andythomas
Well-known member
Monday 4th August
Despite the continuing heatwave in England, the weather in north Scotland was still quite cool, definitely not beach weather. So I decided we should drive up to the Black Isle north of Inverness. This was somewhere I’d never been before, and I wanted to see my first Red Kite in Scotland and also visit Chanonry Point which I’d heard was good for dolphins, especially at high tide.
As we drove over the Kessock suspension bridge it was quite clear that the tide was out, so I decided to visit the north part of the Black Isle in the morning and return to Chanonry Point in the afternoon. We turned off along the B9169 and almost immediately I spotted a raptor circling over the fields to the right. I stopped the car and checked through my binoculars to confirm it was a Red Kite. Gail asked how I knew it wasn’t a Buzzard and I explained that the main difference was the forked tail. She had trouble picking this out, but I needn’t have worried as driving through Culbokie a Red Kite flew low over the road in front of us, and you could easily make out all its features with the naked eye.
We continued along very quiet roads to the RSPB hide at Udale Bay. The tide was still right out but it was obvious there were a large number of birds feeding on the mud. Even before I’d got my scope out of the boot a large swan flew in front of and then landed nearby. I was pleased, as Mute Swan was another common bird that had eluded me on previous visits to Scotland. Imagine my surprise when I picked out a yellow and black bill and realised it was a Whooper Swan. I had no idea that a few birds summered in north Scotland, but there was no mistaking it as I’ve seen them many times in England in the winter.
I scanned across the mud and saw large numbers of Oystercatchers and Curlews, with smaller numbers of Lapwings and Redshanks. There was also a Greenshank feeding in the shallows. Grey Herons were standing in the fields at the edge of the mud and in the distance was a pair of Shelducks. I was pleased to see a few Hooded Crows in with the corvid flocks, the first ones I’d seen since they were split from Carrion Crow.
We continued along the road through Jemimaville and stopped at another car park overlooking the Cromarty Firth. The first thing I heard was a Yellowhammer singing form the fields on the other side of the road, so I walked over and had a look at him first. Apart from the large number of oilrigs out in the Cromarty Firth I could see there were flocks of ducks, but they were too far away to identify. Continuing towards Cromarty we stopped again where the sea was closer to the road and I had good views of a large flock of Red-breasted Mergansers.
We then drove through Cromarty and down to Rosemarkie, where we parked on the front to have lunch. We were now overlooking the Moray Firth on the south side of the Black Isle, and we could see Chanonry Point to our right at the end of the beach, and Fort George on the other side of the firth. The Moray Firth is at its narrowest here which is why it’s good for dolphin spotting. There were a few Oystercatchers on the beach and a pair of Linnets was flying around. A Shag was fishing in the sea. I scanned the sea further out towards the point and got a distant view of some dolphins breaking the surface.
We drove out to the point across the golf course. The car park was busy and we had to park on the grass. We walked down to the beach on the east side, which was quite cool due to an easterly breeze. We all sat there in our coats while Matthew played in the sand. A lot of people were standing at the far end of the beach watching the dolphins, which you could now see with the naked eye. We had excellent views through binoculars and scope, it was just a matter of predicting where they were going to surface. The only new birds I saw here were a number of Sandwich Terns flying past and a single Fulmar.
After a couple of hours we decided to leave and I decided to make a quick dash back to Udale Bay to see if the duck flocks were now closer to land. The tide was now right in and had pushed all the birds off the beach. The only new bird I saw was a single Turnstone. So I called it a day and started the long drive back to Nethy Bridge.
Tuesday 5th August
The weather was starting to warm up and I decided to make another trip up to the Moray Firth. I’d been to Speymouth in 1989 and had excellent views of Ospreys so that was where I set off for today. We drove up the A95 which was again very quiet, and then headed north through Rothes and via a couple of B roads to the Tugnet Ice House at Spey Bay. As we passed Baxters Soup Factory on the A96 I spotted a male Pheasant on the verge.
The mouth of the Spey is quite narrow and you can see most of the estuary by scanning from the Ice House. There were the usual gulls and Oystercatchers, a pair of Shelducks, a Curlew and a Grey Heron. Swallows and Sand martins were flying around overhead. On the shingle at the mouth of the river were about 60 Red-breasted Mergansers and a few Sandwich Terns. A small group of Mute Swans were swimming just off the beach.
The beach here is made up of large stones with a lot of driftwood, but we managed to find a small patch of sand for Matthew to play on and we settled down for our picnic. I set up the scope and scanned the sea but there was nothing to see at first. Then I noticed that some of the gulls seemed a bit different and realised that there were a few Kittiwakes about, more delicate than the Common Gulls and with dark legs. A few landed on the beach near to us. A couple of Fulmars flew past. Then a large bird flew in from the east, an Osprey. He hovered above the sea directly in front of us giving excellent views. I thought he was going to dive in for a fish but after a few aborted dives he moved on round to the mouth of the river.
Returning to the scope I managed to pick out a distant Gannet. As the tide started to come in some of the birds which had been resting in the estuary were disturbed, including a pair of Dunlins which flew along the beach in front of us.
After about three hours on the beach we went to get an ice cream from the visitors centre. We sat eating them by the Ice House and an Osprey flew by carrying a small flat fish. He disappeared across the fields to the east.
After that we went into Elgin to do some shopping and then returned to Nethy Bridge.
