Winter approaching!

The forecast for this weekend and the beginning of next week is looking a tad chillier that it has been of late ( it was +13 at 2200 on the way home from Inverness last week) so in preperation for cold snap I have been stepping up the garden feeding station.

Today the garden was alive with birds, 12 Coal Tits in the same field of view, heaps and heaps of Blue and Great tits, but most unusual where the thirteen Linnets in a nearby Silver Birch.

Here is hoping the wind stays light so I can get the 2013 ringing season under way at the weekend.

I will keep you all informed :-)

Happy New Year - A Brief round up!

Happy New Year one and all, hope you had a fantastic festive season and I wish you all the very best and good birding for 2013.

This blog entry is a quick round up of the end of 2012 and sets the scene for 2013.

The last remaining months of 2012 were very busy in terms of Birding tours, both full and half days, but also incorporating clients that had booked a special deal through the BWWC at the splendid Grant Arms Hotel in Grantown on Spey.  For these deals I provided a three hour guided trip around two local birding hot spots on the Moray Firth.

 

 

BWWC Mrs Palmer +3!

 

Once again I met many fantastic people (only a select few with dubious tastes in optics, see above).  Visited some old favourite locations and some new venues that will soon feature on the Birding Ecosse day tours itinerary.

 

Highlights for me on the bird front were visiting a local Black Grouse Moor and counting five Greyhens perched on top of a stand of birch trees, the most I have seen at this site and hopefully a good omen for the forth coming breeding season.

 

 

 

A beautiful frosty (-12) morning on a Black Grouse Moor

 

Heading North in the face of some truly miserable weather (the actual results of this weather front causing huge structural damage along the whole of the North East coastline, and as was to become sadly apparent also accounting for many deaths of Shags and wrecking of Auk's) Peter Hearn and I were lucky to pick up a Red (or Grey for us old timers) Phalarope feeding in the spume just off Golspie pier.  The gale force winds and almost night time light levels meant some awful pictures, so sorry for the quality of the following shot!

 

 

Grey Phalarope (or Little Gull, Little Auk, Kittiwake if you squint your eyes!)

 

Christmas eve saw Lynda and myself head North with John and Nicola from the Grant Arms hotel.  The weather was very kind that day and proved to be a small window of nice weather before returning to wind and rain.  A visit to the Black Isle, Portmahommack and Tarbat Ness.  The day went very well with some nice birds being seen throughout the day, Long Tailed Duck, Little Auk, Black Guillemot, hundreds of Scaup, Pink footed and Greylag Geese.  The day ended at Chanonry point trying to see dolphins, however by this time it was pitch dark and the dolphins had been put away for the night!

 

The lull between Christmas and New year was taken up with some local workshops along the Moray Firth, searching for seaducks in particular.  Is it perhaps the mild weather that is keeping the numbers of Scoters and Long Tailed Ducks so low?  Numbers are considerably lower than what I was picking up this time last year.

 

2013 dawned bright and fair, but with storm clouds lingering on the horizon.  Today was a busmans holiday so Lynda and I set off for a half day birding in the local area, because she is my charming and long suffering partner I decided not to charge her full price (only joking...... honest!)  Highlights of the day was a massive finch flock, just outside Nethybridge containing around 1000 birds with a minimum of 200 Brambling.  The most brambling I have ever seen!  Crested Tits showing well at a local RSPB reserve is also a nice bird to get on the year list on day one.

 

 

  



But without doubt, for me it was the confiding, bold and cheeky Coal Tits that stole the show.  A small amount of seed in your hand and they were all over the place! Lining up in the tree branches waiting to take their turn for this free banquet!  Now I'm a trained ringer and have handled hundreds of Coal Tits, but the experience of these wee birds landing on your hand and searching through the seeds in search of black sunflowers (the only food any of thenm took) is one I will long remember!

 

 

 

 

 



Coal Tit Christmas Tree decorations!

 

Dave the Human Bird Table.

 

 

All in all 2012 was a highly successful birding year, Birding Ecosse is growing at a nice pace and I am now getting regular bookings from returning customers,  my diary is filling up with new bookings and people are being referred to me, so I must be doing something right!  However I have many new ideas, and exciting new places to visit lined up for 2013 so keep watching this blog and my web page at www.birdingecosse.co.uk

 

Thank you to every single person that took part in Birding Ecosse in 2012 and looking forward to seeing you all again at some point in 2013.

 

Dave

 





I'm Back!!

Hopefully if your are reading this it means my computer gremlins have been resolved!

Many things have occurred since my last blog so it will be a case of "catch up" over the next few days/weeks!

I have been out on many day trips and have met some great people over the festive season, some new faces but many returning victims  customers, it was brilliant meeting you all.

Highlights have been. Red (Grey!) Phalarope at Golspie, Good numbers of Black Grouse on a calm frosty (-12) local moor and Little Auks at two locations on the Moray Firth.

A Big thank you goes out to the fantastic BWWC at The Grant Arms Hotel in Grantown on Spey, a first class hotel and birding resource in the heart of the Scottish Highlands.  John, Nicola and Kirsty thank you for your support throughout 2012 and here is to a prosperous and bird filled 2013!

 

Red Grouse



 

Coal Tit pretending to be a Crested!

Hope you all had a very merry Christmas and I wish you all success, health and happiness for 2013

Lang mae yer lumbs reeks

Turned out nice again!

Life has been hectic over the last month, so the blog has taken a bit of a backseat!

Had a brilliant tour with one of my most valued  customers, Kate from Elgin.  Always great company and dispenser of encouragement and information!  Thanks Kate.

