Scotland bird sites (1 Viewer)

Hello,
I expect to spent few days in Islay end july. I plan also to spend several days in the scottish mailand countryside, up to august 15th (in the quadrat Glasgow - Oban- Dundee- Edimburgh)
Is there something to recommend, special places to see specific birds?
We will hire a car and stay B&B
Thanks in advance for your help!
Best regards
Yves

Yves, there are lots of areas worth visiting within that area (I might be able to help a little with the Dundee to Edinburgh areas), and a wide range of habitat types. Are there any particular birds you want to see?

Thanks Stonefaction for your reply.
In deed, we also expect to visit local habitat, coasts, lands & landscapes, some museum as well, in order to have a range of Scottish flavours.
Regarding birds, coming from Southern France (Toulouse), we would prefer to see birds we are not used to see (see birds but also others from land). We do not travel to see specific birds in this case but anything we can see is fine. We would like also to see puffins as well but end July-early August may be too late!
Thanks again for your help.

Yves

Yves

You are right Puffins will be very difficult at the time you are planning to visit but most other seabirds will be around. If you are in the Edinburgh area the Scottish Seabird Centre at North Berwick www.seabird.org is definitely worth considering for a visit.

There should be some sea ducks around so Goosander, Red-breasted Merganser, Common Scoter, Velevet Scoter and Eider should be readily seen in coastal waters. The terns will be gathering after breeding and waders will be migrating but these will be familiar to you too.

Have a good trip.

Regards

David

Hi Yves

You'll find quite a bit of information in the various articles available from the links in this Opus page.

You'll have a lovely time, in some beautiful scenery.

delia todd said:

Hi Yves

You'll find quite a bit of information in the various articles available from the links in this Opus page.

You'll have a lovely time, in some beautiful scenery.

Click to expand...

Thanks ,
I will have a look !
Yves

I had a look at the Isle of May blog for July 30th last year and it appears that there were still some Puffins on the island, so a boat trip out from Anstruther may be worth considering to try and see Puffins, but the earlier you go the better the chances. Guillemot, Razorbill, Kittiwake, Shag and Cormorant are also possible on the island, though numbers decrease as the breeding season ends.

Other places possibly worth visiting include Fife Ness (seabirds passing close offshore - Skuas and Shearwaters possible in small numbers, Terns, sea Ducks, Gulls, and possibly Divers).

Vane Farm/Loch Leven RSPB reserve offers a range of species although mid-summer possibly isn't the best time to visit.

Loch of Kinnordy (near Kirriemuir, north of Dundee) can be good for Marsh Harrier and Osprey in summer, among other things.

Montrose Basin, northeast from Dundee on the coast, has a mixture of waders, waterfowl and terns (Common, Arctic and Sandwich) at that time of year.
There is also a small Puffin colony nearby at Auchmithie, though these may well be gone by the time you are in the area. The Angus Glens can be very good for Red and Black Grouse, as well as raptors, Ravens, Ring Ouzel. Dotterel and Ptarmigan are possible at the tops of some of the higher mountains in the area.

I think Oban harbour can be good for Black Guillemot. White Tailed Eagle could turn up almost anywhere (a 5 year east coast re-introduction programme ended last summer).

There are lots of other areas that are worth a visit, depending on the amount of time you have, that may not have too much "new" on offer but are worth visiting anyway. If you have internet access it may be worth asking in here for recent sightings in the area while you are here, just in case there is a rare bird or two around.