Scotland West Coast, Lochaber Area and Pine Martens!

We decided to explore somewhere new in Scotland this winter and stay on the coast, west of Fort William at Glenuig. This is in the Lochaber area.
Our main reason was to book a particular cottage where we were told that Pine Martens visit regularly, whilst the cottage didn't have all the mod cons we would normally like it would be worth it if we saw Pine Martens.
Was it worth it? I should say so we saw them every night, at least 3 different ones, judging by the spot markings on their chest and even two in the garden at the same time. I even managed some OK photos!

 oh! and a Badger as well!

Birding in the area wasn't as easy as our usual haunts, but we did find a few;
Great Northern Diver,

 Stonechat,

 Oystercatcher,

 Red-breasted Merganser

 and Tufted Duck

Plus as you might expect, plenty of Red Deer;

We did get a glimpse of a Golden Eagle over one of the ridges around Loch Sunart, way to far for a decent photo, so I didn't even try.

Norfolk Parts 2 & 3!

I never got around to continuing with Norfolk, as we scooted off up to Scotland for a couple of weeks, so I will condense parts two and three into one, so that I can get on with the Scottish stuff.

So for the rest of the week in Norfolk we tootled around our favourite haunts, visiting Titchwell, various other coastal viewpoints and a full day at Holkham with a beach walk and spending some timer in the two hides.

So here are some highlights:
Sunset at Holkham,

 Shoveler at Titchwell,

 Avocet,

 Dunlin,

 Redshank,

 Dunlin and Knot,

 Curlew,

 Grey Plover,

 Bar-tailed Godwit,

 Teal,

 This Black-headed Gull, followed us from Titchwell Beach, almost all the way back to the first hide!

 Little Grebe,

As we left Titchwell just before dusk, we were amazed to count at least 15 Marsh Harriers, working the reed beds.
Marsh Harrier at Holkham,

 Egyptian Goose,

 Kestrel,

 Cormorants off to their roost,

The full day at Holkham produced our first ever Shore Larks, after 3-4 years of trying!

Plus a very fine Brent Goose.

That was the rest of Norfolk in a nut shell!

Norfolk - Mid January - Part 1 of 3

We normally go to Norfolk in November each year, with the main feature being the huge flocks of Pink-footed Geese that can be seen, especially arriving at dusk at Holkham. But with having come back in November from our marathon trip to Oz and New Zealand we decided against it. However a couple of weeks back our appetite was whetted when I was talking about it and we looked to see if anything was available and ended up booking a bungalow for a week in Weybourne. Not as near as we would have like to our usual haunts but it was doable.

We made good time on the drive across on the Saturday and as the weather had brightened a bit we detoured via Brancaster Staithe, one of our favourite drops ins on the coast, with the added bonus of a toilet!

So a good place to use the car as a hide, especially as the weather wasn't that good after all!
A good start were a pair of female Goldeneye, this was the only place we were to see any Goldeneye for the whole week, as you can see from the photos it was pretty dull (and windy!)

 Bar-tailed Godwit,

 and plenty of Wigeon.

As time was getting on we didn't linger too long as we wanted to get to our digs before it got dark.

On the Sunday the weather was awful, so we opted for a mooch along the coast day, dropping into spots where we could view from the car.
Mixed flock of Chaffinch and Redpoll near Weybourne,

 Turnstones at Salthouses,

 and a Kestrel on a mast at Burnham Overy Staithe.

I didnt take may photos as the weather was so poor, but not a bad birding day. Clocked up the expected waders along the way, Knot, Redshank, Curlew, Turnstones, Dunlin, Lapwing and Ringed Plover.

On the Monday we went to Hawk and Owl Trust Reserve at Sculthorpe Moor. This is one of our favourite places always lots to see and is a marked contrast from the Norfolk Coast birding spots.
Robin,

 Blackbird,

 Treecreeper,

 Collared Dove,

 Water Rail,

 Brambling,

 Long-tailed Tit,

 Great Tit,

 Bullfinch,

 Reed Bunting,

 Pheasnt,

and Marsh Tit.

Many other birds were seen, Marsh Harrier, Sparrowhawk, Buzard, Chaffinch, Lesser Redpoll, Jay, Goldfinch, Wren, Nuthatch, Greenfinch plus all the common stuff. A great day, followed by a short visit to Holkham in case the geese came in.

Bewdley - Hawfinches

While we were at Upton Warren last Thursday, we got chatting as you do, with another birder, who pointed us in the direction of the Treecreeper whose photograph I included in my last post. He asked us if we had been to Bewdley to see the Hawfinches. Well we didn't know about them so, over the weekend I kept an eye on the Worcestershire Birders website and saw that at least 21 had been reported in the Jubilee Gardens on the Sunday.

So after having checked that the weather wouldn't be too bad on Monday afternoon, we took the 30 minute drive to Bewdley and made our way to the gardens.

We soon found a small group of birders, who told us we had just missed one by 5 minutes! The usual story when you try and go and find a bird that has eluded you. We have never seen a Hawfinch, so we thought that that would continue, until a few minutes later one popped up onto the top of a conifer in the gardens. It was fairly distant but after having had a good look through he bins, I managed some record shots:

 a female also turned up and settled briefly in a Larch Tree just behind this male, she didn't hang around and the shortly after our obliging bird made a sharp exit.

After this we went to find the loo, then returned to the park, we had another couple of sightings of single Hawfinches, one landing in the top of a tree right above us,

giving a closer if somewhat unsatisfactory view, having said that, you get a good impression of that awesome beak!

So I suppose you could class that as a twitch, but seeing is it's an area we visit quite often, I will still say it's birding! Once the above chap departed we went for a little amble along the River Severn which was very pleasant until the north wind decided to get up, so we retreated back to the car and made our way home.

First Visit to Upton for 2018

Had a very pleasant but very cold afternoon at Upton on Thursday with out friends Tim & Wendy.
We started at the flashes, parking at the Sailing Club, the Sailing Club, as we walked down the steps onto the reserve, this little chappy presented itself;
Goldcrest

followed quickly by this one;
Wren

then a few yards further on;
Treecreeper

A great start! We carried on down to the main hide overlooking the flashes. There were about 300 (according to the log book, I didn't count them) Lapwing about, at one time they were spooked and all took to the air,

It was fairly quiet and cold! We did see three Snipe settled down on one of the scrapes, not showing that well. Otherwise there were plenty of Teal about,

but not much else. A Buzzard did put in an appearance and moved from fence post to fence post over the far shore before disappearing. So after an hour or so and a coffee we ventured over to the Moors Pools, we checked out the new hide, very nice, this was our first visit since it opened, although at this time of year there wasn't much to see, so we carried on to the top hide and had a late lunch and more coffee.

I was please that the Whooper Swan was still there as this was a first for us at Upton. We added to our duck tally, with Shoveler, Shelduck, Pochard and a solitary Tufted Duck. Like the Flashes earlier there were also plenty of Teal and Mallard about. There were also quite a few cormorants too.

The light at this stage was very poor with the sun dropping in front, so I didn't bother with any photos from here. We had planned to go over to the other side of the Moors to the concrete hide, but with the light fading and also because we had got very cold sitting around we decided to head home.

A quiet but lovely afternoon was had and a good start to our birding year.