A Study of a Nuthatch or Another Visit to Haden Hill

Well this time I had a full charged camera, but despite the glorious sunshine, there wasn't much about, we thought the birds might be a bit more active, it was very cold though and lots of dogs about. We do love dogs but not when we are out doing a bit of birding. The constant barking and attention from uncontrolled dogs does get on our nerves.

So nothing out of the ordinary, some Black-headed Gulls were enjoying the afternoon sun at the Lower Pool:

as was this Coal Tit:

But while sitting on a bench enjoying a coffee and the sunshine ourselves, Tina noticed as shower of moss and lichen coming down from a nearby tree, it was a Nuthatch after his lunch. It hung around for quite a while giving me a few photo opportunities, it was quite high up and often in the shade of the tree, but I'm not too unhappy with the result!

A Quick Visit to Haden Hill Park

With an hour free and decent weather we too a short walk up through the Corngreaves NR and up to the Lower Pool at Haden Hill. There are no photos with this post, as after Scotland I had forgot to charge the camera battery and my spare has given up the ghost a while ago!

But we brought our year tally up to 60 with the addition of a couple of Jays and a Goldcrest, possibly two it was difficult to tell. The lower pool at the park provided a surprise with two pairs of Goosander paddling and diving. Really would have like my camera at that point!

Not much else to report just the usual garden/woodland birds.

On to the Highlands

After spending Christmas and the New Year in Edinburgh we left for four nights in the Highlands/Cairngorms. We usually have a week up here later in the month or early February, but as we have book a week in Norfolk in February, we decided to tag a few days on while we were up in Scotland. Finding somewhere to stay was difficult believe it or not, with a few of our usual place closed for a post new year break and not opening again until the 6th.

So we found ourselves in Tomintoul in the Richmond Arms which we stayed in two years ago, we hoped that the promised refurbishments that were allegedly under way then would have been done, but it was just the same, with the same notices up in the rooms saying bear with us. So this is definitely the last time we will stay there, three strikes and your out! (We stayed back in 2014 as well)

Anyway Tomintoul is not a bad base for getting to various places, however we now had to cram in to 3 days what we would normally do in a week! So day one we went over to Loch Garten for Crested Tits and then down to RSPB Insh Marshes.
So at Garten were weren't disappointed:
A couple of Red Squirrel,

 Coal Tits in abundance,

 Crested Tits came in and out,

 plus a confiding Great Spotted Woodpecker.

 We also saw Blue Tit, Great Tit, Chaffinch and Treecreeper.

It's a fantastic place in the winter, although as it was still school holidays a few more people were about than usual. At least being a gloomy day we didn't get the inconsiderate photographers that cursed trhe place last year when we came, but on the flip side it made photography for me difficult.

We then drove down to and through Aviemore, via the small loch in the Boat of Garten village where only Mallard and a solitary male Goldeneye were seen.

One time driving through Aviemore we stumbled across Waxwing near the Ambulance Station, but not this time, so we carried on to Insh Marshes. The highlight being 13 Whooper Swans.

Apart from some distant Roe Deer and a Buzzard, we didn't add much to the list for the day. Having said that we had a lovely time in the lookout over the reserve, the big windows are great giving a fantastic overall view and it was great to be out the weather. The feeders just outside were always busy, nothing out of the ordinary, with the hoped for Siskins not showing, never mind.

Day two we drove the opposite direction for a bit of a walk at Loch Muick, the drive there took us over The Lecht were we normally see Snow Buntings, but the was driech as the say in Scotland and there was no sign, all we got initially was a solitary Red Grouse, you can see how the weather was from this:

Further in with the weather improving a little we came across a large gaggle of Red-legged Partridge, that were very skittish, but just got a quick photo before this one disappeared through a fence:

There were a ton of Pheasant around here too and a marauding Buzzard keeping them all on their toes.

At Loch Muick the weather wasn't too bad, so we went for a shorter walk than usual. We usually spend the day and do a long walk, but we wanted to fit a drive to Glenshee and a visit to Braemar in as well, so we cut it short. The feeders by the vsitor centre only produced Coal Tit, Chaffinch and a solitary Greenfinch, however the river did get us our first Dippers for 2020. No decent photos though.

The only other thing of note were the Red Deer:

From here as I said we drove up to Glenshee in the hope of Snow Buntings, but again with murky drizzly weather up the top nothing was seen, at least we made use of the facilities at the ski centre.

We stopped on the way back down and scanned the hillsides for Mountain Hare we were much luckier with this, although distant, they were clearly visible against the snowless slopes. We were also rewarded with another Dipper on the river. The day was finished witha drive along the Old Military Road into Braemar where we admired the Christmas lights  and again made use of the facilities.

Day 3 took us upto the Moray Firth starting at Lossiemouth, which we explored as we had never done this before, it was all worthwhile when offshore we saw our favourite ducks, a small group of Long-tailed, even managed a photo!

Tina and I were delighted, never got to see one last year. The estuary was then explored and a short walk was in order, seeing a Goosander flying through,

 lots of Gulls,

 Black-tailed Godwit,

and more Gulls,

also about were Redshank, Dunlin, Curlew, Teal, Oystercatcher, Little Grebe and loads of Wigeon. This is definitely a place that we will be returning to. Next stop Burghead..
This time a much closer view of Long-tailed ducks, a pair were in the harbour entrance:

Very pleased!

We late lunched on the other side of Burghead town, overlooking the sea, where a pair of Goldeneye, some Eider were seen and strangely a Grey Heron that seemed to fly in from out at sea. Some more coastal exploring was done around Burghead Bay and Findhorn, but the tide was way out and without a scope it was impossible to tell what was out there.

So that concludes our sojourn up to Scotland. Giving us a start of 56 species for 2020.

Lets see what Norfolk brings in a few weeks time, we are staying in Wells so hopefully the Rough-legged Buzzard will stay put and the elusive Snow Buntings will remain at Holkham.

Good Start to the Birding Year in Scotland

Firstly a belated Happy New Year to anyone reading this....

We had spent all of Christmas and New Year at our daughters in Leith managing a day out in between Christmas and New Year, but not much to report from our explorations. We chased a couple of Waxwing reports from within Edinburgh, but each time they had gone by the time we got there, that's life!!

We started the year with a new years day afternoon out on the south shore of the Firth of Forth east of Edinburgh. We started at the Council Concrete Hides overlooking the Musselbrugh Lagoons. It was fairly quite, with nothing out of the ordinary until three Grey Partridge ran across the grass between us and the water:

There were a good number of Curlew about, but only one came close enough for a photo:

Other birds on the Lagoons; Lapwing, Wigeon, Teal, Oystercatcher, Mallard, Crow and Black-headed Gull. Some Bullfinch were seen behind the hides on the path, which was very nice.
Back at the boating pool, a pair of Goldenye showed well (in the gloom!) here#s the male:

Also on the pool were a some Mute Swan, Tufted Duck and a couple of Gadwall.

From Musselburgh we ventured further east stopping at Prestonpans and Longniddry before ending up at the estuary at Aberlady. The weather was really murky and with the tide in there wasn't a great deal to see, but we added Eider, Cormorant, Redshank, Shelduck, Black-tailed Godwit and Golden Plover to our new years day tally. So not bad for day one.