Highlands and Island the Tojmeister rides again! (1 Viewer)

An Epic tale of Birds, Cakes and Fry ups.
Saturday 13th September Day 1
Long drive up to Nethy Bridge leaving at quarter to five best bird was a flyover Osprey just after we crossed into Scotland, best of the rest were a couple of Kestrels, a Sprawk and several Buzzards.
On arrival we went round to Loch Garten,no sign of any Cresties but plenty of common stuff best being a Treecreeper.Loads of Fungi in the forest as well.The only other bird action was a Dipper downstream from the large bridge at Grantown on Spey!
No fry up today best cakes some lovely Choc/nut Brownies and a toasted teacake.

Some Pics from Day 1 here

https://onedrive.live.com/?cid=6356FB2BA7828F28&id=6356FB2BA7828F28!1015

Mountains and Findhorn

Sunday September 14th Day 2
Started with 2 Roe Deer in the garden of our B&B.
First birding stop The Cairngorms, however was informed by the staff that you can’t leave the building at the top of the Railway, except on the guided walk, also informed that the Ptarmigan were no longer there having moved to the plateau decided didn’t want to spend 30 odd quid to see the odd Wheatear and Snow Bunting so decided on a walk near the car park not much about Meadow pipits and Pied Wagtails but the highlight was a very posy Red Grouse, Toj enjoyed his stay in Britain’s highest car park after a quick stop at a café at Loch Morlich for an apple strudel and a coffee, but no Cresties or Red Squirrels .
Next stop was the Findhorn Valley, a lovely drive down the valley in glorious sunny weather. Quite a good haul of Raptors with 4 Red Kites, Merlin,Peregrine,Sparrowhawk,3 Kestrels and 10+ Buzzards. Though the big boys remained elusive not even I could string one of the Buzzards into an Eagle. A huge herd of Red Deer on top of the mountains was impressive . Apart from that not much else Raven. flock of Linnets, several Mistle Thrush feeding in a field and a Grey wagtail on the road the best of the rest. Good fry up this morning 2Poached eggs, 2 sausage,2Bacon,mushrooms,tomatos,fried bread, and toast although in my defence did have fruit salad to start! Best Cakes Apple Strudel and Alabama Chocolate Fudge!

Pics for day 2 here (few more birds in this one)


https://onedrive.live.com/?cid=6356FB2BA7828F28&id=6356FB2BA7828F28!1025

Monday September 15th Day 3
Rain predicted today but decided to head east anyway,drove through heavy rain to Portsoy however was dry when we arrived, A cold seawatch followed, no White-billed Divers , Lots of Gannets, a couple of winter plumage Black Guillimots, a few Guillimots and Razorbills flew by , 4 Red-throated Divers went east, and a Black-throated Diver went west. Had my first Shag of the year on the rocks , several were present! A few Rock Pipits and some Turnstones were also on the rocks . Was a bit quiet though stuff was moving when I got on a Shearwater heading east, a large Shearwater,all dark ,silver flashes on the inner wings . My first ever Sooty Shearwater!! Pretty happy with that and thankful it was nice and close!! Getting cold we called it a day a quick stop at the bakers for a custard slice.
Then on to Loch of Strathbeg, once again the whole way through heavy rain which stopped a mile from the reserve, which was pretty quiet a Juvenile Marsh Harrier in a tree and the lovely Tree Sparrows the highlights, on the advice of the locals we headed down to Rattray, stopping to scan the Loch, lots of wildfowl a couple of Goldeneyes and a Slav Grebe the best on the water, down to the beach, Toj was not happy the road was more potholes than road, a Wheatear on the road was good and from the carpark 2 buzzards and a Kestrel were observed hunting the dunes and there were 20+ Mipits on the wires.
From the beach lots of Seals in the Sea which Margie spent ages photographing .Gannets going through and the odd auk,On the rocky outcrop were several Sanderlings,Ringed Plovers, Dunlins.and Curlew. On the way out in the garden of the hostel the bushes held a very posy Spotted Flycatcher and a very mobile warbler with a yellow throat later id’d as a Willow Warbler.Think there were Red-breasted Fiycatcher in these very bushes the next day, just my luck!
There were now 5 Wheatears on the fence posts moving just ahead of the car catching the large Craneflys that were everywhere,they were then joined by several Stonechats and a single Whinchat.
A quick stop to refuel at Morrisons Peterhead, Chocolate Fudge Cheesecake the highlight, and on to Blackdog again driving through the rain which stopped as we arrived, I spent a good 40mins searching through the masses of Common Scoter but couldn’t find the Surf Scoters indeed if I look at another Scoter I will probably shoot it or myself! Lots of Eider with the Scoter a Great Northern Diver,2 Red-throated Diver,and masses of Gulls an Artic Skua went north, obviously not quite got the hang of migration, but best was the Bonxie that came in like a beast attacking everything that moved including some of the Scoter! Then suddenly my luck ran out I suddenly realised I couldn’t see anything through my scope 10 seconds later I was soaked as the rain rolled in off the sea back to the car to a very smug Margie who had elected to stay in the warm! Back to Nethy Bridge only stopping to buy a couple of Marzipan cakes!
It’s been a great couple of days in the east,a few disappointments no Capercaillie, Crested Tit, Red Squirrel or Ptarmigan although hardly a surprise as we put very little effort into finding them so pretty much my own fault, on to Ullapool and the Isle of Lewis &Harris for the rest of our trip

