The Highlands and Islands Thread (5 Viewers)

Pitvar said:

A work trip north without time for birding sadly this week - but from the car: family party of 5 Whoopers and plenty of Pink Feet in the fields west of Thurso on Wednesday, juvenile and sub adult gannets really close in near just before Helmsdale from the A9 and a wing tagged Common Buzzard - feeding on worms on the outskirts of Thurso - a quick Google suggests it was a juvenile tagged this June on Orkney - I'll see if I can find where to report it fully.

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Nice pic, one of my favourite birds. Shame about the tag but needs must. Going upto Aviemore in April for a few days hopefully for Crested Tits. Any tips anybody.

I think all you guys who live North of the border are soooo lucky, I just love Scotland, only went for the 1st time this year but ended up having 3 weekends away up there. Cannot wait till next year to explore more of your beautiful country.

Ratal said:

Hopefully the Long Tailed Ducks and Scoters will be back in their hundreds soon. The speed the LTD fly along at never ceases to amaze me!

Heres hoping the winds stay favourable for Wednesday sea watch off of Findhorn.

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Lots of LTDs hanging around the Moray Firth between Chanonry and Inverness last weeK. Very few Scoters at all in the usual area around Burghead Bay so far.

checkers wanted - last chapters of new scottish book

The final three chapters of the book are now available if anyone wants to help check them for errors. They are

Ardnamurchan

Speyside south - Aviemore to Cairngorm

Speyside north - Loch Garten area

Drop me an email at

gordon dot hamlett at btinternet dot com and I'll forward the chapters as soon as possible


This is your last chance to have your say. If you have missed any of the other chapters that you are interested in (see previous posts for full details), then don't hesitate to get in touch.

Hopefully the new edition will be out early in the new year.

Cheers

Gordon

Stuart Williams kindly sent me the details of the buzzard above:

Nest West Mainland, Orkney Tagged 25/6/13 brood 2

Seen Rendall, Orkney 17/9/13
Seen Thurso business park, 08/10 - 12/10
Seen Scrabster, Caithness 17/10 and 18/10,
Seen Thurso business park, 20/10 - 22/10

Be interesting to see if it moves south when winter sets in or stays local...

gordon hamlett said:

The final three chapters of the book are now available if anyone wants to help check them for errors. They are

Hopefully the new edition will be out early in the new year.

Cheers

Gordon

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Looking forward to reading It Gordon.

Boro Birder......come on up, there's room for all) Only down side of being up here is that work,house,garden etc all tend to have first-call on ones time!
Rgds
RichC

RichC.
I would love to up sticks and move north but the wife just would not have it, I think she knows that she would never see me, so I think I will just have to do with my yearly holidays up there, unless she divorces me and I would be up there in a shot, no looking back.
On a serious note myself and the wife have always said that as soon as our children have flew the nest, pardon the pun, we will move to the countryside and what better place than Bonny Scotland.

I would like to ask three questions concerning birds in Highland:

1) The american wigeon has been reported again this autumn at Udale Bay on the news information services, but not on other fora frequented by local birders. Does anyone know if the bird has returned, and if so, how likely I am to get it?

2) Can anyone recommend me any tips for seeing non-common crossbills, other than walking in suitable habitiat and listening? Which species of crossbill has been commonest at Abernethy this year?

3) How reliable is the Dingwall ring-bill at present. Any tips would be appreciated.

Alcina said:

I would like to ask three questions concerning birds in Highland:

1) The american wigeon has been reported again this autumn at Udale Bay on the news information services, but not on other fora frequented by local birders. Does anyone know if the bird has returned, and if so, how likely I am to get it?

2) Can anyone recommend me any tips for seeing non-common crossbills, other than walking in suitable habitiat and listening? Which species of crossbill has been commonest at Abernethy this year?

3) How reliable is the Dingwall ring-bill at present. Any tips would be appreciated.

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We couldn't find the Amwig last week but there are a lot of wigeon out there and they are well spread out. I was told that there is also a Chiloe wigeon there as well to add to the confusion.

Crossbills have been in very short supply this year - we had a flock call in the Findhorn Valley and a another flock flying over Uath Lochans - neither identified. There has been an influx of parrot xbills along the east coast so these might be turning up.

Gordon

Boro Birder - Well, I wish you luck when the wee ones have moved out. Until then, hopefully see you on Skye sometime. I'm not too far from Broadford bay/Waterloo, always good spots for a wader watch.
Rgds
RichC

Hey peeps,

I'm up in Lochaber/FW area for work in a couple of weeks but will have some time off. Bringing the bins and scope. Any birders in that area able to put me on to decent areas. Looks like I'll be on public transport tho, so will be limited, but any pointers appreciated.

