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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Tayforth Birding (3 Viewers)

Its not quite in the area but had my first Scottish Golden Eagles since 1983 yesterday. In a space of 15 minutes I had two pairs, completely took my breathe away. I have waited a long time to see these magnificant birds. I also saw 08 green Osprey at Loch of Lowes making adjustments to the nest. I totalled seven species of raptors yesterday.

Today I had an Osprey over Kinnoull Hill going north and a pair of Wheatears at Little Glen Shee.
 
Well done with the Goldies, Ade, can you sort of say where they were?

Another visit to Kinnordy for me this afternoon. Whoopers have taken a nose dive this week, only about 20 left now. I looked for the Smew and Greenshank, which were supposedly about but couldn't see them.

Lots of Wigeon and Teal. Also Black Headed Gulls and Oystercatchers of course. Rooks busy carrying sticks to the nests.

A Great Spotted Woodpecker was drumming and I eventually saw it, along with Chaffies, Robin, Dunnock, Blue and Great Tits and heard a Gold Crest too

Then at 5pm what I'd waited for - an Osprey came in to fish :bounce: successfully too. It was around for about half an hour giving good views, before flying off to the west.

Returned home via the pylon, but no sign of them there yet.

Pic is my first attempt at digiscoping an Osprey in flight!

D
 

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visited kinnordy myself today,4.30 pm a little late for the osprey it was there about 10.00 am, i took some pics of the nest on the pylon and thought i may have seen a head sticking out the nest, but when i examined the pics on my computer it shows a very untidy nest, when i arrived the woodpecker and the red squirrel were in the same tree,there was also a feeder on the ground, not sure if there may have been a fight, a moorhen was fighting off some teals at the gullery hide ,got my first pic of a coot actually showing the colour of the eye

http://www.birdforum.net/pp_gallery/showphoto.php/photo/135243

also spotted a buzzard with a vole /mouse in the fields just south of kinnordy

http://www.birdforum.net/pp_gallery/showphoto.php/photo/135242
 
Great pictures Kawwauser.

LOL that stick sticking out of the nest is very confusing isn't it. Those Ospreys were rather late arrivals last year so there's still hope

D
 
went back to kinnordy just after two today and within five mins the osprey appeared, within seconds of it appearing it went into a dive and caught a massive pike, it then flew west, there was a solitary cormorant on view plus a few female reed buntings were jumping about near the gulley hide,im going to start taking my scope with me i usually only carry my camera,im averging 20 species at kinnordy while others are averaging 50,below are the pics i took today

http://www.birdforum.net/pp_gallery/showphoto.php/photo/135381/sort/1/cat/500/page/1

http://www.birdforum.net/pp_gallery/showphoto.php/photo/135385/sort/1/cat/500/page/1

http://www.birdforum.net/pp_gallery/showphoto.php/photo/135387/sort/1/cat/500/page/1
 
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Went out searching for spring migrants hoping for Wheatear & some hirundines yesterday (4th April).
Began @ Moor Loch in the very west of Fife, got two singing Chiff-Chaff but surprisingly no Sand Martins.

Headed off up the A9 to Greenloaning taking the Braco-Comrie road where I got 2 Red Kite, a Sparrowhawk, a fly-over Osprey & the usual trillion Buzzards. Kestrels were initially missing but eventually managed 3. Passerines were thin on the ground apart from lots Meadow Pipits, saw no Stonechats & no signs of Wheatear.

Carried on to Comrie then on through Crieff heading to the Sma Glen. Picked up another 2 Red Kites amongst 3 Buzzards & a Kestrel all sharing the same thermal just outside Gilmerton (the Sma Glen side). Drove on up to Amulree & decided to go up the Glen Quaich road...... turned out to be an inspired choice.

