After the wet and windy weather yesterday the Reserve has been a hive of activity.  Despite all the flotsam that’s come down the South Esk river into the Basin overnight.  There are still large numbers of Eider ducks, Lapwing and many other species feeding on the mud.

We have also been lucky enough to see the Water rail this morning out on the salt pans.  Our visitors were treated to a rare sight of the Water rail feeding out in the open for around 30 minutes.  During that time we also saw a Moor hen and the Kingfisher, fishing from it’s usual perch in the salt pans.  I’m sure our excited visitors didn’t know where to look first!

In fact looking over the log book for the last week, the Kingfisher and the Water Rail have been making an almost daily appearance on the salt pans.

We have also been very fortunate recently to see some mammals out on the reserve.  A Stoat was seen this week out by the Shelduck hide, and another one just outside the Visitor Centre.  We were also treated to a rare sighting of a Polecat-Ferret.  From the photo that our volunteer Andy took, we ascertained that it was not a true wild Polecat but possibly a Ferret or Polecat-Ferret hybrid.  Either way we were very excited to see it from the Visitor Centre window.

Our Whooper Swan numbers are increasing, with 28 seen at the river mouth on the 7th November and 100 recorded at the same place on the 9th November.

As always there are so many things to see from the Visitor Centre and well worth a visit.

Emma Castle-Smith – Visitor Centre Assistant Manager