Scottish birding in September (1 Viewer)

Hi folks,

Apologies for the fairly general nature of the post. I've read several other posts requesting similar information but most of them have been in the spring or winter months!

I'm heading up to Scotland for a wedding on the 12th September and have a pass from the family for extending my stay for a few days potential birding. I'm keen to catch up with a few Scottish specialities if I can but realise that it's not the perfect time of year for a visit. As such I would love to get some pointers on what I might be able to potentially see and where to see them.

The wedding is between Kircaldy and St Andrews in Fife and I'll be flying in and out of Edinburgh. I've provisionally allocated 4 days for the trip and in that time I'd almost certainly intend to head to the Highlands (Loch Garten) to pick up some of the species of the region but as for other sites, I'm looking for assistance in maximising chances of seeing any of the species below.

New ones for me would include Crested Tit, Scottish / Parrot Crossbill, Golden Eagle, Twite, any of the three Divers, Scoters, Red / Black Grouse, Ptarmigan & Capercaille would all be new UK ticks.

Ideally I'd like to photograph the ones I see to add to the collection on the website so any photo friendly places with good hides etc. would also be appreciated.

Many thanks for taking the time to read this and hopefully getting some replies!

Hi again,

Following the initial flurry of reads of my opening post, I’ll try putting some more meat onto the bones of a potential itinerary. With a bit of luck any kind members with experience of the areas mentioned in September can inform me and the greater birding community if there are still birds to be seen around Speyside at this time of year!

Days 1 - 3 - Arrive in Edinburgh, pick up hire car and head straight up to the area around Grantown-on-Spey for lunchtime. I’ll then have 2½ days in the area hoping to locate some of the following -

Cresties, Crossbills and Capers at any of Loch Garten, Anagach Woods & Forest Lodge. (Any of these would be my major targets for the trip)
Raptor spotting up the Findhorn Valley.
Cairngorm Plateau – Ptarmigan
Grouse – hopefully from the car en route to any of the above places.
Divers – too late in the season?

Day 4 - Wedding back near St. Andrews.

Day 5 - Final day before catching the flight back home late in the evening. If anything interesting is still in the area (i.e. currently Lesser Yellowlegs) I’d go looking for that but any good birding sites either north or south of the Forth would be appreciated. (Too early for Scoters?)

Thanks again for looking and still hoping for a response or two

There are likely to be some scoters in St Andrews Bay by mid-September. Most will be Common but Velvet Scoters can become numerous by that time. Red-throated Divers are also fairly likely. A good site for the same species (and possibly Surf Scoter) at that time of the year is Lunan Bay in Angus (south of Montrose). You might struggle to get any good pictures in these areas though. The best place I know of for getting good views of seaduck (and possibly photographs) is Musselburgh in Lothian.

Hi Chris

Sorry no-one up here responded before - we've a Bash that weekend but it's up in Aberdeenshire, which may be too far for you to travel on the Sunday after a late night (though Llendorin is planning to:-O) - it's just the worry of having to get back for a plane.

If you're thinking of going Aberlady way for the Yellowlegs, then stopping off at Musselburgh may get you some winter plumaged Divers.

You're going to the right area for most of what you want, in the Loch Garten area. Just wondering though if trying for the Ptarmigan may eat too much into your available time - you have to do the climb! Findhorn Valley is good.

Red Grouse are rather unlikely from the road, you'd probably need to walk a Grouse Moor.

Hopefully someone else will come in now that we have a better idea of your schedule - and now we know you have a car available.....

D

EDIT: There, I just knew Andrew would beat me to it!

There were Scoters in Carnoustie bay last weekend so i would think that they will be around the fie coast in september. As Andrew said, there should be divers around too.

