Saturday 17th October
I met my friends at Kings Cross where we boarded the
12.03 train up to Aviemore. It’s a long journey but it was a nice bright autumn
day so we watched the changing countryside as we sped up north. Red Kites and
Buzzards were seen in the south. The train got busier as we reached Darlington
with football fans heading to Newcastle for the early evening game.
As we headed over the border into Scotland, skeins of
Pink-footed Geese flew over heading to roost. After Edinburgh it began to get
dark and night set in long before we reached our destination of Aviemore. We
were picked up at the station by one of the Heatherlea guides and had a 25
minute drive to Nethy Bridge. We had a late dinner and discussed plans for
tomorrow.
Sunday 18th
Breakfast was at 7.30 and an hour later, our group of 10 left in two vans to start our week’s birding. It had been a clear cold night and it was minus one, a bit of a shock to the system so we were all wrapped up as we arrived at our first port of call in Abernethy Forest.
We walked part of the
Two Trails Loop in the Loch Garten area and it wasn’t long before we heard the
calls of our target species: Crested Tit. It took a while longer to get decent
views of them but in the end everyone managed to see them well enough. We tried
again around the Osprey Centre but they didn’t show there; we did manage to
hear, and some of us saw a Treecreeper. Out on the Loch was a flock of newly
arrived Whooper Swans.
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| Early morning mist on the loch |
After a hot drink and a cookie we went to another forest
spot and immediately connected with our next target – Common Crossbill. It’s
virtually impossible to prove Scottish Crossbill now and they probably don’t
exist as a separate species anymore. Parrot Crossbills still reside in the area
but they appear to be pretty scarce at the moment.
We moved to a new area and different habitats, the moorland
and loch at Lochindorb where we had lunch. There wasn’t much on the water aside
from a few common ducks but we did locate a Red Grouse on the surrounding
moorland.
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| Lochindorb |
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| Red Grouse |
The rest of the afternoon was spent in the Lower Findhorn
Valley. The river hosted a couple of Dippers and we saw spawning Salmon while
the surrounding hills gave us the usual raptor fest: Buzzards, Kites and a
Golden Eagle that we watched go along one ridge then flew over us to the other
side of the valley. Red Deer were high up on the ridges, while a few Roe Deer
were in a field by the road and we also heard a Sika Deer as well. As the sun
disappeared behind the hills, the temperature began to drop so we made our way
back to the hotel for dinner.
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| Lower Findhorn Valley (among various other names) |
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| One of several Red Admirals seen today |
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| Dipper |
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| Golden Eagle |
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| Raven |
After dinner, three of us went for a walk up to the golf course to look for bats and owls. The temperature had plummeted and we didn’t see either but we had good views of the night sky on such a clear night.
Monday 19th
After another large breakfast we packed up our overnight things and began our short expedition to Aberdeenshire. We had a two hour drive and didn’t see much on the journey. Our first stop was by the Ythan Estuary where we began looking for a White-rumped Sandpiper that had been present for nine days. The estuary was jam-packed with waders, many of which were either distant or against the sun so we didn’t hold out much hope but soon enough we found a likely looking contender in among the Dunlin. By carefully studying it we could see it was smaller and longer winged and eventually enough plumage details were discerned to confirm the ID as a White-rumped Sandpiper.
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| Ythan Estuary |
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| White-rumped Sandpiper |
There had
also been two American Golden Plovers but we couldn’t find either one in the
large flock of European Goldies so they were likely feeding on nearby farmland. A family of Whooper Swans flew past and some
skeins of Pink-feet went over.
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| Pink-footed Geese |
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| Whooper Swans |
After spending the rest of the morning here it was time to
move on and we went to Collieston for lunch overlooking the sea. A Red-throated
Diver was close inshore with a group of Eider and we also saw both Guillemot
and Razorbill sitting on the sea. An Arctic Skua came in and spent a while
harrying the gulls, forcing one to disgorge its lunch. Further out to sea were
lots of Kittiwakes and the odd Gannet.
