Lochwinnoch

By Rachel Reid

Winter is starting to come to an end, and we are now seeing the signs of spring here at RSPB Lochwinnoch. There have been plenty of exciting wildlife sightings, and the lochs have been busy with a variety of bird life. Large numbers of Wigeon and Teal with smaller numbers of Pochard have been spotted on the Barr Loch, with a rare Lesser Scaup continuing to be present and drawing in a number of visiting…

Happy new everyone! It's been a cold, frosty and stormy start to the year but that hasn’t stopped there being some amazing wildlife sightings over January. The lochs have been busy this month with the Long-tailed Duck being spotted on the Aird Meadow Loch along with Goldeneyes and Wigeons. The Wigeon is a winter visitor to the UK, the male is very pretty with his yellow forehead and chestnut head and neck. The wintering…

During the winter, if you look closely at flocks of our feathered friends, they are not all the one type. There may be tits, finches, and buntings grouping together. To find a mate in the spring, birds must first survive the winter, which is made easier by joining forces with other birds.

There are many reasons for this, such as warmth, safety in numbers and finding food.

One of the most apparent reasons for birds flocking…

It has been an extremely exciting year at the RSPB Lochwinnoch for wildlife with the total bird species count coming to a whopping 127. Let's celebrate by taking a look at some of the highlights this year. In February a Black-tailed Godwit was using the scrape. These large wading birds are very distinctive with their long beaks and legs and their black and white stripes on their wings. They are a schedule 1 species meaning…

December dawns with a freeze here at Lochwinnoch but brave the cold temperatures of the winter months and you'll find the reserve has plenty to offer.

Whooper Swans

Look a little closer at Lochwinnoch's swans at this time of year and you are likely to notice some look a little different than usual... Whooper Swans have returned to Lochwinnoch over the past month and on a quiet day you might just catch the trumpeting…

 We are now fully into winter here at the RSPB Lochwinnoch evident by the dramatic drop in temperature. The cold hasn’t put off the wildlife however and it's been an exciting month at the reserve for sightings. There have been large numbers of wetland species on the lochs including wintering ducks with large numbers of Goldeneye, Tufted Duck and Wigeon sighted. The Long-tailed Duck has been spotted on both the Castle Semple…

We are delighted to be able to share that RSPB Lochwinnoch is benefiting from a grant of £18,950.89 from FCC Communities Foundation. 

The money will be used to improve our woodlands through tackling an invasive plant species called Tolmiea menziesii, without using pesticides, and dealing with Ash Dieback disease. Both are causing loss of habitat on the reserve and therefore, their removal will be followed by the…

The days are getting shorter and the temperature colder with the looming arrival of winter but that also means the arrival of lots of exciting migrant species to the reserve. The lochs have been particularly busy with the arrival of many wetland bird species - over 100 Wigeon were counted on the Barr Loch this month, and large numbers of these colourful ducks will visit the UK over winter from Iceland, Scandinavia, and…

Winter Thrushes

As we well and truly enter autumn, our resident thrushes from the common garden Blackbird to the woodland Song Thrush are joined by their relatives from further afield. Redwing and Fieldfare make the journey from Scandinavia and Siberia to the British Isles to escape the harsher winters and feed up on berries such as Rowan, Hawthorn and Holly.

Redwings in particular are known to continue their migration…

The days are getting shorter at the RSPB Lochwinnoch nature reserve, and signs of autumn can be seen everywhere as trees and bushes fill with berries and autumn migrants continue to arrive. There has been lots of activity on and around the scrape with increasing numbers of Teal, Wigeon and Shoveler Ducks feeding on floating seeds and grazing on the short grass.

Wigeon on the loch, Photograph by Ally Dowd

There have also…

Autumn is officially here! While the long summer days may be over, early autumn has just as much to enjoy so get out there, enjoy the sunshine and see what you can find!

Autumn is the season of plenty and throughout the month of September elderberries, haws, hazelnuts, beechnuts, crab apples and rosehips along with many other berries and nuts are readily available, bringing a cornucopia of food for the wildlife to enjoy…

There has been a wide range of wildlife spotted on the reserve this August. The scrape remained a habitat full of bird life with both Shoveler and Teal spotted. The best time of year to spot Teal in the UK is over the winter months. Teal are the smallest native duck in the UK and the males in particular are not hard to spot during the breeding season with their vivid green patches over the eyes. Very excitingly Mandarin…

The last full month of summer is here and soon our summer migrants will be packing up and leaving their summer territories behind to spend their autumns and winters in warmer Africa and southern Europe.

