Shetland - Mainly Puffins!!

 We paid another visit to Sumburgh Head, the wind had dropped significantly, Tina even said as we got out of the car, there's something strange today..... then realised it was no wind! 😂

So here you go......Puffins!

There were other birds about of course:

Meadow Pipit,

Guillemots and Razorbills,

and of course Fulmars.

Then for some heavy metal birds, good views of Sumburgh Airport:

So that's it! Back to local birding....................................

Shetland - A Good Start

 So after an overnight crossing from Orkney we arrived at 7am in Lerwick and were off the ferry by 7.15. We had found a cafe in Lerwick that opened at 8, so we went there for breakfast, we couldn't believe the queue, it was a 'proper cafe' and the breakfast was great. As we couldn't get into our AirBnB until 3pm and it was only 30 minutes away we decided to go down to Sumburgh Head and do a bit of refamiliarisation,  as it was 10 years since our last visit, almost to the day. I also have to admit that we were really tired, we didn't get much sleep on the ferry and we had a nap in the car down at Grutness.

Of course the wind was decidedly 'up' so the birds were keeping a low profile. But a Wheatear showed for a while.

A view of the lighthouse and visitor centre.

The cliffs at the bottom revealed:

Gannets passing by,

Plenty of Guillemot

and Fulmar

with the odd Razorbill hidden among them.

But the stars of the show are the Puffins, although there weren't that many out of their burrows:

Too windy for this one!

 Great Skua (Bonxie) sailed past as well, shame I wasn't quick enough to get a decent photo

but the Fulmars will always put on a show!

So a really good start to Shetland and we still hadn't got to our digs yet!

January 2024 in Fife and over the borders into Perthshire and West Lothian

 So It's a new year and it's already February before I have got around to posting anything!!

So a quick summary, in the first weeks of the year we have stayed very local and brought the species count up to 43 by the last week of the month, visiting Kinghorn, Lochore, Kinghorn, Loch of the Lowes, Loch Leven and Musselburgh.

Not many photo opportunities but here's the best of the bunch in some rather dodgy weather at times!

The wind was up at Fife Ness,

Fulmars claiming their nesting spots at Kinghorn,

The sun breaking through at Kinghorn,

Red Squirrel at Loch of the Lowes,

along with plenty of Goldeneye.

Pheasant on the run at Musselburgh Lagoons,

where there were plenty of Wigeon

and Oystercatchers.

The Wigeon were spooked by something, but couldn't see what.

The finally a Godwit fly by as the weather closed in yet again.

Local Birding (Loch Leven, Loch Ore, Seafield & Kinghorn)

 We are so lucky to have some great places on our doorstep. Loch Ore is a 10 minute walk, Loch Leven is less than a 15 minute drive, then Kinghorn and Seafield are about 25 minutes in the car. So here a few pics from all of those that we visited in the second half of July.

Kinghorn:

We are in process of joining Shorewatch, this is a group of volunteers that monitor Cetaceans  (That's Dolphins, Porpoise and Whales to you and me!) on the east coast of Scotland and Kinghorn is one of the watch points, as it affords fantastic views over the Firth of Forth. So recently we have been going there a lot, but as yet we have come up with no sightings, we have been terribly unlucky as others have seen them at all times of the day! However there is always plenty to enjoy there. Watching Gannets and Terns fishing offshore. The nesting Fulmars on the cliff face less than a hundred yards from where we sit, so we have been watching the chicks grow up from tiny fluff balls to now quite large fluff balls!

A Fulmar on the nest, I have some chick photos still on the camera, so will add those when I get chance in a new post.

Some views from Kinghorn:

Inchkeith Island,

a distant Bass Rock,

and Kinghorn Harbour.

Lochore:

As I've probably said before Loch Ore Meadows is only a short walk from out house, it has a small nature reserve, with a (poorly designed) hide, which we visit as often as we can as you never know what turns up:

A couple of Snipe among the Lapwings. (it was a dull day so the photos are pretty poor)

Lapwing,

Curlew:

Elsewhere around the Loch there's always plenty to see:

Great Crested Grebe,

Greylag Geese,

Black-headed Gulls,

Jackdaw

a young Robin,

Great Spotted Woodpecker,

and a Grey Heron.

Loch Leven:

Loch Leven is big! It's about 13-14 miles to walk around, compare to just 3 for Loch Ore. But we have lots of different spots that we go to around it. The following photos are from the RSPB reserve at Vane Farm on the Loch.

Wild flowers at the reserve,

Orchid,

Goldfinch & Redpoll,

Young Swallow,

Goldfinch,

Little Grebe

That will do for now, I'll do Seafield (near Kircaldy) in the next post!

TTFN!