Shame on me! Cinnamon Teal on Lewis & 2 days in the (1 Viewer)

Shame on me! Cinnamon Teal on Lewis & 2 das in the Highlands.

After everything I've said about escaped ducks and the Teal in particular, I couldn't believe myself when I picked up the phone on Saturday afternoon and booked a day return to Lewis to see the Cinnamon Teal. It was as if some invisible force was guiding my hand to the phone, maybe some form of twitcher's posession?

Anyhow it was done. Sarah and I were booked on the 5.30am monday morning "Dawn-Breaker" from Uig (Skye) to Tarbet (Harris). A day return was a bargain £62.

So after I finished work on

AAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHH My keyboard has a life of its own and just posted that without me doing anything!

Spooky!

I'll start again..........

come on Tom, the suspense is killing me.

we're waiting boyo

one finger typer?

....or is the boss lurking?

Game of charades anyone?

I spy, with my little eye, something beginning with C...

do escapes count Andrew?

someone must be making Tom do some work.....

As I was saying.....

.....after I finished work on Sunday I got home and threw everything in the car, including Sarah, then got on the road about 7pm. We had to be at Uig for 5am to pick up the tickets and with it being a 9 hour drive from Manchester, I knew we would not be able to stop.

The first cock up happened when I left the cap, from the air valve on the tyre, at the petrol station.

Next cock up was following signs for Kincardine Bridge instead of Erskine Bridge and only realising once I was 20 miles in the wrong direction. Oops!

The final cock up was filling up on petrol and then after an hour and the tank being almost empty I had one of those "Oh S**t" moments when you know you've made a big mistake. I could see in my mind the petrol cap on top of the petrol filling thing back at the station! Oh S**t!. Sarah came to the rescue and made me a new cap out of silver foil that worked brilliantly well!

After all the stress of that we pulled in to Uig harbour at 4.35am after a few near misses with suicidal herds of deer along the roadside! Bought the tickets and drove on at 5.20am.

The boat to Tarbet was awesome. The sea was completely flat - the only ripples being from our ferry or sudden frantic flights of auks avoiding the boat, most of which were Puffins. Manx Shearwater was a nice year tick, but other than that the sea was quiet.

The amazing mountains of Harris became bigger and bigger from the front "Obs Lounge" and as we passed the tiny islands arond Tarbet harbour we could see pairs of Common Terns nesting and also some stunningly immaculate Golden Plovers.

A drive of 40 minutes took us through some incredibly dramatic valleys up to Lewis and to Loch Tuamister. I always have a mental image of how a place will look and I'm usually correct, but I got this one totally wrong: its not so much a loch (in the sense of vast Scottish lochs), but a big puddle with some reeds in the middle! Nontheless, the area seemed excellent for birds with at least 4 Cuckoo showing well on the tops of the plantations and loads of Stonechat.

I soon picked up the Cinnamon Teal, and I'm not ashamed to say that it was a stunning bird and I really enjoyed it. With the sun on it, it looked amazing and the red eye just added to it.

To tick or not to tick? That is the question. I must say that having gone to see it I'm now a lot more in the "Tick it" camp!!!

By 8.30am we'd had our fill of obviously wild ducks (!) so we decided to head off to do some more birding on Lewis. Just as we got into the car:

"crex crex crex crex crex crex crex crex"

It was pretty distant and on private land so we had to leave it as just a heard only! Hopefully we would score later?

At the far north end of Lewis near the Butt, we went to check the fields around Loch Stiapavat which are supposedly good for Crex crex. Driving slowly with the window down is my favourite and laziest way to pick them up, not to mention looking very "Gangsta" with my snazzy new alloys and rear spoiler!!!

Soon enough "crex crex" from the roadside so we pulled over. It was coming from behind a disused farmhouse and in a patch of thick tall grass about 8m x 8m - basically it was tiny. There it was calling like crazy, but NOTHING. We waited for 45 minutes, even a sheep walked right through the middle, and still nothing. I'm ticking it though, because we even saw the grass move at one point from where it was calling. I've still never seen one :C

Next it was off to Skigersta on an off chance that there may be a White Billed Diver still knocking about, but nothing. A Fulmar breeding really close was good though and the scenery was pretty staggering.

