In Conclusion

So I had a good holiday, and would highly recommend it. I ended up seeing 111 species of bird, good for a week in early July. I saw three lifers, and 34 year ticks, however these year ticks included a number of birds I had seen only a few times before or many years ago. This holiday took me to areas I had never been before and opened up my birding horizons.
The Stand out species were a whooping ten species of bird of prey, including eagles and harriers.

The holiday group

 

Next year the plan is to take a birdwatching excursion to the Outer Hebrides, to look for corncrakes and other birds.

So that's it for the blog for a while, as I'm going to be too busy to do any birding for a while. I do hope you enjoy reading it, and as always please write to me to tell me what you think.

The aftermath

After the holiday finished I stayed around in Scotland, further up the Spey at Aberlour. My Gran used to live there but sadly passed away a couple of months ago, and the house was unoccupied, so I stayed there. I had spent a while there when I was younger, and wanted to see it one final time before it was sold. I didn't do any birdwatching, but played some golf, and visited the picturesque towns that line the coast. These are some of the photos I took around there.

 

Sueno's Stone - a large Pictish Stone encased in glass.

 



 

These three pictures were taken of Burghead harbour

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glenfrachas Distillery

14/7/2017 - Final Day - Troup Head and Spey Bay

The day started with a trip to two Caledonian forests, Tomvaich and Poor House Wood, to finally catch up with CROSSBILLS. Alas we didn't find any, but saw loads and loads of birds moving in flocks, including the occasional CRESTED TIT.
Onwards to the coast, and a very long trip to Troup Head, RSPB. Heard of it? No I hadn't either. It has Scotland's only mainland GANNET colony. As we headed north to the coast, the landscape changed to become more agricultural. The landscape in the Cairngorms was moorland with pine plantations and rough grassland. On the coast there were a lot more farms, and the birds we saw reflected that. The small birds included CORN BUNTINGS, YELLOWHAMMERS, LINNETS and SKYLARKS.
As we got to Troup Head it was obviously a working farm, with only a small area for the RSPB reserve. From the car park we had good views into a bay where we saw a massive GREAT SKUA, and smaller ARCTIC SKUAS, their flight resembling that of a falcon.
As we got to the cliffs, the smell of guano, and the cacophony of noise hinted about what we were going to encounter. Thousands and thousands of GANNETS, GUILLEMOTS, RAZORBILLS, and KITTIWAKES were around the cliffs and out to sea. There were also small numbers of PUFFINS and FULMARS.

 

 

 

A great spectacle.

 

After that we travelled to Spey Bay, one of the few places on the trip I had already been to. Spey Bay is an area where the river Spey enters the Moray Firth, creating an area of different water flows, and shingle islands. On one of the islands were a pair of COMMON TERNS and a couple of DUNLINS in summer plumage, with their black bellies.

And then an OSPREY appeared causing the whole area to erupt. In that explosion of birds four WHIMBREL were heard flying over us. The OSPREY hung around the area, and the birds got used to it. The OSPREY was often hovering in flight like a kestrel, looking for all the fish caught in the different currents.

A short while after leaving Spey Bay we stopped at an area of nest boxes in a small plantation. On one of those was a TREE SPARROW.

We then headed back to the hotel to finish the final day.

 

 

 

 

Day 6 - 13/7/2017 - BLACK GROUSE, DIPPER and SLAV GREBES.

With a decent trip list already, we were to further get more...
We went to Dorback, another area of rough grassland, pine trees and moor land. We went here to see BLACK GROUSE, but prospects weren't good. However soon after arriving we found a male that flew in before disappearing into some pines. Then another flew in to some rough grass, where it hid for a bit before emerging and giving fantastic views.

Stuffed BLACK GROUSE at the hotel

BLACK GROUSE country - again not the most distinctive of habitat

 

 

Afterwards we went to the Old Spey Bridge to look at the DIPPERS on the river.

 

 

After that we headed back to Inverlaidnan, the pine plantation from the first day where the minibus had got stuck. Again we looked for CAPERS, but this species turned out to be the bogey bird for the trip. We travelled over drier ground, but no birds were there. However we did get to see the briefest of GOSHAWKS, as it shot over the road.

In the afternoon we went to Loch Ruthven in a final attempt to find some SLAVONIAN GREBES. The Loch was a large lowland body of water, where we managed to connect with three SLAV GREBES, we finally connected with this bird this holiday. In the background a RED KITE was in flight over the hilltops with several seen further on in the day.

