It’s a brand-new year at the RSPB! There has been no shortage of wildlife activity in what we have had of 2023 so far. There have been many geese around the reserve this month with over 30 Canada geese counted on the Aird meadow loch. There has also been a small number of barnacle geese on the scrapes in front of the visitor centre, barnacle geese are medium size birds that breed mainly on the Arctic islands of the North Atlantic. They are very distinctive with their white face and black head.
Barnacle geese photographed on the scrapes.
There has been a wide variety of duck species seen on the reserve this month with wigeon, tufted duck and goldeneye in both the Aird Meadow and Barr lochs. A shelduck was spotted making use of the scrapes. There has also been teal spotted on the scrapes and to our delight the male teal were starting to display. This isn’t unusual as although it may seem early, teal will actually start pairing up in the winter months and will travel to their breeding grounds together. Teal will only form pair bonds that last one breeding season so will have a different mate every time they breed.
Teal on the reserve photographed by Len McDonald
There have been plenty of smaller inland birds as well this month with lots of goldfinches, chaffinches, blue tits, and great tits making good use of our feeders. Siskin and redwing have also been spotted along the Dubbs trail. There have been large numbers of long-tailed tits seen on the Aird meadow trail as well as goldcrest. The goldcrest is the UK's smallest bird, and they are very distinctive with a yellow and black stripe across their heads. Even though goldcrests are tiny and may appear very fragile, they are able to migrate to Britain from Scandinavia. Very excitingly there has also been stonechat spotted on the Aird Meadow trail, stonechat are striking little birds with the males having black heads with white around the side of their neck and orange red breasts. Stonechat got their name from their unique call which sounds like two small stones being hit together.
Goldcrest photographed on the reserve.
It’s not just been birds that have been sighted this month with several sightings being reported of an otter and two kits being seen from the Aird Meadow hide. The otter is a secretive semi aquatic species which was once widespread in Britain although now their range is more restricted to certain areas in Britain due to the use of pesticides. The ban of certain pesticides has fortunately led to their numbers starting to increase again.
RSPB stock photo of an otter from Ben Andrew (rspb-images.com)
Other highlights this month include multiple exciting sightings of the bittern, the drake smew has continued to delight everyone that spots it on the Aird meadow loch. A kingfisher was spotted on the Barr loch trail, there have been over 60 lapwing counted on the Barr loch as well as large numbers of coot counted on the bar loch. The coot is often mistaken for the moorhen but can be distinguished by its white beak and its entirely black body.
Drake smew photographed by Len McDonald