Pics here

https://onedrive.live.com/?cid=6356FB2BA7828F28&id=6356FB2BA7828F28!1067

Dolphins and Seabirds

Tuesday September 16th Day 4
Another great fry up from Trish and we were on our way to Ullapool to catch the ferry to the Isle of Lewis and Harris, a truely great 3 hours on the ferry, luckily there were a group of birders on board who I managed to latch onto The highlight had to be my first ever European Storm Petrel pointed out by the group leader I got on it and had great views . Other highlights were a quick glance at a Minkie Whale a huge pod of Common Dolphin must have been at least 50 but could have been twice that , several other sightings of Dolphins and Porpoises including a group of 4 Risso’s dolphin.
On the Bird front at the start of the trip it was all about the Bonxies with several seen including 7 behind a fishing boat ,regular sightings of more Bonxies, Gannets,Auks,Fulmars and a couple of Arctic Skuas
As we neared Stornoway the number of Guillimots built up raft after raft floating past the boat. Then a huge raft which was pointed out to me were actually Manx Shearwaters and sure enough I picked up a couple flying in to join the group. I was told there were probably Sootys in with em but I couldn’t pick em out.
Arrival in Stornaway and to celebrate went to a local café for a Smoked Salmon salad and a Rocky Road slice.
After booking into the B&B we decided to head south in search of Eagles failed on that front but brilliant scenery, a Hen Harrier, Hooded Crows, Red-breasted Mergansers and 10+ Ravens eating what appeared to be a Dead Sheep at various stop offs on our route were compensation enough .
Stopped at a community coop shop and got some Jap Biscuits to keep me going on the cake front.

Pics here
https://onedrive.live.com/?cid=6356FB2BA7828F28&id=6356FB2BA7828F28!1093

I've labelled one as possibily Risso's Dolphin if anyone could confirm or otherwise would be good,Margie took the pic just after we had seen the Risso's but as there were lot's of other Dolphins about not sure which these were!

