Sunday 19 September 2021

Musselburgh - Lagoons & Seafront

 In between celebrating my Birthday we paid a visit to Musselburgh, spending a while in the left most hide as that was where the majority of the birding was to be had, then finishing off with 15 minutes or so at the sea wall before heading off for some Prosecco!

The lagoons were dominated by the large number of lapwings, but among that lot there were some great birds.

Black-tailed Godwit;


Ruff;


Some distant Snipe;


and Green Sandpiper;


There was also a solitary Wigeon, some Teal and the odd Curlew dropping in and out. There was also 4 or 5 Grey Heron, the most I think we have seen here.

At the sea wall, there were plenty of Guillemot and Razorbill close in, more evidence of this strange phenomenon going on this year all along the coast. Going fishing 😊;



 Further out apart from the Gulls, Gannet and Goosander were seen, plus great views of three Velvet Scoter through the scope, much too far for the camera, this is when I had an adapter so that I could digiscope with the phone.

As we walked back to the car some Little Grebe were seen on the boating pond, as well as a large flock of small birds heading into the trees. These turned out to be a mix of Goldfinch, Blue Tit, Great Tit and a solitary Willow Warbler.

So a nice couple of hours.

Tuesday 14 September 2021

Sparrowhawk Visit!

 We had a nice visitor to the street yesterday:



It the flew down right towards us and down the passageway alongside the house, awesome!

Monday 13 September 2021

Cullaloe NR - Fife

 We drive nearby a lot but have never ventured on the the reserve until last Saturday, it was lovely and quiet, with great views of the lake from the viewing screen, there was even a bench, which was a bonus!




As regards birding, there wasn't a lot but there were a couple of stars:

Black-tailed Godwit (and a Teal!)

and spot the Snipe.

Other than those a Sparrowhawk flew through, a Buzzard circled in the distance, the there were the Mallard, Mute Swan, Grey Heron and a couple of Moorhen. A bird was singing (kind of of!) in the trees but we couldn't find it and we are useless with bird song, you think after all these years we would have it sorted!

As we left a Rook was having a go at a Kestrel.

This is only 15 minutes or so from our house, so when we don't have a lot of time, it's the perfect place to visit.

Saturday 11 September 2021

South Queensferry - A Short Visit

 We were out and about on Thursday running some errands and were passing Queensferry and decided to drop in for the first time. We bought a snack from the Co-op and had 20 minutes by the Marina.

This was the first time since moving up that we had been to South Queensferry, obviously seen it many times when crossing the bridge, thinking that looks good, but usually we are always on our way somewhere and never get the chance.

It does offer a unique view of the new and old bridges:


The birding wasn't bad either, bearing in mind we weren't there long!

Black-headed Gull

One of two Wheatear,
There were lots of Guillemot in the harbour and marina,
as well as Herring Gulls of course.

In addition Sandwich Tern, Lesser Black-backed Gulls (of course!), Oystercatchers, Pied Wagtail and Starlings.

Saturday 4 September 2021

A Short Visit to the Cairngorms - Part 2 of 2 Everywhere Else!

 So for the other day we visited RSPB Loch Garten, Findhorn Valley & RSPB Loch Ruthven.

We started at Loch Garten as it was so close to our digs, we usually visit in the winter and weren't used to so many people being there. Our real objective was to see the Crested Tits, so with so many people there we decided our chances were slim, so we took a scenic drive up to Findhorn Valley instead and planned to pop into Garten on our way back in the late afternoon.

On the way we stopped a few minutes for a coffee in a lay by next to the River Dulnain. We were pleasantly surprised to see some Goosander and a Grey Wagtail:


As we approached the way in to the valley off the A9, a raptor flew off to our left, so we stopped to check it out, in Eagle country you have to check everything!


Through the bins and in murky light it was difficult to identify, but with the wonders of modern technology, I brightened the photo up and pulled it in, it was quite a way away and it turned out to be a strange tailed Red Kite.

