Birding at Loch of Kinnordy (5 Viewers)

[delia todd]

Forgot to mention that the feeders will be going up again this thursday.

Ah! at last... I was about to ask you about that.

D

 

[kinnordyvolunteer]

Feed the Birds event at kinnordy starts at 11 o'clock on sunday and will run all day. We will have feeders and food for sale plus the chance for children to make some small feeders.

Fingers crossed for the weather!!!

Darell

 

[kawwauser]

5 whoopers yesterday,2 cormorants perched on the opposite side of the east hide plus a heron was chasing another heron in front of the gullery hide,wigeon numbers are increasing and are the most vocal,teals and goldeneye plus a small group of long tailed tits are some of the birds i saw which i havent seen recently,a mute swan was showing aggression towards another mute at the east hide and a cygnet appeared hissing with its neck streched out,it was baltic in all three hides and even the shadows along the paths was freezing cold,this was about 9.30 am,redwings and male blackbirds were feeding on berries beside the car park,the gullery hide and east hide are the best for water birds at the moment,the east having the higher number of birds over all plus the feeders go up on sunday which should bring the red squirrel into view (cant remember the last time i saw it)there was a lot of activity in the trees from the usual small birds and a low flying buzzard flew right across the loch without being harassed,i also had a small group of grazing canada geese at fields beside lintrathen plus 1 stoat and a grey squirrel

 

[kinnordyvolunteer]

It was lovely and sunny when we left Dundee but when we arrived at kinnordy it was getting a bit overcast.

We set everything up for the event and it was still sunny and quite warm,,didn't last though as the wind started to get up and then the rain started.

In front of the gullery hide were 8 whooper swans along with some mutes. One of the adult mute flew over from the east end with her 3 cygnets in hot persuit. It was good to see that most of the cygnets, born this year at kinnordy, were now flying.

I stayed in the gullery hide for most of the day and didnt venture into any of the other hides. I did go and fill the feeders up at both feeding sites. The coal tits were hanging off the seed feeder before i could get it back into place on the tree. All the other birds were haning around for me to leave so they could have their share.

Gadwall, wigeon, tufties, teal, goldeneye, shoveler, cormorant, heron, goosander, greylags, pinkies, lapwing, golden plover, wren, robin, great tit, blue tit, siskin, chaffinch, rook, crow, woodpigeon, pheasant, buzzard, sparrowhawk, mistle thrush and snipe were also seen throughout the day.

The weather did spoil things a bit, but we had a good day all the same. At one stage, the wind was so strong and the rain horrizontal, we had to close the windows for a short while. A few mins later the sun was out and the strong wind had dissappeared!!!

One of the windows in the east hide is broken at the moment...some kind person threw a bottle through it...don't know why!!!!:C

Darell:t:

 

[kinnordyvolunteer]

Sunday 2nd November

This morning was the first time i had really had to work hard to scrape the ice from my car windows, so i knew that if it was cold in Dundee, it would be alot colder up at the reserve. Time for the thermals and how glad i was for them an hour later.

I left the A90 towards Glamis and when i got to the place where you get a view of the Angus hills...WOW, what a view this morning. The Angus Glens were covered in snow with the sun shining brightly on them,

I arrived at kinnordy and Hannah was already in the car park chatting with early visitors. Apparently 450+ greylags had been roosting at the reserve since wednesday, going out early morning and returning in the afternoon...something to see later in the day.

It was chilly outside but with the sun shining brightly, it didn't seem too bad. On with the hat and gloves anyway and off to the gullery hide. The loch had a thin covering of ice which covered most of the water, with a stretch of ice free water at the end of each channel and a small area over at the east end.

We hadn't been in the hide long when all the teal and wigeon took to the sky...we couldn't see why but it gave us the opportunity to see just how many teal there were..200+.
Along with the teal and wigeon were mallard, gadwall, shoveler, whooper swans and mute swans.

I headed for the swamp end to see what was along at that end. It was frozen apart from an area over to the left where mallard, goldeneye, teal, mute swans and wigeon were staying to the edges of the water. A heron sat on one of the perches, in front of the hide.
On my way back to the gullery area i saw treecreeper, siskins, chaffinch, robin, wren, blackbird and hundereds of pinkfeet that had started to pass overhead.

Blue tits, coal tits and great tits were helping themselves to the nuts and seeds at the feeding station at gullery while a couple of pheasants waited for any scraps that were going.

I decided to go for a walk round to the lilly pond area and what a walk it was. The colours of the trees, in the sun was wonderful to see. Bullfinches, siskin, long tailed tits, chaffinches, goldfinches, great spotted woodpecker, moorhen, fieldfare, redwing, mistle thrush, buzzard and blackbirds were seen. When i arrived at the lilly pond i looked to the skies for a good five mins while all the pink feet flew over on their way to feeding grounds.

I got back to the gullery hide around eleven and didn't have to wait long before the greylag geese started to come in. Just before they did, 13 shoveler took to the air..maybe spooked by all the geese that were coming in to the loch.

