Pegler Birding: The Scottish Highlands - Pt.3, 28th to 30th May, 2013

Wednesday, 19 June 2013

The Scottish Highlands - Pt.3, 28th to 30th May, 2013

Tuesday 28th May (continued)

After visiting the Falls of Shin, we headed back to base via the scenic route which, of course, included Lochindorb! We entered at the south end and, before we got to the water, stopped to look at a Curlew that was showing well in the bright afternoon sunlight.

Curlew - Lochindorb

Continuing, we were treated to a distant view of an Osprey, but little else was seen until we left the loch at the northern end. Here we had distant views of a Cuckoo with the poor Meadow Pipit that it was parasitising!

Meadow Pipit + Cuckoo - Lochindorb

Cuckoo - Lochindorb

Tonight was the night that Jim Almond was giving his first talk at the Grant Arms. His subject was the Shropshire Peregrines that he monitors. His talk was timed to start at 21:00, but the sun was shining and there was no wind, and Short-eared Owls were beckoning up the road! I made my apologies to Jim, and set out after dinner, arriving at at couple of minutes before 8 o'clock. A SEO appeared virtually on the dot of 8 o'clock!! I was hoping for some close shots in good light, but it kept its distance until just before it departed from the area, when it briefly flew past at about 100 metres away.

Short-eared Owl - south of Dava

I waited until 20:30, but the owl showed no signs of returning, so decided that it was an ideal opportunity to salve my conscience and returned to the hotel in time to buy a drink at the bar, and enjoy Jim's excellent talk!

Wednesday 29th

Having covered over 200 miles (320 km) the previous day we decided to stay closer to base this day. Stopping in a lay-by at Dulnain Bridge where, previously we've seen Dipper, Grey Wagtail, and Common Sandpiper, we found a juvenile Dipper on a nearby rock.

Dipper (juvenile) - Dulnain Bridge

Although we've passed through Carr Bridge many times before, it was only the last time through that my wife had spotted the old pack horse bridge. I didn't see it, so we stopped this time. It was worth the stop!

Carr Bridge - the original!

We then continued to what is usually referred to as the Findhorn Valley (or 'Valley of the Raptors') but more correctly is Strathdearn. We soon saw Dipper, Oystercatcher, Mistle Thrush (many seen during the holiday), Common Gull and Redstart. I tried to re-locate the Redstart, but failed!

Oystercatcher - Findhorn Valley (Strathdearn)

Mistle Thrush - Findhorn Valley (Strathdearn)

Also very evident were several good-sized herds of male Red Deer.

Red Deer (male) - Findhorn Valley (Strathdearn)

These deer were still wearing their woolly winter coats, and the velvet-covered antlers were developing well on some.

Red Deer (male) - Findhorn Valley (Strathdearn)

We got to the car parking area at the end of the public road. There were people here, and not much was being seen. I went for a walk further up the valley, but there was a strong cold wind blowing, so I didn't go far, and saw nothing of interest, so returned to the car (and my wife) and we set off back down the road. We took the very scenic road to Farr and stopping high up on the moors for our picnic but, as usual on this road, very little was seen.

We'd planned to have a refreshment stop at the herb nursery near Farr, but they were no longer offering this service, so we continued to Loch Ruthven, where the RSPB have a hide overlooking the loch, and from which breeding Slavonian Grebes can be seen. As we arrived, we had the best views - before I'd sorted out the camera! We had plenty of other sightings, but more distant. As I got better sightings at another location, I'll just offer the following two images.

Slavonian Grebe - Loch Ruthven

On the way back to the car park, a guide was busy showing his clients a Willow Warbler, in the absence of more interesting subjects. The bird's greatest attribute was that it was relatively confiding!

Willow Warbler - Loch Ruthven

As we'd not been to Lochindorb that day, we thought we'd better pass through on the way. I picked up some shots of Red Grouse.

Red Grouse - Lochindorb

After dinner that night I took Roger and Lynne to the SEO location, and Jim Almond followed in his car, and was later joined by two of his friends from Shropshire. There was a good stiff breeze blowing and it was a bit cold.

Jim picked up the first sighting - of a male Hen Harrier to the east of us, flying north. It passed at a distance of about 400 metres (checked on Google Earth), so only record shots were obtained.

Hen Harrier (male) - south of Dava

Roger was next to make a discovery. He'd got two Black Grouse in his scope at about 700 metres distance to the west of us. They were facing off at each other, either side of a fence, with white tail feather displays. It was comical to watch. Then we noticed three more in the middle of the field doing the same thing! Unfortunately these were straight into the light as well as being a long way away - I'm amazed that I even managed record shots.

Black Grouse (male) - south of Dava

The place where we were parked was on a mound and well off the road, giving us good all-round views. However, with three cars, and four people out of the cars, we must have stood out like a sore thumb. It might have been for this reason that when a SEO eventually appeared, at 20:52 - when we'd lost much of the light, it kept its distance, before departing to the distant hillside to the west of us. Just for the sake of completion, this one was taken at its nearest approach at about 150 metres.

Short-eared Owl - south of Dava

Thursday 30th

At Dinner the previous night, Jim and Roger had been telling me of a Capercaillie that they'd had close views of that morning. In fact, Jim had spent all morning watching and photographing it. I've never seen a Capercaillie, so this was our first target as, apparently, it is regularly seen at this location. We'd planned to spend the morning at Chanonry Point, watching the Dolphins, so we made an early start to compensate. After about an hour and a half there was no sign of the Caper, so we set off for the Black Isle. We had about 40 minutes delay at the Kessock Bridge, where an accident had caused havoc as one side of the bridge was closed anyway, due to works.

If you're visiting Chanonry point, be aware that there are no 'facilities' there, and as you will not be alone here, there's no chance of sneaking into the bushes, so to speak! I recommend a visit to the very basic public loos by the harbour car park in Avoch.

There weren't many places left in the car park at Chanonry Point, and quite a crowd had assembled on the beach in anticipation of what the rising tide would bring in. We'd only been there minutes before the first Bottlenose Dolphin appeared.

Dolphins are not easy to photograph. That's my experience anyway, and Jim Almond expressed the same sentiments. There's no telling when and where they're going to surface, or what they're going to do when they do! If you're trying to use a camera with appreciable shutter lag, forget it! You really need quicker reactions than I've got at my age! Trying to grab a shot as a Dolphin puts its nose out of the water is nigh on impossible. Your best chance is when the Dolphins are 'cruising'. If they're being really lazy, you might be able to take your time over a shot when they're acting like a half-submerged submarine, like this one.