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 be spotted in flight. Gadwall are smart birds and can sometimes be seen following coot around - after a coot has dived down to pick waterweed the Gadwall will then very cheekily steal some for itself. Great crested grebes have also been seen, beautifully elegant waterbirds well known for their ornate head feathers. Around this time of year, you may be lucky enough to witness their impressive courtship dance where they will rise out of the water as a pair, and shake their heads and race across the surface.
Great crested grebe
The scrapes have also proved popular with many species with pink-footed geese, lapwing, curlew, oystercatchers and teal among the species sighted. The most exciting bird this month was the black tailed godwit. The UK is home to a very small number of breeding black tailed godwits and because of this the species is red listed in the UK and is listed as near threatened globally. Project Godwit is a partnership between the RSPB and WWT which aims to prevent this beautiful species from being faced with extinction in the near future.
Black tailed godwit on the scrape
The curlew is the largest European wading bird and is easily recognised by its long down-curved bill and long legs. In 2015 curlews were added to the red list so are now a species of conservation priority due to large declines in their breeding populations and ranges. It is therefore always fantastic to see them using the scrape, where they have been coming in increasing numbers to roost.
Curlew using the scrape
Along the trails plenty of smaller birds have been seen with blue tits, great tits, robins, house sparrows, bullfinches and chaffinches being frequent visitors. Treecreepers have been spotted on the Dubbs trail this month, a small, very active bird with very specific behaviour. They have a long, slender down curved beak, and they get their name from the way they creep up trees. An interesting fact about treecreepers is that they only ever go up trees and never down, and when they get to the top they will fly to the bottom of the next tree. There have also been several sightings of a sparrowhawk around the visitor centre at the reserve, a small bird of prey with a long tail and short wings well-suited to hunting in woodland and catching their prey in confined spaces. The female is larger than the male and because of this is able to catch much bigger prey like pigeons.
Sparrowhawk photographed on the reserve, Photo by Billy Blair
Other sightings this month include the drake smew seen on the Aird Meadow and Barr lochs, pintail on the Barr loch, kestrel over the fen, large numbers of greylag geese on the Barr Loch, and lesser redpoll and siskin around the alder along the trail.
Greylag goose spotted on the reserve
Written by Rachel Reid