Tuesday 7 February 2012

Scotland....... So far

Well we have been here two full days so far and have been touring around a fair bit. The crossbills are still being elusive, we have been to 2 'guaranteed' places so far a not a sausage!

But on day 1 we had two very unexpected firsts, we were driving alongside the river Dee north of Ballater, when a lone bird was spotted on the river, we pulled over and all the bins were brought into action, a Common Scoter. All because we missed our turning to Glen Tanar! We then drove about half a mile and spotted two more birds on the river, again stopped and four sets of bins flew into action. Velvet Scoter! Would you Adam and Eve it!

Today we added two more firsts for us Ptarmigan and Black Grouse. Plus loads of 1sts for the year.

The Internet connection is pretty intermittent in our log cabin, so will do a proper blog when we get home.

3 comments:

  1. You have notched up some great bird species already! Have fun!

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    1. Cheers Pam,
      Added another lifer yesterday. A Scaup. So well pleased. A quiet day today, mainly walking in mist! But have a full birding day planned tomorrow. Then dropping in to see some Red Kites (hopefully) on the way home Saturday.

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  2. Wow, a Velvet Scoter in the River Dee?! I was in Royal Deeside last month and hoped to see and take a photo of some rare bird species, but I only saw Black Grouses.
    Good Luck!

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    Ballater hotel

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