Having been to Lewis a couple of months back for the Harlequin Duck, we decided to go to Griais again mainly to see what the area looked like when it wasn't raining or in force 7 gales! There was no sign of the Harlequin, but an Arctic Tern colony was brilliant, especially when a huge Bonxie smashed right into the middle of it: the Terns went insane and the Bonxie decided it was probably best to get out quick, which it did!

It was now nearing time to head back for the boat which was leaving at 4pm so we had a slow drive back down to Harris stopping regularly for Eagles, but dipping!

The return boat was just as good, infact better because the bar was open - time for a pint of Tennents!

We arrived on Skye at 5.40pm - what to do now? We both still had another 2 days off work and had brought all the camping tackle so why not? We decided on a night on Skye then head into the Highlands to Aviemore.

We went to a camp site just north of Portree at Torvaig. I starting pitching the tent when I realised I was being bitten to death. AAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH.
Midges. I'd totally forgotten about these little s**ts and brought nothing to protect us. This was really bad.

Sarah drove off get something to spray on us from Portree whilst I battled on trying to pitch the tent whilst being chewed to death. She returned shortly with the most feeble thing I've ever seen. It was some crap roll on that had no effect whatsoever. This was getting drastic and time for drastic measures. I am horrified to say that I did something I've not done since the 11th of March 2000: I went to the Shell garage and... oh the shame... bought 20 Lambert and Butler and a clipper lighter! Oh the shame!

But, despite probably killing me one day, they really worked. And, fag in gob, I kept all of them off me, even managing to cook a meal on the stove. I won't do it again though... it was good though!

Being so far north it would be light until very late so we went off to get White Tailed Eagle. Despite getting mauled by a Border Collie we got out to the clifftops and soon picked up a massive amazing adult following a fishing boat and being hassled by gulls. I always think GBB Gulls are enormous so it's someting when they look tiny, which they did next to this beast. Amazing. Flyover Twite and lots of Siskin were also good not to mention the ubiquitous Cuckoos.

Back at camp site it was still light at about 9.30pm so we went into Portree for a pint then to bed. I was knackered.

Day 2 to follow...

Looking forward to Day 2.

Erm... you're not keen on midges then?

Great description Tom - hurry up with day 2 . . . .

Well I thought that was totally thrilling and well worth the wait... I can hardly contain my excitement for day 2 when Sarah snowballed heroin and I got "drive-by'd" by the Aviemore massive!

Now you are posting teasers!

Tom, my boy

i'm shocked at you knowing such terms.....reminds me of a trip to North Uist a few years back, we camped on the police station lawn (only one copper on the place).....and broke various laws that evening......and got accosted in the hotel bar by a gamekeeper who kept telling me 'these hands have killed men'.....may have has well.

....well no Class A substance abuse nor Drive By shootings, but we did see lots of birds.

Day 2.

It never really got dark all night and I kept scratching away at a few delicate bites - one even managed to navigate his way into those most intimate of regions best not mentioned!

Opening the tent flap I was horrified to see 50+ of them still waiting for me. This was straight out of the Twilight Zone or a Hitchcock movie. I battled out and managed only 1 in my eye and 5-6 on my face. Time for another Lambert & Butler me thought! Oh the joy of having a fag before breakfast... never again though...?

It was sunny but there was a huge black cloud approaching. It was a rush to get everything packed up, but what a great moment when we put the last thing in the car, got in, closed the door and the first rain drop fell! It's moments like that, that make life worth living.

Time for Golden Eagles. The area around the Sligachan Hotel is usually good and a good way is to just drive from laby to layby, get out and scan. Sure enough we soon saw a huge adult bird soaring over a cliff face. Hooded Crow, Raven and a Buzzard all passed it by and were totally overshadowed by this huge monster. Eagles really are amazing. A few Whinchat also showed brilliantly, but it was very difficult to look at anything other than the Eagle.

The rain poured all the way through the valleys to Loch Ness, but then began to clear up as we reached Inverness. We stopped at the campsite on the shore of Loch Morlich and yet again got attacked by the midges. But this time we were prepared and bought mosquito hats from a shop in Aviemore - HA HA - get me now !!! Of course they just went for my legs!

Someone had erected some bird feeders on poles outside their caravan and these were thronged by Siskin.

