Every year, the reserve staff participate in the slightly bizarre ritual of compiling the annual reserve list. There is good scientific reasoning behind this list, but admittedly some of us (me) get a little overexcited about the whole affair. Of less scientific value is the kitchen window list, which is just as well, because at present it is floundering on a paltry 26. The reserve list itself is looking much healthier - 82 at the time of writing. And that’s not including the Desert Wheatear which is still alive and kicking at Rattray.
There are, however, some notable holes in the list. So I thought I’d start the first recent sightings blog of the year with what we haven’t seen this week but definitely should have.
Like Sparrowhawk. How have we gone eleven days without seeing one? They hunt over the garden daily. Or Song Thrush. Or, perhaps worst of all, Goldcrest. Missing out on Water Rail is understandable I suppose, especially when they aren’t calling, but what about Pied Wagtail? Or Treecreeper? Keep an eye out for these on the reserve and you’ll get your record on the hallowed ‘blackboard of sightings’. Though my bet for the next addition to the list is either Jack Snipe or Smew, with thanks to the cold front and the Wetland Bird Survey that are both scheduled for this weekend.
Back to real recent records, and pick of the week was Margaret’s King Eider, which was the reserve's first record of the species for a couple of years. It was a ‘lifer’ for me (a bird I’ve never seen before – I know, it’s a terrible, terrible term), as was Purple Sandpiper, somehow. Actually seabirds seemed to dominate the week, with other good early records for Scaup (a textbook female), Great Northern and Red-throated Divers and Common Scoter. There have also been excellent numbers of Long-tailed Duck, which, along with Red-breasted Merganser, have been turning up in all sorts of bizarre places.
Numerous Grey Plover, Sanderling and Woodcock and a Ruff or two have kept the waders list ticking over. Two lucky visitors got Bittern over the weekend, while a solitary Bearded Tit kept another amused.
However, my favourite record of the week goes to the dozen Corn Buntings that turned up during one of our farmland bird surveys. Before coming to Strathbeg I had not seen one of these podgy little songsters for about a decade, so it was a joy to see so many together. To catch this increasingly localised bird, head along our farmland trail (on the way to Tower Pool Hide – look out for the blue fence posts) and scout through the Greenfinches and Reed Buntings that seem to be omnipresent on the telegraph wires at the minute.