It's been a while!

 Well it's been a very busy summer with one thing and another, so there's been very little time for birding as such. We have been away a few times but not on birding trips. 

We had a spectacular 10 days in Switzerland and we did see some birds on our travels, notably a Nutcracker and Alpine Swift from a cable car near Zermatt and Alpine Chough at Jungfraujoch:

Otherwise plenty of Red Kites seen from the car plus plenty of common UK species.

Back on our home patch we have managed a couple of walks recently, firstly Seafield (Kirkcaldy), this is a favourite walk and one which we have neglected, so it was great to get back there.

Nothing out of the ordinary on a very dull day, but here are a few photos:

There were 3 Wheatear on the sea wall,

Some Redshank,

Ringed Plover,

Cormorants,

plenty of Seals on the rocks just past the tower.

and a Kestrel on the hunt.

Also  seen were Twite, a solitary Curlew, Eider, Sandwich Tern, Purple Sandpiper, distant Gannets, a Fulmar, a Merganser and plenty of Gulls

 

We followed that up with a walk at Portmoak Moss a couple of days later, the highlight was a Spotted Flycatcher who was to quick for a photo and a Red Squirrel way up in one of the conifers munching on cones:

Otherwise plenty of birds about, but all too shy for any photos; Bullfinch, Great Tit, Siskin, Chaffinch, Wren, Chiffchaff, Goldfinch, a mass of Swallows by the small car park and a distant Kestrel perched on a tree in the peat bog.

We are off to the Isle of Bute soon so hopefully I might have something to post after that.

TTFN

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!

More From Orkney

 Here's more from Orkney...

The causeway at Birsay to the Brough of Birsay

and  believe it or not these were used for storing boats hauled up from the beach below.

Red Throated Divers at RSPB Birsay Moors

There were always plenty of Greylag Geese about

as well as Curlew.

Wherever we went there was always marvellous scenery. 

Oystercatcher with chick

Plenty of Orchards up at RSPB Cottascarth

as well as Wheatear

and calling Curlew.

From the hide at Cottascarth on the opposite hillside, there were a pair of Hen Harries nesting, we visited a few times and were lucky to see the male bringing food in and the female coming up out of the nest in the heather and catching his offerings as he flew over. They were probably keeping it low as the wind was ferocious at times.

This is the nearest the male came to us, so even with a 500mm lens and cropping the photo, he still shows up quite small!

Not too far from the RSPB sites was the Broch of Gurness, well worth a visit.

So not too many bird photos from Orkney, we saw loads but mostly rubbish photos due to distance and weather. We did see 71 different species of birds as well as Brown Hare and Rabbits.

So it was on to Kirkwall and the overnight ferry to Shetland.....................

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.