Our target birds for the afternoon were Osprey, Crested Tit, Scrotbill and Capercaillie (very outside chance.) First stop Inverdruie fish farm which is occasionally good for Osprey, but unfortunately not today. So Loch Garten was the next obvious choice and we were instantly granted excellent views of a female tending to a chick that had hatched the day before. A Great Spot Pecker was also really close to the hide on feeders.

Now for the tricky bit! Forest Lodge is usually good for Tits and Crossbills so that was the next place. Driving along slowly we had a Red Squirrel and lots of Crested Tit that were heard but not seen. At Forest Lodge, in the middle of the woods, I always feel as though I should have left a trail of breadcrumbs - really spooky!

We had Crested Tit almost immediately and found one bird taking food to a nest - excellent views. Walking in the woods around the lodge also got us lots more Crested Tis, Siskin, Coal Tits, but no Crossbills and, not surprisingly, no Capers!

Back at the campsite a Tawny Owl began calling and the Siskins were now beginning to irritate me a bit. Whilst cooking some pasta a Black Headed Gull came snooping around for some food. So I threw him a bit of pasta straight from the pot and the moronic bird ate it straight down boiling hot! Well you shouldn't laugh, but seeing it shake its head and run forward with its bill open was actually hilarious. He eventually flew off and needles to say he didn't come back!

Pint in Aviemore (accompanied by 3 or 4 fags!) then another itchy nights sleep.

Day 3................

Cracking read Tom!

'Aviemore Massive'.............funny. They still think Milli Vanilli is hip up there, so I've heard. Never was in my book.

....

Day 3

After yet another traumatic Midge attack trying to get out of the tent, we packed up and were gone from Loch Morlich by 10.30am. Today we were going up Cairngorm.

The summit was completely covered in cloud, but it was dry and looked as though it would be good later in the day: it really is pointless going up in bad weather as you just won't see anything.

The last time I walked up was in 1997. I was 18. My god I was so much fitter back then! This was a real struggle today. I knew I shouldn't have taken the scope (or had those fags!). After only 5 minutes I was knackered, but still we pushed on. Sarah, being hyper-fit, would leg it off ahead of me then wait for me to catch up!!! The worst thing of all was that all I could think of was going back down to get the fags. AARRGGHH!! Sarah found a Dipper, but I could barely raise my bins to my eyes.

Eventually we reached the "Ptarmigan" restaurant and could only laugh at the birders trapped behind the glass screen that had gone up on the Funicular Train only to find out that they weren't allowed to leave the building!!! Someone tried to mime through the glass something about Ptarmigan being nearby, but we couldn't understand his hand signals, so instead we just carried on to the summit.

It had cleared up now and the views were amazing. After a few summit pics we dropped south west off the summit and headed towards Ben Macdui. Someone once told me that if you hear anything calling you should check it out, because if it isn't a Meadow Pipit it will be good! And sure enough the first bird we heard we checked it out and it was a brilliant black+white male Snow Bunting. Brilliant!

A Ptarmigan was also calling, but this took a hell of a lot more searching. We split up and eventually Sarah found a male skulking around near the path. Superb. Then it walked over to a female on the other side of the path. Both then climbed a small cairn and sat next to each other on top. We moved in closer very slowly and they did not flinch. Then a loud group of walkers passed within a metre of them, they stopped, one of them shouted "Ptarmigans" to rest of the group and about 8 people were stood right next to them. Well why not do it ourselves? So we walked right up to them and I got some great frame filling footage on video. They never even so much blinked in fear of our presence. I wish all birds were like that!!!

No Dotterel, despite there apparently being 56 pairs!

We headed off the plateau and back towards the car park picking up Wheatears and a high altitude Pied Wagtail. A 6 hour drive on knackered legs was interesting as was trying to count all the bites on my forehead.

All in all it was three brilliant days. Can't wait to go up there again!!!

It seemed a shame when I finished reading your report - like finishing a good book.

Definitely a great way to spend three days!

Rich.

Cracking read Tom...
You certainly have to travel some distance, to get away from the Bucks buffoon nowadays!!!
Stopped smoking yet?

Dave.

Excellent report Tom and from somebody that writes like a mature person, and you are surprisingly only 24/25 years old. I thought you were older than that.

I was with you for most of the places you visited as I have done them myself but I must do Lewis one day as I have never been there. You have certainly whetted my appetite.