Eagles, Eagles,Eagles

Wednesday September 17th Day 5
Fry up a bit smaller on Lewis but very tasty and loads of toast and fruit salad saw me through!
Today decided to give the Eagles another try, go to the watchpoint they said, so we did, down the B887 we went , a 2km walk, through great scenery but few birds Stonechat, Meadow pipit and 5 Red-breasted Merganser on the Loch the best we could muster, halfway there we met a local who said in actual fact we would need to go past by at least another 2km to have the best chance so on we went legs aching, lungs busting we found a likely spot and set up me scope,about half an hour later I picked up a small dot over the highest peak thermalling upward, Golden Eagle hurrah! Suddenly it dived down flew along the ridge towards us flipped over the other side never to be seen again poop!
We gave it 15 mins then made the long trek back to the car, about halfway back I got another 20 second glimpse as an eagle popped over the ridge but that was it, an 8km walk for approx 40 seconds of Eagle action. Arriving back at the carpark having trudged back with only the sight of a Red grouse on the path to cheer us up, I sat on the wall to take me boots off and massage my aching tootsies when a movement on the ridge opposite caught my eye yep you guessed it not one but two Golden Eagles spiralling up giving great prolonged views, to make matters worse as we drove on to Huisinis another even closer Golden Eagle, this time an immature bird flew up above our heads giving even better views than the last two.
Apart from a Dipper on a small river right near the road ,a flock of Twite and a Red-throated Diver close into the beach that was it bird wise for the day, thought it was going be a cake free day when Tesco in Stornoway stepped up with a custard Danish!
In the evening we had a non-birding walk around Stornoway War Memorial a very peaceful and moving place.

pics from Day 5 here

https://onedrive.live.com/?cid=6356FB2BA7828F28&id=6356FB2BA7828F28!1147

Far to much scenery and bird pics. Where's the pics of the cake.

mowla said:

Far to much scenery and bird pics. Where's the pics of the cake.

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Sorry about that margie has the camera so i blame her, though she reckons the cakes are never around long enough to get a pic!!

Thursday September 18th Day 6
Whiteout! Woke up to find the view consisted of solid fog, after the fry up,we decided to continue with the plan and headed to the Butt of Lewis (insert your own pun) the fog had lifted a bit by the time we arrived, the Seawatch started well with 5 Manx Shearwaters, a Bonxie,loads of Gannets,and Fulmars, several Shags were loafing on the rocks as were a couple of Seals, on the land were a couple of Wheatears , a Rock Pipit and the obligatory Stonechats and Meadow Pipits.The fog started to close in again so we gave up.
It’s a small world there were 3 cars in the carpark us from Hurstpierpoint,a couple from Henfield and a local birder who had lived for 30 years in Southwick!! So 3 cars from 20 miles apart in Sussex the only cars in a carpark 773 miles from home!
He advised us to try the local nature reserve as a Hen Harrier had been seen recently. From the hide we surveyed the area several Snipe were about and a couple of Widgeon and Teal, a Raptor on a post turned out to be a Buzzard, We were about to leave when a raptor flew close past the hide, a casual glance as I thought it was the Buzzard, white rump!! Ringtail Hen Harrier watched it hunting across the grassland flushing about 30 Snipe as it went.
Stopped for lunch at Sonas café in Port of Ness, highly recommend the Crab Claws delicious, and got some local Duff cake for later. On the way out of town I picked out a slim Raptor on a post pulled over,Merlin cracking looking bird unfortunately as I juggled bins and camera it flew off across the moor.
For a bit of culture we head south to the Callinish Standing Stones ,a lovely place, it all got a bit spiritual and I called upon my ancient Celtic ancestors to get me a Sea Eagle, opening my eyes I was a bit disappointed there wasn’t one soaring above me oh well down to the visitor centre for a Cappuccino and a slice of Chocolate Crunch. We then paid a visit to an iron age house on Great Bernera I felt it was all getting a bit cultural so sneaked in another quick Seawatch Bonxie and more Gannets the highlight.Then back to the B&B we decided on a quick walk down to Loch Eireasort however halfway down we realised that it was a bit steep and didn’t fancy the walk back up the hill,so stood and scanned with me bins, couple of Ravens on some posts, couple of Rock Doves flew past, couple of Hoodies flapped by, meadow pipit over, few starlings on the telegraph pole, 3 Herons on the edge of the Loch, bloody great raptor with a white tail, say what!! Yep White tailed Sea Eagle flew out from our side of the Loch to an island in the middle,so a combination of pagan prayer and my laziness got me my first ever Sea Eagle and Margie even got a picture and so ends another awesome day on Lewis.

Pics here,
https://onedrive.live.com/?cid=6356FB2BA7828F28&id=6356FB2BA7828F28!1178

could the Wheatear be a Greenland?

Bonxie day!

