Isle of Islay - Birding Days 3 and 4

Birding Day 3!

These 2 days are days where we didn't see much, so I have merged them together to make one post. Anyway, enough of the waffling, let me tell you about our days!

On the 5th, we started off at Duich Lots, a place not far from where we stayed. We were looking for a reported Red Grouse but we didn't see that. We did see a ringtail Hen Harrier though which was nice...

For the rest of the day we headed round to the other side of the Island around Port Charlotte area. It was a miserable day in terms of weather so the only other birds of note during this day was a Peregrine and a couple of Chough which is still better than nothing.

Birding Day 4

Birding Day 4 was a lot more successful than the previous day in terms of birds and whether, so here goes...

We went down to Laggan Point in the morning which is a lovely rocky area good for sea birds...

 We got some cracking Black Guillemots, including a close one on a rock!

We also got a nice family of Ringed Plover here too...

We also got a Shag...

And a very obliging Dunlin...

On the way out the fields were filled with Sand Martins, and a few Hooded Crows...

In the afternoon, we headed out to Port Ellen, Ardbeg and Claggain Bay. We came across a fantastic sight which was a pair of Golden Eagles flying really close to the road. How cool is that!

We got to Claggain Bay and found a summer plumaged Red-throated Diver, Small Copper and 4 Eider. Great stuff!

2014 Year List Total - 205

Happy Birding!

An Afternoons Birding!

Dad and I went to do some birding along the River Orwell and in that area. We started off at Alton Water. We got nothing here apart from a pair of Goldeneye and Great-crested Grebes from the Sailing Club and Lemon's Hill Bridge. We then went to Whearstead Strand. From the layby, didn't get nothing exciting at low tide, apart from common wader species (Oystercatcher, Redshank and Dunlin). We then went to Freston Marina. Here we got Turnstone, Curlew, Both Godwits, Pintail, Dunlin, Redshank, Oystercatcher, Shelduck and G-C Grebes... I had my little camera, as the quality of the pictures....

We then went to Shotley. We got a flock of Brent Geese, 2 Shag on the roadside and an adult Med Gull, the latter 2 self found!!!!

Happy Birding

Stour Estuary

It seems ages ago that Dad and I went on the Stour Estuary. In fact it was the 5th January. Anyway, we had a great day, and I collected 18 new species for the year making my total 103. When we got onto the boat and got rolling, it was very misty, but the birding day started. We started off with plenty of Goldeneye and Red-breasted Mergansers.

We then got a lot of Brent Geese

We then passed a group of Pintail and Wigeon, with a few Teal

Plenty of Great-crested Grebes roamed the estuary

We then spotted a delightful Shag

We then got 5 Eider in Holbrook Bay, the first sightings in about 10 years, but were only viewable through a scope. A bit further on though, a group of Goldeneye took up from the side of the boat, and a female Long-tailed Duck was amongst them. Very fleetingly, we got a view through bins, but it was soon past the boat. We had an Egyptian Goose fly past the boat too.

We also got plenty of waders like Turnstones....

And Black-tailed Godwits with some Bar-tails too, but his is a Black-tail.

We then came into Harwich Harbour, and the raptor spotter saw a Peregrine distantly on a blue crane....

Still got to post about the Barton Broad and Hickling Broad trip, plus the Thetford Area trip that was yesterday so keep posted. If you can't wait then look at the Daily Sightings page. Happy Birding.