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....................................

Loch Mey, Caithness

 On our trip up to Caithness we paid two visits to the Loch of Mey. This has a great hide overlooking the loch. It's an 800m walk from the road to the hide through a couple of gates at the start and some rather aggressive looking (but not!) sheep.

The walk to the hide can be muddy and rough, so wear suitable footwear! On the walk there were plenty of Skylark:

and Meadow Pipit:

On and around the loch were, Lapwing;

Curlew;

Some Pink-footed Geese dropped in on their way to Greenland,

Plenty of Roe Deer,

Wigeon, Teal, Shoveler, Lesser Black-backed Gulls, Common Gull, Black-headed Gull, Reed Bunting and a solitary Snipe:

There are also good views of Dunnet Head,

and Castle Mey,

Oh and some of the aforementioned Sheep!

A Few Days in Cornwall

Last week we took advantage of a Groupon offer and had 4 nights down in Cornwall in Harlyn Bay just outside Padstow. It's six years since we were down that neck of the woods, so it was nice to visit some of favourite places and walks.

We started off with a walk around Pentire Head and the Rumps, which we had done a two or three times in the past and have our favourite coffee stop at the Rumps where we sit and watch. What we had forgotten is that to get there from the NT Lead Mines Car Park is quite up and down and that we are six years older, but we managed it and completed the circular walk back via Polzeath.

Of course along the way there were some birds! Unfortunately for some inexplicable reason I had left the camera in our hotel room! What a plonker! Only realised just before we got to the car park and didn't want to turn back, so just have to make do with a list of what we saw and a scenic snapshot taken on my phone.

The birds..... 

Blackbird, Blackcap, Buzzard, Cormorant, Fulmar, Herring Gull, Jackdaw, Kestrel, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Linnet, Meadow Pipit, Oystercatcher, Pied Flycatcher, Pied Wagtail, Robin, Rock Dove, Rock Pipit, Rook, Shag, Skylark, Swallow, Twite, Wheatear, Willow Warbler, Wood Pigeon and Wren.

The view....

So next day I did remember my camera and we went for a walk from Harlyn Bay along the coast towards Padstow, a nice flat walk, with quite a few birds about..

Oystercatchers,

 Jackdaw,

 Skylark singing,

 Nice views,

 Fulmar on approach!

 Bee, sorry don't know what sort,

 and Rook

In addition Pipits, Goldfinch, Greenfinch and Stonechat were about. We then went into Padstow for an obligatory Cornish Pastie, but the weather was now turning nasty, so other plans were shelved and we did some coastal driving for what scenery we could see through the rain!

Last day took us to Trevose Head for a walk down to Booby Bay and back again  fantastic scenery and more birds too...

Our destination ahead,

 and on the way, A Skylark or two,

 and where we started from,

 Linnet,

Beetle.... any offers for what species?

 Herring Gull,

 Meadow Pipit,

 Crazy Surfers

and a look back to where we had been.

After this we went to the National Trust at Lanhydrock for another Cornish staple, a cream tea and it was very nice thank you! With only a Buzzard (with a dodgy feather) troubling the camera.

Scotland Again - Handa Island

We looked at the weather and Wednesday was suddenly looking better along the west coast so we phoned the ferry man Tuesday afternoon and decide to go to Handa Island, managed by the Scottish Wildlife Trust, what a brilliant day. We spent just short of 5 hours on the island and did the prescribed circular walk, stopping for coffees and lunch as we progressed.

When you arrive on the island after taking the 10 minute crossing on a RIB from Tarbet,

you are met by some of the wardens at the beach where they bring a gangplank for you to walk down onto the beach. They then take you up to the Visitor Centre,

where they give you a 5 minute talk about the island and of course asking you to keep to the paths so as not to disturb the breeding birds. It's best to make use of the facilities here as there is no where else to go on the island.

I suppose the star of the day for us on the island where the Great Skua, they weren't bothered by people at all, of course we kept to the paths and weren't tempted to stray to get better views or a better photo. I did take loads of Skua photos and it's difficult to pick what to put on the blog, but I will add them all to Flickr in due course, that can be accessed from the link on the menus of this blog site.
Anyway here are a few;

As we walked up from the vistor centre up to the Cliffs (about 1.5km) we flushed a pair of Snipe that were right next to the boardwalk, which was a nice sighting. At the Cliffs there is a small loch where the Skuas go to wash as can be seen above, but then you find the Fulmars,

I have a real soft spot for Fulmars, they seem to fly around the cliffs just for fun!

Of course wheres there's cliffs at this time of year there will be Razorbills,

and Guillemots.

Just behind these rocks we saw our one and only Puffin of the trip, it scurried down a burrow before I could take his photo and sadly didn't come out again. Never mind there's always the Farne Islands in June!

Once at the far side of the island we came acroos plenty of Skylarks, Meadow Pipits,  Wheatear and views!

We stopped for lunch overlooking a bay frequented by Otters, so we were told, but of course not today,

after which we carried on around the island heading back towards the visitor centre, seeing plenty more Skuas and a few other birds too

 and plenty of Rabbits,

 There were a number of Shag about, some overflying Divers,

Ringed Plover and Oystercatchers, then from the boat on our return to Tarbet a pair of Eider

I really loved our time on Handa, the weather was great, the walk was brilliant and the birdlife outstanding.