In particular, I have a couple of free days at the beginning of my trip. Again public transport from Fort William. Anywhere you guys can recommend as a base for a two night stay with good birding within walking distance. Have considered heading east to Inverness and Moray, Abernethy seems a little far. Thought about Skye too? I'd prefer to see some of the Scottish species if poss (sea ducks/divers inc). I live by the Thames Estuary love waders, but seeing them every day on the patch ... be good to see something different.

Thanks,

Steve

For ducks and divers you can look at places like Nairn, Burghead, lossiemouth. Burghead and Lossie would need a bit of planning for public transport. Nairn is on main Inverness to Aberdeen line. Good seafront for what your looking for. When you thinking of heading up? My stomping ground so might bump into you.

DMKSlater said:

For ducks and divers you can look at places like Nairn, Burghead, lossiemouth. Burghead and Lossie would need a bit of planning for public transport. Nairn is on main Inverness to Aberdeen line. Good seafront for what your looking for. When you thinking of heading up? My stomping ground so might bump into you.

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Thanks for the feedback. Arrive 20th and birding until 22nd. Then based in FW until 25th.

Linfordbirder said:

Hey peeps,

I'm up in Lochaber/FW area for work in a couple of weeks but will have some time off. Bringing the bins and scope. Any birders in that area able to put me on to decent areas. Looks like I'll be on public transport tho, so will be limited, but any pointers appreciated.

In particular, I have a couple of free days at the beginning of my trip. Again public transport from Fort William. Anywhere you guys can recommend as a base for a two night stay with good birding within walking distance. Have considered heading east to Inverness and Moray, Abernethy seems a little far. Thought about Skye too? I'd prefer to see some of the Scottish species if poss (sea ducks/divers inc). I live by the Thames Estuary love waders, but seeing them every day on the patch ... be good to see something different.

Thanks,

Steve

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Hi Steve,

In FW itself, keep your eye on Loch Linnhe for divers (all three species), eiders and Black guillemot (they breed at the Corran Ferry (14 miles south of FW). Otters and harbour porpoise regularly seen. Keep scanning the skylines of Ardgour (on opposite side of loch). Both species of eagle have been seen there.

No idea about public transport, but you should be able to get west by bus or train to Mallaig (the 'Harry Potter' line) for seabirds, gulls etc. Also check the Calmac website for ferry trips there - good way of seeing pelagic species from a different angle.

Best birding by far is the Ardnamurchan peninsula, seawatch from the Point itself, but I suspect that public transport there is out of the question though you can certainly get as far as Kilchoan - the harbour there is a good place to watch - raptors seabirds etc. It might be worth seeing if you can get to Mull from FW. There are all sorts of companies that would take you out for the day - see mullbirds website for details

Have a look at http://www.carlberry.co.uk/rfnshowl.asp?L1=FOR0710 for possible destinations

Note that the interior is going to be very quiet - concentrate on the coast.

HTH

Gordon

Linfordbirder said:

Thanks for the feedback. Arrive 20th and birding until 22nd. Then based in FW until 25th.

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Hi Steve,
Birding without your own transport in the north of Scotland is challenging to say the least. Public transport is at best sporadic or non-existent. Where I live only fifteen miles from Ft. William the last bus left more than ten years ago. It would take you the best part of a day to get up to the Moray coast or Speyside and getting over to Skye not much better. My advice would be to stay in Lochaber. You could take a train on the Mallaig line. Drop off at Glenfinnan and walk the forest road on the east side of Loch Shiel. There is very good chance of both eagle species but unfortunately not much else at this time of year. Alternatively you could go as far Arisaig and walk the coast west out to Ru or north to Morar. Slav Grebes and divers,mostly Gt Northerns, are a sure bet along with W-t Eagle and otters quite on the cards. Sea duck other than eiders and mergansers are rather thin on the ground on the west coast. Mallaig harbour can be good for white-winged gulls. They reached double figures in the big 2012 influx, not much reported so far this winter however. Around Ft. William the mouth of the river Lochy is always worth a look, white-winged gulls regular, otters a cert. The week before last I had a sub-ad W-t Eagle there, feeding on a dead salmon right beside the Dive Centre. A trip up on the Nevis Range Gondola might produce Ptarmigan and Snow Bunting. Something that I have never tried you could be lucky. There are Crested Tits in some of the old native pinewoods but you would be fortunate to find one as they are very thin on the ground.
David

Excellent feedback and creates a great backdrop of information to help plan. I really appreciate your time and insights guys.