We drove along the coast towards Cruden Bay and stopped to
watch some Pink-feet fly in when I spotted there was a group of Barnacle Geese
in with them. A family group of Whooper Swans flew past as well. A little
further on a Short-eared Owl appeared in front of us which had
just flown in off the sea.
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| Barnacle Geese |
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| Pink-footed Geese |
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| Whooper Swans |
At Cruden Bay we walked through a little wood looking for migrants but only managed a couple of Goldcrests and Reed Buntings.
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| Reed Bunting |
Further up the path was the
ruins of New Slains Castle so we had a quick exploration of it. It has an interesting history and is mentioned in two novels by Bram Stoker but the idea that it provided the inspiration for Dracula is just a myth although an octagonal room in Dracula's castle in the novel may have been inspired by a similar room in this castle. We then headed off to our hotel on the edge of Inverurie.
Tuesday 20th
We left at 8.30 and headed to the coast at
Bullers of Buchan. A couple of Grey Seal were in the bay along with a small
group of Eider. Off the headland, a few Gannets flew past but there were no
other seabirds in the windy conditions.
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| Eider |
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| Bullers of Buchan headland |
We continued our journey to Loch of Strathberg where the first birds we saw were Tree Sparrows in the car park; later on some came to the feeders.
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| Tree Sparrows |
We had coffee and watched the area from the visitor centre. A few family groups of Whooper Swans were on the loch and a few Pink-feet flew over. There weren’t many birds on the close marsh apart from a few Grey Herons and Little Egrets. I found a perched raptor in a tree and once I put the scope on it I could see it was a juvenile Goshawk and tried to get others on it but it quickly flew. Luckily it came right past us so everyone managed to see it.
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| Loch of Strathberg |
We then drove up the road to get a closer view of the main
loch. A Great Egret was feeding on the edge, the first one I’ve seen in
Scotland but they are regular at this site. A couple of Red-breasted Mergansers
were seen along with an assortment of common ducks. We went down to the coast
again at nearby Rattray Head, seeing a covey of Grey Partridge in a field by
the road. On the shore we found some shelter in the dunes for a short seawatch
but there was little moving apart from a few Common Scoter, Gannets and
Kittiwakes.
As we were late for lunch we didn’t stay too long and went
back to the visitor centre and had our food. A lot more Whooper Swans had
arrived since our earlier visit and were snoozing following their long flight.
From there we went to a different part of the coast at Cairnbulg where we saw a
few waders on the seaweed covered rocks but little else out to see as it was
still quite windy.
We headed back to our hotel, making a brief stop at the
Ythan Estuary to see if the Golden Plover flock was present but as they weren’t
we continued on.
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| Our hotel |
Wednesday 21st
The weather forecast had predicted rain all day and
unfortunately it did just that so birding was mostly curtailed. We checked out
of our hotel in Inverurie and went back to the Ythan Estuary where we
could sit in the hide. However, it was almost high tide so we didn’t have any
waders to sift through. There were still some birds here, including a
Kingfisher that flew past the hide, the first one I’d seen in Scotland. From
here we went to the coast to see if there were any migrants in the wood at
Cruden Bay. At least here it was reasonably sheltered from the rain under the
trees but there didn’t appear to be any new migrants in.
After coffee and cookies we headed to Loch Spynie and ate our lunch before going down to the hide. We added a few common birds to the trip list. On the walk back to the vans we saw a Red Squirrel come down to the feeders but it didn’t hang around.
We started to make our way back to the
Highlands via a couple of stops along the Moray coast at Lossiemouth. We saw a
group of four Purple Sandpipers feeding on the harbour wall before the waves
got too much for them and they flew out of sight to a more sheltered spot.
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| Lossiemouth beach |
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| Lossiemouth harbour |
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| Goosander |
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| Purple Sandpiper |
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| Rock Pipit |
From there it was a straight drive back to Nethybridge where
it just about stopped raining when we arrived just after 6pm.
