Visit Scotland (1 Viewer)

Hello, I am going to visit Scotland to midad of May and I would like to know if some Web page exists in the style of the Dutch www.waarneming.nl where to consult the observed birds.
Pardon for my english.
Greetings from Seville Spain.
Fernando

Hi this is a good site for the Clyde (around Glasgow) area that records some of the more unusual or interesting sightings http://www.pbase.com/clydebirder/recent_sightings

This is also a really helpful site for birding in Ayrshire (on the west coast) http://www.ayrshire-birding.org.uk/

I'm sure others can provide you with more comprehensive sites covering other parts of Scotland.

Where will you be staying while you are on holiday .

Henry B said:

Where will you be staying while you are on holiday .

Click to expand...

I am going to be 4 days in Spott (Dunbar) and 3 days in Roybridge (Fort Willian). And I have a long list of birds. Thank you.
Thank you also to JTweedie for the information.
Greetings
Fernando

Hi Fernando

There are lots of good places for birds within easy reach of Dunbar. For more information on where to go, what to see, latest sightings etc, in Lothian, and for the whole of Scotland, look here:



[URL="http://www.the-soc.org.uk/"]

Hi Fernando,

It seems sensible to start with seabirds:

The Scottish Seabird Centre in North Berwick is only a short drive from Dunbar & is easy to reach. Boat trips around the Gannet colony on the Bass Rock can also be undertaken from North Berwick.

If you have access to a car then it is possible to reach Anstruther in Fife (about 2 hours drive from Dunbar) from where there are once daily sailings to the Isle of May allowing close-up views of Arctic Tern, Kittiwake, Herring, LBB & GBB Gulls, Puffin, Razorbill, Guillemot, Shag, Eider duck, Purple Sandpiper (till end of May) & the possibility of some passage Skuas.
Check here: http://www.isleofmayferry.com/home.asp
with ferry times for the month of May: http://www.isleofmayferry.com/may.asp

Scottish Seabird Centre here: http://www.seabird.org/home.asp

The other Seabird option is a trip to the Farne Islands in Northern England (which may be a shorter drive from Dunbar than driving to Anstruther in Fife for the Isle of May). See here: http://www.farne-islands.com/boat-trips/

Fernando -which birds are on your want to see list?

Best wishes,

Steve

Hi, I would like to take the boat to the Island of May, since the one of Bass Rock is very expensive. I've got a hire car and I'm willing to drive many kilometres.I'm arriving on the 18th of May and I will be in the Lothian area until the 21st of May, from the 22nd to the 25th (when I'm coming back to Spain) I will be in the Highlands, but as I have mentioned before I don't mind driving a lot to watch birds.


Well, these are my main objectives:
Black grouse
Scottish Crossbill
Red Ptarmigan
Ptarmigan
White-tailed eagle
Capercaillie


But I would also like to see:
Red-throated Diver
Black-throated Diver
Slavonian Grebe ¿Loch Ruthven?
Red-necked Grebe
Pink-footed Goose Will there be any left in May?
Greater Scaup
Surf Scoter
Ruddy duck
Corncrake Any place in Skye?
Dotterel (I haven't seen it with its summer feathers)
Black Guillemot
Wood Warbler
Willow tit
Twite
Treecreeper
Common Redpoll
Snow bunting

Best Regards
Fernando del Valle

Here's a few suggestions, where possible:

Black grouse - quite common in areas like Deeside and Speyside, but not always easy to see. Glen Muick near Ballater is the best area I know of.
Scottish Crossbill - very difficult because identification is very hard. Note that there are also Common and Parrot Crossbills in the same areas.
Red Ptarmigan - I guess this is Red Grouse! Usually fairly common in heather moorland. Look for areas that are managed for grouse (tend to have patches of differently aged heather).
Ptarmigan - on high mountain tops, but can be fairly common once you're up there. Sites at Applecross and the Cairnwell (south of Braemar) probably the most accessible.
White-tailed eagle - Mull and Skye probably the best areas
Capercaillie - Mostly in Speyside and Deeside. There might still be early morning watches at RSPB Loch Garten in May (not sure of this though). Otherwise a very hard bird to see.


