Loch Leven RSPB Reserve 14th July 2016

Woke up to a dull, overcast and breezy Saturday morning so it seemed like  fine reason to shoot over the Forth Bridge to the Royal Kingdom and have a wander around the Loch Leven RSPB reserve.

Arriving just past 10am I found the place heaving with photographers competing in a Photo Marathon competition run by the Reserve staff. As long as they are quiet about it.

Straight down to the first hide and set up the old 'scope on the hide clamp and got the binoculars out. First in sight was a couple of Greylag Geese which flew in on the breeze.

Greylag Geese

There was the usual plethora of mixed sex Mallard directly in fron of the hide and a few Tufted Ducks foraging around the margins.Plenty of House Martins swooping around the windows of the hide, always pleasant to watch but I find it hard to get a decent photograph of them unless they sit down for a while.

Resting House Martin

A couple of Lapwing wandered down to the waters edge. I really do like those birds. When the light catches them properly the are a fine specimen and at least have the decency to stay in the one place for more than a second..

Lapwing

Nice sight of some Coot with their chicks dabbling about and the obligatory Moorhens sailing by.

Coot and kids

The undoubted highlight of the day was the sight of a Marsh Harrier sitting serenely at the side of the water. Every now and then it disappeared behind the reeds, usually when the photographers were trying to catch it but they didn't have the patience to wait. As soon as they left the hide the beast took off over the inlet and took a rodent of some sort for its dinner

Marsh Harrier

A proper killing machine in action.

Down to the next hide to watch some Gadwall and Garganey

Garganey

Gadwall

Final decent bird of the hide was some Scaup which were dabbling at the far end of the little bay.

Scaup

Back down towards the cafe and a quick stop off at the feeders brought the sight of feeding Goldfinch, Greenfinch and Siskin.

Goldfinch (C) RSPB

Greenfinch (c) RSP

Siskin (c) RSPB

Into the cafe for a bacon roll and a coffee before heading home. A decent day all round.

Trip Sightings:

Greylag Goose            Mallard                Tufted Duck         Blackheaded Gull
Lapwing                      Coot & Family   Moorhen              Oystercatcher
Marsh Harrier             Goldfinch            Greenfinch            Gadwall
Gt. Crested Grebe      Grey Heron          Teal                        Crow
Pied Wagtail               Sparrow                Siskin                    Tree Sparrow
House Martin             Swallow                Little Grebe         Sparrowhawk
Garganey                     Scaup                   Wood Pigeon        Magpie
Shoveller Duck

This brings the Year List up to 103 which is not bad for only a handful of trips.

Aberdour in Fife

Well with errands of mercy to be carried out on Saturday, that is giving my daughter a lift to visit her friend in Aberdour for a few hours it seemed reasonable to pack the flask and the binoculars and spend 3 or so hours wandering along the coast line. 

Aberdour is set on the Fife coastal path and boasts one of Scotland's few award winning beaches. It has a lovely little harbour and some nice easy cliff walks if you only have a few hours.

Aberdour Harbour

First port of call was the beach known s the Black Sands. it has a nice wee beach with some rocky outcrops and has been known to host flocks of Eider in the past. No flocks today but lucky enough to see a few of the little ducks

Eider

Further on there were a couple of Gray Herons swooping and diving in the shallow receding tidal waters. Spotted five in total on the day.

As always there were a lot of Black Headed, Herring and Black Backed Gulls, with the added bonus of a few Common Gulls all begging for scraps from the various tourists enjoying the warmth on the beach,

A quick climb up the path, which forms part of the Fife Coastal Path brought me up to a nice viewpoint for the first brew of the day. Sitting on the hill watching the House Martins and Sand Martins swooping about my head was very pleasant.

House Martins

Sand Martins

Spoiled only by the clanking appearance of a few girls out climbing the cliffs. Time to move on and down across Silver Sands where I was amazed at the amount of Carrion Crow and Wood Pigeons foraging in the seaweed at the edge of the water. It was warm enough for a few hardy souls to actually be swimming.

Up the ext part of the cliff towards Burntisland brought the sight of 9 Oystercatchers messing about at the waters edge digging up food from the soft sand. They are possibly one of my favorite coastal birds.

and lording it over them, slap bang in the middle was a solitary Curlew!

A further wander inland through some wooded area brought a bit of a highlight in the shape of a Willow Warbler, my first this year. It seemed almost tame sitting yelping at me drawing attention to itself. Certainly a bit of a poseur for the camera

Willow Warbler

I was joined at my tree by a lovely little Wren who just nodded sagely at me before scampering away. Moving on down back along the coast I there was a glut of Cormorant, well 5 anyway, sitting watching the incoming tide for tit-bits

Cormorant

and the obligatory pair of Magpies sitting about watching everything with their beady eyes.