Friday September 19th Day 7
Woke up to clearer skies so decided to head north to Tosta Head, eventually found the car park and walked up to the cliff, very boggy and even though we stayed on the path we were flushing Mipits, Skylarks and Snipe with every other step. we could see ahead a group of large dark birds flying around the head a quick scan with the bins confirmed them as Bonxies must have been 40 + as we got closer they decided to check us out swooping around us, a fabulous if somewhat intimidating experience they are big buggers up close! They soon decided we weren’t food and drifted off to do battle with the flock of 10 or so Ravens a duel that kept us entertained the whole time we were up there nice to see the Ravens getting a taste of their own medicine.
The highlight of the seawatch was a couple of views of a Minkie Whale another load of Dolphins, a Single Manx Shearwater, the usual Gannets,seemed a lot more young birds on this side of the island,Fulmars, kittiwakes,4 Eider on the sea even Margie getting the hang of it she saw the Whale and at one point said Shag on the rock, I said no thanks its cold and I’m trying to seawatch that Joke never gets old!! Leaving Tosta we stopped at the community shop and bought some Vanilla sponge squares completely forgetting I’d already bought some Pain Au Raisons in Tesco looks like another heavy cake day.
We then headed further up the road to the Bridge to Nowhere on the way spotting our 3rd Ringtail Harrier of the trip. From the bridge we drove down to a lovely beach the name of which I can’t remember it had large number of Juvenile Kittiwakes loafing on it hopefully a sign of a good breeding year somewhere, on the Sea very close in were three Great Northern Divers who spent the next half hour avoiding me taking pictures of them,they’re not called Divers for nothing GRR. Four Buzzards drifted by much to the annoyance of the local Hoodies. We decided to call it a day and head to Tiumpan head.
One thing I’ve noticed about Lewis &Harris is all the town signs are in Gaelic, fair enough, but how come the English translations are just as unpronounceable is it a wind up? Anyway as we crossed the narrow strip separating Stornoway from the Airport I spotted a flock of birds on the water close to the road,stopping to investigate I discover they were Black-throated Divers at least 12 birds in various stages of moult, fantastic.
Onwards to the head more Dolphins, Gannets feeding, Bonxies chasing them etc Back to Laxay to the localish pub for some very nice Monkfish and had the cheeseboard must be all caked out! The end of our last full day on the Island just the ferry back tomorrow to look forward to then the long drive home.

pics here, warning it's a bit of a Bonxiefest though there are some Divers at the end

https://onedrive.live.com/?cid=6356FB2BA7828F28&id=6356FB2BA7828F28!1213

Long Journey Home

Saturday September 20th
Ferry back today boo! Had another quick drive up the Tosta road before the ferry , Golden Plovers,Lapwing, a Snipe and a mystery wader that turned out to be a Dunlin in the Commonwealth Cemetry viewed from outside, A quick seawatch more Gannets,Bonxies Shags etc
Down to Stornoway, walk around the shops,joy although did manage a choccy covered Flapjack from a cafe Then on to the ferry not the birdfest of the trip over but the big flock of Manxies were just outside the harbour some flying about, then in quick succession 3 Sooty Shearwaters flew past the boat,the rest of the journey was Gannets,Bonxies,Fulmars Kittiwakes and Guillimots but numbers very much down maybe because it was later in the day or possibily because I was the only one looking didn’t have my expert guides this trip, the choppy sea made it harder to spot dolphins but a couple of small pods were seen and as we neared Ullapool there were a couple of Harbour Porpoises, but the highlight of the journey were 2 White tail Sea Eagles that flew along a headland then soared up together viewed until the ferry took us out of sight a fitting end to our trip.the drive down to Edinburgh was uneventful except a Black Grouse standing on the side of the A9 I’ve seen them there on the three previous occasions I’ve been past, just south of the Dalwhinnie distillery.
Sunday September 21th
After a fairly unpleasant stay at the Travelodge near Edinburgh involving a fire alarm in the middle of the night and a very tatty room we headed back to Brighton via a quick visit to see me Brother in Morpeth very nice fry up in the Heighly hill garden centre, probably my last one til next year’s holiday,the journey was long only things of note were a Red Kite in Lincolnshire, a Marsh harrier being mobbed in Cambridgeshire and a few Buzzards along the way, and some Chocolate Tiffin from Costa at Dartford I’m very much on the cake wagon now!
So home now reflecting on a great holiday
The highlights for me was seeing the Storm Petrel a bird I’ve always wanted to see the few seconds between it being called and me getting on it seemed a panic stricken eternity! The Eagles were magnificent which unfortunately doesn't really come across in the pics,Bonxies everywhere,The huge pod of Dolphins on the trip out and Hooded Crows gotta love the Hoodies!! And of course the magnificent Scottish Scenery .
2214 miles done ,not including ferries, 110 bird species seen.4 lifers and I broke my year list record on the trip as well and we’re only in September!
Many thanks to our landladies.
Trish at Balciun B&B http://nethybandb.co.uk/ in Nethy Bridge
and Marian at Taigh Chailean http://www.lewisbedbreakfast.co.uk B&B at Laxay
providers of delicious breakfasts and comfy beds highly recommend both for anyone visiting, very high standard and good value for money.
Thanks as well to Margie, with her “eyes on the road” catchphrase, for putting up with my rubbish jokes ,castle avoidance tactics, being dragged all over the place looking at birds, horrendous midge bites and my "just five more minutes" catchphrase wouldn’t have been anywhere near as much fun on my own,
Thanks as well to the mighty Toj, transport, bird hide, rubbish bin, who took the potholes, single track roads, single track tracks, maniac Scottish drivers, mountain drops and miles of Motorways in his stride!

