Having had a successful first day on my "Birder's Blast" short break with Heatherlea, I was looking forward to day 2. Having not slept particularly well (as is normally the case when I find myself in a bed that isn't my own) I was a bit tired and fuzzy headed but still raring to get out and about birding. The weather had improved a little meaning that we were going to attempt to see Ptarmigan on Cairngorm first and then take things from there.
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| Iceland Gull |
Jackdaws, Woodpigeon and Goldfinch were seen from the breakfast table before we headed out at about 0830. Mallards and Mistle Thrush were seen on the way to the mountain. Although the access road was open there were still the remnants of 2 metre high snow-drifts that had to be cleared to get the road open. It was bitterly cold and windy in the car park which was beginning to fill up as we arrived. There was no sign of any Snow Buntings around in their usual spots and scanning from various points around the car park and buildings drew a blank on Ptarmigan, though there were a number of Red Grouse visible. The funicular railway wasn't running so we did our best to hunt for Ptarmigan but spotting small-ish white birds that could be anywhere on a very large mountain covered in snow, while being buffeted by high winds, is never going to be easy.
We eventually gave up and drove round to a car park round the other side of the mountain. We drew a blank here too, so we headed somewhere for a tea-break. The somewhere was Badeguish, where we were approached by a team of trainee conservationists with questionaires. A Samoan lady asked me the questions about Cairngorm wildlife/conservation and we had a laugh when she referred to us as "naturists", though I knew what she meant. It was probably a bit too cold for removing clothing. While we had our break we saw a few birds - Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Blue Tit and a Crested Tit. A Blackbird here too was seen but I missed it.
Despite our itinerary for the day being completely flexible our next stop was still a rather unexpected one. We were going to visit Aviemore rubbish dump. We were looking for an Iceland Gull that had been seen there. There were plenty of Herring Gulls and Great Black Backed Gulls as well as Carrion Crows, Rooks and Jackdaws. A Sparrowhawk shot through at speed. A lorry arriving put up all the gulls and among the circling throng I found an adult Iceland Gull - my first of that age. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get anyone else onto the bird. After a short while, the bird passed again and this time a few others managed to see it before it disappeared into a field out of sight.
A Pied Wagtail was seen as well as a single Meadow Pipit as Mark headed for the fence overlooking the field where the Iceland Gull had went. His appearance at the fence put up all the gulls in the field and incredibly the Iceland Gull flew past us, giving everyone good views, including Sue who had said she didn't really pay much attention to gulls. I managed some nice photos and we all got back on the mini-bus happy that we'd picked up a target bird after our blank at the mountain earlier. We headed next to Carrbridge where we added Blackbird, Collared Dove, Starling and House Sparrow to our still rather short list for the day.
Mark's plan for the afternoon was to head for the inner Moray Firth around Inverness and a few other sites nearby where hopefully we would pick up a few more good birds. A Red Kite and a Buzzard were seen as we drove up the A9 and passing through Inverness we added Feral Pigeon to the list. We were headed to Clachnaharry, at the start of the Caledonian Canal where a drake
American Wigeon has been wintering. Mark hadn't even stopped the mini-bus to park when he spotted it along with 3 other Wigeon close in. We all had great close views before the small group swam off away from us.
Also round about were a Curlew, a pair of Redshanks, a handful of Rock Pipits and some Tufted Ducks. A Robin and a Dunnock were hopping around behind a bush. A few Oystercatchers flew past and Mark spotted some Goldeneye on the river towards the Kessock Bridge. Black Headed and Common Gull flew past and offshore we spotted a single Razorbill and a pair of Red Breasted Mergansers. A Little Grebe was also found. The plan had been to have lunch here but our immediate success in spotting the American Wigeon meant a change of plan, so we headed next to Milton of Culloden to eat our lunch.
This proved relatively successful too with a pair of Shelduck just offshore along with a flock of Scaup nice and close in to shore. Curlews, Wigeon and Oystercatcher were roosting along the shore from where we were parked. A few Teal flew in and landed. Mark spotted a Red Throated Diver rather distantly across the river as well as at least 2, probably 3, Slavonian Grebes. I magaed to see the Diver but failed to find the Slavonians with my small scope. Having already seen the species this year, I wasn't too fussed. Another Razorbill was seen before we drove on. A small flock of Greylags flew past. A few Eiders were spotted as well as a Cormorant.
