Birding Ecosse Blogspot
Welcome to the Birding Ecosse blog, if it is your first visit then thank you very much for dropping in!
This blog will follow all my trips and tours, so if you have been out with me recently the chances are very high you will make an appearance! Most of the pictures on the blog are my own, however if I do use third party pictures I will have obtained their permission and will give them full credit.
It is designed to be a lighthearted read to show how and where Birding Ecosse operates, so if you are thinking of booking a tour check out this Blog and my Blog Archives and then read through the Testimonials and you should get a flavour of what to expect! Great Birds, Great Scenery with Coffee and biscuits thrown in! Please note: All birds will have been viewed in a safe and environmentally accepted way, that is to say by using public access at all times or by the use of hides specifically erected for the observation of this species and by keeping at a safe distance and viewing through telescopes. Remember you can keep in touch via Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/dslaterbirdingecosse or twitter @birdingecosse
Did you know Birding Ecosse produces a newsletter? Get up to date news and offers first if you subscribe, check out “latest news” page for the most current publication then just select subscribe. The newsletter is a light hearted look at what has happened the previous months, full of Pictures and information (many that are not published on this blog page) of places we have visited, we also produce our mid-month “Planned trips” mailing which gives an update of all remaining spaces available on tours.
So sit back and enjoy the read, any feedback is appreciated.
Keep safe and keep Birding
Dave
26 November 2023
An impromptu trip out today with Lucky Lynda in search of a Smew that had been reported earlier on in the day at RSPB Loch Spynie. Luckily it was still there when are arrived at Lunch time. The image below is a horribly distant record shot. Year bird 204
Another Bertie Bonus bird was a Peregrine hunting the waders off Burghead point. A very nice couple of hours out and about in beautiful sunny weather.
07 November 2023
Best bird I have “found” in ages, this Great Grey Shrike put on a great show feeding along the fence line near to Carrbridge. Kept flying down to retrieve insect which it ate straight away (sadly no impaling!) What we did notice was the amount of poo’ing it done!
I have a feeling the bird may have been in the area for a while as all its perches were covered in dropping.
Great Grey Shrike – Carrbridge 07 Nov 23
01 October 2023
Been really enjoying my walks around a new “local patch” on the stunning Moray Coast. The local Grey Herons have been performing brilliantly!
Wednesday 27 September 2023
Cummingston
A lovely walk along part of the Moray coast, which is beginning to become more and more like a “local patch” for me. It is a lovely mix of Bramble thickets, gorse, mature trees, beach and rocky shore. 23 Species was not a bad total for the hour and half wander.
Curlew
Oystercatcher
Redshank
Stonechat
Sandwich Tern
September 2023
Will someone please slow this year down! We seem to have went straight from boiling hot and blazing sun, to just above freezing, wind and rain in a matter of days! But boy has the birding been good. As of today my 200 year list has scraped along to 193 with one last roll of the dice in Norfolk next month, I will compile a hit list of 8 species to get me over the mark (I hope)
Since my last blog in July I have been out on many tours and day trips, and below is a quick summary in pictures of the Highlights, I hope you enjoy!
Sooty Shearwaters, part of a single flock of over 400 birds!
Manx Shearwater
Hen Harrier
One of my regular Eagle locations has been turning up Hen Harriers this year, we have noted Males, Females and Juveniles.
Mink
Been noticing a big increase in Mink on our coastline between Burghead and Hopeman, not a good sign.
Arctic Skuas
‘Tis the season of the Skua, these two passing very close to shore near to Kingston on the Moray Coast.
July 2023
July is a month of confusion for beginners to this fantastic hobby, it is the month when I receive more “what is this bird?” photographs, with the birds most often occurring being Young Robins and Starlings.
Juvenile Robin
Juvenile Starling
A surprising find!
It has been a great year for Whinchats, with two individuals being seen on Skye and these birds seen in a Highland Glen, the first I have seen relatively locally for at least 10 years. In total we observed 1 adult and 4 Juveniles.
Whinchats (adult top left plus two Juveniles)
June 2023 – Round Up
Greenshank
Curlew
May 2023 – Round up
May was definitely a classic month with a full diary of trips and tours and our first visit to the beautiful Uists. I’m still getting used to my camera set up, but slowly getting to grips with it, so I hope you enjoy the results.
Corncrake – RSPB Balranald North Uist
Common Snipe (in the rain) Sleat Peninsula – Skye
Short Eared Owl – North Uist
Stay tuned more pictures to come!