Though most broods will now have fledged, and we won't be seeing many of our autumn migrants for a few months yet, there is always something to look out for.

Ripening Brambles

Image by Christel from Pixabay

As we approach…

It's been a busy month at the RSPB Lochwinnoch with lots of wildlife to see. The trails have been especially busy including some fantastic sightings of the Spotted Flycatchers from the leaning posts on the Aird Meadow trail. During the breeding season Spotted Flycatchers can be found throughout the UK but they are almost absent from the Scottish islands. Spotted Flycatchers prefer to feed on large invertebrate species…

Lochwinnoch has been bursting with wildlife this month with many juvenile birds fledging their nests and making their own way in the world. A juvenile great spotted woodpecker was spotted on the feeders at the picnic benches. During the breeding season, male great spotted woodpeckers use their powerful beaks to drum against dead trees which claims that territory. The woodpeckers shock absorbing skull protects them from…

Did you know that just 25 minutes from the centre of Glasgow you could be watching great crested grebes drifting over the surface of shallow lochs with swifts, swallows and martin’s swooping and sweeping above?  Nuthatches can be found foraging in our broadleaved woodland along with great spotted woodpeckers and treecreepers whilst warblers fill the air with sound!

Great crested grebe 

If you are looking to improve…

June and July bring the longest days of the year to the northern hemisphere with the summer solstice this year falling on the 21^st of June. With only a few hours of twilight in the weeks surrounding midsummer’s height there is plenty of light for the wildlife (and us!) to take advantage of.

Now is a great time to spot new life emerging out into the world with the woodland here at Lochwinnoch already filled with…

It's my favourite time of year here at RSPB Lochwinnoch and it's not hard to see why as the reserve is full of new life. 6 mute swan cygnets were spotted on the scrape this month. Mute swans tend to mate for life and will work together to build a huge nest with the male gathering the materials and the female building the nest. Cygnets will stay with their parents for around 4-5 months after hatching. It's been cuteness…

April showers bring May flowers as the saying goes, and in May you'll find an abundance of flora springing to life at Lochwinnoch. But the flowers you see around you aren't just pretty to look at; they can tell you a lot about the character and quality of the habitat you're in.

In Scotland ancient woodland is defined as any woodland area that has existed since 1750 with much of what remains occurring in small…

We are fully into spring here at RSPB Lochwinnoch - it's my favourite time of year as all the birds build their nests and prepare for their chicks. The scrape has been particularly busy as black-tailed godwits, curlew, whimbrel and other waders, wildfowl and gulls continue to make use of it. We have had sightings of both ringed plover and the very similar little ringed plover. Both have a distinctive black and white head…

Our scrapes have proven popular with a wide range of birds with everything from ducks to geese, gulls, waders and more taking advantage of the habitat. However, you may already be aware of a very special species from last year – the little ringed plover (Charadrius dubius).  Their successful breeding was a first for the reserve as they reared three chicks to fledging; a cause of great celebration for everyone at…

April is peak migration time for our springtime migrants with a massive influx of birds arriving on our shores over the next few weeks. You may have already heard your first chiffchaff of the year or spotted large flocks of lesser black-backed gulls passing overhead but many more species are still to join them.

Two more incoming warbler species that didn’t get a mention in our last ‘what to look for’ blog are the grasshopper…

Spring has finally arrived at the reserve, which means the departure of some of our winter visitors and our first spring migrants. Bird song can be heard all around the reserve and many species are now busy gathering nesting materials in preparation for the breeding season. The Aird Meadow loch has been busy with large numbers of goldeneye, wigeon and teal, although the majority of these will soon be moving off to their…

February has brought some much-needed brighter weather to the reserve along with lots of exciting wildlife sightings. Wetland bird species have been abundant, with large numbers of wigeon, tufted ducks and goldeneye on both the Aird Meadow and Barr lochs. There have also been sightings of a male Gadwall on the Aird Meadow loch, which is a grey coloured dabbling duck with a black rear end and a white wing patch which can…

The 1^st of March marks the start of meteorological spring and the wildlife certainly knows it.

We’re already seeing lots of breeding behaviour from the wildlife at Lochwinnoch. Black-headed gulls and lapwings have been performing aerial displays over the scrapes while frogspawn has already been spotted! But did you know that in particular Lochwinnoch is an important breeding site for the elegant great-crested grebe? March…