Scottish Highland Break, Part 3 - 29th & 30th May, 2014

Thursday 29th May

This was to be my last full day in Scotland and, feeling well-recovered from my earlier ills, I was determined to make the most of it, although mindful that it shouldn't be too strenuous as I was facing a 450 mile (720 km) drive home the following day.

I was waiting at the door when the dining room opened for breakfast, and was soon on my way back to the owl location near Nethybridge that I'd already spent quite a lot of time at.

About 5 miles (8 km) from my destination a Short-eared Owl flew across the road in front of me. By the time I'd stopped it was rather a long way away and I could only grab a distant shot. I then watched with frustration as it flew further away, put up two further SEOs which quickly settled down into the grass again, and then continued on it way.

Short-eared Owl - from road to Nethybridge

Having set up at my destination, taking care to position the car so I had a better view of things approaching from behind than I'd had the previous day, I sat and waited.

The pattern started to repeat itself once more, with birds from the south-west flying high and carrying prey as shown below.

Short-eared Owl (with prey) - near Nethybridge

Suddenly, however, things changed, and an owl started to hunt at the roadside only about 90 metres from my position. This gave some better photo opportunities.

Short-eared Owl - near Nethybridge

I mentioned, above, that I'd positioned myself somewhat better to see birds coming from behind me. This paid off just a few minutes after the last sequence was taken, when a bird did the low north-east to south-west passage in front of the woods towards the hunting grounds - this again at a distance of about 90 metres.

Short-eared Owl - near Nethybridge

Things then went extremely quiet for well-over two hours, until I was awakened from my reveries by a bird making the south-west to north-east passage, empty handed but a little closer than had been the norm. From past observations, it does seem that SEOs tend to fly high when carrying prey. I wonder if this helps them avoid conflict with competition for their spoils?

Short-eared Owl - near Nethybridge

Less than two minutes later, I was extremely glad that this owl had left me set up for shooting against the sky when I saw a very distant, very large, bird in the sky behind the woodland. My first reaction was Raven. As I was taking the photos I realised what I was looking at - a White-tailed Sea Eagle with wings like barn doors! It was extremely distant, so I've pasted together two images of the same bird. you can just detect the bird's wing tags. Incidentally, this location must have been at least 30 miles (50 km) from the nearest sea.

White-tailed Sea Eagle (photo-montage of 2 images of single bird) - near Nethybridge

I sat there for about another 40 minutes, and it was now approaching 13:00 and entering what I expected to be a quiet time for the owls. Furthermore, I needed a 'comfort stop', so prepared to move off. I had just started my car when an owl landed on a post beside the road about 60 metres away. I took the safety shot from where I was.

Short-eared Owl - near Nethybridge

As the car was already started, I thought 'what the heck' and halved the distance. The owl took no notice of me, and I had to make squeaking sounds like a mouse before it would turn to face my direction, but even then it didn't take any notice of me.

Short-eared Owl - near Nethybridge

I halved the distance yet again, and this time it was so intent on looking for prey that I couldn't get it to turn its head at all - a pity as it would probably have resulted in by far my best SEO image ever. Here's one of its back! Can you sense my frustration?

Short-eared Owl - near Nethybridge

After what seemed like ages but was, in fact, less than 10 seconds, the bird dropped down into the grass, missed its prey, and then flew to a fence on the adjacent edge of the field.

Short-eared Owl - near Nethybridge

Having done the necessary, I returned to my post and waited another couple of hours, but little was happening and so I decided to depart and 'say goodby' to some of my other haunts in the region. The disappointment at not seeing a Long-eared Owl during this session was more than compensated for by the sight of the WTSE and the knowledge that I'd almost certainly got some of my best SEO images in the can.

I don't know what inspired me to return to the small lochan above Dava where I'd previously seen Red-throated Diver, but I'm glad I went. The Divers were there, a little closer to the road, and in better light, so some slightly better images were obtained than my previous efforts.

Red-throated Diver - above Dava

I'd never seen Snipe in this part of Scotland before, so I was particularly saddened to find a dead one beside the road here - presumably through collision with a vehicle.

Snipe - above Dava

I'd not visited my favourite Lochindorb yet that day and this is where I went next. Nothing spectacular was seen, but I had felt that it was necessary to say farewell. I took some photos of Meadow Pipit and Lapwing, and observed a swan fly past, thinking nothing of it at the time.

