Fife Ness & Kilminning NR

 Just a few shots from a trip out to Crail and Fife Ness:

Curlew keeping an eye on an Oystercatcher,

Dunnock,

Goldfinches,

A Buzzard posed nicely for us,

Kestrel over the golf course,

Curlew again

and Oystercatchers.

Sparrowhawk having a rest after chasing some Redshank and Turnstone around the rocks, sadly for him no lunch!

Finally a nice shot of the Isle of May from the hide.

A Quick Trip to the Isle of Bute

 We took ourselves off to the Isle of Bute for a few days towards the end of September and added it to our Scottish Island list. We loved that it is compact and takes no time to get anywhere and has some great bird watching spots. Of course probably not the best time of year to go but it was a good recce trip.

Having said that we did see a few things:

From a hide at Loch Fad, there were a few Mute Swans,

Dragonflies, I'm always trying to get a shot in flight and I think this is my best attempt so far.

(I think this is a male Emperor Dragonfly, but I'm happy to be corrected!)

A very obliging Buzzard,

plus lots of Goldfinches.

St Ninian's Bay was a great spot, we went there a couple of times, it was just such a beautiful place to be. With lots about;

Stonechat,

Curlew,

Merganser,

another Curlew,

Common Gull,

and Wheatear.

On the Salt Marshes at St Ninian's there were loads of Canada & Greylag Geese as well as Gulls and the odd Grey Heron.

Another great spot was Ettrick Bay (Great Cafe there as well, with some of the biggest cakes we've ever seen, so we had to try a couple!) Again Curlew, Gulls, Merganser plus some Sea Ducks too far out to identify even with the scope, but the hide looks a great place for winter birding.

So for two full days we 'only' managed 39 species, but the potential is huge at the right time. We'll certainly be going back, plus we found a great studio apartment with sea views only 5 minutes from the ferry.

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!

Winsford, Cheshire

 A family visit took us up to Cheshire in September and the River Weaver again not many birds about but there were a few other things around.

Buzzard going over,

Red Admiral,

The River Weaver,

Common Hawker (I think!)

Always wanted to get a Dragonfly in flight and finally managed it!

Juvenile Goldfinch,

Speckled Wood,

Common Darter, again I think it is, no expert on Dragonflies,

and a distant Heron.

Lovely Day!