It has been a very exciting and busy month at the RSPB Lochwinnoch reserve. The reserve took part in Renfrewshire's doors open day where access to the reserve was free for all. Visitors were able to come along and learn all about the reserve and exactly why it is so important to support the work that the RSPB does. Visitors were also able to complete lots of fun activities such as making apple and seed bird feeders and…

It has been another exciting month here at the RSPB Lochwinnoch Nature Reserve. Recent changes in covid restrictions means that the tower has now re-opened as a viewing area to the public. The tower is a great place to get a 360⁰ view around the reserve with a better chance of spotting birds that may be flying over the reserve. Staff and volunteers have also begun construction on the screen at the fen pool where visitors…

If, like me, coronavirus restrictions have stopped you from visiting RSPB Lochwinnoch over the last year, you may be wondering how the Covid-19 pandemic has impacted on the reserve and what – if anything – has been happening since your last visit.

Eagle-eyed readers of the Winter/Spring 2021 RSPB Scotland magazine, will have noticed a mention of a new pool that’s been created alongside the Aird Meadow trail…

Hi everyone! Here's another blog from our volunteer Elke.

"While restrictions in this second COVID-19 wave are tightened everywhere in the UK, the reserve is a natural sanctuary as always and has been profiting from the recent quiet: several whooper swans arrived at the reserve this week, gracefully gliding over our darkish early November skies.

 

Whooper swans over Aird Meadow, by Richard Bennett

The whooper…

It's been a while since our last update, so our volunteer Elke has kindly put together this sightings update for us.

"We’re nearing the end of the month with one last rainy and quite windy October week. The trails are still open, and plenty of keen visitors have been going on walks despite the colder weather. 

We’ve had quite a few interesting bird sightings in the past few days, with a visit from a …

As outlined in Part 1 of this blog, we’ve been working hard on Aird Meadow to cut back and remove the vegetation. By stripping out the nutrients in this way, we can knock back the dominant species such as grass and produce a habitat in which a greater diversity of plants, including wildflowers can establish themselves. In turn, we’ll attract more insects which will provide a food source for larger animals and support…

Words by Rachel Reid
Photos by Robert Conn

I have been volunteering with the RSPB Scotland Lochwinnoch reserve for almost two years now. I am a master’s student specialising in conservation biology with a specific interest in Scottish wildlife particularly birds and was keen to gain some experience in the field. There began one of the best chapters in my life which I am still enjoying to this very day and hopefully for…

September is a time of change. The leaves start to change colour, the evenings start to darken earlier and before the month is out, there’s a definite nip in the air.

It’s also a time of change in the world of wildlife, as our summer visitors start their migration to warmer climes and our winter visitors start to arrive. Despite this we still had a few summer stragglers waiting for the right time to make a move…

As we moved into August, the number, variety and frequency of certain birds increased around the reserve.

We were delighted to see a Mandarin duck on four separate days in the first half of the month, and a peak of 14 great-crested grebe, 20 goldeneye, 20 lapwing, 8 gadwall, and two days in which 200 tufted duck were counted and another day featuring 120!

Mandarin duck (male)

Unusually, we had a visit from a common…

The second half of July saw a number of highlights, with high numbers of a variety of wildfowl and waders visiting the reserve. This included 145 tufted duck, 77 mallard, 28 lapwing, 24 Canada geese, 13 great-crested grebe, 7 greylag geese, 3 oystercatchers and 2 little grebe, among goldeneye, water rail, snipe and a common sandpiper.

There were still a range of summer visitors around the reserve, with grasshopper wa…

By Joe Crossland

You’ll have seen a few changes around the reserve in the last few months, some of the more noticeable additions being our sand martin bank and the floating rafts, which were detailed in an earlier blog. But there are also things happening that you may not have noticed at first glance… 

Wildflower meadow management

Wildflowers provide an important source of nectar and pollen for pollinators…

Recent sightings May 2019

May was a busy month, with some great sightings across the reserve, including osprey, ringed plover, little ringed plover, whimbrel, common sandpiper, garganey, stonechat and wheatear and a host of warblers. We’ll keep you updated on sightings are the summer progresses.

