Scotland

Jess and I have just enjoyed a fantastic week at one of my favourite places on earth, Scotland...

River Dochart

It wasn't a birding holiday, but of course the binoculars were packed and I couldn't help but see some fantastic birds.  We spent the first couple of days around the Borders where Jess used to live (Kelso area) and then had five nights in a lovely self catering cottage in Comrie, which is a charming little village on the A85 west of Perth.  It's so reassuring and nice to see that in this part of the UK (I can still say that yes?) villages still feel like villages and have that community feel. Large superstores haven't littered the landscape so each village still needs its own bakery, butchers, newsagents, etc, and everyone in the village goes out to use these every morning. 

Obviously we didn't just spend the whole time in Comrie, on Tuesday we spent the day in Edinburgh, on Wednesday we spent the day on the fantastic Isle of Mull...

Looking south to Lock Na Keal.

And Thursday we enjoyed a six mile walk in the Cairngorm National Park, walking up to Cairn Gorm (the long way!)...

On the way up!

Nearly at the top, but still a steep hill to climb!

A panoramic pic from the very top

And this is what I saw during the week:

Manx Shearwater -  a flock of c12 and a couple of singles from ferry between Oban and Isle of Mull.

Common Tern - numerous seen around Isle of Mull, off Craignure and from ferry.

Arctic Tern - at least four seen from ferry between Oban and Isle of Mull.

Black Guillemot - several pairs and singles at Oban, with numerous nests in sea wall, also four seen from ferry near Isle of Mull.

Puffin - five seen from ferry crossing between Oban and Isle of Mull.

White-tailed Eagles - two singles seen on Isle of Mull, one hunting off Calgary Bay (in the below photo that is a Buzzard mobbing it!!).

Golden Eagle - one circling over mountains on Isle of Mull, looking south from main road at Grulin.

Red Kite- several lone birds around Comrie.

Osprey - one caught a fish and flew north at fish pond just east of Auchingarrich wildlife park.

Hen Harrier - two single ring-tails over the road between Lochbuie and Craignure on Isle of Mull.

Black Grouse - two males within 15 minutes drive of Comrie at a traditional lek site.

Red Grouse - two family parties and a couple of single birds along minor road south of Loch Tay.

Ptarmigan - two single males and a group of three at Cairn Gorm.

Grey Partridge - one along A6105 just west of Gordon (the Borders).

Hooded Crow - numerous on Isle of Mull scattered across whole island including two lingering around port at Craignure. Also one just east of Oban and a hybrid HoodedxCarrion Crow at Loch Tay.

Rock Dove - a flock of c15 seemingly pure Rock Dove beside the road at Glen Liedle on Isle of Mull.

Whinchat - a dense population of birds along Monument Road, Comrie.

Tree Pipit - singing male along Monument Road, Comrie.

Snow Bunting - male singing from the top of the large cliff face on Cairn Gorm at NH988030.

I didn't try for Capercaillie, but was surprised to learn how far they south they are, not far at all from where we were staying at Comrie which is a long way south of where I'm used to seeing them - there's Ptarmigan in the same area too.  I was disappointed to miss Dotterel, I did scan all the green bits on the Cairngorms that we walked over/past but just didn't come across any.  Maybe late June isn't a good time as the females may have gone walkabouts with the males sat tight on eggs or small young. The Snow Bunting was absolutely fantastic though, and was the one I really wanted to see up here - a singing male Snow Bunt in breeding habitat. So smart.

One of the best birding experiences was at Oban, watching the fabulous Black Guillemots.  I was watching several in summer plumage just offshore for a few minutes before realising the piping calls coming from under me were their nests! They are nesting in the sea wall, just a couple of feet below a busy path and not all that far from a main A road!  I could have watched them for hours but we had a boat to catch.

Any now for some videos. I've split them up into three different ones, and as ever for best viewing change quality settings to 1080pHD. Hope you enjoy...

The Cairngorms:

The Isle of Mull:

Other bits and pieces:

A Lazy Sea Watcher

Normally I am quite an intense sea watcher. Pockets full of clickers, a notebook and pen, there for dawn. But not today, yet it was probably one of the greatest spring sea watches I have ever had on patch! And this was pretty much my first attempt at a proper sea watch this year!

Last night, Bun texted to say he was going to be sea watching off Beer from 7am. My alarm went off at 6:10am, but I hit snooze...and again....and again.... I finally got up at 7am, soon received a text from Gav simply saying "sea busy", then made my way to join Bun at Beer with no clickers and only a scrap piece of paper. Bun was running late, and we both arrived at the shelter at about 07:22. In the first scan, several flocks of Manxies were in view - oh goodie!

Top bird number one came at 7:30, when I picked up a first-year Little Gull flying in from the east with five Sandwich Terns. The Little Gull then spent the next ten minutes or so feeding fairly close in. Another one, or the same bird, reappeared at 08:30ish. I'm more inclined to say it was a second bird, as it appeared to fly in strongly from the east.

