Scotland holiday 10.04.10-16.04.10 (1 Viewer)

Preface

This is a summary of my holiday to Scotland with five friends, staying firstly near Aviemore, then two nights on Mull. It was timed to fit into the Easter holiday, so may be of some use to people who have to fit their holidays around school time!

Day 1 – Journey to Aviemore + Burghead

We left Norwich at 10:45 on the Friday night, driving overnight to minimise traffic and maximise birding time. After a relatively uneventful drive, we arrived in Aviemore at around 8. We looked for somewhere to have breakfast, but found that we had half an hour to wait until the cafes opened. Rather than wait in town we took a quick drive up to the bottom of the Cairngorm ski-lift in the hope of a cheap Ptarmigan. Having seen no grouse of any description, it was back for breakfast. Our accommodation wasn’t ready until 7pm, so we decided to take a drive up to Burghead, in the hope of seeing the overwintering King Eider.

We were still having no luck on the grouse front (Red Grouse has been a bogey bird for me for some time), however Gary, driving for the trip, spotted (and identified!) a splatted one by the side of the road, so we pulled up to look for live ones. On cue a Red Grouse was standing up on a rock nearby, and others called from further out. Red grouse finally ticked, making the next commonest species on my hit list, Wood Warbler. We carried on, stopping regularly to look for dippers. At one of these stops (Glenkillie) we saw two Red Squirrels and a pair of Grey Wagtails, but no Dippers as yet. We also saw two Hooded Crows.

Not knowing where Roseisle carpark was, we headed for Burghead beach car park, where unfortunately there was no sign of any King Eider. We did see the biggest flock of Long-tailed Ducks I’ve ever seen, and some screeching alerted us to two early Sandwich Terns. We walked to the harbour and found a good vantage point, where we found some waders on the shore (Turnstone, Knot, Oystercatcher) and a distant Gannet passed through. On the way back we stopped at Lochindorb, where two Ospreys were on display, and we eventually saw a summer plumage Black-throated Diver after a tip off from a passing couple of birders. Our final stop of the day was the woods alongside Loch Garten, where we saw Crested Tit, Common Crossbill, a Red-breasted Merganser and House Martin amongst others.

Day 2 – CaperWatch, Cairngorm & Loch Ruthven

We got up early to attend the RSPBs CaperWatch. Despite a male Caper displaying well for the remote cameras, we couldn’t see it from the hide. We found out the next day that it had been seen later in the morning, but by then we had left for breakfast. On the way back for breakfast we stopped at Tulloch Moor, picking up a female Black Grouse in a tree.

Next on the target list was Ptarmigan. The girls weren’t keen on a snowy walk, so we took the Funicular railway to the top (£9.75 at the time). After all, anything with fun in has to be good, right? It was weird not worrying about hitting people with my tripod, the reason being that I was being battered with huge snowboards. For a while it looked like we would be out of luck, three Snow Buntings and some Hare tracks being the only things on display. Eventually we saw two Ptarmigan, feeding near the summit behind the top of the ski-lift, viewed by going through the Ptarmigan Restuarant onto the balcony, then heading hard left.

The Mull leg of our trip was aimed at seeing eagles, but we decided to have lunch at Findhorn Valley in the hope of seeing some early Golden Eagles. A beautiful place, but no sign of the eagles in the hour and a half we were there. We did manage Peregrine and Raven. On to Loch Ruthven, which was teeming with Toads, and more disruptively bathers at one end. Understandably the Slav Grebes had left, probably heading to the almost unviewable far end of the loch. We did later manage a distant view of one at the far end. A Red Kite flew over, adding to our birds of prey list. In an attempt to cram in a last bit of birding we headed to the Old Bridge Inn in Aviemore for some beer. We sat outside and saw Whooper Swan (a flock over north), Siskin, Goldcrest and Coal Tit as well as a number of commoner birds. B

Day 3 – CaperWatch, Channonry and Pine Marten Hide

Claire & Laura turned down the opportunity to return to Loch Garten at 5:30 am, so it was left to Cath and the guys to turn up again in the dark. No repeat of the previous day though, a male Capercaillie was on display almost immediately, and although views were distant, it was still a cracking bird. After an hour or so, we left to try Tulloch Moor for Blackcock. The early morning mist was clearing as we walked up to the viewing screen, and luckily I was straight onto a male Black Grouse, and we were soon all watching a pristine display of grousing. We also had flyover Ravens and a Redpoll before leaving. On the way back to the lodge we stopped at a misty Loch Morlich, picking up two summer plumage Red-throated Divers. We also saw a putative Scotsbill, but more on that later.

We had a short stop near Nairn to scan a field of Pink-footed Geese for three reported Snow Geese (explained by Gary as “three Snow Geese west of Narnia!”) but they had obviously heard we were coming. At Chanonnry Point we took a boat out to search (unsuccessfully) for Dolphins, which had obviously been tipped off by the Snow Geese. A scan of Udale Bay added a few birds to our trip list, but unfortunately the Canada Goose in with the Pink-feet was a Greater. There were a large number of Hooded-esque Crows, although most were probably hybrids here. Further along the Black Isle five Red Kites were up together seen from the main road.

