[ClarkWGriswold]

Well we left Neath at 3:30 a.m. on Friday. Whilst this is primarily a family holiday I've also packed the Trinnies just in case. I'll upate as we go along as and when (more like if) we see anything decent. Hopefully we'll get an SEO this year hence the title name.

List of birds seen so far:

[/b] 1 Carrion Crow (M5)
2 Jackdaw (M5)
3 Woodpigeons (M5)
4 Magpies (M5)
5 Starlings (M5)
6 Long Tailed tit (Flying across M74)
7 Heron (M5)
8 Moorhen (Services M74)
9 Swallows (Services M74)
10 House Martin (Services M74)
11 Buzzards (Services M74)
12 House Sparrow (Services M74)
13 Oystercatcher (M74)
14 Lapwing (M74)

Arived at The Argyle Hotel in Inverarray at 2ish in the afternoon. The rooms were a bit tired but the location was great and the staff were very friendly. I also shared a great bowl of mussels with my 5 year old and had a decent pint of McCewans (which he didn't share)

Up at 5:30 so decided to have a walk by the loch (Fyne)

[b] 15 Herring Gull
[b] 16 Redshank
17 Goldfinch
18 Mallards
19 Common Sandpipers
20 Ringed Plover
21 Black Guillemots (4 at the end of the pier)
22 Pied Wagtail
23 Collared Dove
24 Hooded Crow

Left Inverarray for Oban at 10:30ish. Saw the following en-route

25 Grey Lag Geese
26 Canada Geese
27 Tufted Ducks

In Mull again I shared some very decent mussels but the boy decided the Scallops were "yuk". Personally I thought they were fine. The Black Guillemots were in the harbour as usual.

28 Dunnock (Oban Tescos)
29 Great Tit (Oban Tescos)
30 Common Gull (from Ferry. I should also add that I'm cac with gulls so some maybe wrong)

Arrived at cottage on Loch Uisg at 3ish. Will update when the children have gone to bed.

Rich

[ClarkWGriswold]

The cottage itself is fantastic. If anyone's interested PM me and I'll send a link to it. We booked it through cottages 4 you. Anyway, in the garden itself were:
31 Willow Warbler (Heaps of them everywhere - haven't heard a single Chiff though)
32 Greenfinch
33 Chaffinch
34 Blackbird
35 Song Thrush

went for a walk dwn the lane and also picked up:

36 Wren
37 Mistle Thrush
38 Robins

Today we went for a short drive down to Loch Buie. What a stunningly secnic place. As soon as we pulled over a beautiful little female Chaffy landed on our wing mirror. A scan across the inlet and over the fields behind produced:

39 Eiders (absolutely stunning)
40 Great Northern Diver
41 Gannets
42 Curlew

A walk around the edge of the loch produced;

43 Rock Pipits
44 Shag
45 Cormorant

Driving back we decided to Craignure to get some bread. At the side of the road there were:

46 Wheatears
47 Meadow Pipits
48 Lesser Black Backed Gulls
49 Cuckoo (A849 out of Craignure) - been hearing several of these but this was the first one seen.
50 Black Headed Gull (M74 - oops)

Forgot to mention that whilst in Oban there were a couple of cracking old Saabs - the teardrop shape (I should know the name but it's been a long day). My father has also seen Male Hen Harrier and Spotted Flycatcher (in the garden) but I'm yet to see either. Had a bottle of Black Knight beer last night which went down very well.

Mammal wise obviously quite a few Red Deer, small herd of Fallow Deer, seemingly thousands of rabbits, voles (not sure what species) and bats - quite small, possibly Pipistrel? I'll refrain from swearing but as I'm writing this I just missed an otter on the loch!!!!!

Earlier on however, whilst looking out of the window there were:

51 Red Breasted Merganser

and when I went for a walk with my 1 year old over to the church:

52 Reed Bunting
53 Pheasant
54 Mute Swan (M74 Services - memory problems - sorry)

Rich

[ClarkWGriswold]

Well today we decided to give the family truckster a rest. Decided to book a trip with www.mullwildlife.co.uk

This is our third trip with Richard. Again we had a fantastic time and we even managed to "Get Shorty". Rich's knowledge is outstanding. I'm sure we
would not have had such good views of both eagle species without his help. His wife also packs a mean packed lunch which is also a bonus. Anyway, we saw heaps of species but I've only listed the ones which I have not previously listed. I've also refrained from giving locations given this is the breeding season.