Anywhere along the coast between kirkcaldy and st.andrews should be good. Try Crail, next to the golf course, which is good for migrants at that time of year, especially if the weather is right.
The prominade at Leven is also a good place to go on your last day...scoter and long tailed ducks.
Guardbridge near St.Andrews is also very good for waders, kingfisher etc. It has a fantastic hide with heating and poss cup of coffee!!!

Darell

If you head to Grantown via Braemar, you drive over the two highest roads in Britain and would have a few chances to see Red Grouse at the roadside. Firstly by the A93 at Cairnwell, then on the A939 around Gairnshiel and again at the Lecht. It's a fractionally shorter jouney than following the usual A9 route though it will probably take a bit longer.

There's always the chance of other things on this route too like Eagles or Black Grouse. Ptarmigan is possible at Cairnwell- some people have scoped them from the road, but I can't imagine that is particularly satisfactory - much better if you are able to walk uphill from the road, for example along the ridge between Cairnwell or Carn Aosda at the top of the ski area:

http://www.multimap.com/s/hwJ0Qt9A

If you stop to explore this area you probably wouldn't reach Grantown until late afternoon on the first day, but if you were successful with Ptarmigan you wouldn't have to do the longer trek up Cairngorm later.

Edit: Twite breed along the A93 in Glen Clunie to the north of the Cairnwell ski area, but they may have left the breeding areas by September.

Anagach is one of the most accessible caper sites, with the areas furthest away from Grantown being the best. They start to become a little easier to see in September after hiding in the undergrowth all summer, but a great deal of luck will be required. An early morning walk along the tracks around the red circle on this map may be best:

http://www.multimap.com/s/ishtZ92H

Caper seem to have had a good breeding season this year so numbers should be up a bit.

A word of caution on travel around St. Andrews on 12th September - that is the day of the Leuchars airshow! I/We may come up for the bash to escape.
Keep an eye on my thread for what is at Guardbridge for the Sunday though. Should be plenty of curlew sands around and last year produced lesser yellowlegs and honey buzzard.
Common and probably velvet scoters will be around off Fife in September, surf doesn't usually turn up until into October.

Rob

Another vote for Anagach. We had six or seven sitings of Capers early one September morning a few years ago just by walking into the woods from Grantown and sticking to the footpaths. All flight views, but a couple of them quite good and prolonged owing to the fairly open nature of the forest. Quite a few Crossbill sp too but I didn't feel they could be safely assigned to species (by me at least).

James

Awesome! Thanks for all your information so far - it really helps and my appetite is whetted to the core!

While I remember, and I have your attention, are there any good places for Merlin (I’m guessing Findhorn valley) but it’s one of my major bogey birds with only a 2 second glimpse of one over the past 4 years.

Thanks everyone for the replies :t:

Capercaillie71 said:

If you head to Grantown via Braemar, you drive over the two highest roads in Britain and would have a few chances to see Red Grouse at the roadside. Firstly by the A93 at Cairnwell, then on the A939 around Gairnshiel and again at the Lecht.

Click to expand...

I drove over the A939 between Ballater and Grantown and back again at the weekend. I saw three red grouse by the roadside on the way up (1 north of Gairnshiel and 2 at the Lecht) but none on the way back. Usually you can spot their heads sticking up above the heather a few metres back from the road edge.

There's some scattered pine trees a mile or two north of Gairnshiel Bridge near the road which sometimes hold Black Grouse.

Worth scanning from the Ski area car park carefully first for Ptarmigan. With a lot of patience can be done if you don't mind just a scope tick! Saves a walk, and by September can be getting quite rough up there already. (Out of six days last week, there was only about a five hour window of weather good enough to get on to the plateau!).

Sorry for bumping this thread, but I was wondering if anyone has any up to date bird info for the Highland region as I'm off in only a few days time. I see there are a few Surf Scoter already around and the Lesser Yellowlegs is also still around.

Any up to date recent sighting areas for Cresties, Crossbills and Capers would be hugely appreciated.

pm me if you don't want to advertise your favourite local hanunt!

Many thanks!