A drive along the shore road at Arturlie gave us close views of waders along the shore though they tended to fly off as we approached. A Snipe was a surprise, as were a trio of Coots on the water just offshore. There were plenty of ducks including Mallard, Teal, Wigeon, Tufted Ducks, Eider and Scaup. Fields nearby had Herring, Common and Black Headed Gulls in them, as well as corvids, including hybrid Hooded x Carrion Crows and Woodpigeons. We headed next for the area around Inverness Airport where we would look for a few rarities that had been reported - a Spotted Redshank being the one I hoped we'd manage to find.
A large skein of Pink Footed Geese was seen overflying. The roads around the Castle Stuart area proved rather productive with Fieldfare, Kestrel, Lapwing and Yellowhammer all found. A couple of folk at the windows managed to see a Moorhen in a water filled ditch but as I was in the middle I missed out, as did those on the other side of the bus. A field full of Pink Footed Geese was scanned through quickly from a relatively busy road and Mark found a couple of
Barnacle Geese among them. Thankfully, we all eventually managed to see them and someone else noticed that the field also had a flock of Golden Plover in it. We failed to find the Spotted Redshank.
By now it was raining quite heavily as we headed for Loch Flemington in the hope of seeing a drake Green Winged Teal. A few Whooper Swans were spotted on a flood in a field before we reached the small Loch. Mark set up his scope and almost immediately found the sleeping
Green Winged Teal. Everyone had a look and we also noted Mute Swan here as well as a few others that we'd already seen elsewhere. Nairn was our next stop and we were able to add Goosander on the river as well as a few more hybrid Hooded Crows. We were looking for Brent Geese and were fortunate enough to see over 40 passing in 3 groups and a single bird. Also out on the sea were a Guillemot and a pair of Long Tailed Ducks. A Razorbill and a Cormorant flew past. Mark spotted some distant Sanderling but nobody else managed to get onto them.
We headed back to Nethy Bridge via Dava Moor in the hope of seeing Hen Harrier. A Pheasant was a late addition to the list on our way to the moor. A Kestrel was spotted distantly perched on a chimney of a hut on a hillside. It was snowing at Lochindorb but there were still a few ducks on an area of open water, mostly Goldeneye but also a drake Mallard. A small outflow into the Loch held about 50 Mallards in a very small area. A Roe Deer was seen standing watching us from the edge of a small area of trees, but ran off as I tried to take a photo. It was quite gloomy by the time we made it back to the hotel, tired but smiling again after our failed Ptarmigan search.
64 species of bird seen by me, including 3 year-ticks (in bold) and a few others I missed (Moorhen, Slavonian Grebe, Shag, Sanderling, Song Thrush, Redwing, Wren and Jay) during a long and productive day's birding. The adult Iceland Gull was also a highlight, despite not being a year-tick.
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| Red Grouse |
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| Herring Gull |
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| Herring Gull |
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| Iceland Gull |
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| Iceland Gull & Herring Gull |
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| Iceland Gull |
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| Herring Gull |
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| American Wigeon |
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| Wigeon & American Wigeon |
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| American Wigeon & Wigeon |
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| Rock Pipit |
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| Redshank |
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| Little Grebe |
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| Scaup |
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| Scaup & Shelduck |
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| Razorbill |
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| Mallard, Wigeon, Teal, Oystercatcher & Curlew |
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| Greylag Geese |
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| Scaup |
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| Pink Footed Geese & Barnacle Geese |
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| Golden Plover |
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| Teal, Green Winged Teal, Mallard & Wigeon |
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| Carrion Crow x Hooded Crow hybrid |
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| Brent Geese |
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| Brent Geese |
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| Mallard |
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| Carrion Crow x Hooded Crow hybrid & Starling |
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| Brent Geese |
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| Brent Geese |
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| Cormorant |
Species seen -
American Wigeon, Barnacle Goose, Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Brent Goose, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Coot, Cormorant, Crested Tit, Curlew, Dunnock, Eider, Fieldfare, Golden Plover, Goldneye, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Black Backed Gull,
Green Winged Teal, Greylag Goose, Guillemot, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Iceland Gull, Jackdaw, Kestrel, Lapwing, Little Grebe, Long Tailed Duck, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Mistle Thrush, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pheasant, Pink Footed Goose, Razorbill, Red Grouse, Red Kite, Red Breasted Merganser, Redshank, Red Throated Diver, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rock Pipit, Rook, Scaup, Shelduck, Snipe, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Teal, Tufted Duck, Whooper Swan, Wigeon, Woodpigeon, Yellowhammer.
