Scotland Trip Day 1 : Loch of the Lowes : 26th May 2014

Scotland Trip Day 1 : Loch of the Lowes : 26th May 2014

We started our holiday to Scotland by driving up to Kippen, north of Stirling, where we stayed overnight. The next day we drove from Kippen to the Scottish Wildlife Trust’s reserve at Loch of the Lowes near Dunkeld arriving there around 11.30 am.

From the reception hide we spotted a Red Squirrel visiting the nut feeders and the other feeders were full of Chaffinch and SIskin as well as a Coal Tit. A Great Spotted Woodpecker visited a tree stump that had fat smeared on it and around the bottom of the feeders towards the back of the clearing a Mandarin Duck picked up any spillage from them. We went out to the other hides and got views of a female Osprey that was sitting on eggs. Apparently there had been three eggs originally but one was predated by Crows leaving just the two. On our return we read that none of the eggs will be hatching and this was discussed in a blog on their web site. The most likely problem seems to be infertility but there are other possibilities. The female has been the parent of fifty fledged chicks already so cannot be blamed for lack of effort ! Anyway we had good views of this bird sitting on the nest which was fantastic.
In the reeds at the edge of the water there were Reed Bunting and on the water Mute Swans, and Great Crested Grebes. We went for a woodland walk and this was dominated by the constant singing of Song Thrushes and overhead we saw Starling and a Buzzard

Bird Sightings : Loch of the Lowes