The geese took quite a while to settle but once they did, i noticed that a couple of them had neck collars on. Going to be interesting to see when and where they were put on. I also noticed five pinkfeet in among the greylags. They stayed for a couple of hours before heading off to find more of their own kind. The geese seemed to have settled in for the day but suddenly started to head off to the fields for more food at around 2.30.

Hannah, the reserve warden appeared soon after the geese departed and we headed off to Lintrathen to check the mink traps. Lots of coot, wigeon, mallard and teal there...the colours of the trees reflected in the water was wonderful too. Afterwards, we went up to the Backwater reservoir to see what was around...little grebe, wigeon, mallard, a couple of roe deer and when walking back to the car a raven flew overhead.

It had been a great day today...sunshine, lots of birds and beautiful colours even though it was freezing cold in the shade. The loch didn't thaw much throughout the day.

Photos

1 View from my journey to kinnordy
2 Frozen waters at gullery hide
3 Wigeon taking to the air
4 Siskin
5 Greylags slippery landing

Darell

more photos to follow:t:

 

[kinnordyvolunteer]

More photos from today.

 

[delia todd]

Darell has just sent me a text. Hannah has let him know that there is a Bittern in the reed beds opposite the Gullery hide.

Frustrating thing is that I think I saw it last night but it disappeared before I could get on to it with my scope:-C

D

 

[kawwauser]

10 whoopers at the swamp hide today plus 2 at the gullery hide,there was a large flock of greylags resting on the loch(the board mentions 450 )not sure which day this count was for,there was 13 mutes between gullery and east hides and one of the juvs is still practising his /her flying,all the ducks seemed to be sitting on land today apart from numerous flocks of widgeon which kept flying in,i saw 7 goldeneyes and a few teals/tufted ducks 1 goosander 1 cormorant,there was 4 herons 3 of them were flying back and forth near the east hide,1 landed near the greylags and spooked them ,about a dozen flew a short distance then landed again,a low flying jet flew past at a very low height and the greylags didn,t seem to bother,i ignored the jet thinking i was about to get a pic of hundreds of greylags taking off,the feeders were nearly empty(i took a vid of coal tits feeding on a feeder at lundie graggs area today they dont mess about,ill post the video in the video section)still plenty bullfinches about plus goldcrests/long tailed tits,i read about a bittern being reported at kinnordy on the 30/10 by a non birder but forgot about it,it wasnt untill i checked this thread i remembered,i was at kinnordy 10am till roughly 11.45:C,i checked all the pics i took today from the gullery hide and noticed this dodgy shape,the pic(very heavily cropped ) was taken directly opposite the gullery hide at 10.59,the original pic was of widgeons swimming about and i have included this below,the shape is to the right of the pic,i know im clutching at straws here but you never know,
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/kawwauser/brt2.jpg

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/kawwauser/brt3.jpg

not so dodgy pics

blue tit feeding in front of gullery hide
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/kawwauser/btit.jpg

greylags
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/kawwauser/geese4.jpg

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/kawwauser/greyhrn.jpg

flying herons
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/kawwauser/heron-2.jpg
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/kawwauser/heron2.jpg
young mute testing its wings
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/kawwauser/mutejuv.jpg

 

[delia todd]

Spent a few hours at Kinnordy this afternoon, no sign at all of the Bittern unfortunately.

In amongs the loads of Goldeneye and Tufties were a couple of Pochard.

A Peregrine came through and put up lots of Mallard, Wigeon and Teal from the bog bean in front of the Gullery Hide. It made a couple of passes but went away without lunch.

There were a couple of Greylag hanging about, but were gradually joined by more and more, till around 250 or so were on the water. A very noisy car came along the road and spooked them all towards the east end but I was told they'd landed in a field.

D

 

[kinnordyvolunteer]

I spent a couple of hours at Kinnordy this morning and like Delia yesterday, didn't see the Bittern.

It was a lovely sunny couple of hours, but quite windy later on and it was a very cold, biting wind.

Lots to see. Just before i arrived, all the greylag geese had set off to feed and although a few circled overhead, only a couple came back onto the loch.

Goosander, goldeneye, tufties, wigeon, shoveler, gadwall, teal, cormorant, heron, mute swan, whoopers x17, mallard, moorhen, blue tit, great tit, coal tit, long tailed tit, treecreeper, bullfinch, chaffinch, siskin, robin, wren, goldfinch, rook, jackaw, crow, buzzard, pheasant, lapwing, dunnock, woodpigeon, common gull, pink feet and redwing were also seen.

Darell:t:

 

[kawwauser]

21 mutes at the east hide today plus 11 whoopers at the gullery hide,still no sign of the bittern ,goldeneye numbers are increasing,male and female goosanders were at both gullery and east hides,2 male shovelars were resting on the farside bank,teals and wigeon are flying in and landing in the bogbean,it was very windy and the smaller birds were less abundant,50+ greylags flew in and landed where the greylags were last week,they started calling and a single greylag appeared from the reeds and joined them,the red squirell was raiding one of the bird feeders,i haven,t seen this creature for months,while at the feeders i nearly stood on a robin,the robin kept jumping about my feet and i had to watch where i was stepping,2 cormorants plus 1 heron were perched opposite the east hide
pics
buzzard
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/kawwauser/buzzrd.jpg

greylags
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/kawwauser/greyl.jpg

feeder raider
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/kawwauser/raider.jpg

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/kawwauser/redsq.jpg

a view of the sky around dundee law around 7.00am
http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d91/kawwauser/lawh.jpg

 

[FoghornKinghorn]

Darell has just sent me a text. Hannah has let him know that there is a Bittern in the reed beds opposite the Gullery hide.

