Scotland - The Final Days (4, 5 and 6)

On the Wednesday of our birding trip in Scotland, we went to the Moray Firth area, to try and see some of the lifers (for us) that had been lingering up there. First stop was Dingwall, where we had a look for the Ring-billed Gull. No sign of that, so we carried on along the coast.

Next stop, Alturlie Point, where there were a flock of about 150 Scaup. A bit distant for photographs, but you got great views through a scope.

We then went to Nairn harbour, where we had some distant Long-tailed Ducks, along with Knot and Turnstone but not much else. Then on to Culbin Woods, where a 2 hour walk provided us with only 1 Crested Tit and not the hoped for Scottish Crossbill. At this stage it was about 14 degrees, so I was just down to my T-shirt!!! 

Next stop was Hopeman, where an Iceland Gull had been in the pig fields. But, with the luck how it was on that day, we didn't see it, so we moved on to our last stop at Lossiemouth, where we hoped to see a Green-winged Teal that had been there. Again, no sign of that - however, there was a nice Goldeneye which gave a lovely photographing oppurtunity in the fading light.

There was a large gull flock, which we couldn't be bothered to scan! Turned out we were idiots, and there was an Iceland Gull in there! Doh! Never mind....

Day 5

On Thursday morning, we headed back to Loch Garten, as the previous day we had seen someone hand feeding the birds - a regular activity at Loch Garten. So on that morning, I decided to give it a try. To bring a long story short (after 49 out of 50 peanuts were finally eaten over 2 hours!), I didn't get the hoped for Crested Tits on my hand. However, I did get one that hoped on my foot! The only species that grabbed all of them peanuts were some cracking Coal Tits. It was a great experience!

There was also lots of common woodland species, a Great-spotted Woodpeckers and of course Crested Tits present. I was relieved that the Woodpecker didn't land on my hand - would have been a painfull experience...

We then moved away and towards the Cairngorms through a village called Boat of Garten. We had a cracking Red Deer by the side of the road...

We had noticed that there was a flooded field by the side of the road that had a few gulls on it. I had a quick scan through, but nothing of note. I then scanned the gulls that were flying around. I picked up a Herring Gull, then a Black-headed gull, and then a .................... GLAUCOUS GULL! I followed it and sure it enough it came to land on the flooded field. A great self found bird for us amateurs! It was a bit distant for the camera, but here are some record shots before it flew off.

It was then time for us to meet our guide Stuart again in the Cairngorm Mountains car park. We set out as a snow shower stopped, and already we could hear and see Red Grouse.

After quite a hike up the mountain, we saw our first Ptarmigan. It wasn't the best view, as it flew distantly over some rocks, but it was a sighting. As we moved up the mountain Cairn Gorm a bit further, I then spotted one sitting on the snow about 75 yards away. We moved up to it, and it showed incredibly well! What birds! In total, we saw 11 birds. 2 Raven were also seen...

We also got a Mountain Hare too...

After a successful hike up the mountains in some shocking weather, we were rewarded with some lovely Snow Buntings by our car - about 20 I think - love 'em!

Day 6

Friday morning, we were being taken out by the RSPB Capercaillie manager to look for - well, you guessed it - Capercaillies. He took us round a long walk through a part of a Forest, but after examining a lot of their poo - we didn't see any birds. Something good from the walk however had to be in the form of a Scottish Crossbill, singing from a tree top.

In the afternoon, we went to the Findhorn Valley, for the last part of our trip. We had been told that there was a White-tailed Eagle up there, so we thought we would go and have a look. When we arrived in the car park, a Peregrine passed through, and a couple of Ravens were about. Then, the White-tailed Eagle took to the sky, being mobbed by Ravens, before drifting back along the road and out of sight.

A bit of patience rewarded us with good views of Golden Eagle, even if the picture doesn't do it justice, and a pair of Goosander on the river.

Well, that concludes our birding trip in Scotland, and what a trip it was! Some incredible birds seen, and would love to come back again at some stage - whether I will is another matter....

Thanks for reading and Happy Birding! 

New Years Day Bird Race, and the Suffolk Coast!

Mum, Dad and I decided to take part in the new years day bird race, so we thought we would go to North Norfolk - Titchwell and Burnham area.

In the garden before we left, we had Blackbird, Robin, Dunnock, Collared Dove, Starling, House Sparrow, Blue Tit, a flock of about 30 Fieldfare over, Black-headed Gull, Chaffinch, Magpie and Woodpigeon, which bought the total up to 12.

On the way up to Titchwell, we managed to see a further 29 species, making 41 species in total (see complete list at the bottom of the blog post for the birds seen). At Titchwell, the first new bird seen was Wren, followed by a Sparrowhawk. We then added the normal species on the fresh-marsh and salt-marsh, the highlight being a flock of 7 Twite from Parrinder Hide, and then a single Spotted Redshank on the salt-marsh. After finishing at Titchwell, we were on 77 species.

We then went to Burnham Overy, to look for the Rough-legged Buzzard. We soon jammed in on that, and we also got Common Buzzard and Canada Goose.

At the layby looking over to the west end of Holkham, we got a single White-fronted Goose to make the list 85.

We finished the day off at Warham Greens, where we got 3 Hen Harrier (1 male), Linnet, Merlin and a Woodcock, which concluded to a total of 89 species, a very successful day.

