Squelch!

Hi everyone! Its Janie here, the Reserve Warden for Cullaloe. I thought I would give everyone a little change and do a blog entry for the first time! I’ll apologise now if it isn’t as polished as Grahame’s have become! ;-)

Well, hasn’t the weather been awful the last few days? Thank goodness Grahame and I decided to take advantage of a lull in the rain on Sunday and head along to the Reserve to have a nose around and see what we could see! I know what you are thinking… don’t we do that fairly often anyway? Well, it’s true that Grahame can be found on site most days, me a bit less so, but we don’t normally go far off the beaten track so every once in a while we go exploring! ;-)

Thank goodness most of the flooding has drained from the car park now – although if you are planning to visit make sure you wear sturdy shoes as the mud that has been left behind can get a bit slippy! The filter beds are looking rather dull just now as the water looks a little reminiscent of a weak cup of tea, but there are still plenty of insects and fish going about their business, as evidenced by the occasional break in the surface.

The walk along to the Loch was punctuated by a buzzard swooping around above the rise on the east of the Reserve, great tits alarm calling and a robin who was bobbing along ahead of us, encouraging us to follow him in a charming way. The Loch itself gave its usual bounty of coot, mallard, mute swan and a few teal, and I enjoyed a little entertainment when a heron that had been feeding in the rushes near to the screen startled and rose up into the air right in front of Grahame who hadn’t even noticed it! Admittedly, neither had I, but I didn’t jump the way Grahame did! ;-) It just goes to show that sometimes us bird-watching types need to keep the binoculars on our chests to see what is right there in front of us!

On the way towards the spillway, the chaffinches were out in force in the trees to the left of the path, whereas the feeding area on the right was dominated almost entirely by great and blue tits. Although there has been a lot of rainfall recently, the spillway is still dry from the ledge a third of the way along its length coming from the direction of the Loch. I have to admit that I am starting to wish it would refill now – and I’m sure it will once the valve to the overflow has been closed once more. This wish is partly because I love creeping along that portion of the path and popping my head up just above the tops of the plants to see what I can catch unawares (how else do you spy a kingfisher? ;-)), but also because I am finding it a little frustrating to be counting more than a hundred birds on the Loch one moment and seeing them all rise in a panic the next, only to find someone standing in the middle of the dried up spillway with their binoculars or a scope out! Having only mediocre binoculars myself, I can completely understand the urge to get a little closer to whatever you are trying to identify, but please allow the birds their comfort zone as well. It is much more enjoyable to be able to watch the various waterfowl as they drift sedately around on the Loch before gracefully rising as one into the air in their own time, I’m sure you’ll agree.

Anyway, as I said, the purpose of Sunday was pretty much exploring and our route took us into some of the more-out-of-reach areas of the Reserve. I have to be honest and say that this was one time that, for me, the journey was more productive than the destination as we were constantly stopping to identify birds, prints in the mud or droppings! However, sight was not the only sense being used as Grahame picked up the strong musky odour of the fox at one point (we’d already photographed his print as Grahame’s photograph shows), and there was also the unmistakable sound of prey being turned into dinner for a sparrowhawk as we picked our way carefully along part of the Dour Burn.

The highlight of the day for me though was the sighting of a family of goldcrest in one of the more mature trees just beyond the sheep pasture at the east end of the Reserve. Grahame spotted one first and tried to draw my attention to it as I’ve never seen one but –in the way they do – by the time I’d gotten my binoculars up and tracked it to another tree, it was well hidden! Then Grahame turned his attention to something else sitting in the same tree as the goldcrest had been and I managed to spot another two flitting about from branch to branch! :-) Now, if I do many of these blog entries, you will soon realise that I am not big on the LBJs (little brown jobs – warblers, sparrows, buntings – that kind of thing). I just find them a little difficult to identify. But I don’t think even I’ll manage to forget that gorgeous little flash of gold on the head of the goldcrest in a hurry! Definitely worth the wait and a pleasure to watch.

So, I guess the moral of this story is that even though the Reserve may look a bit bare and even untidy in places right now – there is still a fair bit to be seen if you have a little patience, some warm clothes and some spare time on your hands! Don’t forget that you can comment on our blog entries, so if you see something of interest and want to encourage others to take a look, please let us know! :-)

Flooding

With us having so much heavy rain recently, water levels have been running extremely high on the reserve. The loch is currently up to it's summer levels, even though the valve has not been closed! It's basically filling up faster than it can empty right now.
As a downside, the water had caused quite a bit of flooding at the car park, but hopefully a little dry spell will sort it all out. It's sunny outside as i write this, so who knows!

Below is a photo of the car park taken on Monday afternoon. As you can see, it's not exactly the nicest place to be parking!

