Rolling down the road

This posting covers quite a lot of miles and days - hence the title. We begin at Old Moor on March 23rd when things were pretty quiet and anything of interest was a long way away - like these four common scoters that were on a short inland break.

Common Scoters Next stop was at Saltholme on March 25th when I thought I'd have another look at the penduline tits as they were reported from the Watchpoint. The place was crowded but all I could see was a very tame little egret just outside the hide. Little Egret Little Egret Little Egret To my surprise the penduline appeared too!

Penduline Tit Penduline Tit Penduline Tit

The 313th British bird I have photographed.

I decided to have another look at the shore larks too - so I drove up to the old cemetery area on the Headland. Shore Lark Shore Lark On the 26th March I set off for a week's birding in Scotland. I saw a skittish crested tit on arrival at Loch Garten but couldn't get a shot. The next morning was little better: overhead crossbills and a distant great spotted woodpecker. Great Spotted Woodpecker

We called briefly at Loch Pityoulish if my memory serves me well. Oiks against the pine forest background.

Oystercatchers Oystercatchers We finished our first day on the shores of Loch Morlich near Aviemore. A pied wagtail caught my eye.

Pied Wagtail Pied Wagtail Having failed to locate any capercaillies we left next morning for Mull, travelling via the Corran and then Lochaline ferries. En route to Lochaline we passed some slavonian grebes. Nice group of about seven in total. Slavonian Grebes Crossing on the Corran ferry.

Corran Ferry Loch Fyne approaching Lochaline before taking us to Mull. Loch Fyne ferry

Once safely on Mull we passed hooded crows...

Hooded Crow Hooded Crow

...and red deer...

Red Deer Red Deer Red Deer

...and some more everyday sights too...

Great Black-backed Gull

There are many narrow roads with passing places on Mull. Some offer extra facilities.

Passing place! At Loch na Keal we stopped to look for eagles. General panorama of the area.

Excitement ebbed as we watched what turned out to be a common buzzard. Buzzard Then something else was spotted.

Golden Eagle Golden eagle.

Buzzard Buzzard Golden Eagle Eventually I nearly fell backwards as it came overhead and crossed a blue sky hole in the cloud cover. Golden Eagle White-tailed eagles showed as well but were really too distant for my camera - a scope job but I tried. Best effort: at least the white tail showed clearly.

White-tailed Eagle

We stopped for lunch and saw some shags on a rock - adult and juvenile. Shag

Great northern divers were quite common. Great Northern Diver Different light.

Great Northern Diver

A raven flew in front of the cliffs alongside us. I tried a panning burst. One seemed to come out all right. Raven

One of the last sightings of the day was of stonechats. 

Stonechat

29th March - second day on Mull. We went to Grasspoint. Immediately we came across a male hen harrier... Hen Harrier ...and a raven carrying food or nesting material?

Raven It began to rain heavily. What's this out on the water? Shark? Otter No: otter's tail. Here's more.

Otter Otter Otter on the rocks. Otter Otter In the rain I spotted a seal hauled up on the rocks. Bit of a con[crete!] Concrete Seal! Good to see more hoodies. Hooded Crow

Returning to the mainland at the Corran ferry we watched amazed as a white-tailed eagle took a kid goat [telescope only] and I photoed a reasonably close black guillemot. Black Guillemot

Wednesday 30th March was back into the Abernethy forest. A pause on the bridge in Nethy Bridge for a quick dipper. Dipper The forest is festooned everywhere with lichens.

Lichen We found some crested tits - well one in particular put on a good show. Crested Tit

Crested Tit Crested Tit A good day for crossbills too. Scottish Crossbill Scottish Crossbill Scottish Crossbill Scottish Crossbill Scottish Crossbill Thursday 31st March began as usual with a pre-breakfast capercaillie walk but of our 6 walks at different times and different places 5 failed. We went up Cairngorm - well part way on foot looking for and finding 'scopable' ptarmigans. I found some red grouse not far from the path and then the big moment: an afternoon caper in the woods. This time we got them: two male capercaillies - UK lifer 422. Never took my eyes off them as each one [separate sightings] flew off. They're big! Thank goodness it wasn't April 1st [quite] as no-one might have ever believed me! Cairngorm footpath

Red Grouse Red Grouse

Grey Seal

Iceland Gull Iceland Gull Iceland Gull Grey Partridge

Somewhere above: Grey seal at Port Gordon. Bit of a glitch in the program so couldn't put some of these captions where I wanted...

Great views of flocks of long-tailed ducks at sea near Spey Bay. Later near Hopeman we met a sub-adult iceland gull and, a bit further on, a few grey partridge: quite tricky to spot in a ploughed field!

I set off southbound on April 2nd. A final view of the Cairngorms from Broomhill Station on the Strathspey Railway.

Cairngorms from Broomhill Station I called at Loch Garten feeders.

Chaffinch Coal Tit Coal Tit A pair of goldeneye were on the Loch...

Goldeneye ...and the ospreys were both on the nest.

Osprey A little later I passed Ruthven Barracks built in 1719 and destroyed by retreating Jacobites after Culloden in 1746. Ruthven Barracks Someone told me that Loch of the Lowes was a good place to see osprey so I called in as it was on my route near Dunkeld. Pretty good indeed I thought! Osprey Osprey Osprey Osprey Osprey Osprey Osprey They have reds too! Recommended - it's Scottish Wildlife Trust. £4 per adult; 2 hides; small car park and squirrels to watch! Red Squirrel Red Squirrel

April 3rd on journey home after an overnight stop in Dunbar I decided to call at Cresswell just in case the long-billed dowitcher was near the hide. Well it wasn't on its normal distant spit but it was still some way off to the right of the hide by the reedbeds. Long-billed Dowitcher Long-billed Dowitcher I sat and waited hoping it would come close. Two whoopers departed. Whooper Swans Whooper Swans The dowitcher flew off down towards the causeway. i drove down. Birders there hadn't seen it come but a local accompanied me stealthily towards the causeway. He said it could be quite confiding sometimes. We kept very quiet. 'Well done,' he said. 'You were right. Look.'

Dowitcher cracked!!

Long-billed Dowitcher

Long-billed Dowitcher

Long-billed Dowitcher Long-billed Dowitcher Long-billed Dowitcher

That's it for now!

187 UK 2016