south end of the loch (a bit of a surprise for Iain our new vounteer who was on his first morning goose count, by himself, in what's usually quite a auiet spot!). The final Counts for this morningwere 16,700 Pink-footed Geese, 423 Whoopers, 1100 Wigeon, 800 Teal, and 575 Lapwing. We also counted 6 Slavonian Grebe on the loch, we get these most winter s but they're often very hard to pick out in reeds at the loch edge so this is a fantastic count for us!
Vicky also had a lovely early morning otter experience from Fen Hide, and the otter (possibly a female) was seen outside Bay Hide later in the afternoon.
The weather's bought a selection of exciting small birds to the reserve as well. Yesterday we had Ring Ouzel and Lapland Bunting over and around the plantation and there are hundreds of Goldfinch and Linnet in the wild bird seed by the Tower Pool Path. The highlight of the weekend though was a single Firecrest in the Plantation.
These are stunning little birds, a bit like our much more common Goldcrest but more brightly coloured, with a firey orange crest (no surprise there!) and black patterns on their faces. They often crop up in the gorse at Rattray but this is actually only the second ever record on the reserve itself so its a fantastic find for those lucky enough to spot it!