Strangely, I don't visit Loch of Lintrathen very often and it's just up the road, I could see it if it wasn't in a dip, I tend to divert there on the spur of the moment, which is what I did today coming back down from the Balintore road.
I do remember it was a pretty wild and windy morning and most of the birds were quite distant out on the main body of water.
Mallard & Wigeon
Wigeon males
A lot of these shots are taken with the P950 super zoom to give me the reach to the distant birds.
There are two hides here, one to the East and one down a tree-lined path on the opposite side. I was in the more Eastern hide.
Mallard pair near the hide
There was a little sheltered inlet right beside the hide but the birds were mostly staying out of the area, a couple of Mallard and a Little Grebe wandered in then out again quickly
Wigeon pair
There were a LOT of Wigeon with others mixed in, a lot of competing for a female going on. One male drifted fairly close to the hide.
There were a lot of mixed flocks out in the open water, Wigeon, Common & Herring Gulls, probably others but I just couldn't get a good enough look at them all.
I did spot a few Goldeneye out there
Can you tell how they got their name?
I mentioned the competition for a mate, the Mallard males do this stand and pipe or peep thing when around a female.
The poor females are under constant harassment, even when they've paired off with a male and worse, when they're trying to feed and guard young Ducklings.
There wasn't a lot more to see this morning, it was cold, wet and windy so, I headed off up the road to Balintore.
