A slightly busier day than usual on the reserve as we hosted the launch of a new website to promote travel and tourism across the region. The Grampian coastal partnership have put together a site highlighting all the various accommodation, activities and wildlife across the area from Fraserburgh to Fowlsheugh, including Loch of Strathbeg. You can have a look at the new site here- http://greentourism.egcp.org.uk/
Typically, it's been a very grey, blustery day and the reserve wasn't entirely looking it's best for our visitors, but hopefully the new site will encourage people visiting or living in the north east to try a trip to the Grampian coast instead of heading inland to the mountains.
The website has come out just in time to start promoting goose season and to go with the very autumnal weather we're having right now, we're starting to hear a few reports of migrant geese heading into Scotland. While we've got a few Pink-feet in the fields near Rattray, they seem to have been about all summer, but we'll be watching the skies over the next couple of weeks... As we did last year we'll be trying to track the geese as they head south on our Twitter page @RSPB_NEScot and you can report any goose sightings by contacting us or by using #goosewatch on your tweets.
On the reserve, Black-tailed Godwit have joined our usual mix of Greenshank, Ruff and Snipe on the pools with a Wood Sandpiper mxing in with them at the weekend. A Sparrowhawk has been stalking the pools as well, although it's probably far more interested in the finches and juvenile blue-tits hanging around than in the waders. While some of the region's Osprey have started to head south already, there are still a few about and we had sightings of fishing birds on Saturday and Sunday so summer might not be over quite yet!