A cold day in Scotland (1 Viewer)

[Reay_Bonxie]

I had just a walk around my garden.

Treecreeper
Goldcrest
Long tailed tit
Dunnock
Coal tit
Blue tit
Great tit
Pheasant
Blackbird
Greenfinch
Chaffinch

Then I walked down to the beach

Great black back Gull
Herring gull
Black headed gull
Curlew
Rock dove
Twite
Jackdaw
Starling
Buzzard
Cormerant
Shag

Not a bad day upto now, going out later as well |:d|

 

[birdman]

Not a bad show for the garden way up there in the frozen North, RB!

Are there many pheasants around the North of Scotland... I can't say I've ever noticed any when I've been there.

Mind you... I would have been looking for something else - can't move for the damned things down here!

 

[Reay_Bonxie]

There are lots of pheasant around here but the estate does breed them for the shoot.

I have to add a goldfinch to today's tally, never had one in the garden before and the Bird Guide has it as only a summer breeder this far north so I suppose it is not a bad spot in itself.

I will add a wren to the garden's tally as well. |:d|

 

[wilmauk]

Not a bad show for the garden way up there in the frozen North, RB!

Are there many pheasants around the North of Scotland... I can't say I've ever noticed any when I've been there.

Mind you... I would have been looking for something else - can't move for the damned things down here!

We've got loads of pheasants round this way....certainly keeps you sharp when driving down the back roads.

 

[Reay_Bonxie]

We've got loads of pheasants round this way....certainly keeps you sharp when driving down the back roads.

Best hung til they drop :-O and saves picking the lead out of 'em.

 

[delia todd]

Best hung til they drop :-O and saves picking the lead out of 'em.

LOL Reay

You're a lucky so & so having Treecreeper in your garden. grr

D

 

[birdman]

There are lots of pheasant around here but the estate does breed them for the shoot.

Ah... yes of course!

We've got loads of pheasants round this way....certainly keeps you sharp when driving down the back roads.

Seen a couple around Morayshire... yeah, Scottish pheasants are no brighter than English ones! (I'll watch out for them in the Storehouse of Foulis next time I'm there!)

 

[Reay_Bonxie]

It crossed my mind that pheasant meat from the garden would be a good form of nourishment over the winter. But my better half has banned me from even thinking along those lines. I couldn't do it anyway, so I'm afraid I'll have to settle for the supermarket variety again.

Just a thought, does anyone know of the legal position if I did decide to take a pheasant from my garden that just so happened to wander into a rifle sight?

The birds are not mine and they are bred by someone else for game shooting.

 

[John Marshall]

It crossed my mind that pheasant meat from the garden would be a good form of nourishment over the winter. But my better half has banned me from even thinking along those lines. I couldn't do it anyway, so I'm afraid I'll have to settle for the supermarket variety again.

Just a thought, does anyone know of the legal position if I did decide to take a pheasant from my garden that just so happened to wander into a rifle sight?

The birds are not mine and they are bred by someone else for game shooting.

You would require a game licence to shoot game in your own garden.

 

[Henry B]

You would require a game licence to shoot game in your own garden.

Cheat.

 

[kas]

No way did you get Long tailed tit in yor garden :scribe: :-C :storm: , you lucky rat. These must be migrants, I saw them in Achsvarasdale last November, but I have probably told you this a few times (Still in my top 5 of finds)
First you see the Waxwings now this, Fancy swapping houses for a week.

Certainly was a cold day, we had to travel to Inverness. 1-2 degrees the whole way down and back. Some snow on the side of the road but nothing to wory about. All the hilltops are white though, very picture postcard.

Saw loads of Buzzards, Kestrel, Red kite, Sparrowhawk, hundreds of geeese, a mass of wildfowl and waders on the cromatary firth. Unfortunatley we had a tight schedule, so this was one of the very few times that I have not stopped anywhere for a look.

Keep me posted on the LT tits.
PS heard there was a good sized flock of whimbrel in the field opposite the beach toilets last week. Approx 50. :t:

 

[Reay_Bonxie]

I'd love to see the red kite.

There was a flock of curlew in that field 2 weeks ago so I canna say, didn't we see some when we met that day?.

I bought an extra bird table from castletown and there are sooo many birds here it is amazing.

The LTTs were feeding on a birch tree, I am not sure whether they were feeding on the sticky leaf buds or insects.

 

[sdg_77]

About 15 years ago when we lived near Lybster in Caithness we enjoyed these cold clear days the most - reading about them is making me envious. Best memory would be the owls hunting in the fields around the house, and when it did go dark there were always the stars or the aurorae. Now we live in Warwickshire where we need a power failure to see the stars! Off to London by train tomorrow and hoping to see the Red Kites along the way.