Scotland 2019 part 4: oils well that ends well...

Most times we go up to Scotland we pay a visit to the Black Isle. This is about 45 minutes drive north of Inverness when you leave from Aviemore. One of the main reasons to go is to see the dolphins at Chanonry Point. A couple of hours after low tide the pod of dolphins will, hopefully, follow the fish into the estuary. At times they can come in very close to the shoreline allowing for spectacular views. It can be a bit hit and miss. The last time we went we spent a few hours on a VERY cold beach in sleety rain watching not a lot! As I said, it is very tide dependent so before we decided when to go we checked the tide times. The best opportunity seemed to be the day we were going to Speyside from Applecross. The problem was that meant getting to Chanonry Point by about 8 in the morning! So, in the dark we left Applecross well before dawn. The roads were very dark and deserted  and as I came round a corner it was filled with red deer! I'm not sure who was more surprised but thankfully the deer belted off at high speed away from at the same time I tested the ABS on my car to its limits!!!!

As we got closer to the East coast dawn started to break showing the misty lochs. We got to the car park at Chanonry in good time but there were still half a dozen people already on the beach. A quick coffee and bun and we walked out down the shingle to join them.

For the next hour as the tide rapidly filled the estuary there were a few things to keep us occupied - seals, gannets, a pomarine skua - but no dolphins. We got into conversation with a German tourist who had seen some the day before so we kept hoping. I kept scanning the water and finally a grey shape appeared.

From there being nothing around suddenly the water was alive with dolphins. Within the space of 15 minutes I guess 30 passed between us and Fort George, a mile away on the far side of the estuary.

They didn't seem to be stopping though. You got the usual views of beaks and dorsal fins but mostly it was the classic "over there!" as they appeared then as rapidly disappeared again. They must have been following a school of fish into the bay because the pod stopped in the middle of the bay and started fishing. Lots of them suddenly breached out of the water in a small area where they stayed for 30 minutes or so. Unfortunately it was a long way away but still great to see.

We finally left them as they moved even further away. The next stop was further up the peninsula (its not an island at all!!). Rather bizarrely the main attraction is the large number of oil rigs anchored up in the inlet. They repair them here.

More interestingly though was a small raft of eider ducks just off the car park who were reasonably obliging.

By now we had been up many hours so we found a very nice restaurant and had lunch before heading off to Speyside for the rest of our holiday.

Scotland 2019 part 3: the joy of small things

I remember a family holiday back in the 70's, probably 1976 when mum, dad and I spent a week in Speyside. I was already into birding so it was a treat to see so many new birds. One of the highlights was going to the refurbished visitor centre at Loch Garten to see the amazing sight of nesting ospreys! In those days this was the only publicised pair and attracted lots of people to see them through a rather dodgy telescope and no live VT feeds! Since then the ospreys have flourished with well known nests in England and Wales as well as many in Scotland. We have visited Loch Garten many times since to see the female EJ and others in the much improved visitor centre.
Going in late September of course is way too late to see ospreys, they are already on their way back to Africa to their wintering grounds. As well as being a beautiful area to walk around, there is a very well stocked and frequented feeding station near the hide. This is well known not only by the visiting people but also by the wildlife creating a magnetic attraction throughout the year. We visited three times over the week taking a selection of peanuts, biscuits and seeds to help attract in the hungry hordes.

Most of the visitors were coal tits and chaffinches. The coal tits in particular were so tame that they literally eat out of your hand. Even as we were watching the feeding station they were hopping about around our feet trying to break into our bag of food.

The "most wanted" tag though goes to the local speciality, the crested tit. This is the only area in the UK where you can find these handsome birds. It is perfectly possible to spend hours walking the forest in search of them so it makes it a lot easier when they come here.

Whilst we were there we only saw one bird, or at least one bird at a time. They/ it were very quick as well, mostly flying straight in, grabbing some food and flying off again before returning 15 minutes later. The challenge was to catch one in a more photogenic pose and they did sometimes perch up first before dropping onto the bird table.

Really challenging to capture them as they are really fast and the light was always pretty naff so I struggled with high ISO and low shutter speeds. Pretty pleased with what I got in the end.
The last speciality was the even cuter local speciality, the red squirrel. We had a good run of squirrel sightings this holiday but the best one, and the only decent photographic opportunity, came near Loch Garten. Although we saw up to 3 at the hide feeder site they were mainly elusive or on a very non-photogenic tube feeder. We did know of a "secret" site in the woods though which we had previously used as a feeding site. We tried this and did get success with one squirrel coming in to have a feed.

Yes, it is perched on a fence post eating peanuts but it still oozes charm!

Scotland 2019 part 2: there's cows in them thar hills

Some of the wildlife in Scotland is not as wild as others. In the south of England you get used to farm animals being just something behind a hedge as you drive past. In Scotland, especially as far north as we went, the farm animals take over the whole road. On our way to Applecross we were stopped in the road by a farmer herding his sheep from one field to another. The wild eyed collie dog with him was a star making our delay a very enjoyable experience.

Once in Applecross as well as sheep wandering around everywhere there were the eponymous Highland cattle. A lot of the small farms or crofts seemed to have a group of 15 to 20 of them wandering around. They are very impressive beasts with their long, shaggy coats and wide horns.

For such fearsome looking animals which wander around in public spaces they are fortunately very placid. We stopped a couple of times by the road along with other tourists to gawp at them and take their portraits!