Even with all the rain, we've managed to increase the species list by a few species in the past week, so it's not all bad.

Surveying and monitoring

Well, the first week of the year has now passed and we've already got a pretty good bird list for the year, with 25 species having been recorded so far.

This year both me and Janie plan on doing a whole lot of surveying and monitoring of the species present on the reserve. Not just birds, but plants, mammals, insects, trees, etc. The idea is to build up a complete picture of what can be found on the reserve.

The Species list link to the right will hopefully contain a complete listing for everyone to see as it gets completed. Please do bear in mind that we are not experts and that this is a learning experience for us both, so some things will be missed. We will definitely do the best that we can, though.

With regard to the bird list, i plan on doing things slightly differently from how i have recorded them previously. I plan on working in a similar vein to the BTO's Bird Atlas scheme. Basically, birds will be recorded if they are seen or heard on the reserve. Unlike previous years, i will be excluding birds flying overhead from the list. I basically want to create a picture of what is actually using the reserve, not just those that can be seen from it. The 'flying' exceptions will be birds in flight which are clearly using the reserve, such as birds of prey hunting and swifts, swallows and the like.

The list does include a section on mammals, and it should be noted that in most cases the date of first sighting will not be the date the actual mammal was sighted, but rather field signs confirming their presence. Most mammals, particularly the small mice and voles are very secretive and you're not very likely to see them, so we must record confirmation of their presence rather than definite sightings.

Janie will be concentrating predominantly on the plant and tree species on the reserve, whilst i concentrate on birds and mammals. Insects, butterflies, dragonflies, etc will probably be done as a joint effort.

I have also added a calendar on the menu on the right. As with the species list, a google account is needed. I'll be updating it with every time we have a group coming on reserve for a tour, any eents on the reserve or any planned work. It'll give people a chance to either turn up or avoid the reserve on these busier days

Happy New Year!

Well, it's the first of 2008, so i figured i would wish everyone who reads this blog a happy new year!

I have big plans for the reserve and this blog for 2008. I hope to have a full species list available here (I might try and do it using google docs and have a link over on the right-hand side, where the other links are for the SWT), not only of birds, but of anything else i see while i'm out and about on the reserve. With a small mountain of reference guides given to me for Christmas, covering all types of insect, birds, dragonflies, butterflies, mushrooms and toadstools, etc, I don't think I will have a shortage of things to update!
I'm open to other suggestions on how to update it, if anyone has a bit of a technical know-how and can code in HTML, i'm happy to hear any thoughts or suggestions. It's got to be better than the bird list i was using for 2007!
The plan is to have a table listing the different species, and when they are first seen, so that you can see what new arrivals there are.

There are several plans for work to be done on the reserve in 2008. Some of them will happen, some of them will not. Almost all of it is based on funding. If you really want to help with funding at Cullaloe, and their other 122 SWT reserves, please consider clicking on the link at the bottom of the page and join the SWT. (Sales pitch over now!)

Some of the things which may or may not happen on the reserve in 2008 are:

• An Open Day in spring/summer. Hopefully to attract new people to the reserve, encourage more use from the place.
• The continued management of the Willow scrub at the Snipe bog by the local Air Cadet Squadron. Hopefully we'll have most of it cleared before Spring.
• Clearing the Orchid Meadow for grazing by the Flying Flock.
• Scrapes at the loch edge in an attempt to reveal bare mud to encourage Mudwort growth
• The raising and lowering of the loch will continue again this year.
• This one is a big maybe, as it requires a lot of funding! - A bridge over the filter beds and a path leading to a viewpoint on top of the hill opposite the reserve.
• Some general Health and Safety work to improve conditions for visitors to the reserve.

Some regular things will continue on the reserve in 2008. The flying flock will periodically be paying the reserve a visit to graze the field they have been grazing over the past year or two, and potentially to graze the Orchid Meadow as well. The feeders will remain on the reserve and Janie and I will continue to try and keep them filled for everyone to see. I'm sure Mark will continue to visit and do some bird ringing.

A couple of different groups have expressed an interest in visiting the reserve, and I will hopefully be guiding these groups around the reserve and showing them what it has to offer. If anyone is interested in visiting the reserve, please do get in touch with me. I am happy to provided guided walks for any interested party.

I'm hoping 2008 will be a good year for Cullaloe, with lots of work being done, both for the benefit of the wildlife on the reserve and for the people who come there to enjoy it!

Update: There's now a link on the right to access the species list for 2008. Obviously right now it's either empty, or as good as. You will need a Google account to view the spreadsheet, but these are free for everyone to create.

Poachers

It seems we may have developed a problem with illegal poaching on the reserve, besides that of the illegal fishing, which is already well documented both on this blog and elsewhere.