Next highlight was after a tip-off from Gav, who was sea watching from Seaton. At 07:45 two pale-phased Arctic Skua flew in from the east, at close range. They came into view with two Kittiwakes, but soon lost them when they spotted a small group of fishing Sandwich Terns. The Skuas spent the next half an hour offshore, often resting on the sea near to the fishing terns, only flying up when they had 'pirating' to do! We got excellent views of these two beauts.

The final highlight was without doubt the best. At 8am, we had kinda given up and were just chatting about all sorts of rubbish, when I fixed my scope on a bit of sea that had a summer plumaged Black Guillemot flying over it!!! SHOCKER!!!! I shouted to Bun, and despite his shaking hands and noticeably panicky voice, he quickly got on it.

It was distant, but the light was brilliant. We both managed to lose it soon after, me whilst I was hopelessly trying to photograph it, and Bun when he moved his scope. For Bun it was a patch lifer, but I saw a single moulting bird off Branscombe in Feb 2005, followed by two in summer plumage there in March. As it's a Devon A rarity, and didn't photograph it, I quickly penciled out a sketch of it on the scrap bit of paper in my pocket - much to Bun's amusement! Needless to say I will not be posting it up here!!

This is the full list of what we clocked up this morning (west unless stated);

2 Common Scoter
1 Great Northern Diver (east)
1 Red-throated Diver (east then landed on sea)
40+ Gannet
200+ Manx Shearwater
10 Whimbrel (see photo)
2 Arctic Skua
8 Kittiwake
1+ Little Gull
8 Sandwich Tern
10 auk sp.
1 Black Guillemot

My first of the year - they gained height and appeared to continue west over Beer Head

Another short sea watch from Spot On Kiosk, Seaton, 11:30 - 12:15 revealed the now westerly wind had pretty much killed it. Except for Sandwich Terns, of which 29 flew west. It was nice to see hirundines trickling in off the sea, including my first House Martins of the year (at least six).

Despite almost immediately alerting other Devon birders about the Tystie, it wasn't seen off anywhere else. So I'd certainly advise a look off Branscombe in the morning - the sea should be a bit calmer too.

Scotland Trip - Day Two

I was hoping to have had this post written last night, but was just too tired! Anyway, here goes....

Monday 11th April - Day Two

After breakfast, and a look at the weather forecast, we decided to head over to the west coast. The drive was absolutely spectacular - driving through glens and past snow-topped mountains. Throughout the morning and early afternoon, there were a few heavy showers (one we sat out in a cafe), but as the afternoon went on the weather got better and was wall to wall sunshine.

At about 11:30 we pulled up in the layby overlooking Gruinard Island - where White-tailed Eagles can be seen roosting on the island.... though not today!

aka 'Anthrax Island'

Over all we spent and hour and a half here without a whiff of an Eagle. The sea was productive though, with 30+ Great Northern Divers, a summer plumage Slav Grebe and 6+ Black Guillemots.

One of the divers gave us a bit of a headache - it was always very distant but showed a pale bill which it held pointing upwards.... White-billed!!!?? The only thing that put me off was how dark its rear neck and mantle looked, but that may have just been down to this distance?? A White-billed has been reported here before and after us, so I reckon this was it. Anyway, here's a diver that was easily identifiable....

Summer plumaged Great Northern... nice!

Also here we added Hooded Crow (4+) and Rock Dove to our trip list.

After we realised our Eagle chances were looking bleak, we continued south along the A832, stopping at regular intervals for a scan. The scenery was just stunning...

Wow!

The view in the lower photo got better when I picked up an adult White-tailed Eagle soaring distantly further up the coast being mobbed my Ravens. Luckily it came our way, and we were watching it for a good five minutes as it kept getting closer - what a bird! We lost it as it went behind some mountain tops to the east of us.

We had another White-tailed a little later on too, right above the road - this one being an immature. It didn't half move; it was right above our car - then in about two minutes appeared to be two miles away! Impressive!!

Other birds we noted during our regular stops were another summer plumaged Slav Grebe, a further ten Great Northern Divers, a couple of Eider and four more Rock Dove.

As we started to head back east, the nearer to Inverness we got, the more regular Red Kites were - awsesome! Better still was an Osprey soaring low over the road, which revealed a nest on a nearby electricity pylon. Crossing the bridge in Inverness, a flock of c1000 Pink-feet made a dull green field a lot more exciting!

By the time we had eaten in Inverness, the sun was setting. We stopped at layby 151 (on A9) briefly, where a mostly white Mountain Hare, and fly over Hooded Crow and Osprey (complete with fish) were the higlights.

Bun and Karen at 'Layby 151'

We decided to take an evening drive up the Findhorn Valley after this stop... bird wise a flock of Golden Plovers and a couple of roding Woodcock were the best, but mammals stole the show with this Mountain Hare...

Still with white bits on its ears

And several hundred Red Deer grazing beside the river...

It was quite a sight!

We headed back to the B and B, preparing ourselves for a very early wake up the following morning... (stay tuned!)