New Year's Day Bird Species in order:

1. Blackbird
2. Robin
3. Dunnock
4. Collared Dove
5. Starling
6. House Sparrow
7. Blue Tit
8. Fieldfare
9. Magpie
10. Black-headed Gull
11. Chaffinch
12. Woodpigeon
13. Rock Dove (Feral Pigeon)
14. Common Gull
15. Rook
16. Goldfinch
17. Green Woodpecker
18. Greylag Goose
19. Kestrel
20. Jackdaw
21. Herring Gull
22. Pheasant
23. Lesser Black-backed Gull
24. Great Black-backed Gull
25. Moorhen
26. Mallard
27. Mistle Thrush
28. Mute Swan
29. Cormorant
30. Carrion Crow
31. Red-legged Partridge
32. Song Thrush
33. Egyptian Goose
34. Great Tit
35. Pied Wagtail
36. Redwing
37. Long-tailed Tits
38. Greenfinch
39. Jay
40. Red Kite (2)
41. Pink-footed Goose
42. Lapwing
43. Wren
44. Sparrowhawk
45. Coot
46. Tufted Duck
47. Gadwall
48. Teal
49. Wigeon
50. Brent Goose
51. Ringed Plover
52. Little Egret
53. Curlew
54. Snipe
55. Redshank
56. Grey Plover
57. Dunlin
58. Shelduck
59. Avocet
60. Twite (7)
61. Marsh Harrier
62. Ruff
63. Meadow Pipit
64. Reed Bunting
65. Water Rail
66. Pochard
67. Goldeneye
68. Turnstone
69. Knot
70. Golden Plover
71. Oystercatcher
72. Pintail
73. Shoveler
74. Little Grebe
75. Spotted Redshank
76. Black-tailed Godwit
77. Bar-tailed Godwit
78. Sanderling
79. Great Spotted Woodpecker
80. Coal Tit
81. Stock Dove
82. Rough-legged Buzzard
83. Canada Goose
84. Common Buzzard
85. White-fronted Goose
86. Hen Harrier
87. Linnet
88. Merlin
89. Woodcock

Covehithe Broad and Dunwich Shore Pools

Yesterday, Dad and I teamed up with our friends David and Ed to do a bit of Suffolk coast birding. Before that however, I was stunned to see myself looking at an adult male Bullfinch in the garden. The light wasn't brilliant, but it was still a cracking bird to have in the garden! A first in 4 years...

We started off at Covehithe where we ticked Brambling, flyover Barnacle Geese, Yellowhammer, and a brief Bearded tit before arriving at the broad. We could see the Shorelarks through our bins before looking at them closely, but then they took off and flew high south, and for quite a few miles. However they have been seen again today, so they must go for a fly about before returning. We also got Red-throated Diver offshore, a redhead Smew, and 3 Goldeneye in the area.

We then went to Dunwich Shore Pools. On the walk up, we got Common Scoter, Stonechat, several Great-crested Grebes offshore, Brent Geese, a Skylark, Rock Pipit, Reed Bunting and a cracking male Hen Harrier, which hunted the reed bed albeit a bit distant...

We then located the Twite flock with a bit of help from another birder, where about 20 birds were present.

Further up (about a further 2 miles!) we relocated the Snow Buntings, which were so obliging to us...

On the way back home, we had a lovely Barn Owl hunting alongside the road in Pettaugh which was another year tick taking the total up to 108.

We had a brilliant day, and I just want to thank David and Ed for taking us out, it was a real pleasure.

Geese Galore and 230 for the year!

On Tuesday 23rd December, Dad and I visited North Warren first to see the range of geese that had been seen there. There had been 7 species in recent days, so we thought we'd go and check it out...

This was only the second time I had visited North Warren RSPB, so I only really knew the path leading through North and South Marsh. However, on this occasion, a good friend of ours told us to walk the "full Monty" and keep going, through the woods towards Thorpeness Sewage Works!

There was a couple of other birders up there, and we scanned the geese. The obvious goose specie was hundreds of Barnacle Geese, which stretched most of the way across the Northern part of North Marsh. I scanned through them, and picked up the 2 Red-breasted Geese, presumably escape birds, and about 40 ish White-fronted Geese.

 The Red-breasted Geese are in their somewhere!

Close up

I then picked up the flock of 15 Tundra Bean Geese on the right hand side of the flock, but like all of the geese present, they were a bit distant...

very hazy too

We did also see a very late Whimbrel, so don't know where he came from? Also present were some very nice Black-tailed Godwit and a pair of Stonechat.

We then headed to Covehithe Broad to look for the Shorelarks and Snow Buntings. On the approach road from Wrentham to Covehithe Church however, I glanced into the pig field on the left, and right by the road I thought I saw a Hooded Crow. I have had a lot of experience with these birds, so I was quite certain that was what it was, but as I was in a moving vehicle, I couldn't be 100% sure. 

The light was brilliant, but the wind was a killer, so photography was difficult. Managed to get some OK shots of the Shorelarks though on the east side of the broad.

We then went to look for the Snow Buntings, but everyone we passed said they hadn't seen them, so we wasn't expecting any. However, we walked in front of the cliffs, and within minutes the flock flew over the sea and over our heads, but unfortunately landed in the private cliff-top field, so no pictures were obtained. A great days birding though! No time to go to Dunwich, and there was no sign of my possible Hooded Crow on the way back either.

Happy Birding!