Roger and I had booked a year
list booster week with Heatherlea in Scotland with the intention of getting the
Scottish specialist on the list early in the year. We had intended to travel by car but due to
adverse weather on the Friday decided to go on the train. We left Leicester at 07:55 and arrived at
Aviemore at 16:20 where we were met by Jonny Pott, who was to be on of our two
leaders for the week.
There was plenty of snow but
the roads were generally good and we had some snow slurries on most days with a
moderate fall overnight on the 21st.
The winds were mainly light south easterlies, which were much stronger
on the 21st and 22nd and we saw very little sun with
overcast conditions on most days. The 23rd
was the exception which was a beautiful calm day with plenty of sunshine and
the only rain we had was during the afternoon of the 25th.
After a leisurely breakfast on
the 20th we set off to a location where we were hoping to see
Capercaillie. We stopped briefly at Loch
Inch where there were seven Whooper Swans amongst the small gathering of
wildfowl. When we reached the Capercaillie
site we set off on a mile walk with Chris Townend, the other of the two guides,
whilst Jonny went another way to try and locate the rouge male. There was a good covering of snow on the path
that made it hard going but as we got closer Chris informed us that Jonny had
found the bird. We joined Jonny on the
track and had some excellent views of a male Capercaillie just about thirty
meters away. This was our first Scottish
speciality of the trip, which gave us an excellent start. After watching the Capercaillie for about
thirty minutes we left it in peace and walked back to vehicle.
Cock Capercaillie
We next went to the RSPB hide
at Inch Marsh but most of the area was frozen, which possibly led to few birds
being seen. We did however have out
first Buzzards, Great Spotted Woodpecker and Raven of the trip and several Roe
Deer were also seen.
After having coffee and
shortbread we moved off towards the Findhorn Valley and hopefully Golden Eagle
seeing six Siskin on a feeder on route.
We stopped at one point in the
valley where we had lunch but there was no sign of any eagles, although we did
have plenty of Red Grouse and one member in the party was lucky enough to see a
Barn Owl. We moved further down the
valley seeing party of Lesser Redpoll feeding amongst the roadside birches. As we started to get out of the vehicle at
our next stop, Chris shouted juvenile Golden Eagle and we all got good views as
it passed over the vehicle and moved further down the valley. We continued to make our way to end of the
road seeing two Dipper feeding at a bend on the river. Amazing birds as they just dived into the ice
cold waters and then bouncing out again onto the shoreline without even
flinching.
Lunchtime stop in the Findhorn Valley
When we got to the end we
scanned for eagles without success although Johnny found a Mountain Hare.
We began to make our way back
out of the valley and were rewarded with a second juvenile Golden Eagle that
was watched for some time being mobbed by two Buzzards.
Juvenile Golden Eagle
Golden Eagle and two Buzzards
Golden Eagle and Buzzard
After dinner one of the other
participants came into say he a seen an owl on several occasions whilst he was
outside smoking.
Several of us went outside and
had distant views of the owl as it flew across the road and then over a fields
alongside the hotel. The initial
identification was Tawny Owl but I wasn’t convinced and so Roger and I went again
to see if we could see it again. We
didn’t wait too long before it reappeared but it was difficult to get any
plumage characters as it just looked dark.
It was feeding like a asio owl, quartering the ground looking for
food and was seen on and off for a least an hour. Roger and I agreed that it was definitely not
a Tawny Owl or Barn Owl and was most likely a Long-eared Owl. I felt that if had been a Short-eared Owl we
would have seen some paleness on the underside of the bird. The situation was discussed at breakfast and
most of those that had seen were sticking to Tawny Owl. One of the party then raised the matter with
Chris who having heard what we had seen confirmed that it would be a Long-eared
Owl as he also felt that there would have been some plumage characters visible
on a Short-eared Owl and that the behaviour did not support Tawny Owl.
It had been a good first day
with thirty-seven species seen that included to of the specialities,
Capercaillie and Golden Eagle and real bonus of a Long-eared Owl.
The following morning we had an
earlier start as we were heading up to the coast on the Moray Firth as the
weather was forecast to be windy with a chance of snow around Nethy Bridge with
less chance of the snow on the coast.
We saw a couple of Red Grouse
on route but little else an arrived in the area of Findhorn Bay at 09:45. From our stop, which overlooked the Moray
Firth, we had at least five Long-tailed Ducks, two Common Scoters, a Velvet
Scoter and a Red-breasted Merganser.
From the first vantage point in actual bay area we had five Pintail,
three Eider, another Red-breasted Merganser and a couple of Shag. The next area near the locked hide there was
a good section of waders that included a Golden Plover, three Knot, c.200
Dunlin, thirty Bar-tailed Godwit; Curlew and Redshank. There was also a distant view of a Buzzard
and a Peregrine and a Hooded Crow was found on the shore amongst the numerous
Carrion Crows.
From Findhorn we travelled the
short distance to Burghead where we had superb views of both male and female
Long-tailed Ducks in the small harbour.