When on the reserve on Christmas Eve, there was a visit from the local Police. It appears that they had been called out by someone (Not myself) who had reported poaching on the reserve. I had been on the reserve for an hour at that point, and had neither heard or seen any sign of problems at that time, so it was deemed as a false alarm, i believe. Unfortunately, it seems there may have been some truth in the matter.

Janie called me this morning, advising that she had seen someone on the reserve with two black labrador dogs. From the noise and commands being issued to the dogs, she suspects that these were gun dogs. She said the man had something in his hand, but due to the shade, she couldn't clearly identify it. She does think it may have been a dead pheasant.
I went on the reserve myself this afternoon, and there was no sign of any activity on the reserve. There was, however clearly some shooting going on nearby and voices could be heard commanding dogs, so i have little doubt that Janie was correct and that people were poaching on the reserve.
I suspect the main targets would be the relatively large Pheasant population on the reserve, although Woodcock and Snipe are also known for shooting. With both of these species in decline in the UK, it is definitely a cause for concern that these species could be targetted.
I will be contacting Fife Constabulary regarding this, although there is little that can be done unless the culprits are caught in the act.

I would ask that if anyone is visiting the reserve they are vigilant of anyone behaving suspiciously. If you do see someone or something, whether it is shooting or fishing, please contact Fife Police on 0845 600 5702. Please DO NOT approach these people and leave the matter in the hands of the Police, who are trained to deal with these situations.

Lots been happening

Ok, i know it has been a while since i updated this blog, and first of all, i must apologise. Things have been rather hectic of late and i simply haven't had the time! I promise it'll be back to weekly updates from now on, though!

We're almost at the end of December, and I haven't posted at all this month, even though there's been so much going on!
First and most important of all, we've had the some of the cadets from the local Air Cadet Squadron on site doing some work. We initially had them on site on the 2nd of December, just for a little tour of the reserve. Surprisingly enough, none of the cadets had ever actually visited a nature reserve before. I have to admit, i was more than a little shocked by this. I remember as a child getting dragged to these places whether i liked it or not. The thought of not having been to a nature reserve by the time i was a teenager is almost incomprehensible to me. From reading various sites and speaking with various people, this seems to be the norm these days, which really is a shame.
For me it was even more important when we were showing them about to let them see not only what work we were going to be asking of them, but why we were asking it of them and to give them a chance to see some of the wildlife on the reserve.
We were quite well rewarded that day, too, with Roe Deer putting in an appearance, Teal, Wigeon, Mallard, Mute Swans and Heron on the loch and several of the smaller common bords about. The cadets seemed to have a genuine enthusiasm for the reserve, which i will definitely be trying to cultivate.
With the cold weather we've been having recently, there have been a few days where the loch has been pretty much frozen over. Only a few patches remained where the ducks and swans could access the water. As a result of the cold weather, we did have a large flock of gulls arrive. There were approximately 150 gulls on the loch, predominantly black-headed gulls, but with a few common gulls mixed in.

We had the cadets on the reserve again on the 16th December, this time to help with the work on the reserve. There were two tasks that we had in mind for them. To pick up the litter on the reserve, primarily at the pool which has been used by illegal fishermen and to help with the coppicing of the trees which have encroached upon the Snipe Bog.
Upon entering the Snipe Bog, we flushed three Snipe out, which is great news. At least we know the area is still in use for wintering birds.
The cadets were on site from approximately 10:30am to 2:30pm. We had originally planned to have them on site a bit later than this, but it was getting rather cold rather quickly!
Still, they managed to get a fair amount of work done and i was really impressed with them! They really should be proud of their achievements, too!
The picture below shows just some of the area the cadets managed to clear.

Here's some of the cadets working on clearing the scrub


Here's the other cadets on their way to the fishing loch for litter picking, accompanied by Janie in the foreground


And here they all are at the end of the day, looking surprisingly cheerful considering how much work they had just done!

The cadets will be back on the reserve helping out three more times before the end of February, so hopefully we'll have a fair amount of the scrub cleared away.
We're also getting a visit by a group from BirdForum on Saturday the 9th February, where I have agreed to give them a bit of a guided tour. That one will be interesting, since I've been out with some of them before, earlier this year on a visit to the Isle of May. There's some there who definitely have more bird knowledge than I do, so I'm going to have to try real hard not to embarrass myself!