Hello there, I am the one who reported the first sighting of the Bittern this year, whilst up on holiday. I was amazed?? Has it been seen since I first saw it?
Please get back to me.
Thanks
Andrew Kinghorn

 

[delia todd]

Hello there, I am the one who reported the first sighting of the Bittern this year, whilst up on holiday. I was amazed?? Has it been seen since I first saw it?
Please get back to me.
Thanks
Andrew Kinghorn

Hi Andrew

What a great spot for you

As far as I know it hasn't been seen since the 15th, but I could be wrong. Perhaps Darell has more news.

Are you the 'young lad'?:-O

D

 

[FoghornKinghorn]

Hi Andrew

What a great spot for you

As far as I know it hasn't been seen since the 15th, but I could be wrong. Perhaps Darell has more news.

Are you the 'young lad'?:-O

D

Thanks. I know I am 16, also whilst on holiday I has 2 un expected East Coast Sea Eagles, 1 Male Hen Harrier but no Merlin.

Could I ask. Was it the 15th of this month it was last saw?
Please reply, thanks

 

[delia todd]

Thanks. I know I am 16, also whilst on holiday I has 2 un expected East Coast Sea Eagles, 1 Male Hen Harrier but no Merlin.

Could I ask. Was it the 15th of this month it was last saw?
Please reply, thanks

Yes, 15th November. I actually saw it on the evening of the 14th but didn't believe my eyes in the fading light, so didn't call it.:-C It'd disappeared by the time I got to the scope. A Bittern was really the last thing I was expecting to find that evening (I'll never make a rarity hunter:-O)

What date did you see it on then, do I presume October?

Well done with the Sea Eagles... I've not managed to connect with them yet - maybe next week though.

D

 

[FoghornKinghorn]

Yes, 15th November. I actually saw it on the evening of the 14th but didn't believe my eyes in the fading light, so didn't call it.:-C It'd disappeared by the time I got to the scope. A Bittern was really the last thing I was expecting to find that evening (I'll never make a rarity hunter:-O)

What date did you see it on then, do I presume October?

Well done with the Sea Eagles... I've not managed to connect with them yet - maybe next week though.

D

I saw it in October on the 28th. I was sitting with a local and we where looking over the the right, the planes flew over and I looked out to the right and WHAT IS THAT? Came to my mind. After it went down after 5 seconds I thought that was a Bittern it had to be! I saw it with it's long yellow legs trailing behind with it's head held like a heron would in flight. It was only up for about 5 seconds! Then down it went. I sat for 30 minutes trying to talk myself out of it. I considered: heron, Short-eared owl. But non of them mathed what I saw. Black, Gold, Yellow Legs down into the reads never to come back out. It had to be?
Do you think it was a Bittern I saw?
Look forward to reply.
(You never forget the first time you get Bittern. ha ha)

 

[delia todd]

I saw it in October on the 28th. I was sitting with a local and we where looking over the the right, the planes flew over and I looked out to the right and WHAT IS THAT? Came to my mind. After it went down after 5 seconds I thought that was a Bittern it had to be! I saw it with it's long yellow legs trailing behind with it's head held like a heron would in flight. It was only up for about 5 seconds! Then down it went. I sat for 30 minutes trying to talk myself out of it. I considered: heron, Short-eared owl. But non of them mathed what I saw. Black, Gold, Yellow Legs down into the reads never to come back out. It had to be?
Do you think it was a Bittern I saw?
Look forward to reply.
(You never forget the first time you get Bittern. ha ha)

No, you certainly don't... especially a self-found one.

My belief is that you certainly did see one that day.

D

 

[FoghornKinghorn]

No, you certainly don't... especially a self-found one.

My belief is that you certainly did see one that day.

D

I am glad that I Googled to find this as I wanted to try and give some extra information to the locals to help them to see it.
It was broad daylight I saw it. I really did try and talk myself out of it!:-O
But I am convinved that's what it was, so I confirmed it as my first Bittern.

By the way Flanders Moss has a Male Hen Harrier, that's where I saw mine whilst up on Holiday. -That was a first Hen Harrier aswell. (Saw WILD White-tailed eagle on the way to Flanders Moss, near Blair Drummond Safari Park)

 

[FoghornKinghorn]

If anyone wants more information, please don't hesitate to ask me.
Andrew K

 

[kinnordyvolunteer]

I will be at kinnordy tomorrow, sunday 30th, and am going for a walk round the reserve about ten o'clock. If any one wants to join me, then we will meet in the car park.

If its anything like today, wrap up warm and bring a flask of tea for afterwards. My car is already frozen solid tonight.

Darell:t: