Scotland

Instead of my usual spring trip to Spurn, this year I decided to head up to Scotland to try to tick off some Scottish specialities. Namely Crested Tit, Ptarmigan, Capercaillie, Scottish Crossbill and possibly Dotterel. I knew it was a big ask - I only had three days including travel, but really wanted to get up to the highlands for some birding.

I left home at 03.30 on Tuesday morning to try to beat as much traffic as I could and maximise my time up in the Highlands. It worked and I was on Cairngorm Mountain railway car park by 09:50, and that included a stop for something to eat. It would have been quicker but for some significant road works on the A9. I got myself a ticket for the railway and boarded the train to the summit cafe.

Views from the Funicular Railway Car Park



On the Train

 Amazingly I bumped into a birder who I recognised from Spurn who was also heading up and we had a good chat as we made our way onto the viewing area of the Ptarmigan Café at the top of the railway. You are not allowed out of the station/café after 1st May unless you are booked on a guided walk, for reasons I can totally understand, so you just view from the veranda. And, to my surprise there were loads of birders there and, within minutes one picked up a Ptarmigan. The quickest tick I've had in ages. A few minutes later another one put in an appearance. Both still had quite a bit of white on them but were clearly moulting into summer plumage.  Sadly they were quite distant and I had left my phoneskope adapter in the car. I could easily have gone straight back down now the main target was in the bag, but it was stunningly beautiful up there. The weather was warm and bright, and although it was hazy the views were still very good.

We also had a couple of Ring Ouzels but that was it. I knew I'd be lucky to see Dotterel from the café, and I think it is probably a touch early anyway, and there were no reports of Snow Bunting so after an hour and a half I headed back down and straight onto Loch Garten RSPB.

I was mainly going to Loch Garten just to sus out the way ready for going on the Capercaillie watch at 05.30 in the morning. But, I was hoping for Crested Tit and Osprey maybe. I eventually managed to see the male Osprey flying around. A bit distant, but based on what the RSPB staff were saying, early morning is best to see him bring food in, so my fingers were crossed for the next day.

Osprey's Nest from the Loch Garten Reserve Hide

I thought I had a glimpse of a Crested Tit from the hide but couldn't be sure. The staff said they had been coming to the feeders just outside the hide but I wasn't so lucky. After about an hour, and once the Osprey had performed a bit I headed off around the reserve. I have been listening to Crested Tit calls and song for about a week now in preparation and it was time well spent. About half an hour from the main car park I heard a bird singing and eventually got onto it as it fed amongst the higher branches, before finally dropping down to give pretty good views. Sadly no photo's as it was just too quick! I did manage a couple of a Chaffinch and a Willow Warbler.

I have to say that the Caledonian Forest habitat is stunningly beautiful, as is the whole of the Cairngorms area. Abernethy in particular was really amazing.

The last picture above is of a 'veteran' Scots Pine of which there were many. I'm guessing it must be well over a hundred years old, minimum.

Day two and I was at the Loch Garten centre for 05:30 for the Capercaillie watch. Total waste of time as there was a heavy mist with views limited to less than 100m. After an hour I abandoned it and went for a wander along the track that leads to Forest Lodge deeper in the woods. I did manage to hear a Capercaillie - a female calling not too far off - but no sightings. There were plenty Crested Tits around, along with Redstarts, Tree Pipits and loads of Siskins. Coal Tits are ubiquitous!

Male Redstart



At 08:30 I decided to go to another site I had been told holds Capers, so went to suss it out with the intention of going the next morning. This next site was much more 'public' and at 09:00 there were dog walkers, joggers and cyclists everywhere. But I had it on good authority that the birds were here so, happy I knew where I was going next day, I moved on again. Next stop was a small lochan for Slavonian Grebes. I found them almost instantly, albeit quite distant. Absolutely stunning! I have never seen them in breeding plumage before so a nice first. I did try a shot through the scope, but it was quite breezy and the blurring was too much. As I was stood looking at the Grebes I heard a rustling in the grass on the shoreline. A stoat was running towards me, completely oblivious of my presence. It got to within about three feet then stopped dead. We stared at each other for a few seconds, then as I moved to get my camera, it shot into the vegetation right along the waters edge. A really intimate moment! Happy with my views of the Grebe's I went off to the Findhorn Valley in the hope of some raptors.

The drive along the valley is amazing. The scenery is again stunning. There are only limited places to stop and look for raptors (or anything else) as its a single track road with passing places, but eventually I found a spot where I could reverse the car, get out of the wind and see 90% of the valley.

The Findhorn Valley

My suntrap for the afternoon



To be honest, it wasn't brilliant, even though the weather must have been producing some excellent thermals. However I stayed put for nearly three hours, the whole stay made more tolerable due to me having got into the habit of taking my Jetboil, sachets of 2in1 coffee and a bottle of water everywhere!