Lapwing - Lochindorb

Meadow Pipit - Lochindorb

As I headed back towards the hotel for dinner, I noticed a swan (presumably the same one I'd seen flying north-east up Lochindorb) was on the tiny lochan by the old owl-watching lay-by at Dava, but didn't give it a second glance.

Over dinner that night, Jim told us of the Whooper Swan that was on the lochan by Dava. I'd just assumed it was a Mute Swan as Whooper Swans should all be in their Iceland breeding grounds at this time. I don't know why this one hadn't made the journey.

It was a genuinely difficult choice as to where I went after dinner, but I decided on a quick visit to the small lochan below Dava before heading back to the owl grounds near Nethybridge. The lochan is away from the road, but I managed some shots of the Whooper Swan from high ground. The swan looked healthy enough.

Whooper Swan - below Dava

I then quickly headed south to the owling grounds. The owls weren't very evident during the evening, with no SEOs seen but, at around 20:30, a Long-eared owl landed on a fence post against the woodland about 100 metres away. There was no way I could get a decent shot in this light and at this range without getting out of the car as there was long grass in the foreground obscuring my line of sight, plus intervening fencing. The next image will give you an idea of the problem.

Long-eared Owl - near Nethybridge

Not wishing to disturb this owl I contented myself with staying in the car, and observing. At least I got a clearly identifiable record shot.

Long-eared Owl - near Nethybridge

After the owl had departed I think I got another view of a LEO, but I'm not sure. I did, however, witness something that seemed quite bizarre. A female pheasant came down the road carrying what seemed to be an egg with a feather attached to it!

Pheasant (female - with egg) - near Nethybridge

With no owls seen for a while, and a long day ahead of me the next day, at 21:30 I decided it was time to head back to the hotel. As I departed the area, there was a female Roe Deer near the road.

Roe Deer (female) - near Nethybridge

I felt that I'd made the most of this last day, and that I was ending my stay on a high! I also felt that my photographic efforts were better this day than on previous days. I suspect that the intense photographic activity was improving my technique, but I also think that lucky opportunities and helpful weather played a significant part too.

Friday 30th May

I was all packed, checked-out, and ready to leave Grantown-on-Spey by 09:20. The day started with bright sunshine and a cloudless sky, promising to be the best weather of the week - shucks! Rather than the cross-country route of my outward journey I took the nominally quicker route via the A9, stopping very briefly at Avielochan just in case I could get some better images of the Slavonian Grebes. I didn't, but I offer the following two images as they show how their eyes shine like red jewels in the sunlight - something I'd not captured before.

Slavonian Grebe - Avielochan

I can see why the A9 has the reputation of being the most accident-prone road in the UK. It's just fine where there is dual-carriageway although there is, understandably, a lot of speeding. However, there's a lot of frustratingly slow traffic on the rest of the road, with a lack of safe overtaking places. I'd have probably been quicker taking my outward route!

I stopped for my picnic lunch break, over the border into England, just south of Berwick-upon-Tweed at Cocklawburn Beach. I'd been here before with my wife, daughter, and granddaughter a couple of years previously and it's a beautiful unspoiled spot. It's a bit off the the A1 that I was travelling on but I fancied a tranquil place for my picnic. It's also quite a 'birdy' place, and I managed a few photos.

Skylark - Cocklawburn Beach

Stonechat - Cocklawburn Beach

It was only after I got home that I found out that this was a place that I could have indulged one of my other interests as there are some remarkable fossil beds here!

The rest of the journey home was distinctly unpleasant. I hit heavy slow traffic round Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and later hit stop-start traffic on the A1. This went on for some hours. It seems that there'd been an accident with a crane in the 25 mile (40 km) section of continuous roadworks on the M1 between Sheffield and Nottingham, backing up traffic on the M1, M18, and A1, and the radio was speaking of impending closure of the M1. I couldn't face much more of this slow traffic, so continued well south on the A1 rather than my usual route of cutting across to the M1 on the M18. I arrived home almost exactly 12 hours to the minute after leaving Grantown, of which approximately 11 hours had been driving time.