A short distance up the glen I parked up to scan for Short-eared Owls -waited about 3/4 of an hour but it was really too bright. Took a stroll up a track to a heather clad area -plenty of Red Grouse advising me to 'go-back go-back' & lots of displaying Curlew singing.
Headed back to the car & sat for a while to enjoy some refreshment when a slight movement from the adjacent stane dyke caught my eye. The rustling foliage looked to be due to a small rodent so it was with considerable surprise that I noted a plump (?gravid female) Common Lizard make her way across the banking onto the warm tarmac at the roads edge; earliest date I've ever seen a Common Lizard in Scotland!!
Carried on up the glen -lots of Curlew, Lapwing & Oystercatchers around with Snipe singing (chipping) from some of the well-vegetated boggy areas. Further up the glen I came across 5 male Black Grouse feeding in heather/grass area adjacent to some birch scrub but still no Wheatear.
I drove on to the end of the glen & decided to go up the steep moorland road that leads over to Loch Tay. Quite a few Red Grouse apparent with two distant moulting Blue Hares but still no Wheatear. By this time it was about 6:30pm & time to turn round & head back. I parked up just below where the road descends into Glen Quaich & got out for one final scan. The day had been warm & relatively windless for early april but a slight breeze had developed & on the breeze I could hear slightly fluty yet desolate sounding bird song ........not Wheatear. It took me a minute or two to place the song & in that time I could hear a further snatch of song -this time from closer at hand. I was sure I was hearing Ring Ouzel!! A scan to the west of me revealed a distant male Ring Ouzel perched in a small leafless tree & despite the distance I clearly hear it singing. Then a second bird began to sing from a large boulder below me. It then moved onto a grassy slope where it began to feed allowing me to take a few (rather distant) images.
Leaving the ouzels behind I headed back down the glen & stopped again where I had initially parked up. After about 15 minutes of scanning a ghostly grey male Hen Harrier was watched in the distance quartering the heather (distant & poor light levels > rather poor image). A Short-eared Owl then appeared & slowly worked the heather to the west of me before perching on a post to survey the afterglow on the adjacent hills as the sun set.
No Wheatear or Sand Martin but still not a bad day.
 

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Hi Steve,
Some good photos there, an impressive day. Am of out to the glens again this weekend. I had my first Chiffchaff of the year yesterday near Carnoustie.
 
some good recent sightings on here.

I had a pleasant surprise today with a flock of around 25 Twite in fields just east of Ceres in east Fife (where my parents live). The area is practically heaving with tree sparrows!
 
Super day you had there Steve, I love Glen Quaich.

I can feel my feet itching for Ceres (I worked there for a while years ago LOL) it's ages since I've seen Twite.

D
 
delia todd said:
Super day you had there Steve, I love Glen Quaich.

I can feel my feet itching for Ceres (I worked there for a while years ago LOL) it's ages since I've seen Twite.

D

The area around Ceres seems remarkably good: a seriously underwatched part of Fife with excellent densities of farmland birds - tree sparrows, y'hammers, grey partridges etc. Going for another wee stroll in the area tomorrow afternoon so will report on anything.

Went up both West and East Lomond in west Fife today. Not really birding but managed:
c6 Red Grouse, 10 Lesser Redpoll, first Wheatear of the spring.
 
Inspired by Steve's report, myself - along with my parents - headed up to the same area. The day's totals included:

Red Kite - 2 just north of Gilmerton on the way out and 3 on the way back
Black Grouse - 1 male just north of Gilmerton
Osprey - ditto
Red Grouse - 1 seen and a few heard in Glen Quaich
Swallow - 1 in the Sma Glen, my first of the year
Wheatear - at least 4 in Glen Almond
Dipper - 1 on River Almond

Also Stonechat, Grey Wag, Kestrel, Buzzards. No sign of any SE Owls, Hen Harrier or Ring Ouzel: the strong wind probably didn't help matters.

Also just avoided running over a red squirrel in Pitmedden Forest on the return journey.
 
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It was a bit windy today, wasn't it!

I went to Kinnordy via the pylon - no sign of the Osprey there, but someone said one had been seen.

Quick glimpse of a Sand Martin near Airlie Castle - that's my first of the year.

No sign of Whoopers for me, but Mike counted 18 this morning.

