With Nat available to get out birding once once again and a month of catching up on her year-list to factor in, it was no surprise that she quite fancies getting out somewhere on Monday afternoon in the hope of seeing something good. However, the weather forecast was even less promising than it had been 24 hours earlier with heavy rain forecast almost everywhere. That's what hides are for. Birding when it isn't great outside. Where to go? Well, Kinnordy has some good birds just now.....
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| Little Grebe |
Nat arrived at about 1300 to pick me up and off we went. The only birds around locally were a few gulls on the chimneys and lamp posts - Herring Gulls and Lesser Black Backed Gull, plus a Carrion Crow and a flyover Feral Pigeon. Otherwise it was very quiet, with the rain keeping most of the smaller birds well hidden in cover. A Mallard flew over the road on the way to Glamis, while Pheasants dotted the fields. There were a few Rooks around also, as expected, and more or less in the same places as the day before.
We arrived at a rather wet and very quiet Loch of Kinnordy and headed into the hide. I had decided to use the Nikon P900 and to get a few video clips rather than stick the 150-600mm lens out into the wet unless I had to (ie. if things got good). The Greylag from the day before was in the same place as it had been. Out on the water were a few Teal, a couple of Mute Swans, some distant Tufted Ducks and a few Mallards. Lapwings, Oystercatchers and some Snipe were on the bogbean islands, as were a few Black Headed Gulls. I spotted a few Wigeon beyond the reeds to our right. The Shoveler pair appeared from one of the bogbean islands.
The rain was incessant, sometimes lessening slightly but not stopping. A few of the Snipe moved on elsewhere. A Reed Bunting flew across to the reeds on our right, and a Wren foraged about low down in the same reedbed. The pair of Little Grebes swam into view apparently from below the hide, though more likely from the same reeds the Wren was in. I shot some video of the pair from a much closer distance than I'm usually able to get to this species. A Grey Heron flew in and landed but took off again almost immediately. I spotted what I thought were Curlews in one of the distant fields but the light and rain made it difficult to be sure.
We ad been in the hide for around 90 minutes when I suddenly spotted the Marsh Harriers both lifting from within the reeds across the far side of the Loch. Again I took some video as they hunted together above the reeds, rather than photos. I eventually decided that the views were rather good so out came the D7100 and the 150-600mm lens, and I snapped away as the female tracked from left to right above the bogbean islands. Nat was happy that she had Marsh Harrier on her year-list now. All we needed was an Osprey to show. However, a visiting couple had sat next to Nat with the window that had been protecting her from the worst of the wind now open she was starting to feel the cold. The female Marsh Harrier disappeared back into the reeds while the male dropped down on the edge of the reeds rather than somewhere more sheltered. I had suggested we give things 10 minutes more and if nothing happened we'd head home, or to somewhere else, hopefully warmer.
This meant I had decent views for photos and video of the bird on the ground rather than just in the air. A bird up in the air off to the left caught my eye and a quick proper look confirmed we had an Osprey. The bird on Sunday had a blue ring (coded MR) but this one turned out to have a pale yellow or cream ring coded JU. I had seen and photographed the same bird last year at Kinnordy. It circled and hovered before disappearing up to the far end of the Loch without attempting to fish. A Buzzard crossed its path. Thankfully it tracked back down the Loch again and gave us more decent views. The couple sat next to Nat decided that they were happy with their Harrier/Osprey double and headed off. This gave Nat a bit more shelter from the cold and we were able to spend some more time watching the Osprey over the Loch. It did eventually dive for a fish but we both managed to lose sight of it against the background vegetation so we weren't sure if it had been successful.
However, we had been successful with both hoped for species seen among our rather low total of just 26 species. We contemplated going elsewhere but settled for heading home instead for a bit of warmth and to check out the afternoon's photos and videos. Another good afternoon with even better Marsh Harrier views, despite the poor weather.
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| Snipe |
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| Teal |
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| Greylag Goose |
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Wigeon
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| Marsh Harrier |
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| Marsh Harrier |
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| Marsh Harrier |
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| Marsh Harrier |
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| Osprey |
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| Osprey |
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| Osprey |
Species seen - Black Headed Gull, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Curlew, Grey Heron, Greylag Goose, Herring Gull, Lapwing, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Little Grebe, Mallard, Marsh Harrier, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Osprey, Oystercatcher, Pheasant, Reed Bunting, Feral Pigeon, Rook, Shoveler, Snipe, Teal, Tufted Duck, Wigeon, Wren