Down in the valley it was very quiet, although we did manage to see a pair of Dippers, our first for the year, we pulled over on the single track road, to try and get a good view, but a local in a hurry forced us to move, don't want to upset the locals, and we lost sight of them. Apart from that we saw Pheasant, 

more Grey Wagtail, Swallows and as we turned of to cross the moors over to Ruthven some Red-legged Partridge.

We had hoped to see some Grouse or Wheatear up on the high moors, but we didn't see a thing!

We eventually dropped down off the moors and made or way to Loch Ruthven, where we saw a first for us, this time in the shape of a butterfly, there were a few Scotch Argus about, but only this rather raggedy one stopped still long enough for a photo:


The star of the show at Loch Ruthven if you are lucky are Slavonian Grebe, and that is the first thing we saw as we walked from the car park towards the hide. There was at least one pair with two grebelets, (I don't know if that's a real word!) Of course they never came close, preferring the far side of the loch, so it was a good job we had the scope. I did take some photos, but again it was very dull day, so I apologise for the very poor quality.



The only other birds on the Loch were a pair of Little Grebe and some Mallard, however as a bonus an Osprey paid a visit a couple of times, but only flew around a couple of minutes each time.


From Ruthven we headed back and as I said earlier dropped into Loch Garten, it was now very quiet, only a couple of camper vans in the car park and nobody up by the visitor centre (now closed for the day) We made a cup of tea and decided to wait for something to turn up, however after a few minutes we were besieged by Midges. We stuck it out for about 15 minutes, but with our midge nets safely in the loft back home, we fled! So no Cresties, just a Chaffinch, Woodpigeon and a Great Tit for our efforts.

Next day saw us drive home via the Lecht and a visit to some old friends, with whom we have become reacquainted, who now live in Kirkmichael. We stopped in the Lecht Ski Centre car park for a short while in case there was anything about, but again being August there was nothing, apart from some Swallows, however as we drove away from the Lecht Tina spotted a couple of raptors to the left, so we pulled over to check them out, but it was just a couple of Tourist Eagles (Buzzards! 😂 ) But just as I was about to drive off I spotted another to the right over a ridge. This time we struck gold! Or more precisely a Golden Eagle. Result! Too far for a photo though.

From there we had a lovely afternoon at our friends and even saw a Red Squirrel from their garden. So all in all a lovely couple of days.


Friday 3 September 2021

A Short Visit to the Cairngorms - Part 1 of 2 The Highland Wildlife Park

 We booked ourselves in to an AirBnB in Aviemore for 3 nights, the main purpose being to visit the Highland Wildlife Park. Now normally we avoid 'Zoos' but after watching a series about this and Edinburgh Zoo we were very impressed with the conservation work carried out especially at HWP and the very large amount of space given to all the animals. We timed our visit so that we had a chance of seeing the three Amur Tiger Cubs, we kept on eye on the HWP website to be sure that they were old enough to venture outside with their mother.

However the day we chose was the same day that the mother was re-introduced to her partner and things did not go well, shall we say he was a bit over eager and she retreated with the cubs back into the 'den' which isn't accessible to the public. That's wildlife for you!!

Having said that we still had a great day out. Before this my favourite big cat has always been the Cheetah, I can't explain why, just something about it that I find compelling. But there was a cat at the HWP that trumped the Cheetah:


The Snow Leopard, what a magnificent animal, it just took our breath away.

So here are a few other photos from our day out:

Turkmenian Makhor

Eagle Owl
Turkmenian Makhor
Male Polar Bear

Bison
Arctic Fox
Male Amur Tiger, that got a bit too frisky!
Female Polar Bear
Przewalski's Wild Horse


Capercallie
Scottish Wildcat
Eurasian Crane
Japanese Macaque


Great Grey Owl
Vicuna
Red Deer
Bukhara Deer

Rabbit
Elk

Barnacle Goose
Wolverine


Yak
Bactrian Camel

The following day was a general ride around to some of our wildlife hot spots, but I'll leave that to part 2.