Wednesday 27 March 2024

Lochore Meadows

 So after the Outer Hebrides we went for a walk down to the Meadies on a bright Monday afternoon.

It was great to hear all the birds singing, but most stayed pretty elusive. But here are a few that did show themselves:






Mind you while sitting on one of our favourite benches for a coffee stop of course, Tina spotted two birds dropping into the top of a tree about 50 metres away. Crossbills!!

We have been all over Scotland and only found them once before! But delighted to get a pair on our local patch!



Our list for the afternoon:

Moorhen,
Carrion crow
Mallard.
Teal,
Rook,
Robin,
Great Tit, 
Blue Tit,
Woodpigeon,
Magpie,
Buzzard,
Chaffinch,
Jackdaw,
Crossbill,
Siskin,
Grey Heron,
Blackbird,
Mute Swan,
Coot,
Great Sotted Woodpecker,
Cormorant,
Coal Tit,
Great Crested Grebe,
Goldfinch,
Pink Footed Geese.

Heard only:
Goldcrest,
Chiffchaff,
Wren,
Redwing and
Jay.


Monday 25 March 2024

A Trip to the Outer Hebrides - Mainly North Uist

 We booked a week on North Uist, however we ended up with a day less as our ferry from Uig (Skye) to Lochmaddy was cancelled due to bad weather. The bonus was we had a day on Skye and booked a last minute B&B, the downside is we had to pay for a night on Skye and lose a day on North Uist.

We had a bit of a drive around some old haunts on Skye on the Sunday before getting our rebooked  2.30pm ferry, As we were driving down to the ferry port after coming across from Staffin, this flew over:

A White-tailed eagle to really kick off a great week of birding.
There was some great scenery around too!



So we made it onto North Uist and went straight to the same cottage we rented last year, it's brilliant but I'm not going to tell you where in case you book it when we want it again. 😂

As we turned into the road to the cottage, we were welcomed by a flock of Barnacle Geese:

So we toured around North Uist, Benbecula, Baleshare, Berensay and South Uist, the weather was iffy with very strong winds and rain on some days, but these are the photo highlights:
Peregrine at RSPB Balnalrad,
and Barnacle Geese,
Common Gull
Golden Eagle.
The beach at RSPB Balnalrad.

Curlew in the fields around St Kilda Viewpoint,

and Short-eared Owl at the top of the viewpoint,
as well as the resident sheep coming to see what we were up to!
Then two White-tailed Eagles being harassed by Starlings as we came back down from the viewpoint.




On South Uist we had some good closer views of some Whooper Swans


Then back on North Uist we came across a small murmuration;
Next day was another good Eagle day 😀
Plus lots of waders,
and Long-tailed ducks


View from our cottage.
Redshank.
Another wonderful beach on the way up to Berneray,
Loads of waders again on the East Beach of Berneray.




plus a Barnacle Goose.
Then back to the St Kilda Viewpoint for more Short-eared Owl action.

Then the owls were joined by a male Hen Harrier, awesome!!!!

Yet more Owl action.


So a brilliant, if somewhat curtailed week was had.


Wednesday 7 February 2024

 So the end of January has come and gone and we managed to get away for a few days up to Braemar, although I wasn't feeling great (still not! A stinker of a cold or whatever that seems to be going on forever, at least it's not Covid! Tested for that.)

Anyway despite some high winds and at time torrential rain we did get out to some of our old haunts. We started with the Linn of Dee, where we were treated to some Red Deer grazing not far off the road:


But with the torrential rain not a bird was seen! We drove on down to the car park at the Linn of Quoich and stopped for a coffee, the low and behold the rain suddenly stopped and a juvenile Golden Eagle flew over us and circled over the woods on the opposite side of the Dee, before disappearing. I didn't attempt a photo as it took us by surprise and we concentrated on watching, before we lost it.

After that we drove back up to Braemar and explored the Old Military Road that follows Clunie Water up to Glenshee. This gave us a Dipper sheltering out of the wind:

Not very close, but our first Dipper of the year.

Next day we drove through Ballater and parked at Glen Muick (pronounced Mick, but we call it Muck 😂) The wind was fierce and very cold, we nearly abandoned our walk down to the Loch. 




Again no wildlife was seen on our walk to the boathouse, although we did hear some Grouse.

From the boathouse we carried on on the circular walk, starting the homeward leg, where we spotted some more sheltering Red Deer:





The only other wildlife seen were some Bullfinches and a Buzzard passing through.

Next day we drove over to Loch Garten, specifically for Crested Tits, but for the first time ever in the winter they let us down! Just loads of Coal Tit, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Chaffinch and Great Spotted Woodpecker.


We popped over to Milton Loch in Boat of Garten, where there's a hide, so we could sit for a bit and have lunch. Not much going on just a Goldeneye, Mute Swan and Mallard. Also the feeders by the hide were empty, so no woodland birds or Red Squirrel that we had seen on previous visits.

We did get a bonus though, there were some ripples in the water to the left of the hide, we thought it must be a Mallard under the overhanging bushes, but then this popped out:


A Dipper very pleased with that!

So finally we headed home on the Saturday, stopping at Glenshee in case there were any Snow Buntings about, sadly not, but we did see lots of distant Mountain Hare:

There is another post to come on the way to Braemar we did drop into RSPB Loch Kinnordy, so I'll do that another day.