It'd been a superb holiday - my first ever that was purely focused on birdwatching. I stayed at The Grant Arms in Grantown-on-Spey, where I have stayed several times before - but always with my wife. The Grant Arms is a wonderful base for a holiday in this fabulous part of the world - at any time of year. The food is excellent, the rooms are very comfortable, the whole of the team of staff is very friendly, helpful and efficient, and the facilities for the wildlife enthusiast are superb. The Birdwatching and Wildlife Club is part of the hotel's amenities and a stay at the hotel gives automatic membership. The club offers regular free events, but can also arrange focused guided tours if you're looking for something extra special. The club has impressive premises on site, including a lecture theatre, excellent wildlife library, and a clubroom which is full of useful data and information sheets that can be taken away. Daily breakfast-time briefings are offered where you can catch up with the latest sightings or seek advice from the club staff. Thus it's possible to have a wildlife experience as intense or relaxed as you wish - and you can decide on a daily basis! My wife, who is no birdwatcher, loves the place, but the place also came up trumps for this solo visit. My thanks to all at The Grant Arms for a wonderful stay.

I've already booked for the same period next year, where I'm expecting to team up with Roger and Lynne, and probably Jim Almond, again, and (hopefully) my wife will be with me this time - although it'll be a very different holiday if she's not - I might not venture far from the location near Nethybridge!!!

Thank you for stopping by.

Speyside in Summer (part 3) - June,2012

This will be the third, and hopefully final, part of my account of our much enjoyed holiday based at the Grant Arms in Grantown-on-Spey

Saturday 23rd June

We thought that we'd start our day by visiting Lochindorb. The weather looked as if it was going to be pretty hopeless, and we didn't have any great expectations for the day.

Lochindorb seemed very quiet, but we did find an obliging Skylark - a bird that I'm not used to seeing by Lochindorb.

Skylark - Lochindorb

Just before we left Lochindorb we caught up with some people (also staying at the Grant Arms) that had become friends, and who were parked beside the road. We stopped further on and scanned around, and then our friends pulled up beside us. They'd been looking at a Golden Plover a fair way off the road. I decided to turn back and have a look, and found that it had settled on a rock right beside the road, and looked fabulous. Unfortunately it was on my wife's side of the car, so I just gently drove past, turned round about 400 metres further on, set my camera up, window down, and returned to the spot. It had gone and I couldn't find it anywhere!

Our next stop was at Dulsie Bridge - a dramatic bridge over a deep narrow gorge through which the River Findhorn runs. There is a pleasant short walk here, and a Spotted Flycatcher was flitting about, but I couldn't get an image.

From Dulsie Bridge we turned left down a little-used road to Drynachan Lodge. We saw a few fishermen in the Findhorn, and several Spotted Flycatchers along the road, plus Common Sandpiper, G S Woodpecker, and Red-legged Partridge, and at Drynachan Lodge there was another Spotted Flycatcher on the bridge railings. We'd seen eight Spotted Flycatchers in just 8 kilometres (5 miles)!

Here we took a road that had a sign saying "Warning - Steep Gradients and Sheer Drops!" or words to that effect. What they didn't tell you about was the deep potholes, total lack of passing places, and absolutely nowhere to turn round. It was a bit of a nightmare really. Fortunately when the road arrived, two kilometres later, at the River Findhorn and went straight across (no ford construction - just riverbed shingle!) there was room to turn. Back we went!

There is a road which heads generally northwards from Drynachan Lodge, and passes over some fine high moorland. There were Curlew flying down in the valley below us. I was busy trying to photograph a Meadow Pipit, and as I turned my head away, in my wing mirror I saw a superb male Black Grouse fly up from beside the road just behind us and disappear back along the road. Try as we may, we couldn't pick this bird up again! So here's the Meadow Pipit! 

Meadow Pipit - near Highland Boath

In trying to find the Black Grouse, we did spot some delightful Red Grouse chicks.

Red Grouse chick - near Highland Boath

South of Nairn we saw Corn Bunting, Yellowhammer, and numerous Linnet. My photographic attempts, however, came to nothing!

After a very good lunch in the café at Househill we set off for Fort George. We'd previously seen this place just over the water from the legendary Chanonry Point. Our intention was to go down onto the beach below the fort and see if we could spot Dolphin and passing seabirds. We arrived to find that the place was an operating military base (although it had a visitor facility), and were greeted with the news that, if you knew what you were doing, you could get onto the beach, but if you didn't know your tides you were likely to be drowned against the walls of the fort when the tide came in. Also, if you were on the beach when the red flags were flying (as they were whilst we were there) you were likely to be shot at - at least that was what I thought she said as I could only just hear her over the sound of gunfire!