55 Yellowhammer
56 Whitethroat
57 Sedge Warbler
58 Kittiwake
59 Greater Black Backed Gull
60 Twite
61 Red Throated Diver
62 Kestrel
63 Raven
64 Golden Eagle
65 White Tailed Sea Eagle
66 Short Eared Owl

We also had three more mammal species - otter, grey seals and common seals. The weather up here is fantastic at the moment. Hope it stays that way as we're thinking of taking the boys over to Iona tomorrow.

Rich

[Kev23]

Love it up there, got washed out last May so didn't see much... sounds like you've gotten off to a good start though! Enjoy, thanks for the reports...

[ClarkWGriswold]

Cheers Kev. Had to take the boy to the GP in Salen this morning. Found out he's got chicken pox!! Only a matter of time before the youngest picks it up I think. The weather has been very kind to us so far and long may it last.

Had a male and female Yellowhammer in the garden yesterday evening a the male back this morning. Other than that nothing more so far today. The GP did say that Craignure golf course was a good spot for the sea eagles - any info is much appreciated from all sources

Rich

Originally Posted by Kev23

Love it up there, got washed out last May so didn't see much... sounds like you've gotten off to a good start though! Enjoy, thanks for the reports...

[ClarkWGriswold]

Thanks for the PM Dave. Plenty of food for thought.

Now to the rest of the day. Of most importance I guess ;-) is that I've just sampled a bottle of "The Terror of Tobermory" Ale. Very quaffable but not distinct enough in my opinion. For the birding, after the visit to the GP this morning and having to wait for my 1 year old to wake up we did not have much time for anything. In the end we decided to head for Fionnphort and decide whether or not to go over to Iona when we got there. On the way through Glen More we had ok views of two SEO's (and one more on the way back). On arrival at Fionnphort we thought we'd head over for an hour or two. We caught the 4 o'clock over and 6 o'clock back. The last ferry back was at 6:30. We left my five year old playing on the beach with his mum and Nanna whilst myself, my father and youngest headed up to the Abbey. There were at least 4 Corncrakes "singing" away in the field immediately to the right of the Abbey. One of which gave amazing views being as close as 10 feet away on occasion. This was a lifer for both myself and my father (and my one year old ;-) ) All in all we were very glad we made the decision to nip over to Iona.

67 Corncrake

Also on the way back we had another otter on Loch Spelve.

68 Rook (oops another I forgot on the M5)

Rich

[ClarkWGriswold]

Quite a quiet day today - can't believe I'm writing that after having two more SEO's and another WTSE. Two more rarities (lol) to add to the list to though:

69 Shelduck
70 Skylark

Did have an interesting "conversation" with a lorry driver though. I was on the shoreline with my son looking for shells when a lorry driver jumped to the conclusion that the Jazz "blocking" the road was mine. A couple of things bothered me here - the assumption that I was old enough to own a Jazz (Sorry Jazz owners) and the agressive jesticulation in front of my 5 year old. Anyway, following said "conversation" an understanding appeared to have been reached that the vehicle was not mine particularly when I started walking toward the lorry. What really made me laugh was that most lorry drivers I have come across appear to be able to turn their vehicles on a sixpence. This numpty couldn't get through a gap that wouldn't trouble a myopic Chieftan tank driver!!

Mini-moan over. My wife and booked a table at Cafe Fish in Tobermory this evening. I can well recommend this to anyone staying in the area. Mussels to start (I must get my OCD looked at) followed by a platter of queenies, langoustines, oysters, squat lobsters, crab claws and whole crab was delicious.

Hope this weather lasts,

Rich

[ClarkWGriswold]

Well we didn't get on any boat trips today. The weather has been so nice we had a day on the beach with the children instead. First time we've been to Calgary beach and I must say we were impressed. For anyone going there with a family the beach is clean and so to is the water, and there are toilets as well. Couldn't see any place for drinks or lolipops but didn't really look either.

Had a look for HH's on the way home, icluding heading down to Grasspoint but blanked again. One bird that I forgot to mention was an an unusual looking gull from earlier in the week. We were sitting alongside the jetty waiting for the ferry back from Iona to Mull when we noticed it. There were two Common gulls sitting alongside an all white gull - no head colouration and, whilst it did not extend it's wings, I could see no colour on it's wings. It's legs were pink. The closest I see via Google was an Iceland Gull. I've already mentioned that I'm cac with gulls but could this have been a possibility? Are they seen in this area? It was approx. 50% bigger than the commons.