But I would also like to see:
Red-throated Diver - Quite common, and probably can be seen on the sea even in May e.g. on the Forth. More of them breeding in the west.
Black-throated Diver - Much less common. Great-northern Diver is likely to be fairly easily found in the west of Scotland in May, incidentally.
Slavonian Grebe - Loch Ruthven is the best site.
Red-necked Grebe - Probably difficult at that time of the year.
Pink-footed Goose Will there be any left in May? There will probably be a few around in May at the sorts of places where they winter in large numbers e.g. Loch Leven near Kinross, Loch of Strathbeg and Meikle Loch in Aberdeenshire.
Greater Scaup - will be scarce when you are around.
Surf Scoter - At that time of the year, the best place is likely to be Blackdog north of Aberdeen but they are not guaranteed. Check rare bird news for up-to-date information.
Ruddy duck - the best site I know of in Scotland is Kilconquahar Loch in Fife, although recent culls might have made them more difficult.
Corncrake Any place in Skye? Iona is often mentioned as a good place. Largest numbers are in areas like Tiree and the Uists.
Dotterel (I haven't seen it with its summer feathers) - Look for them in the high mountains e.g. in the same places as Ptarmigan.
Black Guillemot - Commoner on the west coast and quite difficult on the east coast as far north as Aberdeen. If you go to Mull you should see them easily in Oban harbour.
Wood Warbler - In oak woodlands but not really common. Best sites are probably in central Scotland but I'm not sure where to suggest.
Willow tit - only in southwest Scotland
Twite - fairly common in the west and the Highlands e.g. Mull
Treecreeper - pretty common in woodland anywhere in Scotland
Common Redpoll - do you mean Lesser Redpoll, which is the 'species' breeding in Scotland? Fairly common, particularly in birch woodland.
Snow bunting - breeding on high mountain tops but rare.

Hi Fernando,

For your main objective list you really need to spend some time in Speyside (Aviemore area).
Unfortunately Capercaillie & Scottish Crossbill will be very difficult -Capercaillie are now almost as rare in Scotland as they are in Spain!!! -The best chance you have with Caper is to book a place at the early morning Caper watch at Loch Garten (check the RSPB website) -you need to book in advance, it usually finishes about the 21st of May & there is no guarantee the birds will turn up!!!
Scottish Crossbill is a nightmare to separate from some Common Crossbills or Parrot Crossbills. Like Capercaillie your best chances are in the forests of Abernethy or near Grantown-on-Spey.

A walk up Cairngorm from the Ski Centre base to the high tops should give you sightings of Ptarmigan, probably also views of Dotterel &, if your lucky Snow Bunting.

Loch Ruthven is the best known site for Slavonian Grebe & usually has a few visiting Red-throated Divers which fly in to fish on the loch but breed on dubh lochans (small peaty lakes) on the hill-tops. The surrounding moorland & Birch scrub holds Black Grouse & Lesser Redpoll.

Lochindorb (north of Aviemore) is good for Red Grouse (Red Willow Ptarmigan) & with a telescope it is usually possible to see both Red-throated & Black-throated Divers on the loch.

The island of Mull is probably the best place for White-tailed Eagle with the short trip over to Islay being good for Corncrakes. The drive across Mull to the Iona ferry may give views of Twite and the ferry trip to Mull from Oban often gives good views of breeding plumage Great Northern Diver & Black Guillemot.

There is a reliable site for Wood Warbler about 30 minutes drive from Stirling (also a good site for Dippers) and then about 1 hours drive from there is a reliable glen (valley) for both Red & Black Grouse -it would be a long day from Dunbar but it could be done without too much difficulty.

Roybridge is not the best place to be based for the birds you are looking for -far better to be at Aviemore.

As I mentioned above it may be easier to do a good seabird trip to the Farne Islands from Dunbar than driving to Fife for the Isle of May.

Cheers,
Steve

Thank you very much for the indications and for your advices. Pardon for the confusion with the English names (Red grouse etc). I will try to plan the visit with your information.
Again thank you very much.
You already know if you want to visit the south of Spain and concretely Sevilla or Doñana contac email.
Best regards

There are some sites that are not too far from where you are staying.

Wood warblers are scarce in the east of Scotland but have been found for the last few years at Lauries Den near Penicuik, which is to the south of Edinburgh-using the website Streetmap the coordinates to put in are 321870,660330 Treecreepers can usually be see here

Red grouse can be found in the Lammermuirs to the south of Spott-quite a short drive. One of the best places is Faseny-good for ring ouzel too-Co-ordinates on Streetmap are 360755,663373 and zoom in

Black grouse can be found to the south of Edinburgh-I'll be checking a couple of sites and can let you know when I have had a look

Have a good trip!

Most things seem to have been covered but ...
Wood warbler - the Pass of Killiecrankie off the A9 is an excellent site for wood warblers - usually audible from the car park. Pied flycatchers are here too (use nest boxes around Soldier's Leap).

Rob