New Additions

There have been several new additions to the reserve, of various sorts, both good and bad over the past week or two.
The first one I'll mention is that my friend Janie is now the Reserve Warden for the site. Basically, she will be assisting me with the work i carry out on the reserve. She's very enthusiastic and approachable, so if you see her on site, feel free to stop her and ask any questions you may have (She's easy to spot - she's the one wearing the SWT fleece with the 'Ranger Service' badge on it!)
In addition, she'll have access to this blog so that she can update it at any time. I think we'll try and stick to the normal routine of updating the blog once a week, roughly. Obviously, if either of us spot anything of particular interest, we'll update the blog as soon as we can!
We have another new bird addition for the reserve in the shape of a cormorant, which was seen on monday flying away from the loch (But not since). That's another one added to the list, which just keeps growing and growing! I suspect next year's list will be even larger, since we'll be starting in January, rather than May and we'll be on site more than we were at the beginning of this year, particularly during the migration seasons.

The most interesting new addition for visitors to the reserve is two new seed feeders, mounted on a pole. The feeders are 26" long and a bright blue plastic, so they should be easy enough for most people to spot! A (bad) photo of them is shown below - apologies for the quality of the shot, but it was chucking it down with rain today, so the camera wasn't playing very nice in the low light conditions.



The feeders were only put up yesterday, but already they've proven a bit of a success. There is a pretty constant stream of Coal Tits, Great Tits and Blue Tits darting back and forth to them right now. Although the birds are not lingering long on the feeders, they're definitely making use of them. It's a positive hive of activity there now as a result, with birds coming and going all the time.

The other new additions to the reserve are the negative ones, sadly. The past week or two have seen a large increase in litter being dumped at the car park and dog mess along the paths. I will definitely be mentioning this at the next advisory group meeting, with the hope that we can get a bin installed at the Car Park so that people at least have somewhere to put their rubbish. Why they can't just take it home with them and put it in the bin, i don't know!

And finally, this Sunday morning, i will be giving some of the local Air Cadets a tour of the reserve with a view to them helping out with the litter and some of the coppicing and scrub removal work over the winter. If you see a group of teenagers on site, but off the path on Sunday morning, don't panic. They'll be with me! :-)

More Bird Ringing

Today was another interesting day at Cullaloe, with Mark coming back on site to do some ringing. Yet again, i had my camera with me and this time i decided to see what it was like in video mode!
For some reason, though Blogger really isn't liking my videos, so i don't seem to be able to upload it.

In total he ringed three Great Spotted Woodpeckers (Making a total of 4 woodpeckers ringed in two trips - three males and one female, all juveniles) more Robins, Blue Tits, Great Tits and Coal Tits.
Annoyingly, we had several groups of Long-Tailed Tit, Siskin and Goldcrest come nearby, but none of them managed to get caught in the net. I would have love to have gotten some photos of a Goldcrest or two!
I was also there to do some work on tree felling at the area which was originally known as the Snipe Bog. This area, we were led to believe originally had Snipe breeding in it. Since discussing this with Mark today, it may be that it is purely wintering birds that have been seen there. He certainly has no recollection of them breeding on the reserve. When going through the area to start work on the coppicing of the trees, i managed to flush two Snipe from the undergrowth, so they are definitely still about!
I didn't manage to get quite as much coppicing done on site as i would have liked, but i still managed to clear a fair amount of the scrub. I plan on returning to the reserve tomorrow to do some more then.
On Monday I'll be giving a talk to the local Air Cadet Squadron and hopefully i will be enlisting their aid with the clearing of the scrub. There is several little projects I would like to get them involved in, if they are willing, but we'll have to see how it goes. We may be hindered a bit by Health and Safety legislation on this one.
The loch has been relatively quiet recently, though we've still got Teal,Wigeon, Mallard, Mute Swan, Moorhen and Coots on it, and normally a Grey Heron or two. Today we did have a Sparrowhawk flying round the edges of the loch, too. (another bird which I would have loved to have seen in the net!)

Redwings arrive at Cullaloe

I've been wondering for the past few weeks where the Redwings and other thrushes had got to, since the berry bushes at Cullaloe have been laden, but nothing has been taking them. I'm happy to say that yesterday i saw my first Redwings on site! There was a small flock of about 10 birds. They stuck predominantly to the far side of the loch, past the spillway, but i don't think it will be long till they're seen at the hawthorn bushes along the path.
Yesterday was one of the magical days that you occasionally get when visiting the reserve. It seems that since the wind has died down, absolutely everything was out and about. There were Siskins down at the car park, along with a few Pheasants standing on the wall which marks the reserve boundary, there was a flock of approximately 20 Long-tailed Tits at the edge of the large pine trees and mixed in with them was a single Treecreeper. That's only the fourth time i've seen one this year, making it equal to the number of times I've seen the Kingfisher!
I'd commented previously that the feeders had barely been getting any use over the past few weeks. That changed yesterday! There was a large influx of Blue Tits and Great Tits on the reserve, chattering away, and for the first time in well over a month I was seeing five or six birds at the feeders at one time. Recently it has just been one or two. There were also quite a few Chaffinches joining them at the feeders, which is always good to see.
The loch itself had much of the same species as it normally does at this time of year. There were plenty of Mallard, Teal and Wigeon along with the resident Mute Swans. There was also a lone Grey Heron, which was great to see when it caught a fish that must have been at least six inches long! I also heard Curlews at the far side of the loch, but sadly never saw them. They must have been hiding in about the reeds. It's good to know that they are still visiting, though.
The sheer scale of birds on the reserve yesterday was amazing. We even had a flock of about fifty Rooks alight on the tops of the pine trees. Hopefully with the wind now died down for a bit, we'll keep these large numbers of birds on site.