 





High Mountain Birds - PTARMIGAN, DOTTEREL and SNOW BUNTING

This is the day I've been waiting for, ever since booking the holiday way back in February, a chance to explore the highest region in the country and its special wildlife.
There are two ways to get to the summit: the first is to take the train up, the second is to walk. Obviously it would be idiotic to come all this way to take the train. Our group split 50-50 with the old and decrepit in the group opting for the train whilst myself and others walked.
From the Cairngorm car park the mountains seemed a daunting  prospect - I'm from East Anglia, where there are no hills, Facing up to the most mountainous region in the UK.
However, as the mountains were not particularly steep, the path was fairly gentle: there weren't too many steps and it wasn't too steep. There were two waterfalls to pass, stretching the legs a bit, but were fairly undemanding. Orchids lined the side of the path, before gently falling away as we went higher. The habitat ascended from heather moorland, to a grassland strewn with boulders. It was a well used path and there was a steady stream of people using the path. The trail was well maintained, marked by gravel, with occasional steps dug into the mountainside.

From a small rocky summit was where we encountered our first birds, with a party of five PTARMIGAN. From there the hilltop plateaued encountering more PTARMIGAN, this time a bird with chicks. These are related to RED GROUSE, except they inhabit a niche habitat, the high mountain tops.

We climbed higher and higher looking for more of our targeted birds, not stopping until we had found them all.
A PEREGRINE FALCON flew overhead, carrying some large prey, but no DOTTEREL. So we had a plan, and that was to spilt up 50 metres apart and to move over the desolate mountain top, until we found something, and we found something indeed.

 

Two DOTTEREL, changing to three, then to a maximum of four. From the different states of plumage there were two each of male and female. They were very plover like in the way they ran for a lot then would stop dead still then run again.

 

 

DOTTEREL are mountain plovers, where the sex roles are reversed. The female is the more bright and colourful, whilst the male looks after the chicks. The birds were very tame and didn't seem to notice us at all, they never moved away because of us.

And just as we were admiring them, a call came of...

SNOW BUNTING! - a black and white male BUNTING flew passed and landed not too far away. While we were looking at it the DOTTEREL actually came closer!



After admiring the DOTTEREL we went back to look for the BUNTING, but instead disturbed a female. Then we saw another bird running on the ground and discovered a fledged juvenile SNOW BUNTING, one of maybe ten nesting pairs in the country. We decided to keep away, to allow the birds some privacy.

DOTTEREL and SNOW BUNTING habitat 3800 feet up

Having seen all the species we wanted, we were allowed to go back down. As we did we saw more PTARMIGAN, they had the habit of exploding from the rocks when you were just about to step on them. We saw maybe twenty in total.
Walking back was fairly simple, everyone contented from the day we had experienced. When we talked about the at the end of the tour, this was most people's favourite day.
In the end, we had walked seven hours, at a distance of around eight miles and a height of around 3800 feet, not bad for non-mountaineers.

Day 5 - Ancient Caledonian Forests - 12/7/2017

The day started off with a quick look at Loch Garten to look for CRESTED TITS. The area is known for its Caledonian forests, in fact is the largest stand in the country. This is an entirely different type of woodland to the plantations that can be seen suffocating the highlands.
So what's the difference? Well, the pine plantations are ecologically dead, made up of foreign tree species that offer nothing to native wildlife. The pine plantaitions are grown so close together no light comes in. In a native caledonain Forest, the tree naturally grow  apart, and the light that comes in allows heather to grow underneath. Caledonain forests being full of native tree and plants are absolutely full of wildlife.
Any, after some searching we were able to encounter  CRESTED TIT, had good views, but soon had to move on

Loch Garten

Day 4 - Mull and back - 11/7/2017

Today was a more relaxed day as we had pin poited most of the species we wanted to see on Mull.
The first birds of the day were a WHITE TAILED EAGLE with its nest, which overlooked Craig Mure golf club.
Then we moved onto Loch Don, a shallow low land loch surrounded by rough grassland. A SHORT EARED OWL was found,  quartering the grassland behind it. At one point it lowered down, and it was met by another one - a potential nesting site.

Loch Don - FOXGLOVES are literally everywhere in Scotland

 

Also present were a REDSHANK, and a MERGANSER family, but not much else.

 

Further down the road a SNIPE was found.

We left Mull, and took the ferry to the mainland. The area was very beautiful, mountains and sea lochs.

 

At a place called Kilmalieu, high up in the hills was a party of WILD GOATS, animals with a mixture of different colours, some were black, others with more white. Nothing speaks of wilderness like WILD GOATS.

 

On Loch Linnhe, a large sea loch, and site of the second ferry crossing, a MANX SHEARWATER was found in flight and on the water, though distant.

