April
26
Away by 4.30 a.m., I wasn’t
feeling my best after a mere 3 hours sleep, I finished packing the car like an
automaton.
It was raining as we left
and continued to do so – in variable intensity – for most of the day. We had
particularly torrential stuff in northern Yorkshire through into
Northumberland. Apart from a petrol and much needed loo, we didn’t stop until
Scotch Corner, where we breakfasted at the far end of the car park near the
wood, as always.
We dropped in to Cove so
that Pam could see the lovely little monument to the wives and children
devastated by the loss of a fishing boat and their menfolk.
Skatteraw is a must, our
favourite stopping place. The tide was well out, making its way back in,
floating the eiders off their rocky resting places. Passing Gannets luminous
against the navy sky. Two Whimbrel fed on the grassy bank in front of us,
joined by a Curlew. They were very flighty, often flying away behind us for no
apparent reason, before returning to repeat the action.
The usual call at North
Berwick to view Bass Rock, white with thousands of Gannets and their guano.
Visibility not good to-day, the auks were flying too distantly to identify.
 |
| Bass Rock - very poor visibility (did I need to say that !) |
Edinburgh. Well, the
interminable ring road which takes one part of the way to Glasgow before crossing
the Forth Bridge. A notice tells us that a new bridge is being built but I saw
no evidence of a start.
Tired by now, we signed in
to Glenrothes Travelodge, paid for internet access which kept crashing out,
after 20+attempts to log in….never had trouble before. Waste of time and money.
In bed by 10.
April
27
Such a delight to wake to a
sunny morning. A 7.10 a.m. start saw us arrive in Newburgh at a pretty low
tide. Not much hope of finding the King Eider….and we didn’t. No terns yet and
the only waders Curlew.
Cransdale Lookout near
Collieston is another favourite – and it didn’t disappoint. Hundreds of
dove-grey backed Kittiwakes wheeled past, auks flew distantly, two Red-throated
Divers in fine summer livery, Fulmar and, the cream to-day, an Arctic Skua. Our
first Rock Pipits this year and, genuine Rock Doves, all showed whilst Pam ate
her muesli breakfast.
A quick stop at Cruden Bay
and its quaint shed café amongst the lobster and crab pots where Pam could get
an ice-cream – none suitable for me unfortunately.
What is it with us and
Starnafin Farm RSPB reserve? Last year Big Sit listers in the centre hide so we
couldn’t say what we were seeing, nor find much space, and a noisy group in the
parking area. This year, a class of upper juniors on their lunch break in the
area below the viewing platform. Very excited and noisy until the ‘lesson’
re-commenced – an RSPB rep extolling the virtues of the RSPB young explorers
group. It was raining too, after a lovely morning.
Very few birds to see, most unusual, we love this place. A few Curlew, Wigeon, Teal, one distant Whooper Swan and many Gulls. The school party bus driver had started his engine in the car park, flooding the air with noxious diesel fumes, probably near asphyxiating the Tree Sparrows feeding nearby.
Undeterred, we togged up and trudged to Tower Hide which is about a mile’s walk (probably less but didn’t seem like it in a cold wind with occasional rain spatters). The hide is a puzzlement, it’s single storey overlooking acres of –to-day – very wet marsh with large pools dotted around. Viewing what looked like a ruined windmill base encouraged the reading of the info at the back of the hide. It’s known as The Tower (hence the hide’s name?) and is the ruin of a water drainage mill dating back to 1790, it’s a listed building.
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| Fore-shortened view from the Tower Hide, zoom used. |
We were on our own so we stayed for an
hour seeing only Sand Martins over a big pool to the west. The rain
stopped….the sun appeared and so did the birds. A Short-eared Owl quartered the
grassy area in front of the hide, giving us our closest and lengthiest views
ever. Lovely.
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| Pam's photo of the Short-eared Owl, she's much more skilful than I with her Powershot. |
Our first Sedge Warbler tuned up from the reedbed and about 20
Curlew appeared from nowhere amongst the sedges in a wet meadow. They must have
been hiding from the rain. So must the Greater Yellowlegs which I found near
the Tower, distant but good through the scope. The digiscoped photo isn't ! It's laughable, but, you can see the leg colour.....
We haven’t seen one for some
time. A Redshank strolled into view too. All in a magical final 30 minutes.
Happy, we drove to St
Coombs, a 17C fishing village, where we ate a very late lunch overlooking a
lovely, deserted sandy bay with creaming waves rolling in. Bliss. The stream of
seabirds flying through enhanced our enjoyment of the view.
We found Carnbulg Harbour
last year, where one can imagine that no-one else exists. The wrecked ship
still remains, caught fast in the rocks, seemingly impervious to the relentless
attack of the sea.
Huge rollers here and many thousands of birds in the hour we
stayed. A constant heavy stream of Gannets, and all the gull species, mostly
the latter, even more Kittiwakes again. Two Whimbrel flew restlessly around, a
dozen or so Shags and Cormorants perching on the bow of the wreck.
Time to find our B and B for
the night, Rose Lodge near New Leeds. Only a 20 minute drive, guided by the
SatNav across country.