In response to a previous question regarding Weasels on site. I still have not seen any on the reserve itself, but on the way home yesterday, one ran across the road in front of me. It was only about 500 metres past the reserve entrance, so it is a safe wager that the reserve itself is part of their territory.

New birds to the reserve

We've had a couple of new bird species to the reserve for the year. In the past week or so, I've seen Jay flying across the reserve and when going to fill up the feeders, I've flushed a Snipe out from the undergrowth!
There used to be an area on the reserve called the Snipe Bog, which used to have breeding Snipe in it, but unfortunately it has become heavily overgrown with willow scrub in the past few years. We are planning on clearing a lot of the scrub away to try and bring the place back to it's former glory. I'd love to be able to say that Snipe were nesting on the reserve again!
I've spoken with the local Air Cadet Squadron about the possibility of helping out on the reserve with litter picking, clearing of the spillway and potentially even with the coppicing work. They seem quite enthusiastic about the idea, and it will be great to have them on board to help out in the winter months. Hopefully by the time spring comes around again, the reserve will be a changed place, but in a good way. Hopefully we'll be able to get back some of the old habitat without impacting too much on the new habitat.
We've also had a large influx of Siskin on the reserve over the last few days, particularly at the trees by the car park. It seems that there's been quite a large irruption of them in the UK this year, so don't be surprised if you see them at your bird feeders this winter! They really are gorgeous little birds and it's great to see so many of them on the reserve.
We're still sitting waiting on the berry eating birds to arrive to feed off the laden plants, but there has been no sign yet. With the strong westerly winds right now, i doubt much will be coming over from the continent. There have been reports of early waxwings up north, near Inverness in the past few days. Hopefully this year will be a good year for them, too!

Increases and Decreases

It's been a couple of weeks since I've updated the blog. The main reason for this is because I've spent most of last week on the isle of Skye on holiday.
On my return from holiday, it seems that a fairly decent number of Black-headed Gulls have taken up residence on the loch with the ducks. We're seeing approximately sixty gulls making use of the loch at one time right now. This is in addition to the large duck population, so the loch really is getting quite busy.
With regard to waders, there still isn't as many as I would have expected. There's been a few Curlew seen at the edge of the loch and several Lapwing, but nothing besides that. There's still time yet, though!
Elsewhere on the reserve, things have gotten a lot quieter. We've gone from having to fill the peanut feeders every four or five days to now only filling them once every two or three weeks. A big difference! (And it's good for my wallet, too!). That's not to say that there are no birds about. They're still there and we're still getting regular visits to the feeders from the Great Spotted Woodpeckers. There's also been an increase in sightings of Long-tailed Tits. Small groups of these are seen most days right now.
Robins are in full voice just now while they establish their territories, with at least five or six territories claimed. The Wrens are very active on the reserve just now, too. Some of the best views I've had of these tiny birds have been within the past couple of weeks.
Surprisingly, a lot of the berry trees and bushes are still quite heavily laden. I would have expected winter thrushes to have arrived by now, such as Fieldfare or Redwing to make use of these, but to date there have been no sign. Hopefully there will be some in the near future, though!
We're going to be using the winter months to get some work done on the reserve to try and do some clearing out, set up some new things before spring, etc. Hopefully by the time spring comes round and the summer migrants begin to return, the reserve will be a better place, both for the migrants and for visitors.

Lots to see

There's still a whole lot to see on the loch right now, with average bird numbers in the region of 200 to 250. On Friday i managed to count over 100 Teal in a single visit, we've had over 70
Wigeon and over 60 Mallard on site, too. That's not including an average of 15-20 of both Coot and Moorhen each day!
On a couple of days in the past week we've had flocks of Lapwing on site, too. The largest flock I saw was approximately 60 birds, though only about 20 of them landed at the edge of the loch.
We're still waiting on serious waders arriving. No sign of them yet! Annoyingly, I've seen both Curlew and Oystercatchers in the nearby fields, yet still they haven't found their way to Cullaloe.