Thanks for any advice. Oh and one more species from the cliffs South of Calgary beach:

71 Peregrine Falcon

Rich

[ClarkWGriswold]

Failed miserably to find those pesky Harriers yesterday. Did manage a couple more SEO's - mesmerising birds and a stunning view of a pair of RTD's on Loch Buie.

Have got one more to add to the list. My father who is a far better birder than I am said that the two ducks on Loch Buie were Gadwall. My only reservations is that Mull birds list these as very scarce on Mull and they usually occur in Winter.

72 Gadwall

Had a meal in The Argyle Hotel in Bunessan yesterday evening. Anyone going to Iona could do a lot worse than this place. It's pub food pure and simple but it's well cooked and there's plenty of it. I think my Haddock and chips came to £9. It was also family friendly and had a good atmosphere.

Today has been very quiet birdwise. The best things I have seen are a Gallardo on the A83 and a superb collection of classic Rileys leaving Craignure this morning. Now in Nethybridge and looking forward to the week ahead supping on a bottle of Ben Nevis IPA - very nice.

Does anyone know if Grey Partridges can be seen locally? Thanks for any information.

Rich

[ClarkWGriswold]

A 6 a.m vigil paid off this morning here in Nethybridge. Again, given that this is still the breeding season and I managed to get Corn Crake, Goldie, WTSE amongst others before landing this species they must be extremely scarce; I will not publish the exact location. Please no PM's as refusal may cause offence.

73 Blue Tit (Location with-held)

Also got another mammel enroute to Nethybridge yesterday - Hare

Rich

[ClarkWGriswold]

A quiet day today apart from the aforementioned Blue Tit. Did see 8 Morgans near Carrbridge which was a very impressive sight in the sun. Also bumped into a birder we briefly met on Mull who caught up with the SEO's we had just seen. A very decent gent.

One more to add today though and it's good to se they appear to be doing very well on Loch Ruthven.

74 Slavonian Grebe

Apologies for any spelling mistakes but I've just witnessed 15 Ospreys beating Leinster for the Rabo Pro 12 Direct trophy - well done boys, cracking game.

Rich

[Farnboro John]

I think your gull on Iona must be the Glaucous Gull that has been reported for the last few days from that exact location. Bravo.

I assume you mean Brown Hare in Speyside but don't forget there are Mountain Hares on the tops. The voles are probably Bank Voles because Field Voles are naturally invisible.

John

[ClarkWGriswold]

Hi John. Somebody mentioned they maybe short tailed voles? Thanks for the advice re. Glaucous Gull. I won't add it to the list (unless I reach 99 ;-) ) as it's only a bit of fun. Absolutely right on the Brown Hare. Far too low for Mountain Hares.

Rich

PS how's your competition going with the youngster from Liverpool (PB?)

[ClarkWGriswold]

Had a great day with the family at The Highland Wildlife Park today. Tesco clubcard vouchers can be used which keeps the costs down.

Had a couple of extra ticks just diving back and fore to places.

75 Wigeon (Loch Garten)
76 Greater Spotted Woodpecker (Road past Heather Centre)
77 Barnacle Geese (I'm assuming these are wild birds in the centre of the wildlife park??)
78 Goldcrest (Highland Wildlife Park)

Had a VERY brief visit to The Findhorn yesterday. Had buzzard, kestrel, pheasant with a heap of chicks alongside the road (very cute) and a Peregrine took either a young Oystercatcher or Gull opposite the car-parking area.

Also had another mammal today - Roe Deer. Near the Village of Insh.

Going to Loch Garten tomorrow morning and hopefully will nip over to Lochindorb in the afternoon. With a bit of luck that elusive Coal Tit will turn up ;-)

Rich

[Farnboro John]

Originally Posted by ClarkWGriswold

Hi John. Somebody mentioned they maybe short tailed voles? Thanks for the advice re. Glaucous Gull. I won't add it to the list (unless I reach 99 ;-) ) as it's only a bit of fun. Absolutely right on the Brown Hare. Far too low for Mountain Hares.

Rich

PS how's your competition going with the youngster from Liverpool (PB?)

Realistically they could be either vole but Bank Voles genuinely are much more casual about exposing themselves - er, could have phrased that better.

The Liverpool boy seems a bit stunned, he hasn't added anything since he reached 8 species and I've got 15 so far. I was a bit miffed to miss Red-footed Falcon last week but I'm sure I'll get another shot at that.