Despite the continuing heatwave in England, the weather in north Scotland was still quite cool, definitely not beach weather. So I decided we should drive up to the Black Isle north of Inverness. This was somewhere I’d never been before, and I wanted to see my first Red Kite in Scotland and also visit Chanonry Point which I’d heard was good for dolphins, especially at high tide.
As we drove over the Kessock suspension bridge it was quite clear that the tide was out, so I decided to visit the north part of the Black Isle in the morning and return to Chanonry Point in the afternoon. We turned off along the B9169 and almost immediately I spotted a raptor circling over the fields to the right. I stopped the car and checked through my binoculars to confirm it was a Red Kite. Gail asked how I knew it wasn’t a Buzzard and I explained that the main difference was the forked tail. She had trouble picking this out, but I needn’t have worried as driving through Culbokie a Red Kite flew low over the road in front of us, and you could easily make out all its features with the naked eye.
We continued along very quiet roads to the RSPB hide at Udale Bay. The tide was still right out but it was obvious there were a large number of birds feeding on the mud. Even before I’d got my scope out of the boot a large swan flew in front of and then landed nearby. I was pleased, as Mute Swan was another common bird that had eluded me on previous visits to Scotland. Imagine my surprise when I picked out a yellow and black bill and realised it was a Whooper Swan. I had no idea that a few birds summered in north Scotland, but there was no mistaking it as I’ve seen them many times in England in the winter.
I scanned across the mud and saw large numbers of Oystercatchers and Curlews, with smaller numbers of Lapwings and Redshanks. There was also a Greenshank feeding in the shallows. Grey Herons were standing in the fields at the edge of the mud and in the distance was a pair of Shelducks. I was pleased to see a few Hooded Crows in with the corvid flocks, the first ones I’d seen since they were split from Carrion Crow.
We continued along the road through Jemimaville and stopped at another car park overlooking the Cromarty Firth. The first thing I heard was a Yellowhammer singing form the fields on the other side of the road, so I walked over and had a look at him first. Apart from the large number of oilrigs out in the Cromarty Firth I could see there were flocks of ducks, but they were too far away to identify. Continuing towards Cromarty we stopped again where the sea was closer to the road and I had good views of a large flock of Red-breasted Mergansers.
We then drove through Cromarty and down to Rosemarkie, where we parked on the front to have lunch. We were now overlooking the Moray Firth on the south side of the Black Isle, and we could see Chanonry Point to our right at the end of the beach, and Fort George on the other side of the firth. The Moray Firth is at its narrowest here which is why it’s good for dolphin spotting. There were a few Oystercatchers on the beach and a pair of Linnets was flying around. A Shag was fishing in the sea. I scanned the sea further out towards the point and got a distant view of some dolphins breaking the surface.
We drove out to the point across the golf course. The car park was busy and we had to park on the grass. We walked down to the beach on the east side, which was quite cool due to an easterly breeze. We all sat there in our coats while Matthew played in the sand. A lot of people were standing at the far end of the beach watching the dolphins, which you could now see with the naked eye. We had excellent views through binoculars and scope, it was just a matter of predicting where they were going to surface. The only new birds I saw here were a number of Sandwich Terns flying past and a single Fulmar.
After a couple of hours we decided to leave and I decided to make a quick dash back to Udale Bay to see if the duck flocks were now closer to land. The tide was now right in and had pushed all the birds off the beach. The only new bird I saw was a single Turnstone. So I called it a day and started the long drive back to Nethy Bridge.
Tuesday 5th August
The weather was starting to warm up and I decided to make another trip up to the Moray Firth. I’d been to Speymouth in 1989 and had excellent views of Ospreys so that was where I set off for today. We drove up the A95 which was again very quiet, and then headed north through Rothes and via a couple of B roads to the Tugnet Ice House at Spey Bay. As we passed Baxters Soup Factory on the A96 I spotted a male Pheasant on the verge.
The mouth of the Spey is quite narrow and you can see most of the estuary by scanning from the Ice House. There were the usual gulls and Oystercatchers, a pair of Shelducks, a Curlew and a Grey Heron. Swallows and Sand martins were flying around overhead. On the shingle at the mouth of the river were about 60 Red-breasted Mergansers and a few Sandwich Terns. A small group of Mute Swans were swimming just off the beach.
The beach here is made up of large stones with a lot of driftwood, but we managed to find a small patch of sand for Matthew to play on and we settled down for our picnic. I set up the scope and scanned the sea but there was nothing to see at first. Then I noticed that some of the gulls seemed a bit different and realised that there were a few Kittiwakes about, more delicate than the Common Gulls and with dark legs. A few landed on the beach near to us. A couple of Fulmars flew past. Then a large bird flew in from the east, an Osprey. He hovered above the sea directly in front of us giving excellent views. I thought he was going to dive in for a fish but after a few aborted dives he moved on round to the mouth of the river.
Returning to the scope I managed to pick out a distant Gannet. As the tide started to come in some of the birds which had been resting in the estuary were disturbed, including a pair of Dunlins which flew along the beach in front of us.
After about three hours on the beach we went to get an ice cream from the visitors centre. We sat eating them by the Ice House and an Osprey flew by carrying a small flat fish. He disappeared across the fields to the east.
After that we went into Elgin to do some shopping and then returned to Nethy Bridge.
