Thursday 23rd October
I really think that Delia should re-name this thread " up the hill, down the hill, up another hill and another".
We met up this morning, in the rain, for a trip UP to "Delias' patch". Now she had been promising me that the red kite would be there waiting for us!!! Read on to find out.
As we left Blairgowrie and "Up the 1st Hill", a sparrowhawk flew over the car and i wasn't that much further before we had to slow down and stop for 6 red legged partridges crossing the road. Goldfinches, chaffinches, rooks, crows and pheasants were all seen before we reached the cattle grid, and the beginning of the patch.
We stopped to have a look at the view which was distorted by low clouds, wind and rain. Its a lovely place and i know i will have to come back up on a nicer day to see it in its glory.
A buzzard was the next bird to be seen as we stopped for a while to watch for any other raptors in the area!! No i didnt say kite!!
After a while, we headed off for the small loch that Delia has on her patch. It looked devoid of any bird life but we had only stopped for a couple of mins when a little grebe appeared as if from no where. Then a moorhen flew from the reeds infront of us but was then seen flying to the other end of the loch, accompanied by the little grebe, just as the farmer arrived with his tractor.
I headed off over the pasture field to see what else there was, while Delia was going to meet me a little while later at the top of "one of the hills".
As i departed, i suddenly heard redwing chattering and saw two in the lone tree next to the loch. I continued my walk and saw a single meadow pipit, wren, robin, rooks, crows, goldcrest and pheasant, before re-joining Delia. We then went back "down the hill" to the car. Goldfinch and Chaffinch were seen before we headed back to the raptor viewing point to have lunch. I said nothing about watching for the kite though!!
We sat for a good hour in the rain, drinking coffee, eating our lunch and watching the world go by. Only rooks and crows bothered to show themselves. All the other birds, including that kite, were more sensible and were sheltering somewhere else from the wind and rain.
We had a good few hours up on the patch and really enjoyed it despite the weather. One good thing to come out of the bad weather was the fact that for once, Delia could look for birds without the wind turbines spoiling her view!!! With the low clouds, the turbines were only visible a few at a time and even then, not in their entirity.
The photos i took today show a small area of the patch.
1. Is the loch where we saw the dabchick and moorhen. In the top right corner you can just make out some of the beautiful turbines.
2 Up another hill to check those trees
3 Further up that hill to get to these barns
4 Down hill and then up another to get this view of the same barns and line of trees
5 Down hill and then up a small hill to meet up with Delia again for this view of the loch and then back down to our transport.
Thanks for a good day out Delia, even without that kite!!!:-O
Darell:t:
