Birnie and Gaddon Lochs Wildlife Reports

FIFE RANGER SERVICE
Craigtoun Park ,
St Andrews ,
Fife ,
KY16 8NX,
Tel: (01334) 473047.

BIRNIE/GADDON LOCH NEWSJUNE 2004

There are lots of chicks around at the moment, the most obvious being the swans on Birnie Loch, who emerged with their cygnets over the last weekend of May. They currently have a family of seven, which may grow smaller if previous years are a guide. We still don’t know why, but in recent years some young swans have died mysteriously at Birnie Loch, but not Gaddon. Autopsies did not show any signs of violence, disease or poison, so the deaths are still unexplained. Hopefully this year will be different. As I write this there are still no signs of the Gaddon Loch family, but they nested a bit later. They had ten eggs, so we’ll have to wait to see if they manage ten chicks.

Also on Gaddon Loch, the black-headed gulls have hatched. Those of you with keys for the hide can have a front row seat to these cute little balls of fluff as they sit on the rafts we built last year. Each raft has one nest and there are ten chicks in total. The two rafts nearest the hide give fine views of adults feeding the chicks. If anyone wants a key they cost two pounds from Fife Ranger Service at Craigtoun Park (01334) 473047. Once you’ve bought one you get to keep it and use the hide whenever you want to.

Other bird families at the moment include nine coot broods and six mallards, it’s a little too early for the tufted ducks. There are also lots of wader chicks on the islands and in the grass around Gaddon Loch. If you’re lucky you can spot them from the hide with binoculars. The large island on the left as you look over the water has a family of redshank that can sometimes be seen at the waters edge. The other island has two big oystercatcher chicks that are usually quite obvious with their parents. Both islands have lapwing chicks too, but these are more difficult to spot in the long grass.

Those to look out for include great crested grebes, there are two pairs currently displaying. The ruddy ducks might breed for the first time since 1995, again there are two pairs. These might not be so welcome, as they are currently part of a campaign to control their numbers as they can interbreed with the white headed duck in Spain . This is a protected species, whereas the ruddy duck s an escape from wildfowl collections, it being native to North America .

Please remember that all these chicks need to eat natural food in the first few weeks of their lives, not bread! Insects form a vital part of their diet at an early age, giving them the protein they need to develop properly. Bread, particularly cheap white loaves, is not good for them.

On that note here are the peak count figures for May.

Little grebe 2 Common gull 24 Sedge warbler 11

Great-crested grebe 3 Lesser black-backed gull 12 Garden warbler 1

Cormorant 1 Herring gull 339 Blackcap 1

Grey heron 1 Greater black-backed gull 3 Chiffchaff 2

Mute swan 7 Stock dove 1 Willow warbler 15

Mallard 49 Wood pigeon 12 Coal tit 2

Pochard 1 Swift 4 Blue tit 6

Tufted duck 56 Skylark 2 Great tit 6

Goldeneye 6 Sand martin 116 Treecreeper 1

Ruddy duck 7 Swallow 46 Rook 299

Buzzard 2 House martin 21 Crow 2

Moorhen 6 Pied wagtail 2 Starling 2

Coot 41 Wren 3 Chaffinch 19

Oystercatcher 8 Dunnock 2 Goldfinch 8

Lapwing 8 Robin 3 Linnet 1

Redshank 3 Blackbird 8 Bullfinch 2

Common sandpiper 1 Song thrush 3 Reed bunting 4

Black-headed gull 37