Wednesday 03 May 2023
April was a cracking month, full diary of tours, a bus mans holiday down to Norfolk with a day trip to Suffolk thrown in oh and some absolutely outstanding birds to boot! Including Garganeys, Bitterns, Black Winged Stilt, Long Billed Dowitcher. Sadly I didn’t get pictures of most of the scarce ones but here a some of the ones I did get. Hope you enjoy.
Thursday 23 March 2023
Another fantastic show of Aurora tonight, so lucky living where we do as this is literally on my doorstep!
Wednesday 22 March 2023
For the last couple of weeks we have been visited by an immature female Sparrowhawk, and it has been fascinating watching its hunting techniques.
To begin with it flew straight from a nearby forest direct at the feeders, causing mayhem and every bird to “bomb burst” in all directions.
It then changed to making the initial attack at the feeders in the usual way before landing in a nearby Broom bush or a small rhododendron secreting itself within the foliage, biding its time, waiting for a bird to approach.
Both these techniques resulted in no kills witnessed, however over the last two days it has changed its methods, it now comes in to the area shielded by the tree holding the feeders, before swooping around the base of the tree and striking the birds actually still feeding and two date it has succeeded in catching two Chaffinches and a Great Tit.
Amazing to see a bird learning and altering it hunting ways and eventually achieving success.
Monday 20 March 2023
Well it has been a very busy period for Birding Ecosse with some great victims, stunning scenery and great birds. Below is a small sample of what we have seen and where we have been!
Beautiful Eiders feeling amorous in the spring sunshine.
Male Eider
Immature Male Eider
Great Northern Diver
Black Throated Diver
White Tailed Eagle
Common Scoter Male and female
Brent Goose
Beautiful Lochindorb
Slavonian Grebe in transition plumage
Rock Pipit
Pied Wagtail
Red Deer Stag
Red Squirrel on my feeder in the garden 🙂
Tuesday 07 March 2023
I cannot believe we are back to winter! Snow showers and forecast for -8 overnight! It did give fantastic light for photography, todays challenge was Long Tailed Tits, moderate success but need to try harder, Still really impressed with the R6ii a real pleasure to use.
Sunday -March 05 2023
Oh myyyyy! Just upgraded my camera kit to mirrorless and have sold my soul for a Canon R6ii with the RF100-400 with the 1.4 teleconverter, what a fantastic camera, so easy to use (very user friendly menus) and the lens and eye tracking is just amazing,
The pictures below are cropped only, no sharpening, no denoising no altering at all, absolutely pin sharp. I had so many “keepers” it was hard deciding which images to use.
MacSlater’s Fast Food outlet now open!
We seem to have opened a fast food outlet in our back garden! An immature female and an adult male Sparrowhawk have taken up visiting frequently throughout the day, now this gives me mixed emotions as the loss of any of “our” small birds are like losing a family pet, we have watched them closely over the past 10 months, the flocks of Long Tailed Tits telling us off as we fill the feeders, the numerous Chaffinches, Blue, Great and Coal Tits, and of course one of Lucky Lynda’s favourites, the Great Spotted Woodpeckers are all now part of our daily life and birding, but these Sparrowhawks are a different level!
It is quite exhilarating watching a predator hunt, and these birds have two methods, 1. the normal Sparrowhawk method of a lightening quick dash through the garden with the opportunistic chance of snatching a bird off the feeder and 2, Hiding deep within our Rhododendron and waiting for the small birds to forget they are there! However the stats so far are 10 attacks and zero kills!
Male Sparrowhawk
Immature Female Sparrowhawk.
Bird watching in the Scottish Highlands
14 February 2023
It was a tad concerning watching the temperature start to drop as I drove inland for today pick up Heather staying in the beautiful Glen Livet. +7 +6 +5 +4 Ice warning light on dashboard come on +3, frost starting to dust the grass beside the road, +2 sun just rising +1 pools in fields showing a thin layer of Ice 0 – Crystal clear morning, -1 pheasants sitting in a small group with frost on their back feathers, -2 plumes of delicious smelling steam spilling out of vents!
First stop was Cairngorm, where upon arrival I was amazed at a) the amount of skiers and b) the lack of snow! Goodness how or where all these folk would find enough snow to hold them all!
Luckily we did connect with our target bird (and lifer for Heather) when two Snow Bunting flew past and settled on the path well out of the way of the skiers. And boy did they show well!