April
28
The B and B was very
comfortable, the people most welcoming and the breakfast at 7.00 well cooked
and free from fat. Mrs had said we could have breakfast as early as we liked.
This morning we realised why…..it was cooked by Mr !! We shall use it again.
Our first stop was MacDuff
at 8.30, where we drove straight to the harbour. The town is multi level
housing set into the hillside, a row of very well kept cottages on the seashore
itself, both the dwellings and the harbour dating back to the 17C.
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| Pam's photo |
The shore
was fringed by incredibly jagged rocks, like craggy molars. The tide was coming
in too, throwing spray high into the air and, unpleasant looking spume pooling
onto the sand between.
Through Banff, a grey
granite Scottish town, to Whitehills and then Portsoy, another 17C harbour.
Spey Bay is not one of our usual calls, we
usually visit the north shore of the river to
look for the many Goosanders which congregate here. The south shore is much more pleasant and is
a nature reserve. We parked looking over the river mouth and immediately
spotted Goosanders on the far side. They very quickly – at the approach of a
man and his dog - took off. There were
28 in total, why here? The main river channel is narrow, very fast flowing
indeed, with pools and creeks beyond which is where the birds prefer to loiter
on the islands.
No sign of the Yellow-billed
Diver at Burghead, not good on a fast falling tide. A good variety of bird
though. Razorbills, Guillemots, Red-throated Divers, a Red-necked Grebe,
Long-tailed Ducks and Common Scoter. Always worth a look here.
Findhorn Bay was empty sea
to-day but….we did see an Osprey flying up river as we meandered through the
gorse.
Nothing at Alturlie either
save plenty of Saturday visitors, x country motor bikes and a vast area of mud
with a few Hooded Crows and a pair of Mergansers beyond.
Tesco shopping for the week
before a return to Forres and an abortive hunt for a reported Snow Goose amongst Pinkfeet.
I saw four of the latter fly away. We ended up in the lanes but our SatNav guided us safely onto the Lochindorb road. I’ve never seen the loch as full, it
had flooded the road in several places. No edge at all for the usual
Sandpipers.
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| Scottish Black-faced Sheep. The lambs are so attractive, black face markings and black 'knees'. |
Alison and Lyndsey met us
outside Fairwinds Hotel, they tell us that the flooding is the result of the previous 2 days very
heavy rain.
Silver Birch chalet is in
the hotel grounds overlooking a small lochan and surrounded by immensely tall
conifers and lichen enshrouded birch. It’s been our home here for more than 20
years. Car emptied and shopping stashed, the first job is to hang up the bird
feeders on nearby Birch. Very tired to-night after three days travelling, we
were early to bed.
April
29
A really leisurely start to
the day, we didn’t leave the chalet until 10 a.m. A further delay, I cleared
the rubbish into the giant bin near the church and Pam chatted with the girls
and petted Lucy, their delightful Maltese Terrier. She’s tiny and looks almost
legless.
After very very heavy
overnight frost – the lochan was covered in cracked, mosaic shards of sparkling
ice – a perfect spring day. Blue sky, an increasingly warm sun and the merest
hint of wind. The Red Squirrel has already found our sunflower heart feeder, he
enjoyed them last year.
The new glaucous growth on the conifers glistened in
the sunshine. A joyous, good to be
alive, morning.
Wanting an easy day, we drove
to our beloved Findhorn Valley, the drive is so lovely that any birds are a
bonus. Knowing we’ll see the major raptors on Mull takes the heat off. First
stop, Glen Mazeran Bridge where enormous tree trunks have been placed so that
we can no longer drive off the road onto a flat area before the bridge. Why?
Maybe people have camped there or something. I scanned from the bridge whilst
Pam explored the river bank to locate the calling Common Sandpipers. Under the
trees overhanging the near bank, I saw what looked like a large water boatman
skittering across the water and then disappearing under. Dipper. Only two
stones in view, showing above the water, it must have been using submerged ones.
One of the stones then sprouted 3 birds, two adults and a young.
Findhorn car park already
had 8 cars parked, we pulled in behind one which soon departed. We stayed over
an hour seeing no raptors at all, on what seemed to be a perfect morning. We’d
seen one Buzzard on the way up and the usual Oystercatchers, Curlew and gulls.
A single Swallow flew around hawking insects, they’re scarce this year, held up
in an unseasonably cold Spain. Some dying from lack of food we’re told.
The Farr road…..we never see
much in this eight miles of very narrow track, loved by motorcyclists and
cyclists. To-day, we started with two Tree Pipits on the first low section
before the climb up to the wonderfully bleak moorland. Not flat terrain, many
deep valleys and stream gullies to the layered mountains beyond, the highest,
snow topped. Heather covered, some of it bearing large patches of bleached,
skeletal stems, a result of controlled burning. We lunched in a large layby
with a view, seeing a Red Grouse fly across the heather below. Our first
wheatear, a male, flashed off the road onto a distant perch as we dropped down
into Farr.
Loch Ruthven RSPB. A small
car park with room for us. The walk to the hide was a penance. The first
section very wet, thick boggy mud with pools through which to splash. The path
climbing up through the woods is narrow with many stand up tree roots to
negotiate and, large boulders to climb/teeter around. I heard the first snatch
of a Wood Warbler song amongst the Chaffinches and Willow Warblers.