Before we left, I took some shots of the Common Gulls which inhabit the fort. Yes, there are areas area of UK where Common Gulls are common, this area of Scotland being one of them.

Common Gull - Fort George

It had been a bit of a disappointing day weatherwise, with equally disappointing photographic results (as you can see from the above), so we made for our favourite Lochindorb. Here we found two Osprey and the Black-throated Divers, but photographically we didn't fare much better, with just an image of an Osprey in a tree over the other side of the loch.

Osprey - Lochindorb

Thus ended a slightly disappointing day.

Sunday 24th June

This was the actual day of our fortieth wedding anniversary, and so we tried to ensure that we both got the most out of it. The tides were favourable for a visit to Chanonry Point, although the weather forecast was not that good. We stopped at the Harbour at Avoch, where there are public toilets (none at Chanonry Point) and, whilst waiting for Lindsay, I took some photos of the House Martins collecting mud from the harbour (the tide was out) for their nests. I'd never really appreciated, before, just how blue their backs and heads are!

House Martin - Avoch harbour.

The car par at Chanonry Point was virtually full when we got there (it's been as good as empty on our previous two visits), and it was raining. In spite of the weather there was quite a crowd on the beach. Fortunately the rain soon stopped (although it remained dull throughout the morning), and we didn't have to wait long before the first Dolphins appeared. There was a juvenile amongst the group.

Bottlenose Dolphin (adult plus juvenile) - Chanonry Point

The fins of dolphins are varied, and some of them are readily distinguishable - often by scarring, as this next image shows! Because of this we were able to tell that this particular dolphin was there from beginning to end. Dolphins are not particularly easy to photograph as they are under water most of the time. When they emerge, it's as if you are watching them at the top of a circular motion. By the time you've realised they're there, you tend to get a photo of just a dorsal, or even just the descending tail!

Bottlenose Dolphin - Chanonry Point

Occasionally a dolphin will 'breach' (completely leap out of the water), and catching this is largely a matter of patience and luck. The first breach was when we'd been there just over an hour. It was in a totally unexpected place and I only caught the re-entry. That's the aforementioned Fort George in the background, over a kilometre away!

Bottlenose Dolphin - Chanonry Point

We stood watching these fabulous creatures for ages, totally enchanted to be in their presence.

Bottlenose Dolphin - Chanonry Point

At one point, an off-shore Cormorant caught a fish and was harassed by a Herring Gull.

Cormorant and Herring Gull - Chanonry Point

After we'd been there for about two and a half hours, I saw a lot of surface disturbance on the water about one and a half kilometres (one mile) away. I just pointed the camera and kept on shooting. Most of the results were total rubbish, but I did get some images (extremely heavily cropped) of some action. 

Bottlenose Dolphin - Chanonry Point

By now it was time to go as we'd booked lunch at a great place that we found on a previous visit here- the Eilean Dubh in Fortrose. On the way back to the car I stopped to photograph a Common Seal that was bobbing just of the shore, and a Herring Gull that seemed to be finding plenty of food in the shoreline seaweed .

Common Seal - Chanonry Point

Herring Gull - Chanonry Point

Our meal at the Eilean Dubh was superb. We do love this place, and the photography that graces the walls is more than inspirational! If you are in the area, you should make a point of eating here.

The weather went downhill a bit after this and we just trolled around in the car, taking in the sights. No worthwhile photos resulted, even when we briefly, but closely, spotted a Short-eared Owl on the way back to the Grant Arms.

After dinner that evening I went out on my own to try and get some images of Short-eared Owl, but the midges were an absolute pest (they arrived early this year because of the wet weather), and after half an hour of 'no show' I set off back to the hotel at about 22:00.

Monday 25th June

This was our last full day based at the Grant Arms. We started by a visit to Burghead at Lindsay's request. This place is great for birds in the winter, but much quieter on the bird front in the summer. A walk round the harbour showed numerous Eider (mainly juvenile drakes), a few Cormorant, and various gulls.

Eider (juvenile drakes) - Burghead

A walk above the shore on the other side of the headland gave us a Whimbrel.

Whimbrel - Burghead

We didn't have much time watching this bird as a dog walker encouraged her dog to tear along the waterline in an uncontrolled fashion.

