Well, winter has definitely come, and so have the usual suspects on the reserve.
First though, spare a thought for the Desert Wheatear out at Rattray. At the time of writing it is alive and well, thanks in no small part to the charitable donations of mealworms provided by one local birder. The debate is still raging in the office as to whether we can include it on the reserve list. It is, technically speaking, on RSPB land, but birds at Rattray have never been counted in the reserve lists before. As is always the way with rare birds and lists, the whole issue is a labyrinth of interpretation, de facto contractual obligations and precedence that needs a lawyer to untangle it. A similar dispute arose a couple years ago – see case Rattray King Eider vs RSPB. Any suggestions?
Back to typical Scottish winter birds, and it was another good week for wildfowl. Two redhead Smew were at the south end of the loch at the beginning of the week, but had disappeared by Thursday. Two Long-tailed Duck were, bizarrely, on the low ground, and a couple of Little Grebe are skulking about on the loch. A rather smart female Common Scoter is showing well from Fen hide, providing cracking views of what is normally a distant speck out on a raging sea. There are still high numbers of Wigeon, about 2,500, with the Yankee amongst them somewhere. Finding him, however, can feel like searching for a needle in a haystack made out of pointy, shiny metallic hay. No signs of the Green-winged Teal this week, but there are at least a thousand Common Teal out and about, so he’s probably around somewhere. There are also a few Pintail, Pochard and Tufted Duck, and a fair few Goldeneye. No Scaup, but there are a couple of slightly aberrant Tufties to keep anyone searching for them on their toes.
Snipe and Water Rail were typically moving out of the frozen reed beds and into the open. A maximum of three Water Rails were very visible on Thursday. Sadly the Bittern has been proving elusive. Again. But at least one Otter has been seen this week.
The cold has also brought out a few slightly unusual raptors. A ringtail Hen Harrier, a juvenile for my money, was hanging about at the beginning of the week, as was a Short-eared Owl, who was obliging enough to pose for pictures on Wednesday. Kestrels and Sparrowhawks continue to make their presence felt, with pretty much daily sightings from the office windows.
It was also a great week for smaller birds. On Wednesday we rummaged through the farmland flocks and found no fewer than 150 Tree Sparrows on the reserve, which is really a pretty staggering number. There were also Reed Buntings and Linnets in the hundreds, and at least three Corn Buntings.