News
Early Autumn
A poem by Andy Ormandy
9 October 2021
Rain bringing more birds in
This week has brought 5" of rain! This has reopened many of our scrapes, and 600 golden plover can be seen mingling with lapwing.
4 October 2021
Increase in wintering wildfowl
With a drop in temperature we are seeing an increase in wintering wildfowl on the reserve. This week we have had counts of around 300 pintails and 400 teal on the folly pond.
29 September 2021
A Long-Eared Owl and high Teal numbers
The week started with 475 Teal on the Folly pond, before we were then treated to several close encounters with a Long-Eared Owl.
16 September 2021
It's the little things...
A little egret, little stint and a little grebe have been spotted on the reserve this week.
10 September 2021
Autumn fruits
Find out the variety of autumn fruits that are appearing around the reserve
3 September 2021
Marsh harriers and more
It's been a busy week with lots of sightings, including two marsh harriers.
3 September 2021
Great curlew numbers
The reserve is receiving regular visits from curlews, 70 being the biggest count of the week.
26 August 2021
Sandpipers and godwits
Our latest sightings are 3 x green sandpipers and 3 x black-tailed godwits.
19 August 2021
Visits from migrating waders
We have had brilliant wader sightings this week: 1 wood sandpiper, 6 x black-tailed godwits, 3 x spotted redshank, and 3 x green sandpipers.
11 August 2021
Heading into August
It has been another dry week here and the low water levels in the ponds have been particularly great for viewing snipe feeding on the folly pond.
4 August 2021
Hares are Abound
Hares are being seen more regularly in the fields now they have been mown and the leverets have grown. Wader numbers are definitely increasing with 30 snipe, 82 curlew and 20 lapwing being peak numbers we have recorded this week and a wood sandpiper dropp
27 July 2021
Waders are trickling through
We had a visit from a stunning wood sandpiper this last week and although he only stayed for a day it is often a sign of the start of the autumn migration with failed breeding birds moving back to their wintering grounds. We have had increased sightings o
19 July 2021
Scarce Damselfly Found in Good Numbers
11 male and 1 female banded demoiselles have been seen on the Lochar river bank this week. They are a scarce breeder in Scotland only being recorded in a handful of sites in Dumfries and Galloway and before this year we had only had the occasional sightin
12 July 2021
House Martin Extension
Well it has been a strange year for our hirundines (swallows and martins), the cold weather in May on the continent and in the UK held up a lot of birds from arriving at their breeding grounds. In 2019 we had over 30 nests on our Farmhouse Tower whereas t
5 July 2021