LAST week the local branch of the Scottish Ornithologists Club held their monthly meeting in Melrose.

The speaker was Jenny Lennon who works with a Red Kite Project for the RSPB.

This particular project is one which sought to re-introduce Red Kites to the Aberdeen area and has to date been a very successful introduction. This species has caught the imagination of the community in Aberdeen even down to a bus being decorated with Red Kite stickers. Schoolchildren have also taken a great interest and using the project in their environmental studies.

It would appear that the birds in the Aberdeen area are finding plenty of natural food as they scavenge the countryside. They will take live prey but this is not a major food item. The Kites pick up some interesting things and take them back to their nests. One slide showed a nest with a yellow tennis ball on it and half an apple.

There is also a tendency to pick up rags and bits of clothing and I remember seeing a bird over Galashiels with something that could have been a strip of material. The nesting success has been good and a good number of young becoming fully fledged.

There are other Red Kite release areas in the country with two of these not too far from the Aberdeenshire area and it is only a matter of time before the birds from the different release areas begin to join up. This was illustrated in a map of Scotland clearly showing the areas where the birds have been released and subsequently tracked but the Borders area has very few sightings despite release areas being to the north, south west and south east of the area.

It is certainly one of the birds to look out for on your travels.

Patch watching has been less exciting over the past few weeks. There has been a little movement in the swans on the loch with two additional young birds arriving. A young Golden Eye appeared and stayed for a couple of days on the loch. A Black-headed Gull seen earlier in the year turned out to have been ringed at Bowness on Windermere and these gulls are beginning to return to the loch with 43 on November 6. The Lake District bird had a blue colour ring which made it stand out in a crowd. The first Herring Gull flock appeared last week with 21 counted washing and preening.

In the park the Blackbirds have been keeping a low profile and Scandinavian thrushes are still low in numbers. However, elsewhere there have been reports of big numbers. Hedgerows around Smailholm and Ancrum have attracted big numbers with an estimate of a 1000 from Smailholm but they did not linger. They devoured hawthorn berries to recharge their batteries before heading off. A flock of Fieldfares did the same thing at Westfield. A small party of Fieldfare passed over the park on November 14 and two groups of four Redwings burst out of the hedges before heading off west.

There is a good number of Goldfinch and Bullfinch around at the moment but Siskins are scarce even in the gardens where food is provided. Last week I filled up my bird feeders and immediately Blue Tits arrived followed by a Great Tit then a couple of Coal Tit. The Coal Tit flew straight to one of the feeders grabbed a sunflower seed and left at top speed. Two Nuthatches have been regular and they too grab sunflowers before disappearing with them. House Sparrows have become more regular visitors but a garden not too far away from mine regularly has up to 20 on the garden fence. So it seems that they have had a good breeding season.

At the recent SOC meeting one of members reported seeing a Waxwing on the outskirts of Gala so keep a look out for this attractive winter visitor. The East Coast birders are still reporting Little Auks off Eyemouth along with sea ducks and Divers.

Whooper Swans are still around with a large flock centred on Crailing and another couple of flocks further down the Tweed Valley. There is also a small flock touring the ponds in the Selkirk area. A member walking the Three Brethern came across a pair of Stonechat a less common species at the moment.