Hello from (almost) the Highlands (1 Viewer)

Hi

My name is Blythe and I live on the Moray Coast of Scotland. I do most of my birding around the Moray Coast and Cairngorms, although I have been to Orkney, Rum, and Skye too.

I used to live in Suffolk and spent a lot of time at Minsmere and Lackford, as well as the infrequent visits to Titchwell and Cley etc. I still try to get to Minsmere at least once a year and was just there last week in fact.

Living in Suffolk with access to great reserves got me into birding. Living in Scotland got me into informal birding where you realise birds don't just live or visit reserves and neither do you have to either.

Just about to invest in my first major bins purchase of some used Leica Trinovid 8x42BNs having coveted them for many a year. Looking forward to being able to see more in lower light, which is especially useful in Scotland, in winter

Hi there and a warm welcome to you from those of us on staff here at BirdForum :t:

We’re glad you found us and please join in wherever you like

Hello Blythe, and welcome to the forum. Nice of you to join, we have a number of users from Scotland so you are sure to feel at home.

Hi Blythe and a warm welcome from me too.

What a beautiful area you've chosen to live in!!!

All things Scottish can be found here. Also, keep an eye on threads titled something like Scottish Bashes; we usually have one or two meets each year and they're all great fun. We had one recently and you can read all about it in this thread. You'd be most welcome to join us on another if you can manage.

Hello Blythe and welcome to the forum, enjoy and all the best.

Welcome to BirdForum! I am sure you will find lots to interest you here, and I hope you enjoy your visits.

Aviemore

Hi all

I am in Scotland for 4 days next month but I am told it's not a good month to visit. I was after the regulars - Grouse, Eagles etc. I had a 10 species target any advice pls??

Thank you for all the welcomes

to the hawk - I don't know why you've been told its not a good month to visit, apart from being eating alive by the midges of course...

For you Grouse and Eagles you need the more remote mountainous areas, the Western Highlands and the islands should afford you both of these and if you want White Tailed Eagles then the islands are worth the ferry. Have a look on the websites for each of the islands and see what is resident. They will also give you details of getting there and accommodation etc if required, as well as some of the other things you can do and see. Keep bins to hand if driving (do not use whilst driving of course) as most of the Eagles I have seen have actually been from the remoter roads and its been a case of finding somewhere quickly to pull in to. Without seeing the other 8 of your top ten I can't comment but I imagine Crested Tit is on there and probably Osprey so for those head into the Cairngorms around Aviemore and Boat of Garten, or Strathspey and Findhorn/Culbin on the coast. Hope that helps