John

[ClarkWGriswold]

Had a corking view of a SEO this afternoon by Lochindorb - must be getting very close, if not past, double figures for this trip now. Also had a new mammal - Red Squirrels

79 Siskins (Loch Garten)
80 Coal Tit (Loch Garten)
81 Red Grouse with at least 7 chicks - very cute
82 Black Throated Diver - 90% certain - on other side of well known site with one chick. Only had my 8x's with me and could see no red on the throat.
83 Sand Martin (River Spey)
84 Osprey (Loch Garten)

Weather has taken a slight turn for the worse today though it's nice that it's not so hot. Hopefully will be heading up to Tongue tomorrow with the tribe. Have convinced my wife it shouldn't take much more than a couple of hours - fingers crossed eh?

Rich

[ClarkWGriswold]

3hrs to get to Tongue and about 2 and a 1/2 to get back. It's amazing how much faster you tend to travel when the kids are whingeing in the back. Was unable to stop to check out some very decent looking areas. There were several swans on the estuary nera Bonar Bridge but unable to stop. A raft of birds on the sea alongside the A9 but again - unable to stop.

Still - Tongue was a fantastic place. I'll not rush back with the kids but, hopefully if I can get the grandparents to babysit for a couple of nights I'll be back. Will take in Handa at the same time. The family bus coped well but the roads in the area would have been so much more fun in my car - nevermind eh? Added the following to the list though:

85 Red Kite (A9)
86 Swift (Boat of Garten)
87 Red Legged Partridge (Boat of Garten)
88 Goldeneye (Loch Garten)

A fellow BF member confirmed the BTD's with a chick were actually BTD's with a chick so thanks for that Steve.

Rich

[ClarkWGriswold]

Quiet day today. Weather was pretty poor this morning. Managed an hour at Loch Morlich with the children this afternoon. RTD on the loch itself. A Cuckoo flew over being mobbed by a Pied Wagtail. A few Siskins, Willow Warblers, Goldcrests and Chaffy's in the roof tops. Was really pleased with the Trinovids. They are extremely easy to lock onto a bird in the tree tops and bring whatevers there into focus extremely quickly.

Last day tomorrow. Have convinced the wife that the children need a walk in the Loch Garten area to burn off some excess energy before the long drive home. Last chance for a Crestie I think.

A bit like Kev23 I'm already thinking of the next holiday - definitely need something to look forward to.

Rich

[ClarkWGriswold]

Had a walk around Loch Malachie this afternoon. A couple from Lincolnshire pointed out a Redstart. Thanks for that and hope the trip to the Outer Hebs goes well

89 Redstart

Other than that just a few Goldcrests, GSW's etc.

Am in the process of packing car up - have had to delay departure due to a nasty accident in the early hours of this morning on the A9. Have just picked up a couple of Haggis' from Mustards Butchers. Everytime we come to Nethybridge this is always our first port of call. He does fantastic Haggis, sausages and bacon. Have also packed a few bottles of Ben Nevis IPA, Dark Island (Okney Island Brewery) and Black Gold to see us through the bank holiday.

The bins we used were 8x42 Trinovids (mine), 10x42 Ultradvids HD (my fathers) and 10x25 Bushnell Powerview (my son's). The Bushnell were absolutely fine for keeping in your pocket for the "just in case birds" but clearly did not compare optically to either Leicas. (Nor should they be expected to given the price difference). The big surprise (IMHO) was how little difference I could detect between the Trinovids and Ultravids. I was expecting the 10 x power to give alot more extra reach but this was not the case. The view - to my eyes was pin sharp in both. I'm a complete novice with regard to optics but with the exception of a LITTLE extra brightness and the Trinovids weighing a fair bit more, I could see very little difference. Certainly no where near a grands worth of difference. The vast majority of our birding was done in great conditions so I'm not sure if this had an impact.

Anyway, a 9 hour drive back to Neath awaits. Barring a fluked Nightjar or Barn Owl this will be my last entry on this thread. Both places visited are well documented and for good reason - they really are exceptional places to visit. Hope this hasn't been too boring and maybe even provided some ideas.

All the best,

Rich

[Ben Nevis]

Great read Rich.Glad you enjoyed your trip north.Enjoy the Ale..!

[ClarkWGriswold]

Cheers Ben. Didn't get a chance to follow up some tips you passed over last year. Will have to wait for another visit I think. Did manage to get #90 on the way home. The journey took so long (after leaving at 8:30 pm) that it was light again when we reaches Wales

90 Jay

Rich

PS on a side note - just had a cracking view of a Red Kite flying past my bedroom window. Sometimes it's nice to be home.