Osprey seen on 7th, 11th, 12th and 30th May

Sparrowhawk: 1 on 25th May

Buzzard: 1 on 12th May, 2 on 20th May

Great crested…

Recent sightings – June to mid-July 2019

Our new bug viewers have been especially popular with our visitors, providing a glimpse into the normally hidden lives of a range of insects. One new resident is the leafcutter bee, which as its name suggests, cuts away sections of leaf from a plant, and then uses them to line its nest, typically in pre-existing cavities as we have here, or in rotting wood which they can…

We are delighted to announce that our natural play area has reopened for monkey business!

A popular attraction for our younger visitors, our natural play area is an open invitation to get close to nature. 

We are very grateful to tree surgeons TD Tree and Land Services Ltd and our team of volunteers who contributed their expertise and hard graft to produce a high quality play experience for our young visitors. We intend…

April was a good month, with little gull, garganey, marsh harrier, osprey, black-tailed godwit, greenshank and redshank all reserve highlights.

Gadwall – various days throughout April, with the highest count being four on 1st April

Redshank – 2nd April

Sand martin – First on 2nd April

Goldeneye – 53 on 2nd April, 11 on 17th April, 5 on 21st April

Swallow – First on 3rd April

Pinkfooted geese…

Marsh Harrier - 5 April

Osprey - 2 April

Garganey (m & f) - 9 April

Willow Warbler - 9 April

Blackcap - 9 April

Chiffchaff - 9 April

Greenshank - 7 April

Redshank - 2 April

Kingfisher - 9 April

Nuthatch - 29 March

Gadwall - 9 April

Goldeneye - 9 April

Sand Martin - 9 April

Treecreeper - 9 April

As some of you may know, we have taken the hard decision to close our photo hide at the end of April. The hide has been in operation for some time but is coming to the end of its useful life. The structure is ageing and in need of increasing repairs and maintenance, and managing the facility is taking up a large amount of staff time in a period when we need to concentrate our effort on the reserve as a whole. 

Our priority…

You may have noticed a few changes around the reserve recently. The most obvious being the large wooden sand martin bank which was built by and installed by our crack team of practical volunteers. Each hole you can see contains a tube of sand, ready to be excavated by nesting sand martins, who would normally tunnel into river banks and sand dunes to create a nest. We’re hoping our artificial bank will prove attractive…

It’s been a busy time here at RSPB Lochwinnoch with a wide variety of sightings across the reserve. One stand-out visitor has to be the little egret that dropped in on 4 February – quite a rare occurrence for this part of the world.

The little egret, photographed by RSPB Lochwinnoch's Visitor Experience Officer, Robert Conn.

We’ve also been treated to large numbers of wildfowl around the reserve this…

As we approach National Nestbox Week, RSPB Scotland Lochwinnoch has been getting ahead of the game with a series of artificial nesting solutions that will hopefully appeal to a range of different species this spring.

RSPB Scotland Lochwinnoch is a fantastic place to see birds all year round, from the woodland birds that come to the feeders just outside the visitor centre, to the whooper swans that glide majestically…

If you’ve ever been to the isle of Arran by ferry, just as you leave Ardrossan harbour, you may have noticed a small island with an unusual tower and an unusual name. Horse Island is an important site for breeding gulls, and every year RSPB Lochwinnoch staff and volunteers carry out an annual survey of the breeding birds.

Horse Island, from the Arran ferry (Joe Crossland).

 

Birds are also ringed on the island by…

September is a time of contrasts. It can sometimes feel like the summer has been extended, continuing as it often does into the middle of September, but give it a few weeks and by the end of the month summer can feel like a distant memory. A mass sprouting of fungi, and a costume change in the trees resulting in a blaze of autumn colour are the final moments of glory before the shorter and colder days of winter arrive…

Did you know you can see two ruined castles from the RSPB Lochwinnoch reserve? Those familiar with the landscape surrounding Lochwinnoch will know the ruined Barr Castle, that sits in a field to the west of the village, but there’s another less known castle, and it’s hidden away from sight on the reserve.

The Peel Tower, as it’s known, is a fortified tower house, built as a defensive structure by the local…

Highlights:

3 fieldfare
14 great crested grebe
7 whooper swans
1 pochard
1 goldeneye
10 snipe
4 shoveler
1 kingfisher

Full sightings board:

Today seems a little colder, there’s a breeze in the air, the sky is overcast and dare I say it, it feels a little like autumn. The birds have noticed too – we have seen increasing numbers of wintering wildfowl on the reserve this week.

Today, our warden Dan counted 240 tufted duck out on the Barr Loch, along with 28 mute swan, 8 greylag geese and 25 great-crested grebes – some of the latter in family groups…