Following our Findhorn dip, we decided to have a go to another site to look for Golden Eagles, Glen Cannich. Stopping at the bottom of the valley, two Golden Eagles soared up above the mountain top, before one went over it and the other perched on top. For a while we watched the huge silhouette, before it glided downwards showing off the golden head. It then spiralled up and was lost in the clouds. Eagle number one sorted. We had a customary look around Loch Ness (Cath suggested reports of the Loch Ness monster may refer to Great Northern Divers) before tea at the Boat Hotel in Boat of Garten.

In the evening we had booked places in Speyside Wildlife’s Pine Marten hide. Having obeyed all of the rules (dark clothes, no strong smells, no rustling clothes, pass a ninja stealth course) it was a pleasant surprise to find that our guide, Alan, was actually a rather extroverted cheery chappy. As we waited we saw Woodcock, Pipistrelle Bat and another Osprey. In the hide we got crippling views of two Pine Martens and two Badgers. I even got pictures of the marten, I highly recommend a trip here.

Day 4 – Crossbill searching

Not learning from the King Eider or Snow Goose episodes, we decided to have a look at a drake Ring-necked Duck reported nearby. It had gone. We called in a Loch Ruthven again, and with the crazy bathers gone we clocked up 7 Slavonian Grebes, including two displaying pairs. There was still a large number of frogs and toads spawning in the shallows. After the obligatory photos of highland cattle we headed back towards the forests.

The rest of the day was spent walking in various parts of Abernethy and Glenmore Forests, looking mainly for Loxia sp. We heard and saw quite a lot of Crossbills, it seems like the good year they’re having in Norfolk is echoed in Scotland. Across the Aviemore leg of the holiday we picked out three individuals (two females, one male) which we were happy with as Scottish Crossbill. All were initially picked out by calls, and we were able to listen to the Sound Approach flight and excitement calls of different crossbills directly after. I did attempt recordings but they didn’t come out well enough to make anything out. We also got prolonged views of the male.

So, a disclaimer. I will happily talk about politics, religions, twitching etc. But Crossbill taxonomy? Not with a very long stick. You may believe Scottish Crossbills don’t exist, that they are a subspecies, that they can’t be separated in the field, that they can only be separated through sonograms. You may be right, and I’m not going to argue with you. All I’m going to say is that we heard a lot of Common Crossbills sounding very similar, and these three crossbill sp. that sounded different. On the basis of the calls and our observations, we were satisfied they weren’t typical Parrot or typical Common, so we’re going with Scottish.

In the evening we went back to the Old Bridge Inn, Aviemore, where we got cracking views of an Osprey for our pub list.

Day 5 – Travel to Mull

After breakfast we drove across Scotland to Oban, where we took the ferry to Craignure. On the way across we picked up Black Guillemot, Guillemot and Great Northern Diver. Upon reaching Craignure (or Kenya, as Cath misheard), we headed off to Grasspoint. As we pulled up, a number of Wheatears flew along the stone walling. We walked up to a vantage point and basked in the sun, being hindered by the heat haze. We were joined by another couple, and they were just in time to see a Golden Eagle soaring above a nearby mountain. Whilst watching that, Gary found a perched White-tailed Eagle. It spent most of the time surveying its territory, but we then saw it throw back its head in a Capercaillie-like way, and a second later the sound carried to us, the call of the Sea Eagle.

Eventually we dragged ourselves away from the eagle, and drove to our B&B in Tobermory, where we were greeted with some delicious shortbread. In the evening we went to the pub, MacGinnochs, where we sampled the range of Isle of Mull ales and played pool.

Day 6 – The search for otters.

We went into Tobemory at nine to buy some souvenirs, only to find that all of the shops open after 10. Rats. Having already had great views of a Sea Eagle, we decided to drive around the west coast in search of more Golden Eagles and Otters. To summarise, we saw neither, clocking up a million Wheatears, a few Ravens and Buzzards and more GN Divers.

Day 7 – Return to Norwich and more duck dipping.

We departed early from Tobermory in order to catch the 8:45 ferry back to the mainland. Thank goodness we weren’t flying. On the journey back we saw some Razorbills and a Gannet in addition to the stuff we saw on the first journey. In Oban we searched in vain for the overwintering Ring-billed Gull, adding to my two Westcliff dips. Around 20 Black Guillemots were swimming around, quite possibly my favourite auk (sorry Puffin fans).

Not learning from our previous wildfowl failures, we decided to have one last glorious twitch on the way home, crossing Scotland to Ruddon’s Point to look for the Surf Scoter. We spent an hour searching through thousands of Common Scoter, but it was not to be our day. A couple of offshore Great Crested Grebes and my best ever views of Velvet Scoter brought about my 100 species for the trip. Our trip had gone from the snow covered Cairngorms to a sunny dune system, and with this thought we got back in the car for the long drive back to Norwich.

Fantastic trip report. Many would be pleased with your haul.

Superb trip report James. You certainly picked the weather didn't you:-O

A great selection of species as well.