Buzzards all over the place! LOL

Everything else as expected was present. The Squirrels seem to have been busy feeding judging by the number of pine cones that have been eaten.

D
 
I was reminded recently of Monk's Myre and realised it was an awful long time since my only visit there - right on my doorstep too!

Anyone who's not been it is a fishing water surrounded by reed beds,trees and farmland. Plenty of Yellowhammers, Skylarks and Meadow Pipits about. With about half a dozen Lapwings on the set-aside. I soon found the target bird - Willow Warbler (first of the year for me).

I'd only been there 5 minutes when an Osprey came exploring. It didn't attempt a catch though.

Loads of Coot, Mallard, Tufted Duck and Teal and a pair of Gadwall. Two Whooper and four Mute Swans. I could hear Little Grebe calling but didn't manage to see them.

I disturbed a Common Snipe and a Sparrowhawk flew over.

Just one House Martin seen.

What with the usual Chaffinches, Linnets, Blue and Great Tits etc not a bad list for a couple of hours.

And oh boy it was hot!

D
 
Forgot to upload a photograph - just a general view

D
 

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headed to kinnordy today on the way noticed the ospreys at the pylon are back http://www.birdforum.net/pp_gallery/showphoto.php/photo/137389/sort/1/cat/500/page/1

forgot my converter so went home returned and they had gone,
kinnordy produced a feeding osprey twice while i was there
http://www.birdforum.net/pp_gallery/showphoto.php/photo/137391/sort/1/cat/500/page/1

http://www.birdforum.net/pp_gallery/showphoto.php/photo/137392/sort/1/cat/500/page/1

only a small perch was caught hardly seems the bother considering the siz\e of these birds,
four whooper swans landed while i was in the east hide, two adults plus two juvs, on the way to the feeders i thought i spotted a treecreeper turned out to be a wren acting like a treecreeper, a couple of oystercatchers plus lapwing /redshank are still in front of the gullery hide, the leaves on the trees are growing so its getting harder to spot the smaller birds but there was plenty chaffinch/great tit/blue tit around, never seen any coal tits at kinnordy but seen two at the sidlaws near dundee along with three bullfinches and four stone chats ,loads oif buz\z\ards on the way to kinnordy when are the red kites going to start to be common up here?
 
I seem to keep missing you kawwauser - I was at Kinnordy today as well but you must have left before I got there.

I'd heard the Ospreys were back on the pylon but didn't have time to go today. Great pics you've got there (as usual).

Only Mute Swans were visible for me this evening. I think the Oystercatchers were away feeding because they came back in good numbers later on. Plenty of Swallows and Sand Martins high up

Ah! Red Kites; they're closing in on us now - it surely can't be long :-O

D
 
I dropped into Balgavies Loch after work today and had an Osprey come and land on the island. Lots of Willow Warblers singing. Looks like the Long tailed Duck there might have moved on. Lots of Sand Martins c60+ and a handfull of Swallows c20+. An escaped Budggie was apparently seen from the hide too.

Whilst at work I had a male Pereg fly over the farmland. Good numbers of Yellowhammers singing plus some Tree Sparrows and Willow Warblers.
 
Another visit to Kinnordy this evening.

Loads of Buzzards around - at least 5 in the air at once. Whilst I was watching these another couple saw some Black Tailed Godwits fly in so they set off to the Swamp Hide to see if they could get a better view.

Then another dozen came in. I set off to the Swamp Hide myself meeting the other couple on the way who said they couldn't be seen from there; but thought I may as well see what was about anyway and added Heron and Shoveler to my list.

On my way home I stopped at the far end of the reserve and there they were 27 of them in magnificent summer plumage, right beside the road. I managed a couple of pictures before they were spooked by something - which appeared to be a Red Legged Partridge as I couldn't find anything else to set them off. However, they only flew round a couple of times then landed back in the longer grass.

D
 

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Good birds Delia. There have been good numbers passing through Fife -both coastal & inland in the last 10 days (there were 33 @ Vane Farm on Sunday).
 

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