My First Week

Hello All,

I haven't been able to update for a while as i don't have internet at the moment, but for those of you that don't know, I have managed to find somewhere to live in Inverness, so I'm not living in the Hostel any more! Yay! I chose to go with house number 1 in the end (see previous post) and am all settled in there. My 2 housemates are both really nice, one is a hairdresser and the other works for the council, so we all do very different jobs but we get on well which is the important thing!

This is now my second week working as the RSPB's Slavonian Grebe Reserve Officer. I split my time between the North Scotland Regional Office in Inverness, and at Loch Ruthven, where I will be spending most of my time from now on.

Monday 4th - First day! Got shown around the office and introduced to everyone, and then taken to Loch Ruthven to put up some 'No Bank Fishing' signs, as there were problems with members of the public bank fishing last year, which resulted in the death of one of the Slavonian Grebe chicks. Also checked the Mink rafts with Kate, as Mink are one of the biggest predators of ground nesting birds, but thankfully there haven't been any at the loch in recent years.
Tuesday 5th - Read through some important papers and information about Slavonian Grebes and drove up to the site all by myself for the first time, and didn't get lost!
Wednesday 6th - Drove up to the loch again and surveyed the crows in the area, as they will predate the eggs of Slavonian Grebes, so we need to keep an eye on numbers.
Thursday 7th - Went out with Kate and Claire to do some practical work putting up stiles at one of the saltmarsh reserves, and sorting out the sluice pipes at another reserve so that the surrounding fields flood (good for breeding waders)
Friday 8th - Did some more reading, wrote a piece for the RSPB Loch Ruthven Blog, and made 3 midge traps so that we can measure the level of midges at the loch as they are important food for Slavonian Grebes.

Yesterday (Monday 11th) it was decided that from now on I should make daily visits to the Loch in order to keep an eye on Slavonian Grebe behaviour and any nesting or mating behaviour that they show, and so that we can see how many pairs are associated with each of the 6 main sedgebeds. So in the morning I got all of my supplies ready and in the afternoon, I went off to complete my first intensive sedge bed watch of the season! And was rewarded with good views of a pair of Slavonian Grebes performing one of their ritual dances! AND lots of Sand Martins and Swallows, the first I've seen this year!

Today (Tuesday 12th) I went to the site in the morning so that I could spend a while finding the best places to view each sedge bed from, and so that I could watch each bed for a long time. Today I was able to see a Red-throated Diver in breeding plumage, as well as an Osprey which flew right over my head!

So all in all, a good experience so far, and it will only get better when the Grebes start nesting and having babies everywhere! Excited much?? I am! :D