Fife Ness Again!

 We took another drive up to Fife Ness last week in the hope of seeing some of the rarer birds that had blown in (Red-flanked Blue tail, Black redstart, Richard's Pipit etc.) We actually found none of them!!

Never mind, we still had a lovely time, doing a bit of sea watching, although that was quiet too!

Se here's a few photo's from some things we did see;

A Rock Pipit (one of four) on a rock!

Surfing Seals,

Plenty of Eider passing through,

Some Brent Geese (our first of the year!) 

Oystercatchers of course,

and quite a few Curlew about

Plus Lesser Black-backed Gull and a Cormorant.

Also seen were Red-throated Diver, Goosander, Shag and Gannet.

Usual small birds around the old airfield plus some Grey Partridge in one of the fields. Lovely Day!

A bit of Birding on the Isle of Arran

 We have recently returned from a week on the Isle of Arran. We managed a few days birding, as we had other things planned and also the weather intervened. Also for the last bit there is a lack of photos as my camera started doing weird things and over exposing everything I took. I have been on to Nikon support but they can't come up with a reason why it's doing what it is, so they want me to send the camera in!

Anyway here are the edited highlights; I'm going to start with a Red Squirrel fest at Brodick Castle, there were at least five seen from the Squirrel hide:

A few birds seen there too:

Robin,

Chaffinch,

Siskin,

Pheasant

and Coal Tit

as well as Blue and Great Tits of course.

We saw Male Hen Harriers on a number of occasions, one even flewpast the back garden of the cottage we were staying in, didn't have the camera handy for that one, but did get some shots up on 'the String'

Elsewhere, there were lots of Ringed Plover about,

nesting Common Gulls,

Herons,

Herring Gulls,

Black Guillemots,

Song Thrush,

a Whimbrel,

Oystercatchers,

Turnstone,

Nesting Oystrercatchers,

Common Gull again,

and Rock Pipit.

We saw loads more but by now my Camera had packed up completely. Our first distant Cuckoos of the year, Wheatear, Sedge Warbler, Whitethroat, Meadow Pipits, Swallows, House Martin, Red-breasted Merganser, Shelduck, Eider, Common Sandpiper and Hooded Crow, plus all the other garden birds of course.

Edenside & Fifeness

We recently joined Fife Bird Club, which gives us access to 3 hides in Fife for club members only. So on Friday we decided to go to the hide at Edenside. It's a lovely hide with great vies over the Eden Estuary, however we should have checked the tides! Most of the birds were out at the waters edge, a million miles away, even difficult with a scope, lesson learned. 

Just Oystercatchers and Redshank were anywhere near, although we had some Pipits and Buzzard in the adjacent stables field. But we'll be back!

So we carried on down to the FBC hide at Fifeness, what a cracking hide overlooking the rocks and sea! However it was pretty quiet, just Cormorant and Shag flying through while we were there. We did get a nice show from some Rock Pipit in front of the hide,

There was a brief view of a Guillemot offshore, a couple of Eider,  plus Oystercatcher and Redshank on the rocks, but that was it. Still a great spot though.

Finally on the way home just outside Crail we picked up a couple of Grey Partridge, always nice to see.

Islay

We arrived on Islay a week late after re-arranging our accommodation and ferry. The crossing was still a bit rocky, just glad we got there. We were based in Bowmore and despite many reports of divers, grebes and ducks seen from the harbour we saw very little, just some Red-breasted Merganser, our kitchen window overlooked Loch Indaal, seeing plenty of Gulls, the odd Oystercatcher and some Red-breasted Merganser.

We travelled the island thoroughly and saw 63 species in the week, we looked in all the places that 'people' were saying they had seen things, but none of the rarities were found. (Cackling Goose and Green-winged Teal) Scoter and Slavonian Grebe of which there were almost daily sightings also eluded us. Eben the famous Otter at the Bunnahabain Distillery failed us, although we went a few times when the tides are allegedly most favourable.

Here's a few snaps of some of the things that dained to show themselves:
White-fronted Geese at Loch Gruinart,

 Barnacle Geese at Loch Gruinart,

 Stonechat,

 Two White-tailed Eagles at the Oa,

 Hooded Crow,

 Starlings,

 Ringed Plover at Loch Indaal,

 Greenshank at Loch Gruinart,

 Lapwing at Loch Gruinart,

 Little Egret at Loch Gruinart,

 Lapwings,

 Believe it or not that's a female Hen Harrier at Loch Gruinart,

 Chough at Ardnave Point,

 King of the Sheep,

 Rock Pipit at Loch Indaal,

 Red Deer on Jura,

 Great Northern Diver at Bunnahabain,

 Common Seal on its perch,

 Eider om Loch Indaal,

 Part of a flock of 30+ Chough at Ardnave,

 Whooper Swans on Loch Ardnave,

 Pintail at Loch Gruinart,

 Roe Deer at Loch Gruinart,

Scaup on Loch Indaal,

and Brown Hare at Loch Gruinart Hide Car Park

We still had a great time though, we can't all be on Shetland for the Tengmalm's Owl! Other birds of note without photos, were a group of Snipe on the rocks at Bruichladdich on Loch Indaal, a couple of Brent Geese seen near the same place a couple of days later, Sparrowhawk over our back garden in Bowmore, a White-tailed Eagle taking a Teal at Loch Gruinart (awesome) it all happened to quickly to get a picture or any video, a Peregrine trying the same the day after and failing! Black-guillemot in various places around the island, a Red-throated Diver off Jura.

We finished with a small pod of Common Dolphin from the ferry back to the mainland. All in all a great couple of weeks with 82 species seen in all.