There was also 100+ Eider a Red-breasted Merganser and several Shag.
Flock of Eider at Birghead
Drake Eider at Berghead
Shag at Berghead
Drake Long-tailed Duck at Burhghead
Female Long-tailed Duck at Berghead
Long-tailed Duck at Berghead
We moved to another location
at Burghead that overlooked the Moray Firth where we found a single Purple
Sandpiper and Rock Pipit, with further views of Long-tailed Ducks. We called briefly at Hopeman where we added
Fulmar and Sanderling before going to Lossimouth for lunch. It was bitterly cold at Lossimouth and there
was no sign of any white-winged gulls amongst the numerous gulls resting
alongside a small stream. After lunch we
toured the countryside on route to Spey Bay and located a Tree Sparrow and four
Corn Buntings close to Spey Bay. Spey
Bay was our final stop where there were numerous gulls but again there was no
sign of any white-winged gulls. The day
had ended with sixty-five species recorded with several good birds and some
superb views of Long-tailed Duck and our only Coot of the trip.
Tuesday the 22nd was another early start and as the winds were still forecast as strong we were off to the Aberdeenshire coast. There had also been heavy snow overnight and having struggled to reach the A95 where conditions improved we made our way to Banff and Macduff before heading east on the B9031 to Rosehearty. However the snow had been very heavy hear and the road became worse the further east we went and had to turn back to Macduff and continue east on the A95 to Fraserburgh. There was significantly less snow here and the harbour produced Eider, a single Long-tailed Duck, Shag, a Turnstone and an adult and immature Kittiwake.
Tuesday the 22nd
was another early start and as the winds were still forecast as strong we were
off to the Aberdeenshire coast. There
had also been heavy snow overnight and having struggled to reach the A95 where
conditions improved we made our way to Banff and Macduff before heading east on
the B9031 to Rosehearty. However the
snow had been very heavy hear and the road became worse the further east we
went and had to turn back to Macduff and continue east on the A95 to
Fraserburgh. There was significantly
less snow here and the harbour produced Eider, a single Long-tailed Duck, Shag,
a Turnstone and an adult and immature Kittiwake.
Again with no sign of any
white-winged gulls we headed off to Ratray Point where remarkably there had
been a Desert Wheatear present form some considerable time. On the approach road there were plenty of
Pink-footed Geese and a European White-fronted Goose and two Barnacle Geese
were located. When we parked at the car
park and made our way out towards the lighthouse the wind was quite fresh and
cold. The party began to split up with
some disappearing into the distance. I
began to think that the wheatear would be impossible to find in such poor
conditions when I noticed a bird to my right on top of a small mound. I immediately got my bins on it and
identified it as the Desert Wheatear but there was only three of us close
enough to see it before it disappeared.
We eventually managed to get everyone back to location where it had been
seen and then Roger found it again and everyone obtained good views. It appeared undaunted by the strong wind and
continued to fly around quite a small exposed section of the beach and
dunes. We eventually left the site
seeing a single Golden Plover as we left for Peterhead where there had been two
first-winter Glaucous Gulls yesterday.
However despite a good search of the harbour there was no sign and we
headed off for the Loch of Strathbeg.
Desert Wheatear
Desert Wheatear
Female Eider at Peterhead
Female Eider at Peterhead
Turnstone at Peterhead
Second-winter Herring Gull at Peterhead
First-winter male and female Goldeneye at Loch of Strathbeg
Adult and juvenile Whooper Swan alighting on Loch of Strathbeg
Adult and juvenile Whooper Swan on Loch of Strathbeg
Wednesday was a bright but
cold morning and there was plenty of snow on the ground. As we waited for the vehicle one of the party
found a female Brambling feeding under the feeding station at the hotel and all
had a good view.
As we made our way to the
first site at Dorback the roads became more difficult the closer we got and
Jonny had to take over the driving for a while as he is a magician in terms of
driving in the snow. We eventually
arrived at the site and a distant views of eight cock Black Grouse displaying
close to a fence as well as two Red Grouse.
We moved on to the link road
from Nethy Bridge to the A939 where we had superb views of Red Grouse.
Red Grouse from the link road
On the return to the hotel for
coffee we found a large group of passerines feeding in a stubble field and on
the road. The flock was mainly Chaffinch
but did contain at least four Brambling, including a nice male and several Reed
Buntings. After a tour of Nethy Bridge
we eventually found eleven Waxwings that provided superb views. Back at the hotel we had further views of the
Brambling.
Female Brambling near Nethy Bridge
Waxwing in Nethy Bridge
Rook at hotel
Brambling at hotel
The RSPB centre at Loch Garten
was our next site and after a few minutes Jonny had talked in, yes talked in,
several Coal Tits and some were quite happy to come and take peanuts from the
hand. Three Lesser Redpoll also came in
but stayed high in the trees and after placing some food on the ground it
wasn’t too long before a Crested Tit arrived.
Over the next hour we had superb view of at least two Crested Tits and
there must have been at least twenty Coal Tits present.
