Over 50 people turned out on Saturday morning to help us officially open the new trail out to Fen & Bay Hides. The Fraserburgh Wildlife Explorers group were on hand to cut (technically, untie) the big red ribbon and to lead us down the new path.
We then had a great walk during which I improved my standing with the Wildlife Explorers group by naming all the forthcoming Avengers movies, the birders from the local group scoped a potential Garganey (which turned out to be a Pintail), and we discovered a huge patch of four-leaf clovers and this fantastic Elephant Hawk Moth in the grassy fields at the start of the trail.
The trail is open until August, it's about 3 miles return including visits to Fen and Bay Hide. The walk on Saturday took us about two hours of easy walking with a few stops and a visit to Fen Hide in the middle. It's not suitable for dogs or buggies/puchchairs etc. because of cows and the underfoot conditions but is a generally easy walk.
After such a busy morning, Amy and I had a nice,quiet afternoon in the centre, we got a visit from the Osprey fishing the loch, and a female Marsh Harrier over the plantation. Mid-afternoon one of our regulars refound the Little Egret out on the low ground, just before it flew to the loch edge. It's possible it's been around all week and just hiding in the reedbed so still worth scanning for it if you're around this week.