Elsewhere on the loch a Striped Ladybird, juvenile Moorhen, female Red Damselfly and several juvenile Tufted Duck were all seen. Our two Great Crested Grebe chicks have been riding around on their parent’s back being fed fish and feathers. Feather eating is a strange habit only found in the Grebe family, no-one’s quite sure why they do it but it seems to help with digestion.

 

Today we also said goodbye to Bryan Turnbull, one of our Species Protection Officers, who’s returning to his native Cumbria for a new job. Bryan’s been involved with pretty much everything around the reserve and visitor centre, as well as reaching things off high shelves for Emma and myself who are considerably shorter, and will be greatly missed. Blog followers will know that many of the photos we’ve used on the blog have come from Bryan so as a wee farewell from us we thought we’d share one of our favourite of his photos again when he caught and an Osprey, Buzzard and Red Kite all playing on the thermals together. The Osprey is at the top, the Buzzard in the middle and the Red Kite at the bottom. Thanks Bryan!

Lindsey