 

At Creag Meagaidh, a national nature reserve, we had a quick look at the feeders there, where there were many SISKINS and LESSER REDPOLLS.

 

 

We returned back to our hotel and so finished our time on Mull.



Day 3 - Mull - HARRIERS

As we passed by Loch Beag, a female HEN HARRIER flew across the road providing brief views, and a fore shadowing for what was to come next.
We stopped off at Glen More at the three lochs, a beauty spot, before we headed slightly further on. It didn't seem to promising, just some RED DEER graxing on the hill. The area was a mix of pine plantation on the lower hill, moving to bracken and then heather on the hill top.
No one seemed bothered with this place, until there was a shout and we discovered a female HEN HARRIER. She was seen quartering just above the tree line looking for prey. We were rewarded some cracking views if somewhat distant.
As the HARRIER dropped into the pines she was joined by two juviniles. It seems we had stumbled on a successful nesting site - how rare is that. The two juvs were rambunctious always diving at each other, squabbling a lot. They finally went to ground and we had to move on.

The HARRIERS used the most inauspicious place to nest - there was no difference between this place and the many others like it in Mull.

 

We stayed the night on Mull, in a nice hotel, if somewhat busy, and will leave tomorrow.



Day 3 ctd - Eagles of Mull

So after a couple of stops to look at some scenery, which included some sunnng SHAGS, we finally hit the big time with WHITE-TAILED EAGLES. AT Loch na Keal we found two birds spaced apart and looking imperious on some pine trees over looking the loch. This species is one of the reasons why I booked onto this holiday, because, except for the odd very rare migrant, it is not encountered in Suffolk. And its an amazing bird. I had to come up to Mull to see it as it was not coming down to see me.

SEA EAGLE country

 

We drove over to the other side of the Loch to find another eagle, this time the GOLDEN EAGLE. As being a well watched bunch of EAGLES it was relatively easy to find one as  there were lots of birdwatchers parked beneath it. The bird was standing, classic pose, on a boulder.
Then another bird appeared in the sky, flying over the skyline. The bird we were originally watching flew up to confront it. There was a brief skirmish, before the new bird flew off. The original bird dropped fast from the sky and headed down a cliff face to an area of crags behind some trees. This seemed to be its nest.

 

 GOLDEN EAGLE country





On the Loch were two further WHITE-TAILED EAGLES sitting on an island, while another one
 briefly followed a fishing boat.
Along the way we passed a small flock of TWITE, four in total, showing off a kind of beige beauty. There were two RED-THROATED DIVERS on the Loch, and on a cliff face, we found pure bred ROCK DOVES, with their distinctive white rumps.
After this we carried on further into Mull, discussed in my next blog.

Day 3 - 10/7/2017 - Part 1 - The Journey to Mull

If yesterday was a good introduction to birding in the Highlands, today ratched it right up to 11. It was going to be a birder's feast.
After a very early start (for me) we travelled through the Highlands, through the western coast, until we hit Mull.
The first toilet break at Laggan bagged us a PEREGRINE FALCON flyover, which boded well.
When we took the quick ferry, the first of two, at Corran, we were witness to some BLACK GUILLEMOTS which were nesting on the pier.

 BLACK GUILLEMOTS nested on the pier

 

There were also some ROCK PIPITS around, another bird commonly found in singles all along the rocky coast.

As we drove along Loch Linnhe, a sea loch, there were lots of rocky islets. These were a great loafing spot for COMMON SEALS, who were just hanging out in the sun shine. On one isle was a COMMON TERN colony, which was successful, as there were many juvs.

 

 

There were large flocks of moulting EIDER and RED-BREASTED MERGANSER just offshore. We eventually came to a ferry and crossed into Mull which only took 20 minutes. Much more was to follow...

 



Day 2 ctd - Dipped on SLAV GREBES but succeeded with DIVERS

As afternoon came around the emphasis turned to GREBES and DIVERS. This part of the country is the centre of the SLAVONIAN GREBE breeding population, however today we had to accept disappointment.
The first place we tried was Avielochan, a lowland loch surrounded by grassland, and exploding with water lilies. There was a brood of GOLDENEYES, the young looked just like winter SLAV GREBES, with red heads and white cheeks. Excitement broke out with a flyover RED-THROATED DIVER, but there was little else around.
Loch Vaa, which was the first nesting site in the area also proved to be fairly barren. There were just around 10 LITTLE GREBES present, with a few juvs.

Loch Vaa

 

There was a RED SQUIRREL on the rocky beach, its blonde tail a feature of the Caledonian race.