The day started very well with a flock of 12 Waxwings on the outskirts of Forres, this was a lifer for Kate and my first Waxie of the season.

The destination for the day was Loch Fleet, via Golspie and the mound.  Then Embo, Nigg and finally Udale bay.

We were extremely lucky with the weather, no rain at all and the recent gales had dropped off completely.

Total for the day was 54 species and the highlight for me were crippling views of Redwing, Waxwings and a wintering Greenshank on Loch Fleet.

Redwing

Imm Grey Heron

 

Kate recharging her birdwatching batteries



Hola!

Well it has been a fair few weeks since my last blog (sorry!) but life has been hectic since my return from Spain, and my vertigo has also returned (luckily not as severe as last year)

Anyway, Spain, had a fantastic week with brilliant weather, 52 species and 10 lifers.  It was fairly difficult to get to birding sites using public transport and we resorted to hiring a guide, Josse from Parknatur to get us out into the countryside for a day!  And what a top day both Lynda and myself had.  Torcal el Antequara, Fuente do Piedra, El Chorro, Laguna Dulce all jaw dropping places and all back on our visit list for next year!

The Paloma park in Benalmadena was a brilliant place to visit and only a 15 minute walk from the flat, but highlight was the Marina, unfortunately we never found the birding side of this location until the last day!

The only place we never got to was the Rio Guadalhorce, the reserve just south of Malaga, what I initially thought was going to be easy to reach turned out to be a logistical night mare!  However I have a new "cunning plan" for next year.

 Rock Bunting

 

 

Griffin Vulture

 

 

Colour Ringed Black Redstart



And finally, I have found a way to get Lynda to enjoy seawatching.  Take her to the Med!



The return of "What am I?"

So the nights are drawing in, the Geese are arriving and anyday now Redwings and Fieldfares will being logged on my BTO Wnter Thrush survey, and it is the season where I put some of my "classic"** bird pics on my blog for you to ID
** ("classically bad!)

So here goes for the first, no prizes just the smug feeling of satisfaction that you were the first to get it right.   Good luck.

OOOOOOOPPPPPSSSS

Sorry folks I forgot to put the anwer on for this "what am I?"

It was indeed a .................. Rook!  It did look remarkable like a male Blackbird, well done all that guessed correctly!







The North Wind doth blow

Well in this instance it was a South Westerley and it was gale force, interspersed with heavy rain showers!  Unfortunately this meant most of the birds remained on the deck.
We did get distant views of two adult Golden Eagles along with Raven and Buzzard. Red Deer where in the area and gearing up for the fothcoming rutting season. Also a nice event was meeting Chris, one of the followers of this blog, it really is a small world! (I hope you got good views of the Eagles)
At Lochindorb a very confiding Red Squirrel sat beside the car intently watching us watching it and two Red legged Partridge in the same location was a nice addition to the day.
A great day out with great company and a good few laughs, with the weather adding a touch of  comedy throughout! 

 

 

Todays victims clients enjoying a cuppa at Lochindorb

(and no you don't get discount for not having milk)



Back to my roots!

Finally the wind and rain from the past week has moved on and the day was bright, sunny with just a few shower clouds hanging around.
Back  down to the foreshore at Nairn, this time togged up with all my gear and ready to give the place a thorough going over.  Nothing rare today but what I realised is how long it has been since I really worked an area, it was brilliant fun locating and identifying every bird that called or moved, I now know I had become "lazy" with my birding (as had been pointed out by Lynda as she pickes up birds I pass by with a casual glance!) So a bit of an eye opening learning experience for me today, and a real feeling of the buzz I used to get birding when I was much much younger!

As stated nothing rare or even uncommon, but the following list will show the diversity of species observed, it will be a fantastic place to do a Birding Ecosse workshop.

 

Part of a Skien of Pink Footed Geese in off the Moray Firth



Seawatching Heaven! Through the scope you can see Tarbat Ness light house, exactly in the middle  of the two ships.

Birds seen  (in no particular order)

1. Blackbird  2. Wren  3. Hooded/Carrion Crow hybrid  4. Pied Wagtail  5. Swallow  6. Blue Tit
7. Robin  8. Coal Tit  9. Goldcrest  10.Woodpigeon  11.Song Thrush  12. Oystercatcher
13. Herring Gull  14.Black Headed Gull  15.Shag  16. Guillemot 17.Red Breasted Merganser
18. Gannets  19.Red Throated Diver  20.  Great Black Backed Gull  21.Common Gull
22. Scaup.  23. Wigeon  24.Sandwich Tern  25. Redshank  26. Cormorant  27. Pink Footed Geese
28. Curlew. 29 House Sparrow  30. Razorbill  31. Rook  32. Goldfinch  33. Dunnock

Still no sea ducks to speak of so add another 5-10 species could bring a haul of 40-50 species in a day, not too shabby!

Having other duties to perform today I had to literally grag myself away from the place today, cannot wait to get back out.

New migrant hotspot?

Every now again you visit a place that you have driven past many times but never given a second glance.
Nairn leisure park is one of these places, yesterday I drove past after a futile sea watching effort and noticed this park and it's many migrant attracting sycamore trees.  Today wasnt the best day for a recce visit, the rain is still falling, however Friday morning is looking good for an early morning jaunt.
Excuse the slightly fuzzy images, damp lense, but will give a flavour of the place.

 

 





   

Big Sky

Another beautiful morning up here in Moray.  Birdwise pretty quiet, good numbers of Gannets lingering around the Burghead area, two Sandwich Terns and two Wheatears near Netherton Farm.

 

Big Sky

 

Grey Heron

 

Cormorant