First of all I must apologise for not put anything up here for ages. Our website was migrated to a new server at the same time as a new layout and the Tollie blog page was one of the things that went AWOL, we recovered the page a while ago but have only just now recovered the old content, so it would be remiss of me not to post a new blog now that everything is back to normal.
2016, has been a great year at Tollie with birds visiting the table for a feed in good numbers throughout the year. In previous years numbers have dropped off through the breeding season, but this year we have located three nests around Tollie, though we suspect there may be more, so the males birds were visiting the table daily.
Tollie, the male bird in the first pair to breed at Tollie is still there, now his fourth year breeding there, he has been joined by a pair of birds, who were tagged in 2000, who originally had a nest at Knockfarrel, and although they have now lost their tags, we are confident it is still the same birds and pair where the female is tagged Blue/Blue 59.
Blue/Blue 59 fledged from a nest near Marybank in 2010, that winter she was spotted in Ireland, but she has now returned two miles from where she fledged.
Some of the other tagged birds that have regularly visited Tollie through the summer are: Blue/Black G, Blue/White 6E, Blue/Pink Pink Spot and Blue/Red 2T. These are all breeding age birds so we think there may be some more nests nearby.
In addition to the bird activity we have been doing a lot of work outside in the garden, and we finally have picnic benches. Also within the visitor centre we have been making improvements. There is now an area with information on the garden with the types of plants and things people can do in their own gardens to attract wildlife. We also have some large jigsaws and puzzles for younger visitors for when watching kites is just not enough.
Finally, thanks to the P4 class from Culbokie Primary School, Tollie now has its very own osprey, what a fantastic addition to the visitor centre.
Thanks to Charles White and Ronald McKinnon for the images.