Magpie

Back towards my original resting place for another brew, in the hope that the rattly climbers had gotten bored and went away brought the highlight of the day in the shape of three Red Breasted Mergansers, which seemed late in the year - or early depending on what way you are looking. Always a joy to see them.

Red Breasted Merganser

After a peaceful brew it was time to head bag towards the rendezvous point.  That brought a couple of Little Grebe ducking and diving in the water. Heading back up into the village I was confronted with a Chiffchaff, warning me away from its garden.

Chiffchaff

Waiting about for my daughter brought the first confusion species of the year. Having waited 7 months to see my first Willow Warbler of 2016, I thought I had spotted another (or maybe the same one following me) but after a lot of soul searching, book checking and discussion with a local gent we agreed that it was indeed a Garden Warbler, 

Garden Warbler

also a first for 2016. A few minutes later he pointed out a Stonechat that I had missed entirely

Stonechat

All in all a decent few hours bringing:

• Grey Heron (5)                                                     
• Cormorant (5)
• Black Headed Gull (c200)
• Common Gull (12)
• Little Grebe (5)
• Eider (8)
• Greater Black Backed Gull (26)
• Herring Gull (c100)
• Swallow (2)
• House Martin (c30)
• Sand Martin (5)
• Carrion Crow (countless)
• Wood Pigeon (hundreds)
• Curlew
• Oystercatchers (9)
• House Sparrow (4)
• Wren
• Stonechat
• Willow Warbler (Year 1st)
• Garden Warbler (Year 1st)
• Chifchaff
• Red Breasted Merganser (3)
• Magpie (2)

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In the Beginning

For various reasons I have been unable to get out and co any serious birding for a good long time. When I have spare moments, usually sitting in strange working environments I have been trying to get my 'birding life' in order, filing notes, filing trip logs, filing photographs etc and it got me to thinking about birding in general and why I do it.

There is a certain stigma attached to bird watching. Some people, those who have never tries it, liken it to train spotting, or some other ‘anorak’ type pastime. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Bird Watching, or birding as it is known as among its aficionados is one of the cheapest, relaxing most rewarding pastimes there is.

I have been bird watching for forty five years. I was introduced to it by my sadly departed uncle who was a great outdoorsman. It is a past time that can be as expensive, or as inexpensive as you want it to be. You can watch birds with the naked eye. You don’t even need to know what type of bird you are watching. It is enjoyable enough just to watch their behaviour, especially when the males are preening themselves during the mating season.

I started with a pair of inexpensive binoculars bought from a garage sale, but admit now that I have good binoculars and a spotting scope and a camera, and various tripods. I was bitten by the hobby.

My wife reckons I take more gear bird watching than I do when I go on vacation.

Bird watching can be a hobby on many different levels. There are casual observers, who just like to watch the birds, there are birders who have learned enough to name most of the birds they see, there are twictchers so called because they positively twitch with anticipation as they race from one end of the country to another to see the one-off ‘migrant’ species that have landed in a country completely foreign to them, and then there is the ornithologist, who studies migrations, breeding patterns, numbers etc.

I am a ‘lister’. I make lists of the birds I see, where and when, weather conditions etc. I now have lists for the year, for my local patch, for the UK where I am currently based, for Spain, Cuba and Mexico where I vacation…..the list (no pun intended) is endless, and travels with me and gets updated every time I see something.

With the advent of the internet there are many bird watching related websites that help you identify the varieties that you see. Twitter and Facebook has virtual communities of like-minded individuals.

A lot of bird watchers including myself write regular blogs on their activities and sightings, allowing others to share the experience and visit your area. 

There are various apps that help you list and identify birds in the field, and I would never go bird watching without at least my iPhone, or more usually, my iPad.

Bookshops have Bird watching guides for every occasion and location and every town and city has a bird watchers club of some form or another. They are usually very cheap to join, have members ranging from beginner to expert and arrange trips out to bird watching sites. They are probably the greatest place to learn the hobby and the birds that you watch.

I started off in a bird club, learning from the more expert members and now, forty years on I do my best to put some of my knowledge back into the hobby.

You can take up bird watching at any age. It is a great way to destress after a hard week’s work; it gets you out in the fresh air, and can be shared by all the family. My wife has no interest in birding, but still comes with me for the walk and the scenery. 

You don’t need to travel that far to watch birds. They are in the town, the city and your back garden.

It has also opened my eyes to conservation and ecological issue that I would have missed otherwise, and bird watching groups around the world have lobbying powers with their governments regarding their local environments. 

If you travel a lot, as I do for work, it is a very transportable hobby. A pair of binoculars, a note-book and a local identification guide is all you need to take and you are set. I even sneak in a few sessions during a family vacation which lets me see more exotic species than I would normally see in the UK.

Give it a try, get out and have a look around. You will enjoy it and get some exercise and fresh air into the bargain. You never know, you may become and addict like me!