[birdman]

Day 6

Full house at the cabin this morning - well, except Sparrowhawk - but we did get Siskin thrown in and a first visit from a Blackbird.

Today, our last proper day, was to be a change of emphasis, with mixed success.

In the morning, we took a trip to Culbin Forest, in the hope of seeing two target species, Crested Tit and a Crossbill.

We made an interim stop at Nairn Harbour, picking up nothing spectacular, although we added another Rock Pipit, and House Sparrow around the caravan site. Over at the very western end of Culbin Sands we saw Redshank and Goosander, and many Skylarks.

Moving on to Culbin Forest, we stopped at the Well Hill car park. Immediately on getting out of the car, we could here birdsong all around, and within seconds we had seen Treecreeper and Great Spotted Woodpecker.

We then went for a two hour walk around the Forest with high hopes. We saw four birds! Bullfinch, Robin, and overflying Long-tailed Tit and a ’crest (almost certainly Gold, but we were unable to tell in the brief seconds we had. Yep… four species, one of each!

The walk we took did take us down to Culbin Sands again, so we had long distance views of the usual selection of water birds, but from the Forest, nothing more.

The Forest is a mixture of Scots and Corsican Pine, with a few broadleaves mixed in, but, as is my experience with conifer tracts, it was VERY quiet.

Now, there was plenty to interest the botanist, (particularly lichens) and the Forest is home (apparently!) to Pine Martens, Roe Deer, Red Squirrel, Badger and Wildcat - but a great deal of time and patience would need to be invested. And unless you are DESPERATE for Cresties and/or Crossbills, the interest for birders is probably only incidental.

Leaving the car park we added Chaffinch, Blue Tit, Treecreeper, Blackbird, Carrion Crow and Magpie in the first garden immediately on the edge of the Forest!

We decided to spend the final afternoon at one of Scotland’s “speciality” locations, Loch Ruthven.

Yellowhammers, amongst other things, en route, and more Pinkfeet. On arrival at the Loch a quick look over the water immediately brought us Goldeneye, with Pied Wagtail on the rocks and Chaffinch in the Trees.

A short walk to the rocks, avoiding the frogs/toads (don’t know which!) on the path ,and we got superb views of two of the speciality – two summer plumage Slavonian Grebes.

We also saw a small raptor flying over the water, before being harassed in the trees at the far bank. I guessed it was a Hobby, but I couldn’t be anything approaching sure.

Even though we had already had excellent views of the grebes, we nevertheless walked to the hide (56 toads in all to be avoided) and got great views of two more Slavs (perhaps the same two?), a Little Grebe, more Goldeneye, a Cormorant and a Grey Heron.

Returning to the car (101 toads this time!) we added Tufted Duck and Mallard, and were just around long enough to see the return of about thirty Black-headed Gulls.

It was many of the familiar sightings on the way back to the cabin, with the final bird being a Buzzard (what else!) perched on a roadsign.

Although this holiday was never planned as a birding holiday, we were quite pleased with our list, which, if I’ve counted correctly, adds up to 77 species in total.

All were seen by both my self and partnyorsha at least once, except the Reed Bunting which I missed out on and the Guillemot that partnyorsha dipped.

Thanks for staying to the end…

B’man

[Screech]

Birdman, sounds like a great trip inspite of dipping on crossbills. There's always next time.

[gordon hamlett]

Hi Birdman,

There are very few Hobbies in that part of Scotland (one pair in Speyside) plus it is way too early for them to be back yet anyway (May).

Have you considered merlin? I've seen them regularly in that area.

Gordon

[robinm]

Enjoyed reading your reports - sounds like you had a great time. I like the links to the next at the end of each report.

I'd agree with Gordon about the hobby - seems very early for one to be that far north.

[birdman]

Thanks for the info regarding Hobby, folks.

I did think perhaps Merlin, but only when looking through my guides yesterday... so I was even less sure of the characteristics of the bird!

[Jasonbirder]

Excellent trip report - really enjoyed reading it! I`ve just come back from a weekend in Scotland myself - i hope to post a trip report myself soon!
Don`t feel bad about missing out on Cresties or Scottish Parrot Crossbills - there have been almost no Crossbills about this winter and we had to work very very hard for Crested Tits - we visited 4 normally guaranteed sites for Cresties before connecting at our fifth attempt.

The small falcon would almost definately be Merlin not Hobby - too early for Hobby and Merlins are widely distributed in the area.

Glad you enjoyed Scotland - I love it every time I go.

[birdman]

Don't feel so bad about the Crosbills now, thanks Jason (and Bob).

Cresties would've been nice too, but at least I've got a previous record from Rothiemurchas about 5 years ago.

[IanF]

A very interesting read Dave. Our first trip to Speyside we dipped on Cresties, but last year they seemd to be everywhere. Crossbills we've been pretty lucky with but we haven't been yet this year.

[Surreybirder]

Great report!

[pauco]

As always Birdman written with feeling, a lovely read
the merlin is still a good sighting still plenty of time for a hobby!cresties in those forestes, not easy at the best of times, but never say never.
bert.

[Andrew]

Excellent series of reports. More to ease the strains of the lack of Crossbills, I was Wales with lots of Crossbill habitat and saw absolutely nothing (lots of Chaffinches!).

[esmondb]

Great series of reports glad you enjoyed it up there.

[birdman]

Thanks for the replies, Esmond.

To answer your questions... yes, sure about the Carrion Crows, although the Hoodies did outnumber them significantly.

Feral Pigeons / Rock Doves??? Well, that's a tricky one, and depends on what mood I'm in sometimes. Truth is, I've rather let myself be convinced the only definite Rock Doves are on the Western Isles, and everything else is likely to be Feral...

In fact, in more general terms, if it looks like a Rock Dove (ie grey) and it's not on the Western Isles (where I've never been yet) and it's not flying rank and file, then I call it a Feral Pigeon.

If it is flying rank and file, or is any colour other than grey, I call it a racing pigeon (and don't "count" it).

But, ultimately, should I ever go to the Islands, and see "pure" Rock Doves, I still won't add to the length on my list, as Feral Pigeon is already there, and they are both Columba livia.

(Fair question though - hope I gave you a fair answer!)