It isn't just the loch that's full of life, though. One of the filter beds has been getting cleared out by the SWT conservation team. Now that the dust has settled a bit, you can clearly see a whole lot of activity in the water, from small sticklebacks and minnows to large aquatic beetles and pond skaters. It just goes to show the diversity of species that the nature reserve supports. It also shows that the water quality must be relatively high for all these species to thrive.
There was a point during the week when i was watching a Heron on the loch and it caught a fish at least 6 inches long. It was rather amusing watching it struggle to swallow it, I have to say! Good to see, though, and another good sign of thriving water life.

The butterflies appear to have finished up for the year now, with none being seen in the past week, despite lovely weather for them. I guess it's just getting a little cold for them now. The dragonflies are still about in force, though. Several pairs have been seen to be laying both at the filter beds and at the edge of the loch itself.

There's also plenty of smaller birds about just now, too. The goldfinches have developed a small flock of 10-15 birds, which is really quite nice to see when they fly past or onto a nearby tree. The bullficnhes are still about and are seen daily, there's tits everywhere, including a regular flock of long-tailed tits right now and of course, the woodpeckers are still seen regularly at the feeders!

It really is a great time to be visiting Cullaloe right now! Well worth the visit.

Just to note, this afternoon I'm going to be on site picking up a lot of the litter which had been dropped by the illegal fishermen. I'm also planning on taking a walk around the edge of the loch to see if i can find and photograph the Mudwort. It may result in a large loss of birdlife on the loch as a result, so today may not be the best day to be visiting to see the birds!

Large Influx of Birds

Since we began lowering the water level on the reserve, the bird numbers on or around the loch have more than doubled. Just today we had 60 teal, more than 30 wigeon, more than 40 mallard, 20 coot, 20 moorhen, the swans, a heron and several crows on or around the loch all at the same time! That's a huge difference from just a few days ago. In some cases the numbers have actually trebled!
Attached are some photos of the loch each day as the water level is lowered. I'd strongly recommend clicking on the images to see the full sized pictures, otherwise the difference may not be too noticeable. The water level in itself has dropped by more than two feet and it was still going this afternoon!

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

I am a little surprised that even though we've had a huge influx of birds to the site, i've so far not seen any waders. I would have at least expected to see a curlew or two, since they had been flying over the loch the previous few days. Oh well, there's still time yet! I've no idea how long the water level will be lowered for (still got to discuss that with the boss) but i suspect it will be for at least a month. If you're in the area at all during that time, it should be well worth a visit!

The lowering of the Loch

On sunday, me and my friend Janie had agreed to carry out some work on the reserve. We had agreed to prune back the willow tree next to the screen to allow a better view of the feeders and we also set out to work on removing some of the willow trees which were blocking the view of the loch from the screen.
When we got there, there was someone else there. It seems he's a relatively regular visitor to the site and has had some interesting sights on the reserve. It appears that earlier on in the year there was a Garganey on the loch. This is a great find and a great sighting for the reserve!
The work was carried out by myself and Janie in just over two hours on Sunday afternoon, and i have to say that the difference it makes is truly amazing. Regular visitors to the reserve should be pleased with the results!
Whilst carrying out the work on the willow, we noticed a Common Hawker Dragonfly flying over the loch. This is the first time we've seen one of these on the site, and at over four inches long, they really are stunning!
On Tuesday i started the process of lowering the water level on the loch. This is done annually to allow for the Mudwort plant to seed and establish itself. It also has the additional benefit of exposing mud which may be of interest to passage waders.
The whole process of draining the water should take approximately three days, and i hope to update this blog with photos from each day so that readers can see the difference in water levels each time. Already the spillway has run dry!
Whilst in the process of releasing the gate to lower the water in the loch, I saw approximately 100 pink-footed geese flying overhead. A sure sign that autumn is here! Another tick to the list of sightings from the reserve, too.

Exciting Developments

It's all been happening on the reserve over the past week or so. So many interesting developments to tell you all about. I had my first advisory group meeting as the convenor of the reserve on Tuesday 11th September. I have to admit, it was very interesting. It felt good to be a part of the reserve, a part of the team that decides on future plans. The water level is to be lowered n the next couple of weeks, when i get the key from Ross, the previous convenor. That should be interesting as we should see some wader interest in the sight. We're already getting Curlews flying over on a daily basis looking for places to land, so it's a safe wager that we'll have plenty of wader activity once the water level is lowered!
The most interesting thing that happened at the meeting had absolutely nothing to do with the meeting itself. Not long after starting the meeting a bird flew across the reserve. My initial thought was that it was a heron. It only took me a few seconds to realise that it was way too big to be a heron. Out came the binoculars, and lo and behold, it was a White-Tailed Eagle! 15 of these had been released in Fife in August as part of a re-introduction scheme between the RSPB and SNH and this was the first sighting of one for everyone in the group. It landed in the field opposite the reserve, sat there for a few minutes then flew off to perch on a fence post at the far end of the field.
After submitting a report of the sighting to the RSPB, including the wing tag detail (In this case, the bird was tagged 'H') i've received word that this bird is a young male, released on the 10th August this year. I was also asked if i could put up some submission forms on site in case the bird should return or anyone make a sighting, so i've added a few of them which can be taken at the willow screen.
I also found out that the male bird in our resident pair of Mute Swans was ringed. After some work between a few of us during the meeting, we got the ring information. Allan, from Fife Council called someone in the know and it appears that the bird was ringed as a cygnet just outside Edinburgh and has since been seen at several locations nearby. It really is good to know where the birds on the reserve are coming from.