Now where next year? Wonder if Toj will make Shetland!!!

Final pics here https://onedrive.live.com/?cid=6356FB2BA7828F28&id=6356FB2BA7828F28!1256

Brilliant report and pics Paul. :t:

Original PaulE said:

I've labelled one as possibily Risso's Dolphin if anyone could confirm or otherwise would be good,Margie took the pic just after we had seen the Risso's but as there were lot's of other Dolphins about not sure which these were!

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They could be Risso's, but they could also be White-beaked, which is what I think they are.

Other opinions required and perhaps too distant to be definite.

John

Farnboro John said:

They could be Risso's, but they could also be White-beaked, which is what I think they are.

Other opinions required and perhaps too distant to be definite.

John

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thanks for that John We saw the Risso's fairly clearly breaching out of the sea and the shape of the head matched images i have seen since on the web and the group leader seemed certain thats what they were and having just googled white beaked they didn't look that shape however i wasn't sure that the pics were of those particular dolphins so would be interesting if these were white-beaked ,there were definitelyplenty of dolphins about.

Ben Nevis said:

Brilliant report and pics Paul. :t:

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Thanks Ben was a Brilliant trip!

Original PaulE said:

thanks for that John We saw the Risso's fairly clearly breaching out of the sea and the shape of the head matched images i have seen since on the web and the group leader seemed certain thats what they were and having just googled white beaked they didn't look that shape however i wasn't sure that the pics were of those particular dolphins so would be interesting if these were white-beaked ,there were definitelyplenty of dolphins about.

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Yes, when we were on the Butt of Lewis last summer we had a bunch of White-beaked come through immediately followed by a bunch of Risso's. It was quite confusing for a while!

John

Epic trip write up!

Glad you had an amazing haul of mammals and birds - and I had to laugh at the Ravens getting it hard from the Bonxies - those things truly are afraid of absolutely nothing in the skies. Asyou say, its payback for all the harassing the Ravens do to the raptor population hahahahaha..

Nice to read that Broad Bay and the surrounds is still well populated by Black throated Divers. Always a beautiful welcome sight.

All in all, enjoyed that read up, cheers!

Ratal said:

Epic trip write up!

Glad you had an amazing haul of mammals and birds - and I had to laugh at the Ravens getting it hard from the Bonxies - those things truly are afraid of absolutely nothing in the skies. Asyou say, its payback for all the harassing the Ravens do to the raptor population hahahahaha..

Nice to read that Broad Bay and the surrounds is still well populated by Black throated Divers. Always a beautiful welcome sight.

All in all, enjoyed that read up, cheers!

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Thanks Ratal

and thanks for the advice on Harris & Lewis

cheers