I'd actually achieved most of my 'targets' for the holiday, although there were some failings in the photographic department! However, I was still short of two. One was the iconic Capercaillie - not an easy bird to find unless you go on an organised event. The other is a bit of an embarrassment to me and is Crossbill! Not just Parrot Crossbill or Scottish Crossbill, but any sort of crossbill! Yes, I've seen Crossbill before, but never positively identified one in Scotland, although I had 'suspects' a couple of times, including one on this holiday. I think that the main reason is that, because Lindsay doesn't like forests, and is not too good at walking, we spend little time in the right habitat. Today I would have a try at finding one. 

From Burghead we set off for the Forest Lodge in Abernethy Forest, stopping for lunch in Tomintoul. Lindsay sat in the car for an hour whilst I went off into the forest, having lathered myself with the usual anti-midge concoction. The most interesting bird that I saw was a Spotted Flycatcher - so here's a final image of one!

Spotted Flycatcher - Forest Lodge

Never mind! We then set off with the intention of a farewell visit to Lochindorb. However, on the Forest Lodge track, we stopped (in spite of the signs) to photograph a Red Squirrel. This holiday was the first time we'd seen them with their beautiful nearly-white summer tails.

Red Squirrel - Abernethy Forest

Lochindorb was as enchanting a place as ever. I realised that, other than a chick, I'd not taken any photos of Red Grouse this time round, so here's one!

Red Grouse  - Lochindorb

As we stood watching the distant Black-throated Divers, a Red-throated Diver flew in, calling very loudly as it did so!

Red-throated Diver -Lochindorb

Meanwhile an Osprey arrived and started to fish at the other end of the Loch.

Osprey - Lochindorb

Moving northwards alongside the loch, I grabbed a shot of a Lapwing.

Lapwing - Lochindorb

At the north end of the Loch, we watched the extremely distant Red-throated Diver, only just visible because of the light and the waves on the water. The Osprey caught a fish and headed off back to his young with it.

Osprey - Lochindorb

On leaving Lochindorb, up on the main road we had tantalising views of Short-eared Owl, and I only managed a couple of record shots before finding a suitable place to park.

Short-eared Owl - near Dava

It was then I made my big mistake. Leaving Lindsay in the car, I set off on foot down the road to try and get some closer views, but the owl just kept going ahead of me at about 400 metres distance. In the end I gave up and returned to the car to be greeted with the news that one had flown to within about five metres of Lindsay whilst she sat there!!!

After another excellent dinner at the Grant Arms we decided to take a walk down by the Old Spey Bridge (once a road bridge but now restricted to foot traffic). We saw Common Tern, Grey Wagtail, Dipper, and Common Sandpiper.

I couldn't recall ever having taken a photo of a Scottish thistle, so put that right.

Thistle - Old Spey Bridge

One Common Sandpiper was particularly confiding and was calling loudly.

Common Sandpiper - Old Spey Bridge

The light was fading fast by now and the midges were getting annoying, so it was time to head back to base.

Tuesday 26th June

We set off at a reasonable hour in the morning, stopping briefly to have a look round at Lecht and Glenshee (nothing of interest seen). Our timing was perfect for lunch at the Dalmore Inn. This time I had Spiced Crispy Chicken set on a bed of noodles with a coconut and lime thai dressing, but I stuck to the dessert of Dalmore Whisky Creme Brulee - superb!

Later we stopped at RSPB's Loch Leven for a pot of Earl Grey, before continuing to South Queensferry and the Hawes Inn again.

Swallow - RSPB Loch Leven

As we approached the Forth Road Bridge we started seeing signs warning of extreme rain conditions forecast for Thursday. We were glad we were heading home!

Wednesday 27th July

Nothing really to report about this day. The weather warning signs were still in place in Scotland. We had a lunch break at the excellent Deli Café in Boston Spa. We found this place earlier this year, and were pleased to be back.

This had been an absolutely superb holiday, blessed with good fortune (although the weather could have been a little better - but we did better than most parts of UK), and greatly assisted by the care taken by all the staff at the Grant Arms. Our thanks go to you all. We also thank all those other establishments who looked after us during our travels. I think that Scotland has a bit of a reputation of being something of a gastronomic wilderness. This may be true of some areas, but nothing could be further from the truth in this part of Scotland!  

The holiday ended with only two 'targets' not achieved - not bad by my reckoning. However, several new targets resulted from the visit, so there's still plenty to draw us back to Speyside and, in truth, I can't see us ever getting tired of this place!