Whilst the longer holiday meant that were more places we could visit in the available time, there were a few sites to which we wanted to return. One of these was the RSPB reserve at Loch of Kinnordy, and in fact we went twice, the second visit in the company of Megan's parents who joined us in Blairgowrie for a few days.
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The view from the Gullery Hide.
Not "Gallery" as I read it, which neatly explained the lack of artwork on the walls. |
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| Grey Heron hunting at the water's edge |
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| Brown Hare in the fields behind the reserve |
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| A distant female Marsh Harrier hunting through the reedbeds |
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| Osprey beginning a dive to catch a fish |
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| Shovelers doing their best to mimic porcelain ducks on a wall |
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| Amazing light from the East Hide |
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| Looking in the other direction |
The Marsh Harriers and Ospreys which frequent different habitats of the reserve were all too far away for my puny optics to do them justice. However, it was fantastic to watch several pairs of harriers gliding over the reedbeds and interacting with each other. There were at least three Ospreys actively fishing on site, each then departing with a catch in their talons, all flying off in different directions to nearby nest sites.
Out in the loch, we did catch a brief sight of a distant Otter, whilst all along the loch shore were signs of Beaver activity, including an impressive lodge. However, the top mammal sighting was quite bittersweet for me, and very fitting for Natural Highs and Lows. Megan kept wandering over to a corner of the East Hide and peering downwards, staring into the shallows where the reeds had been cut. Eventually, curiosity got the better of me and I asked what she was doing.
"There's lots of squeaking below here," she excitedly explained.
Indeed, there were ripples from a couple of tiny creatures swimming through the water-logged stalks, seemingly foraging and returning to a clump of thicker vegetation to eat. The action was so fast and frantic, with only occasional obscured glimpses of a tiny body surfacing, before disappearing underwater once more. Putting all this information together, the only answer to my mind was Water Shrew, which was a lifer for Megan. Later, looking at the NBN Atlas for Scotland, there was a record of the species from nearby, about a mile away, so I uploaded the details of our sighting to iRecord. Sadly, I had been unable to hear any of the squeaks, a day that was always likely to come, but the realisation pulled me up short. It's a slippery slope, with the loss of calls of Goldcrests and Treecreepers probably the next indication of my impending mortality.
Apologies for the morbid ending, hopefully that's not a cliff hanger for the next episode!
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