Birding Ecosse Blogspot
The diary of a Tour Guide
Welcome to the Birding Ecosse blog, if it is your first visit then thank you very much for dropping in!
This blog will follow my trips and tours and all things of being a Birding Tour Guide, 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 light hearted 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
So sit back and enjoy the read, any feedback is appreciated.
Keep safe and keep Birding
Dave
August 2026 update
Busy busy busy! Tours have been in full flow this month so social media and blog updates have been very hard to fit, however we have had some spectacular birds! Below is an update from May/June and July
Finally managed to get to see the long staying Red Breasted Flycatcher at Culloden Woods just outside Inverness ,it kept pretty well in the shade but showed pretty well throughout our visit, we timed it well as it finally departed about 3 days later!
Waders have already started to filter back onto our coasts, some still displaying summer plumage, this this Sanderling above and the dapper looking Turnstone below, both birds picked up at my local patch “Burghead”
Always a pleasure to encounter, the Atlantic Puffin, these birds were seen on every trip this season aboard the “Seacat” sailing from MacDuff Harbour to RSPB Troup head. This years seems to have been a good breeding season with the colony expanding further along from the initial colony, I reckon 75/100 birds in total, add to this literarily thousands of Kittiwakes, Guillemots, Razorbills and my personal favourite Gannets!
Away from the coast it has been a fantastic year for singing Quails, we were bemused by the alternate song, akin to a me0wing cat in my ears, we were also extremely lucky to see a bird fly out of a where field, across the road before disappearing into another wheatfiled!
June 2026
A fantastic encounter today 12 June 2026 with a Golden Plover on a local moor.
Initially looking for Red Grouse the Plover flew onto the road side and started calling, it then went into “distraction” mode so undoubtably had chicks in the area, we drove off slowly so not to stress the bird but managed to fire off a couple of shots. A really beautiful bird up close.
Golden Plover
Greetings and salutations! So much has been happening since my last update, tours are really busy, birds are showing well and I have a new Granddaughter!
Highlight of any trip to the Outer Hebrides has to be the Corncrake, and we are lucky to have found a new and very productive location for them! This bird showed brilliantly over a couple of days staying faithful to an area of about 3 feet and calling continuously even in heavy rain.
Not a bird we see regularly up in this neck of the woods, this Redpoll was a nice addition to the days list.
May saw the first trip of the season to the Aviemore Ospreys, it was a slow day with the usual dominant male keeping off other feeding males, we did have a few dives though giving some stunning photo ops.
February 2026
Im going to use a Scottish word here, Driech, that’s how February 2026 can be summed up… Driech! (meaning dreary, wet cold and damp) but we did connect with some great birds.
January 2026
Sunday 25 January 2026
Wednesday 21 January 2026
We seem to have a couple of Sparrowhawks using our feeders as a fast food takeaway, one is a big female and the other is this very persistent male. Fascinating watching it hunting. But sadly we are one Great Tit down today, however such is nature and the Sparrowhawk has to eat as well. Not the best of pictures with low light and shooting through glass, but you get the drift.
Saturday 10 January 2026
It’s been a strange start to the year! Weather has been a huge factor in the lack of birding being carried out at Birding Ecosse HQ. Highlight so far has been a pair of smart looking (and quite photogenic) Woodlarks at a local estuary. Surrounded by snow and in beautiful sunshine it was a great way to start the year.