Sadly on the raptor front I only saw a single Golden Eagle very distantly, plus a Kestrel and Common Buzzard. I did manage to see displaying Common Sandpipers though, as well as my first Common Tern of the year and a pair of Dippers when I stopped at a spot on the way back. Just as I was packing my car ready to leave I heard an incredible noise coming from down the valley. I had no idea what it was - possibly one of the large tractors I'd seen elsewhere? A few seconds later I found out what it was. A Hercules C130 doing a low flying exercise. And I mean low. I could see the pilot quite clearly. I couldn't get my camera out quickly enough, even my phone - but did mange this shot which gives an idea how low it was (imagine I'm on the road next to where the plane is, and then consider the plane had started to climb quite steeply by this point)!

On the way back to the B&B I called back in at Loch Garten - not the main car park - for a quick look for Crossbills. I heard them but couldn't see them. But the view from the Loch shore at that point more than made up for missing them.



Last morning and I was at the site I'd been tipped off about. I was there before first light but sadly no signs of Capers at all. On the plus side I did see Badger on the way there, and two Red Squirrels chasing around a tree was entertaining. I also got some close up views of Roe Deer. Then, just as I was heading back to the car I heard a familiar 'chup chup' call from the top of a pine. Sure enough there were six or seven Crossbills. I managed to get them in the scope to check their bills. They clearly weren't Parrot Crossbill, but the bill did look quite big. I managed a bit of a recording of their calls, so I'm going to ask a friend to analyse it with his software to check that these were in fact Scottish Crossbills rather than Common Crossbills.

That was it. End of the visit. I had the prospect of 5 1/2 hours driving in front of me without traffic, so to try to avoid hitting the worst of it I left at 07:30 and was back home at 13:00.

I stayed here at the Beinn Sealladh B&B and have to say it was excellent. Very clean and comfortable. Really friendly owners and great value.

Pallid Harrier

A male Pallid Harrier had been reported from Bowland near Dunsop Bridge earlier this week. I had thought about going yesterday (Friday) on the way back from work but decided I didn't have time to get there before dark. I had a list of jobs I needed to do today and, seeing as I'm heading off to Scotland next week for a few days birding I didn't expect to get a pass out today. Anyway, I somehow managed to get all my jobs done by early afternoon and was out with the dog when I noticed a tweet from a birder saying the bird was showing well and was really worth seeing. So, I chanced my arm and put the suggestion to my other half who, remarkably, didn't raise any objections. I didn't need any encouragement. It was 15.30 and I reckoned it would take me an hour to get there, plus at least a 45 minute walk to the actual site, so I was pushing it but set off anyway.

At 16:45 I pulled into the car park at Dunsop Bridge. I quickly changed into my boots, grabbed my bins and scope and set off for the yomp up to where the bird was. Its a pity I had to walk so fast; the valley is a brilliant birding location and there's always plenty to keep a birder interested on the walk, but I didn't have time. I was literally walking as fast as I could. On the way up I bumped into two birders I know, both told me the bird was still showing which was encouraging.

The last bit of the trek is up a short sharp climb and by the time I got to the point where it levelled out I was pretty hot and had a sweat on. Just before the top a dog walker stopped me and said the birders at the top had been watching a 'sea eagle' I said 'Do you mean Pallid Harrier?' 'No, definitely a sea eagle' was his reply. I almost sprinted the last bit. Three birders were stood overlooking the valley, pretty much in the exact same place I spent a few hours looking for the Eagle Owl a few years ago. They confirmed they had seen the bird and had also had the Eagle. One of them showed me a picture and there was no doubt.

Within two or three minutes the main reason for my visit put in an appearance. What a beautiful bird! It was so pale, crisp, and clean. It glided across the opposite slope and perched up for a few minutes giving great scope views. I had decided not to carry my phoneskope attachment, and had opted for my bridge camera instead of the DSLR. Big mistake. Although the extra zoom should have been useful in theory, the lack of manual focus and manual controls meant I couldn't get any decent shots. I did manage a handheld shot on my phone through the scope.

The bird performed brilliantly and even did a bit of sky dancing. It was just an awesome bird. Well worth the effort. Just hope it manages to survive its stay. As for the White-tailed Eagle. Nothing.

Lancashire Birding

I decided to try for the Hawfinches at Sizergh today. I tried for them last year, but I was probably a bit too late both in terms of time of year and time of day.

March is prime time for them at this site, and this time I was not going to sleep in; I intended to be there by 08:00 - any earlier and the gates might still be closed, later and I'd miss them again.

