Loch Leven's Larder

Please don't be confused by this post. It is not a review of the Farm Shop/Restaurant of a similar name. This post covers the 'real' larder at Loch Leven; I am referring to the natural sustenance that is available for wildlife living and visiting the loch and it's surrounding area.
I was fortunate enough to make a couple of visits to Loch Leven over the last few weeks and I would like to share some of the wonderful sights and sounds that I experienced.
The first of these visits was with my friend Grant back in mid-October and we started our visit at the RSPB's reserve on the southern shore of the loch (aka Vane Farm). It was a glorious morning and we were treated to some spectacular views as well as some fantastic wildlife:

Loch Leven and Lomond Hills from Gillman Hide

Across the Reserve to Loch Leven

These first two photos are views from the largest of the bird hides at Vane Farm, known as the Gillman Hide, which is only 100m from the RSPB café (for those of you who don't like to walk too far to see wildlife!). We saw quite a variety of wildlife from this hide including wildfowl, waders, birds of prey, finches, rabbits, etc. Here is a couple of video clips taken from the hide, one features Pintails (and other ducks) feeding and the other clip shows a 'raft' of Goosanders on the loch:

Whilst I was watching (and filming) a Whooper Swan feeding at the edge of the loch I could hear the distinctive sound of Pink-footed Geese and scanning over to the North side of the loch I managed to capture this eruption of Pinkies:

After an hour or so watching birds from this hide Grant and I took a walk to the Carden hide which is the furthest away hide on the reserve and can often get the best birds. We were not disappointed; in fact even before we entered the hide we got great views of a Water Rail feeding on the edge of the pond:

Once inside the hide we were treated with sightings of Snipe, Little Egret, Gadwall, Teal, etc. and the views across the ponds were a treat in their own right:

View from Carden Hide

Grey Heron Reflection

I also made a short video clip of this Heron............. although it was pretty static most of the time............. so a still photo would have served the same purpose:

We had a bite of lunch in this hide before we decided to move on (it is 600m from the RSPB café so remember and take a flask with you!). After lunch we decided to have a trip round to the North shore of the loch in the hope that we might get better views of the Pink-footed Geese.
By this time it was getting cloudier, however the views of the loch from the North shore were just as stunning:

Whooper Swans on Loch Leven

Loch Leven Panorama

Small Island off Burleigh Sands

We parked at Burleigh Sands and had a walk round the northern end of the Loch Leven Heritage Trail (which now goes all the way round Loch Leven, so you can walk, cycle, run, hop, skip or jump without coming in contact with any cars).
Just about where the Loch Leven's Larder Farm Shop/Restaurant is situated there is a path that joins the heritage trail, and this is the ideal spot to watch Pinkies coming and going as they leave the loch to graze in nearby fields in the morning and return in the evening. We managed to spot some that were obviously spooked by something as they took off from the loch-side and circled around before heading back to the loch (meeting another flock which had just taken off from the other side of the loch). Hope that makes sense once you see the video:

As it was getting colder and darker Grant and I decided to call it a day after enjoying this spectacle and we headed home.
A couple of weeks later I returned to Burleigh Sands with my friend Jon and we also had a walk along the northern shore of Loch Leven. Our first encounter was with some Greylag Geese which were quite near the shore.

Greylag Geese on Loch Leven 

Unlike Pink-footed Geese, Greylags are not so easily spooked and were happy to tolerate our presence on the fore-shore:

In fact they were so tolerant that more of them flew in to join the party. You will also notice that they sound more like we imagine geese should sound........... with a loud 'honking' noise (as opposed to Pinkies, which I think sound like a pack of small yappy dogs).

A little further along the track we noticed some swans not far offshore; these were a mixture of Mute Swans and Whooper Swans. They are easily distinguished from each other despite being of similar size and colour: the Mute Swan is the swan we commonly see on waterways around Britain, it has an orange and black bill and as the name suggests it seldom makes a noise; the Whooper Swan is a Winter visitor from Iceland, it has a yellow and black wedge-shaped bill and as the name suggests it has a 'whooping' or 'bugling' call.
The following video serves to emphasise these differences:

The Mute Swan was displaying quite an aggressive posture, probably because it didn't appreciate these northern visitors invading its territory.
We seemed to be doing quite well on the waterfowl front, with some good views of swans and geese, we added ducks to that list when we spotted a couple of Pintail near the shore-line:

Jon and I moved further along the track and we had almost reached the spot where I had seen the Pink-footed Geese with Grant a fortnight earlier, when...........right on cue.......... a flock of Pinkies flew right over our heads:

You may have noticed that I almost fell over filming these geese (I bend over backwards to bring you these blogs you know!).
Hopefully you also heard the 'yappy dog' calls of the Pinkies I referred to earlier, much higher pitched than the Greylag calls.
Just to prove it wasn't all wildfowl we spotted on our trip to Loch Leven, I leave you with this clip of a male reed bunting:

Loch Leven at any time of year is worth a visit but October/November is a great time to go if you want to see some of the birds featured in this blog.

Take Care,

Teddyedward