Tuesday 23 October 2007

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.

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