David, you're the nearest birder I've found to FW so far! - Congrats and thanks for replying, and I know what you mean re public transport. However for my travels up from London the sleeper is the biz! Unfortunately these days cars don't come too! Remember the good ole days! have/and will rent a car if needbe, but found Inverness the nearest place for that too!

OK - so here's my plan.

1. Watch the pager/reports and comms!
If mourning dove and CFW reappear - Calmac will be the way to go! (I spent 10 days cycling and rovering the Outer Hebs in June so got to grips with their routes and have their winter schedule).

2. Watch Weather.
Gordon, your advice to go coastal makes sense to me. Really liked the idea of Ardnamurchan - Drove out their last year from FW, but I didn't find any shelter/hides to sea watch from last time. (Are there any?). I can get a bus to Kilchoan (For Mull - I'd want to get to the remote areas, so if I was going to do that, I'd probably opt to stay on Rhum, but really I'm wanting to be on the mainland unless something special turns up, and guides/glam birding - Hmmmm! not really me!). Looked for accommodation at Ardnamurchan and found it limited in the specific areas I'd want to be at. Know the Corran Ferry area well and cycle/birded that on my last trip 2 months ago. With snow and a freeze on the radar next week - Shelter and somewhere to thaw get hot drink/meal becomes important and Ardnamurchan and that whole area seems very limited. Yep! - Soft southerner! Hasn't most of the NW sea watch activity past?

Mallaig - I've used that rail line a number of times. Seen Goldies every time (from the train) and a 2 sea eagles on one trip. It's by far the best rail line in the country IMO and that may well be the plan for a day trip on Monday week prior to getting the sleeper back south - esp if weather is poor. Nothing like Cullen skink to warm the cockles!

Fort William. I have seen odd RTDivers and eider by the salmon/muscle farm and seals. Had osprey, goosander, otter upstream and multiple buzzard both side of Loch Linnhe (yet to see eagles). Getting to know that area a bit but this is my first November visit. FW looks to me like it would be a good sheltered area during storms rather than a regular holding area. Not sure next weeks weather will help (Will it?) If I was to stay west, my instinct would be to bus to Oban and get a couple of nights acommodation there rather than stay at FW - Am I missing something there David?. The Nevis Range sounds interesting however. Anyone have any pointers for birding at the top station? as my knowledge is limited to the lower woodlands round the MTB tracks.

So ... unless something shows up on the west coast/isles; with the weather as forecast, I'm thinking:-
Wednesday : Get the bus (80mins) straight off the sleeper to Inverness for 2 night stay. Lunch and afternoon birding around Inverness.
Thursday : join local SOC group morning birding - meet locals see whats about where.
Friday .. pm bus back to FW

King Eider and American Wigeon are of interest. And I may rent a car to get out to see either/both of those if they remain. Anyone have an opinion as to whether it's likely to get both in the same day?

Thanks once again for the ideas and advice. Look forward to possibly bumping into some of you at sometime.

Good birding.

Steve

Steve

I'm sure you can hire cars in FW. Try either Fort William Car Hire (http://www.fortwilliamcarhire.com/index.html), Sixt (http://www.sixt.co.uk/car-hire/united-kingdom/fort-william), or Easydrivescotland (https://www.easydrivescotland.co.uk/).

Thanks Again for the feedback folks.

To feedback from my trip. I spent a couple of days birding the Inverness area then went over to work in Lochaber and had a few hours over a couple of days there.

Inverness.
I found the local bus company most helpful and on their advice took a bus to Cromarty. If your recall Scotland was experiencing a major storm, most ferries weren't running (glad I didn't plan to go island hopping on the west Coast) Wasn't a lot to see birdwise in Cromarty but I spotted a couple of reserves with hides along the bus route (for next time!) and the sea watching was spectacular for the 2meter waves themselves. That said I found a rock pipit hiding in a corner of the harbour, eider in the bay and few more familiar species.

The following day I joined the local SOC group for their Thursday morning walk. Turned out to be an all day drive around the Black Isle (again!) but with calmer seas and wheels and local knowledge we saw 67 species and the dolphins and the company was excellent. Lovely group of miost helpful and accepting people and managed to pick out the American Wigeon at Udale for a life tick.

Over in Fort William, I spent most of my birding time along Loch Linnhe. Highlights were goldeneye, goosander, buzzard raids through the HT roost, gulls, finches and buntings in the woodland areas and seeing the local otter grab a cormorant from an island (never realised they took such big prey).

Once again Scotland delivered it's magic and the weather was good if not cold.

Hope someone else finds the report helpful should they find themselves in similar circumstances.

Look forward to a return in the new year.

That Otter sighting sounds fantastic!