On the subject of ringing, it was agreed that Mark, who was at the advisory group meeting would do some bird ringing on the reserve. I got an email from him advising that he would be on site on Friday morning to ring the birds. I took a walk down, when i eventually got up (I'm not really an early morning kinda guy) and he was there with the mist net, collecting and ringing birds. In total throughout the morning he ringed the following:

• 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker
• 2 Robins
• 1 Long-tailed Tit
• 5 Coal Tits
• 15 Blue tits
• 35 Great Tits

That's a total of 59 birds ringed! Quite impressive for a morning's work. I was particularly happy that he got the woodpecker. The woodpeckers on the reserve feel like their my babies, since the introduction of the peanut feeders to the site.
I've included a couple of photos below to show some of the ringed birds.

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Long-tailed Tit

With several plans to be implemented for the reserve in the near future, i'm sure i'll be kept busy and there will be plenty of updates on the site. As we're coming into the winter months, more work can be done on the site than would be possible during the breeding season, and everyone is taking advantage of this.

Missed Opportunity

I went down to the reserve this afternoon to see what was about. It is a truly lovely day today, so i had high hopes of good butterfly opportunities. When i arrived, there was another car parked in the car park, so i knew someone else was about. On the way along to the screen i bumped into a man who had been on the reserve for a couple of hours with his DSLR camera. He showed me some photos of something rather spectacular for the reserve. This morning there had been an Osprey fishing on the reserve! This truly is a great find for him, though a missed opportunity for me. The Osprey was successful in catching a small fish, too. A great sighting for the reserve, and one i'm happy to add to the list! The osprey was pretty much certain to be on passage to their wintering grounds and just decided to stop in for a snack. It's good to know they visit all the same!
I did spot a couple of curlews circling the loch looking for a place to land, but not finding anything and flying off. Once the water level is lowered, they should be a pretty regular occurance on the reserve.
New species this past week has been the addition of some passage wigeon, which stopped off on the loch for a couple of days before heading on. We're obviously getting the start of the autumn migrants through now, so we should be adding to the list a fair amount over the next few weeks. At least that's the theory!

Dragonflies and Butterflies

I've been back from my little holiday for a few days and i've found that Cullaloe is positively alive with Dragonflies and Butterflies right now. There's several of (what i think is) the Common Darter dragonfly (now confirmed) about right now, which is shown below.


There's also lots of butterflies on the reserve. In particular Peacock and Small Copper can be seen in relatively large numbers. In addition I had my first sighting of a Painted Lady butterfly today. A first for me on the reserve, and a truly stunning butterfly! (shown below)


With a lot of the meadow that butterflies use having been recently cut down (this is done to allow a proper growth next year) the butterflies are more concentrated in smaller areas, which makes seeing them incredibly easy.
The birds have reduced a lot in numbers recently, with only adult birds seen on the feeders. Gone are the juvenile Blue Tits, Coal Tits, Great Tits and Chaffinches, although the juvenile Great Spotted Woodpeckers are still making an occasional appearance.
There has been an increase in the number of Tufted Ducks seen on the loch over the past week or two. I suspect that now that the breeding season is over with, they're coming back to Cullaloe for autumn and winter. We've had two new species seen on the reserve this past week, and those are the Curlew and the Black-headed Gull. This now takes our total to the 60 mark, since May, which isn't bad going!

In other news related to the reserve, Ross, the convenor for the reserve has had to give up the position due to time constraints. As a result, the position has now been passed onto myself. It seems i am no longer just a regular guy who likes the reserve. I'm actually getting to make an input on the reserve now, which is a really exciting prospect for me. It'll be interesting to see how the reserve works from the other side, to see how things are planned, how changes are made and how the species on the reserve is taken into consideration for these things.
I'm looking forward to taking on this challenge and trying not to step on too many toes! I love the reserve maybe a bit too much and i may end up shouldering my way into everything. I hope not, though!
Ross will still be involved with the reserve when time permits and i hope to see him there when the opportunity presents itself.