So, at 07:15 I was north bound on the M6. After negotiating the Saturday drivers on the motorway (what is it about people using the motorway on a weekend? They just cant drive) I drove into the car park at 08:15. The first thing I noticed was the bottom of the car park cordoned off. I took this as a good sign as some info on the Web suggested the National Trust do this to prevent the Hawfinches getting disturbed. The next thing I noticed was a group of birders on the café veranda. Another good sign I hoped.

I quickly grabbed my gear out of the car and walked over to the veranda. As I was walking over a birder motioned for me to look in the trees behind the café - a single bird was perched high in the tree tops. I saw it, but had very limited views and I hoped that it wouldn't be the best view of the day.

I stood on the veranda for perhaps half an hour, during which time I chatted with the National Trust Warden, who's sort of made the Hawfinches his project and who is responsible for the Hawfinch watches. Its great that the NT have embraced these birds and are making them accessible to birders. Anyway, the Warden is obviously very tuned into the Hawfinch calls because he picked up on one coming over us from behind (I didn't hear it) and then, there it was. Perched in the tree in front of us. The next minute it was on the floor feeding on Hornbeam seeds. Better views than I could have hoped for.

Hawfinch



Both the above images were phonescoped using an iPhone6 through a Leica Televid 77APO with 32x eyepiece.

The bird stayed feeding for about 15 mins before flying off over the café. So, at this point I decided to move on.

I hadn't decided where to go for the rest of the day but, inevitably I suppose, I ended up going to Leighton Moss. As is usual at this time of year, the place was pretty quiet bird wise, but crawling with 'people'. I wont say birders, or even general public. It was crawling with photographers. I only went to the causeway hide on the main reserve and that was enough. Well over half the people that came in had huge lenses stuck to DSLR's. The noise from their shutters on rapid fire is engrained on my brain and I'll be hearing it in my sleep. Now, I've nothing against birders who carry a camera (I carry one), and  I've nothing against anyone using a camera. But, taking 100's of shots of a Mute Swan with continuous shooting of 10 frames per second is not necessary!!! Thankfully most did not seem to be the type of photographer that (too often these days) tries to get so close to stuff they disturb it. But, the incessant shutter noise is a real pain.

A nice distraction on the walk back to the car was a small patch of Scarlet Elf Cup fungi tucked away down the side of the boardwalk.

Scarlet Elf Cup



Once back at the car park,  I opted to head to the coastal marsh hides. It was much quieter here, in terms of people and birds!! A Greenshank was probably the best bird. Saying that, its amazing that 10years ago the two Avocets on the pools would have been THE star bird, and a real local rarity. Now, I almost expect to see them!

Avocets

My two favourite ducks were also present in good numbers - Wigeon and Pintail. Both are stunning.

After an hour or so it was time to move again. This time down to Woodwell - I'm sure the woods are not actually called that, but that's what I call it. Its only a small spot, but it used to get Hawfinches. Sadly Hawfinches seem to have disappeared now, but Nuthatch, Marsh Tit and Tree Creeper are almost guaranteed and its just a really cracking bit of woodland, and sure enough, all the latter three target species appeared within about 10mins!!

Half an hour spent in woodlands like this really nourishes the soul!!

All in all a really good day.



Scarborough

I've just arrived back home from a couple of days at Scarborough. The main purpose of the visit was to join other Spurn birders on their annual night out, but I combined it with a couple of days away with my wife and daughter - when I was looking at hotel prices it actually worked out cheaper for three of us than 2!! Not sure how that works but there you go, and it made it a no brainer for them to come along.

The plan was to arrive at Scarborough just after lunch on Saturday, spend a few hours mooching, get something to eat and then I'd shoot off to the pub whilst Mrs H and AK went bowling, or played the slots or whatever else they chose to do for a few hours. Everything went as planned and we were eating Mexican food at El Gringo's by 18:00 and on the prom in the arcades by 19:30. I left them at 20:00 to join my friends in a bar in town.

I wont say too much about the evening, save that there were a lot of birders. I was expecting it to be just Spurn regulars, but it turned out there were birders from a few other places in Yorkshire plus, I believe, a few from farther afield. It was a good night and it was a shame I had to duck out early to get back to our hotel so I didn't disturb the wife by arriving back too late.

Next morning we went down to the harbour after breakfast. I had been told that there was a Great Northern Diver and Black-necked Grebe there, both would be good year ticks. I made the mistake of leaving my bins in the car, but thankfully I had my camera. I spotted a couple of birders from the previous evening and asked them the inevitable  'anything about?' and got put straight on to both the diver and the grebe.

There was also numerous Turnstones on the harbour wall, often feeding with the Feral Pigeons and a lonely Rock Pipit that gave pretty good views.

 

 Rather than just shoot straight home, I decided to call in at Flamborough on the way home. More to just extend the day out than for any bird related reasons. I managed to add Shag, Guillemot, Razorbill, Gannet and Kittiwake to the year list, but not too much else of note in the limited time we were there.

Overall a great weekend.