STONEFACTION BIRDING: 06/22/15

0172 : Lucky At The Loch (14/6/15)

Having spent the afternoon locally around the city, I was looking forward to heading a little further afield with Nat for the evening. We decided to head for Kinnordy, as there was a chance of Osprey and Marsh Harrier among other things, and it is the kind of place that tends to be full of surprises. As things turned out, we had quite good luck with mammals as well as birds.

Marsh Harrier food pass

Nat arrived at 6pm as arranged and we got the list started for part 2. House Sparrow, Blackbird and Feral Pigeon - 3 species that I can see every day of the year without trying too hard, but always welcome just the same. Swift was added on our way out of the city, with Black Headed Gulls, Swallows, Woodpigeons and Carrion Crow being added on our way north. Arriving at Kinnordy we picked up Blue Tit from the car park and a Buzzard glided over the fields to the southwest.

We wandered into the Gullery hide and scanned around once we made ourselves comfortable. Overall it was rather quiet but there were birds half-hidden among the bogbean on the islands, and also a few dotted around on the water. Lapwings and Mallards were the most obvious after the rather prominent Mute Swans. One or two Redshanks could just be seen as they scurried around between the Lapwings and the bogbean. Sand Martins and Swallows zipped low over the water and one of each perched side-by-side on the kingfisher perch (where I've yet to see a Kingfisher - others have though).

Reed Buntings could be heard calling from in the reeds and with a bit of effort I eventually succeeded in location one. A Common Gull flew through heading westwards. A House Martin showed briefly around the pines before departing out of sight to the south. There was still a little activity among the Rooks left over at the rookery trees, with a youngster harassing an adult for some food. A pair of Herring Gulls were next to overfly.

Scanning across the loch, I noticed a dark shape in the water, vaguely triangular and going away from us, leaving quite a wide wake. It remained on the surface rather than diving under. I suspected a Beaver and a few record shots confirmed this. My first "self-found" and first photo(s), poor though they were. To see one of these animals, and much closer than this sighting, I could have joined one of the Beaver tours on the River Ericht led by Bob Smith and Rhona Forrester which appears to give excellent views on any occasion when luck is on the side of the participants (obviously views can't be guaranteed). Everyone who has been on one of these trips seems to really rate them, and with Bob and Rhona's enthusiasm for the creatures re-establishing themselves around Tayside, they are certainly worth checking out if you want to see a wild Beaver. For my own reasons, I wanted my first sighting(s) of Beaver in the wild to be down to chance, so a distant view was good enough for me. If the Scottish Government gives the Beavers the go-ahead to become an official part of the Scottish fauna, then I have no doubt I will encounter these large animals again.

The Marsh Harrier male was next to put in an appearance over the reeds at the back of the reserve. I thought I spotted movement in the Barn Owl box at the lone pine so I decided to keep an eye on it. Sure enough, within a few minutes, the face of the owl appeared at the hole. We hoped that the bird might take flight to hunt during the evening light, but it vanished back into the depths of the box again. The female Marsh Harrier appeared from within the reeds flying up to join the male who was carrying something in his talons. This suggested that we were about to witness a food pass - something I hadn't been lucky enough to see before. I readied the camera and sure enough the pair swooped upwards with the male dropping his food item (a duckling?) and the female catching it in hers. I managed to catch the prey in mid-air between the birds, a shot I was pleased to get, despite the distance and not great lighting conditions.

Surprisingly, the female didn't drop back into the reedbed but instead flew to a reasonably open area off to the left of the hide where we could just see her eating through the vegetation. I shot a bit of video footage, even using the digital zoom on the P900 which allowed a reasonable amount of detail to be seen. Things returned to a degree of ordinary after the Beaver/Barn Owl/Food Pass treble, with a Great Tit feeding in the tree to the right of the hide, and a few Oystercatchers landing out on the bogbean. A Moorhen appeared near where we could faintly hear Water Rails calling but sadly they didn't show for us. A Sedge Warbler was the next addition to our list, and a few Pied Wagtails started to appear out on the bogbean islands among the waders.

I spotted a Brown Hare up in the fields to the north of the reserve, slowly working its way across the furrows. The relative calm in the filed it shared with a flock of Woodpigeons was about to be shattered. Two Roe Deer chased up the adjacent field and through into the furrowed field, spooking the Hare as the chase continued. Interesting to see the Hare's reaction to what would not actually have been any threat, though I suppose it is safer to not take any chances and to get out of the way. Starlings began to congregate in small numbers in the pines. We continued to watch the Barn Owl box hoping that it would pop out and I would finally see more than the bird's head. After a long period of build-up, it did. Unfortunately, it shot out of the box at speed and vanished round behind the tree and we lost sight of it almost immediately.

With the light starting to fade as the sun disappeared behind the hills, the temperature took a noticeable dip and it started to get a bit chilly. We decided to give it another 10 minutes or so, then to call it a night. Our only addition was a Greylag Goose which dropped in from the western end. We tried to see if we could find any owls on the way home, stopping at a few hopeful spots but only adding another few Roe Deer and a Pheasant.

A worthwhile exercise in getting out with some nice sightings. Quality rather than quantity with 30 species seen -
Barn Owl, Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Common Gull, Great Tit, Greylag Goose, Herring Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow, Lapwing, Mallard, Marsh Harrier, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Redshank, Reed Bunting, Feral Pigeon, Rook, Sand Martin, Sedge Warbler, Starling, Swallow, Swift, Woodpigeon.