Our favourite though was a mother with a young calf. She was stationed a bit away from the main herd and it seemed like she was showing off her progeny!

It certainly adds an extra dimension to a drive in the country!!!

Scotland 2019 part 1: Not that easy

In late September and early October we spent almost two weeks in Scotland. We first visited a new area for us - the Applecross peninsula opposite Skye - and then went on to our favourite haunt of Speyside. Applecross was a stunning area and definitely one for returning to in the future. You are miles away from anywhere in a very remote and beautiful part of the country. The further we went way from the cities the more rugged and beautiful the scenery became.
We had a number of "excursions" planned for whilst we were there and one of them was to see ptarmigan. These are classic mountain birds of the grouse family. They have a stunning white plumage in Winter to camouflage them in the snow which fades to mottled brown on the summer. Normally you have to walk up to the high tops around Speyside to find them. Applecross is meant to have some of the more accessible birds if you discount off the 14 hours it takes to drive there!!! The area is the high point of the island, marked by a rather picturesque communications mast.   This in turn is reached by what is claimed to be the steepest  road in Scotland, the Pass of the Cattle or Bealach na ba.

This vertiginous road rises to the summit then descends down to the loch side in a series of white-knuckle hairpin bends, very popular with the many motorcycles on the road!

Anyway, we were there for the ptarmigan so we parked up and set off on the walk to the radio mast. It is indeed a short walk compared to the 3 hours or more in Cairngorm. After perhaps 20 minutes you reach the high point with stunning views over the hills.

We spent some time scouring the rocks for signs of any wildlife but after some while all we had found was some deer and a lone golden plover.

We were beginning to think that the birds had perhaps moved to an even more remote area so we had a final skirt round the mast and started to move back to the car. Suddenly Judith called out to me and as I spun round she pointed to a group of small rocks. There, lurking around them was a grey shape.

We had found our target and like most of its kind it was reasonably confiding as we blundered around in the rock scree.

It is still in Summer plumage with only its belly being white. It has its feathery leg coverings to keep it warm in the snow though. They also have a rather dashing red line above their eye. We watched it for about 10 minutes before leaving it to carry on searching for food in the rather desolate scree in which it lived.

A successful trip and one that partly conformed to expectation. The ptarmigan certainly is easier to walk to though it does take a bit of effort getting there. Still, with the Applecross Inn at the end of the Bealach serving stunning seafood it is a trip well worth making.

One amongst many

The Autumn birding period is really getting going. After the excitement of the booby there aren't any real mega's to compete but a scattering of good birds are around. Wrynecks, red-backed shrikes, barred warblers and ring ouzels are starting to appear. What caught my attention though was a lifer. It is also one which has been a bogey bird for me, having dipped on it three or four times. It is the American golden plover (AGP), a cousin to one of our commoner wading birds. A few come over here every year so not in the mega category but lifers are lifers and ones not requiring a drive to Cornwall need going for. This one was in residence on the Swale estuary in Kent, either at Shellness or Oare marshes. With Judith as my co-pilot we set out reasonably early to head round the M25.
As we got close to the reserve the phone alert told us the AGP had been seen and was showing well. The last part of the journey is off-road down a very bumpy track so I tried to be as careful as I could but we did pitch into a few potholes. About half way down the track we met two birders. Window down, "any sign?'. "Yes, but it flew off about 5 minutes ago, heading toward Oare". Now that was both good and bad news. Good that it was definitely still there but bad because Oare, although only 5 minutes flight time for a bird, is 40 minutes drive. Not really an option to chase the bird! Despite a bit of sulking and bad language on my part we made the best out of a bad job and made for the end of the track for coffee.

The main issue we had was how easy it could be to look for the bird if it came back. The beach is one of the top naturist spots in the UK and you have to be very careful which  direction you point your camera!!! A refreshing cup of coffee and a bun later we had a quick walk down the beach but only some oystercatchers and a few late Sandwich terns were around. As we headed back to the car I spotted a dark shape in the sky - a flock of birds! It was the plover flock returning from across the estuary. We carefully followed them down to one of the stubble fields opposite the beach. A quick trot to the car, gathering up of the optical gear and we were off back down the track. Two birders were on a high point overlooking the field already so we headed for them. A quick conversation and they were on the bird. low down in the stubble, but now to find it amongst about 300 of its brethren!

Fortunately the others had a good idea of where in the flock it was so I homed in on the area, to the left of the flock by some mooching gulls.

It actually stood out quite well when you got onto it, as in the photo above. It is a bit smaller (hard to tell), longer-legged (impossible to tell) but has a very pronounced eye-stripe and a darker back - tick! The whole flock was a bit twitchy and would take off and fly around but always came back to the same field. Only once did it come close though, allowing me to get a bit better view of it in comparison to the commoner golden plovers.

Still not brilliant views but you can see it is a very different bird! Certainly good enough views to be sure of a life tick.
After this we went over to Oare marshes, proving the 40 minutes drive time and making us very happy we didn't have to chase the bird back and forth over the Swale estuary.... It was pretty busy as it was high tide, with lots of godwits, redshanks and curlew sandpipers on the main lagoon.

The stars though were a large flock of starlings feeding in the bushes near the cottages.

It's such a shame that what was once a common garden bird is now becoming a nice-to-see uncommon one. They make a lovely noise when in a flock and we spent some time watching them happily feeding up.
A very pleasant day. One lifer in a superb part of the country, can't complain about that. Now let's see what else Autumn might bring.