Failing on that quest, we went to find some other species. We headed to Dava Moor to look for RED GROUSE. This entailed driving across a vast area of moorland that seemed barren, but were in fact intensively managed for grouse shooting. As a result we saw a few GROUSE, but not as much as was probably present, their crytic camouflage and stillness as a bird kept them hidden.

 

 

Last bird of the day, and undoubtedly the best were a pair of BLACK-THROATED DIVER at Lochnadorb, a large loch in an area of moorland, famous for its castle. The DIVERS spent their time drifting around the loch, and provided some good viewings. This pair were about the most south-easterly pair in the country, the species likes to nest in more remote lochs than this. Alas there were no chicks with them so it looks like a failed nesting attempt by the birds. A downbeat note to a day that got progressivly better as it went on.

One day down, and though things were picking up, I couldn't wait for Mull, and maybe some SEA EAGLES.



Day 2 - Part 1 - 9/7/2017 - wooodlands and OSPREYS

The holiday didn't get off to the best start. We went to a scots pine plantation at Inverlaiden to look for CAPERCAILLIE. It was the usual plantation and not the ideal haabitat  for the CAPERS and also it was the worst time of year and the worst weather to see them, a light drizzle. We cruised around in our minibuses so as not to disturb the birds, but alas no birds were found. In the muddy road one of the minibuses got caught in mud, and no amount of pushing could get it loose. So the CAPER watch was called off, and I was wondering if this holiday was going to be a mistake.
So we pushed onto another site, this time on the other side of Aviemore, a place called Craigellachie, a birch wooded national nature reserve. Things started off well, with a TREE PIPIT family, the adults feeding young, now a rare sight down south.
There were also several SPOTTED FLYCTCHERS about as well. This COMMON SANDPIPER was found by a small lochan near the entrance.

 

In this woodland were several of the supporting cast of birds that we would see again and again as we passed through further woodland. This included TREECREEPER, BULLFINCH, SISKEN, LESSER REDPOLL GOLCRESTS and COAL TITS. These birds were the type we would see throughout the holiday, most days and in most types of woodland, from now on expect them when I write about other wooded places.

So now with several species in the bag, we went and had lunch by Loch Insh, I think to look for DIVERS. Nothing much here, just a few GOLDENEYE. That species of duck would be fairly ubiquitous, found commonly on the low ground lochs, the only duck apart from MALLARDS.

After lunch we went to thee other side of Loch Insh to see an OSPREY nest by a kirk. There were two birds in the nest, with an adult preched on a tree nearby. I had news the famous pair at Loch Garten had failed to raise any young this year

 

 

So that's how the first part of the day  panned out. The holiday would work on a similar principle, of pin pointing places to catch certain species. 



Day 1 - 8/7 - Travel

Today I got up nice and early to catch the early train to London. Got the train with no mishap, don't  remember anything as all I was thinking about was catching that train to Aviemore. I arrived at Liverpool Street, got the tube fine and got to King's Cross with plenty of time to spare, everything going without a hitch.

 

 

Kings Cross was a bit of a shock. Being from Ipswich I wasn't used to such a large number of people in such a confined space, nowhere from where I came from is as vibrant as that station. When I entered kings cross a weird sight awaited me. There were literally hundreds of people standing  still and silently looking up at the train info boards, waiting expectantly for some train information about their train departures.

I had plenty of time in Kings Cross, but didn't have anything to do, so I just waited silently watching the train info boards.

My train journey flashed up and I got on board the 12:00 train to Aviemore. From London it was a seven and a half hour journey to Aviemore, which meant lots of reading, staring out of the window, and journeys to the buffet bar for some coffee. 

I arrived ok and a bit bored, at my destination. Aviemore felt like a kind of frontier town, a last portal of civilisation before the wilds of Cairngorm. From the station I got a lift to the hotel and checked in.
I got the attic room which had a sloping ceiling that I banged my head on a lot, but it was comfy. It was quite an old fashioned hotel but that was alright. Had a late dinner and went to sleep awaiting the adventure ahead.

Scottish Holiday - 8/7-15/7 - Introduction

It's holiday time...
This year I decided to take a week's break up in Scotland, to get some of the specialist breeding birds which live up there. I'm talking eagles, harriers and various different grouse and was hoping to get a get a few lifers. I chose the company HEATHERLEA, on their Eagles, Divers and Dotterel holiday, because it seemed to offer the most species in its tightly packed schedule. It could be described as a Scottish safari, with pin pointed species at different habitats.
I'm at the moment writing this report sometime after the holiday, but I won't reveal anything yet. All I  can say is that I had a good time and it was worth going.
Ok, writing this blog for my holiday has been a massive undertaking, so expect some mistakes, and some discrepancies. As always please let me know what you think about my blog, so I know at least someone is reading it.