Goldcrest at Loch Garten
Coal Tit at Loch Garten
Coal Tit at Loch Garten
Crested Tit at Loch Garten
Crested Tit at Loch Garten
Having got rather cold
watching the feeding tits we decided to move off to the Cairngorm car park in
search of Ptarmigan and Snow Bunting.
It was quite some time before
Chris found two Ptarmigan quite high up that were quite difficult to see unless
they moved but Ted then found one much closer that promptly disappeared. After a frustrating wait it did come out
again and we eventually got some rather nice views of a male. A Snow Bunting was then heard and a quick
scan and I picked up two in flight as they flew away from the car park area and
they were soon lost from view across the backdrop of the mountain.
The rest of the afternoon was
rather unproductive, although entertaining as Chris managed to get the vehicle
stick in the snow but Jonny took over and soon had us back on the road.
It had been quality rather
quantity today as we only saw thirty species.
Thursday 24th was
another dull a cold day with an early start to go the west coast and hopefully
White-tailed Eagle. We stopped at Dundonnell,
which was at the end of a sea loch were we saw eight Red-breasted Mergansers,
two Great Northern Divers, a Slavonia Grebe and several Ringed Plover, and
Turnstone.
We then moved on to a roadside
location that gave views of Gruinard Island where there was a nice party of
Barnacle Geese feeding in a field. There
were a number of Great Northern Divers and a party of twenty Black-throated
Diver were observed further out. A Black
Guillemot and Common Scoter were also observed and a Raven flew over.
At our next roadside stop we
found more Great Northern Divers and seven Slavonian Grebes in a tight flock
that were joined by six Common Scoters.
There was also a Red-breasted Merganser and further views of the
Black-throated Divers.
Further along the road we
stopped again where there were quite a few Common Seals and two Otters were
observed close too and on the shore. A
Velvet Scoter and two more Black Guillemots were also observed.
With still no sign of the
expected White-tailed Eagles we moved onto Mellon Udrigle where we had
lunch. A further two Black Guillemots
were observed off shore and a Guillemot and Razorbill were also located.
We recovered our tracks on the
way back and Chris and Jonny picked up a White-tailed Eagle, although only on
individual managed to see it though Jonny’s scope, apparently it was estimated
to be about six miles away.
There were no further
sightings and the only other bird of note was a female Goosander before we
headed off back to Nethy Bridge.
Loch Glascamoch
Loch Glascamoch
Mellon Udrigle
Today we were to visit the
Black Isle but before that we went to a wood on the southern edge of Grantown
on Spey where we were to search for crossbills.
There was no sign of any during our forty minute walk and all we saw was
a Coal Tit, Treecreeper, Wren and a few Bullfinch, which did look rather superb
in the snowy conditions. It was
interesting that during the walk I failed to notice a single cone on any of the
pines and the crop is reported to have failed, which is almost certainly why
there are no crossbills but where are they?
After checking out a field in
the south west corner of the Black Isle again unsuccessfully for a white-winged
gulls we headed off for Udale Bay where there has been a drake American
Wigeon. As we crossed the Black Isle we
had our first of what was to be four Red Kites on the isle and on reaching
Udale Bay the tide was still high, which was best for the Wigeon. There were plenty of wildfowl and wades not
too far away from the hide but the American Wigeon was found on the far side
and we moved back to a screen on the western edge for better views. There were plenty of Oystercatcher, Dunlin,
Bar-tailed Godwit, Curlew and Redshank and we did find a single Black-tailed
Godwit and had better views of the male American Wigeon.
We moved off along the southern
shore of the Cromarty Firth stopping at Jamimaville where we saw a raft of
c.300 Scaup. We also found our first
Red-throated Diver of the trip, two Slavonian Grebes and three Long-tailed
Ducks. Moving further along we had some
closer Scaup and at Cromarty where we had lunch we found a Guillemot, another
Long-tailed Duck and a Red-breasted Merganser.
Drake Red-breasted Merganser at Cromarty
It was whilst having lunch at
Cromarty that the rain started and last the rest of the day. At Chanory Point we found our first Great
Northern Diver of the day but little else and so we moved onto Avoch. It was here we found our only Pied Wagtail,
which was to be are last new bird for the trip taking the tally to 118 for the
week. We also had several Eider,
Long-tailed Ducks, a second Red-throated Diver and another Great Northern Diver
and five Ringed Plover were on the beach.
Further on we took shelter under the Kessock Bridge where we saw an
Otter, Long-tailed Duck, Red-breasted Merganser and a Red Kite.
We crossed the Kessock Bridge
and called at sewage outlet on the other side of the Moray Firth where we
located another 100 Scaup, a Great Northern Diver and Slavonian Grebe. We called at Loch Flemington on route to
Nairn but failed to add anything new as most of the water was frozen. Nair fared no better with no sign of the
Brent Geese present last week and the best being two Hooded Crows.
It had been an enjoyable week
with most of specialities seen, which were supported by a range of good
birds. I finished up with a trip list of
115, twenty-seven of which were new for the year bringing my year list to 147.
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