Haste ye backB

D

Well done on Pine Marten - we were in that bloody hide for five hours in April 08 and saw sweet FA! Apparently because of the full moon, the animals don't come out til later (like 0200) but they won't stay open that late....so a bit pee'd off with Speyside for taking our money quick enough even though they knew when the full moons are each month.....but at least it was a warm and carpeted hide!

What was the ambience (and the beer) like in the Old Bridge? It used to be a favourite of mine but went erratic in the late nineties. Last time I was there it was great but its always good to have an update.

John

delia todd said:

Superb trip report James. You certainly picked the weather didn't you:-O

A great selection of species as well.

Haste ye backB

D

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Thanks I couldn't believe we had a sunny week to be honest, a few weeks ago I was seriously worried that we would get there to find half the roads impassable with snow!

birdboybowley said:

Well done on Pine Marten - we were in that bloody hide for five hours in April 08 and saw sweet FA! Apparently because of the full moon, the animals don't come out til later (like 0200) but they won't stay open that late....so a bit pee'd off with Speyside for taking our money quick enough even though they knew when the full moons are each month.....but at least it was a warm and carpeted hide!

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That sucks, like you say it wouldn't take much to just cross out a couple of nights a month knowing that there is unlikely to be anything about during normal hours. There can be the opposite problem too, people aren't allowed to leave whilst there are still animals about, apparently one group had to stay until gone 1am because some badgers wouldn't leave!

Farnboro John said:

What was the ambience (and the beer) like in the Old Bridge? It used to be a favourite of mine but went erratic in the late nineties. Last time I was there it was great but its always good to have an update.

John

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I liked it. The decor was very nice, and there was a good atmosphere, a guy sitting at the bar had a huge dog laying quietly beside him the second time we went. That said, we acutally sat outside both times we went because I keep a "birds seen from pubs" list and we were keeping an eye out for Opsreys. We intended to eat there but the menu was a bit too "posh restauranty" for us, but thats purely a matter of taste. The beer was good, I'm an ale person, they had Cairngorm's Trade Winds and Orkney Dark Island, both were nice and in good condition.

birdboybowley said:

Well done on Pine Marten - we were in that bloody hide for five hours in April 08 and saw sweet FA! Apparently because of the full moon, the animals don't come out til later (like 0200) but they won't stay open that late....so a bit pee'd off with Speyside for taking our money quick enough even though they knew when the full moons are each month.....but at least it was a warm and carpeted hide!

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Ads,

You forgot to mention that your father falling over the same chair three times would not have helped either!!!! However, i do agree with your comments and on that basis have not booked for our trip in two weeks time.

James Emerson said:

The beer was good, I'm an ale person, they had Cairngorm's Trade Winds and Orkney Dark Island, both were nice and in good condition.

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That's good, I have no objection to either, though the first pub to make Wildcat a regular (Tomintoul brewery isn't it?) is likely to make me one too!

John

Farnboro John said:

That's good, I have no objection to either, though the first pub to make Wildcat a regular (Tomintoul brewery isn't it?) is likely to make me one too!

John

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This is on in the Boat of Garten Hotel (but pricey) and the Castle Inn, Inverness - http://www.castletavern.net/ Cannot recommend this little boozer highly enough.

Personally prefer the Red Kite from the Black Isle brewery.

Tulloch Moor Screen

Hi James,

Sounds like you had a great trip. I'm going up there in 2 weeks and hoping to be as successful as you.

James Emerson said:

After an hour or so, we left to try Tulloch Moor for Blackcock. The early morning mist was clearing as we walked up to the viewing screen, and luckily I was straight onto a male Black Grouse, and we were soon all watching a pristine display of grousing.

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One question I have is where is the screen at Tulloch Moor located? I have heard of this but have never seen any comment on how to get there and where to park. Is it easy to find?

Cheers,

Ian

Northern123 said:

Hi James,

One question I have is where is the screen at Tulloch Moor located? I have heard of this but have never seen any comment on how to get there and where to park. Is it easy to find?

Cheers,

Ian

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I will try to work out a grid reference for you. The screen isn't signposted, I presume it is viewed as necessary for birders that know about the site but they dont want to attract too many people. We followed the road round from Loch Garten (having been to Caperwatch) towards Tulloch, then turned off towards Aviemore. The screen was on the right on to of a mound of heather. There was a pull in for about 2 cars and a short path up to the screen.

Having just read the list of birds/wildlife you spotted, I am thoroughly jealous. Two summers ago, we had a family holiday in the Highlands, but as we spent some time seeing relations (my wife is Scottish) I didn't get much birdwatching in. I still saw my first wild Golden Eagle, my first Goshawk, got dive bombed by an Osprey, while driving along a main road, but sadly didn't see the Dolphins in the Moray Firth or any Red Squirrels, well alive anyway! Saw some dead ones on the road. I have a Honda CR-V with a large and long top box, so what the Osprey thought I was, I don't know, but I reckon if my sunroof had been open, I could have touched it, it was that close! Yep, I will go back sometime, soon hopefully.