Thursday 22nd
We had an earlier breakfast and left the hotel at 8am for a
short local drive to look for Black Grouse. There were four in a roadside
field, we couldn’t stop for long on the road so drove on and came back for
another look; they had just started lekking again but it was early in the
season so they were just practicing their moves at this stage. Further along
were another four a bit further back from the road so we were able to stop and
get out of the vans for a scope view.
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| Black Grouse |
We then drove up to the Cairngorm Railway and took the
funicular up to the top station. This was the first time I’d been on this
railway as it had been closed for repairs on previous visits. We exited onto
one of the viewing platforms but couldn’t stay more than a few minutes as it
was too cold. There had been some recent snow and the temperature was just
below zero but it was the wind that made it unbearable with the windchill down
to around minus six.
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| Looking back down the railway |
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| Snow on the upper slopes of Cairngorm |
As it was reasonably clear we were allowed out and we walked
around to the lea side so we could scan the mountainside for Ptarmigan.
Unfortunately we couldn’t find any and we were beginning to get cold so we had
to admit defeat and took the funicular back down, having seen just one Raven
for our efforts.
We drove over to Loch Morlich for a late lunch and a walk around just to see if any Capercaillie were around. We didn't see any but we did find the stumps of several trees that had been felled by Beavers.
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| Loch Morlich area |
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| A tree felled by Beavers |
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| Fox Moth caterpillar |
We then spent the rest of the afternoon around Loch Insh and Insh Marshes. At the latter spot we were looking for raptors and there was a Hen Harrier on a post when we arrived. It started hunting after a while and we also saw some Red Kites and the usual Common Buzzards.
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| Loch Insh |
Friday 23rd
With the threat of bad weather forecast we decided to have a
slightly earlier breakfast so that we could get get to our birding sites on the
Black Isle earlier. Our first stop was at Udele Bay, in time for the high tide
roost. There were plenty of birds to see with lots of Pink-footed Geese and
waders coming in while we were in the hide. There had been a couple of Bean
Geese recently and we did find a possible one but it disappeared among the
throng before we could confirm it. There were three Barnacle Geese in with
Pink-feet and a Kingfisher fed on the shore.
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| Udele Bay |
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| Barnacle & Pink-footed Geese |
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| Kingfisher |
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| Roosting Oystercatchers with Pink-feet behind |
We went down the road a little way to another viewpoint of
the bay and saw a lot more waterbirds including a flock of 233 Scaup, over 20
Slavonian Grebes, several Long-tailed Ducks and both Red-throated and
Black-throated Divers.
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| Scaup |
Next up was Dingwall on the Conan Estuary to look for the Ross’s Goose that had been present for a while. It was hanging around with large numbers of Pink-footed Geese but there were hardly any geese on view when we arrived.
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| Conan Estuary |
After a while small flocks of geese started flying over and
suddenly we picked up the Ross’s in one of the skeins. We tried to get everyone
on it and eventually everybody managed to see it. The flock landed distantly
but it was easy to pick out the white goose in the middle of the pink-feet
through the scope. Hopefully, this rare bird will be accepted as a genuine wild
bird as there have been some known escapes in the past.
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| Ross's Goose (centre) with Pink-feet |
Once we’d finished lunch we moved on to our next site, at
Chanonry Point where there was a chance of seeing dolphins. Although we didn’t
see any, we did end up seeing a Black Guillemot which was a good substitute as
they’re not common on the East Coast.
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| Chanonry Point |
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| Guillemot (left) with Razorbills |
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| Black Guillemot |
It had been a really good week in Scotland with most of the specialities seen, along with a few unexpected birds as well. We enjoyed our stay at Mountview and the food there was at its usual high standards.
Saturday 24th
We had an early breakfast and then got a lift to Aviemore station. The East Coast mainline was partially closed for engineering works so we took a later train to Glasgow and then another train down to Euston.
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