Not as quiet as it seems

A casual glance at Cullaloe just now will show very little life and very little action. I'd advise anyone visiting the reserve to look just that little bit closer.
Hidden in amongst the bushes, or just for those patient enough to wait and be still, there is a whole host of life on the reserve just now!
This week i've managed to scare at least two adult pheasants from the bushes, each with juveniles (and scared myself silly in the process!). The Bullfinches are more regularly seen than ever before, even showing themselves directly in front of the screen!
There are still warblers around in the bushes, but you really have to be quiet and still and above all patient to get good looks at these.
The most important sighting this week was the dragonflies. I saw two or three of these just yesterday flying around the path near the weir. This is the first time i've seen them for myself all year! An excellent sighting of some fascinating insects!
Tufted ducks are returning to the reserve, with three or four females now present. There has been a large influx of Mallard on the reserve, too, with over 20 sighted at one time! I don't think it will be long now till the winter visitors will be arriving, and it will be interesting to see what we get.

I'll be on holiday over the next week, so won't be visiting the reserve, so it may be a couple of weeks before i next have an update.

Interesting sightings

It's still quite quiet at Cullaloe on the migrant front, but there has been so many new and exciting things to see that it doesn't matter!
In the past week or so since i last updated, i've seen the return of the Kingfisher not once, but twice! So much so that i now know a couple of places where it perches, making it so much easier to see it in the future, too. I've spoken to the reserve manager about the possibility of adding a couple of artificial perches to potentially encourage them to hang around more., so we'll see what happens with that. Also this past week we've had a flock of 50-60 greylag geese circling the loch and potentially using the field which was formerly home to the flying flock of sheep.
Next to the same field i saw 2 juvenile bullfinches. That one is really good for me, because it's proof that the bullfinches in the area have been successful this year.
Speaking of breeding birds, the coots are at it again! There's a couple of very young chicks out on the loch at the moment and there's another coot sitting on a nest. That lot really don't know when to stop!
On that front, the water level on the reserve won't be lowered while they're still at it, so it's being postponed till September at the earliest. After speaking to the reserve manager, it seems there are quite a few plans in the works for the reserve. I won't go into detail here as i don't know what will happen and when, if any of the projects. These things all require funding, which as always, is in short supply.
Which leads to the shameless plug! If you want to help support the work of the Wildlife Trust, not just at Cullaloe, but throughout Scotland, join up! Become a member and show your support. Membership also gets you free entry to the reserves and visitor centre's of Loch of the Lowes, Montrose Basin and the Falls of Clyde. It doesn't cost much and every penny helps them out. If you want to make a simple donation, you can do that on the same place. Click THIS to go to the donation page for the trust. Look around the site here and have a look and see what work they do.
Ok, shameless plug over for now, i promise!

The reserve has also been alive with grasshoppers recently. They've cut back some of the grass in one of the meadows, which is making the grasshoppers particularly visible. I've actually managed to get a decent photo of one, too! I hope you like it, since getting it to sit still long enough was a bit of a challenge!


All in all, even with the reduction in migrants, the reserve still has an awful lot to show. The feeders are constantly in use, to the extent that my girlfriend and I are discussing adding more in the near future!

All was Silent

It's gotten very quiet at Cullaloe very quickly. The number of birds seen or heard on the reserve have reduced sharply in the past week or so. There seems to be very few warblers about now, with only the occasional sedge or willow warbler to be seen. Even these are becoming less frequent than previously. Swallow numbers have reduced considerably, too. Previously there had been over 20 seen on any single trip, where as now I'm lucky if i see 5 or 6.
It really is surprising how quickly the migrant species seem to vanish. I was hoping we'd have a few more weeks of them, but it seems not to be. I suppose it is possible the inclement weather has just driven them into hiding for a while, though. We should, however start seeing some more passage birds stopping off at the reserve on their migration routes. In the autumn we've got a fair chance of getting some interesting wader species arriving on passage as the water level will be lowered to assist with the growth of the mudwort plant, too.
It isn't all doom and gloom, though. There's still a large number of tits and finches about, a long with the resident waterfowl. There's still deer to be seen on the reserve, and I've seen my first grey squirrel on the peanut feeders. I have to confess, I'm not overly excited by that latest addition to the population. I'd far rather it wasn't there, but i guess it's the price to pay for supplying free food to all and sundry.
Speaking of free food, my father works for a local supermarket and they had coconuts reduced recently. We've put 4 of them up on the reserve (8 coconut halves) near the seed feeders. I have to admit, i was a little skeptical about whether these would be used or not, since whenever we've tried them at home they've been largely ignored. I was somewhat surprised to find that within the space of a week, almost all of them are half gone. I'm now considering getting some suet mix and filling them up as fat blocks once they're gone. I'll probably wait until Autumn for this, though, since there's still a chance of nice, hot weather this summer and dripping, melting fat doesn't strike me as too appealing!