We had the hide to
ourselves. Great. Not even an assistant. We made the most of it staying an hour
or so, me attempting photos of 5 Slavonian Grebes through dirty windows which
couldn’t be opened. Probably futile as they were so distant, even the nearest
pair in the only partly showing reedbed to the left. The male dived, coming up
with weed to build the flooded nest a few times, before giving up.
Two adult
Red-throated Divers patrolled the far side and, Little Grebe occasionally
appeared in front of us. A male Reed Bunting flew in to a small waterside bush
and then departed. So did we – for a very late lunch in the car park after the
muddy trek back.
 |
| Loch Ruthven from the bank before the climb to the Hide. The Grebes nest in the pale green growth showing above the water on the left of the picture. |
Station Road had no birds at
all apart from the ubiquitous gulls and Oystercatchers. Home early to catch up
with three days Blog writing, I shall have to wait before I can post it. No
photograph additions until I get home, my editing programme has disappeared
from my laptop. Weird. I used it throughout Australia and I haven’t removed it
from the machine. Mysterious technology.
The Hotel is empty until
Wednesday but two other chalets are occupied, one of the big ones near the house
and Pinewood next door to us. These two are the originals.
April
30
Holiday? No, a birding trip.
We left the chalet at 5.35 a.m. in light rain, we nearly went back to bed. Rain
and birding, they don’t like it either.
At 6.00 we were alone in
watching two Black Grouse, not displaying, sitting around their lekking ground.
On to Loch Garten for the early Capercaillie watch. As soon as we walked into
the centre, it was obvious that one was being watched. How jammy was that…A
female sitting on a horizontal branch, feeding, her lovely, scallop edged
shades of brown and grey plumage showing well in the scope. Five minutes later,
I saw the male, walking slowly along the ground, again feeding. Awesome bird. Years since we had such good
views and, even longer since we saw a female.
Back to the chalet for
breakfast and pack ready for the day. Where should we go in the rain? Inverness
area might be drier. Slochd Summit had horizontal sleet…….
Alturlie was a mud bank
again but we saw 6 Scaup this time, two of them males, half a dozen Curlew and
a single Whimbrel.
On to Inverness Information
Centre the other side of the Kessock Bridge. Mainly to pick up a tide timetable
– it turned out to be a printed sheet for to-day only. Useful info for Tollie
Red Kite Centre though, on the Ullapool road. We called in to suss it out, as
we entered their approach road, a Red Kite flew directly overhead. The feeding
takes place at 2.30, we decided to come back for it.
Still pouring down……
Marybank is the entry to
Strathconon, a lovely glen along the river Conon. Nearly fifteen miles along it
is the pull off where we used to see a Golden Eagle nest. The pull off
contained two badly parked cars, we parked nearby on a verge. After half an
hour or so they left and we moved in. Maybe the nest has moved again, it’s
three or more years since we came up here. We’d decided to move on at 1.00, we
both got out of the car to get comfortable. I looked up and saw a Golden Eagle
fly across the narrow valley, mobbed by crows. It flew along the ridge and
landed in a tree on the hillside opposite. A splendid adult bird, its golden
mantle shining brightly even in overcast conditions. I tried some digiscoping
of a wet bird in dim light. (excuse for photo).
The rain was starting to
ease and had stopped completely by the time we left for Tollie. The latter is a
converted barn, the RSPB own it in a joint venture with the local landowner who
approached them with the idea. The RSPB rep. gave us an interesting and factual
talk about Red Kites and their habits and told us not to expect many birds. He
was right. After he’d laid out a kilo of venison pieces – they’re only allowed
to use game – the circling local male swooped down and took off with a piece of
meat. They never stay to eat.
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| Red Kite male showing his blue wing-tag - introduced bird. The other tag shows the year of birth. |
He did so several times before being joined by a
Raven and a couple of Carrion Crows. This population of Kites is not
flourishing, so many are shot and poisoned. Local schools used to sponsor a
bird but were so upset when one was killed that it’s now a business sponsorship
scheme.
We left and shopped in Tesco
on the way home. The Hotel was locked once more, we only have a key to the front
porch door, no internet again. What a bore.
Another early start
to-morrow, we shall retire early.(9.00p.m ! When did I last do that?).
May 1
What a lovely day. Sunshine,
temperature rising to 13C, little wind, beautiful scenery and ……..colours. Mediterranean blue sea to set off the mile after mile of deserted sandy beaches
and rocky coastline. The greens of
softly unfurling leaves on spring trees, lush greens of winter wheat and the
faded greens of seaside pasture. The yellow patchwork of rape crops, startling
against the hillsides, rich butter yellow gorse, roadside verge dandelions and
clumps of marsh marigolds.
It didn’t start like that.
We set off at 5.50 in fog which lasted all the way to Inverness in varying
density. 0C at Slochd, 1C in Inverness. The fog dissipated and the sun shone
all day. The birds were good too.
Embo was the first port of
call, the place where one drives through the caravan park onto a small concrete
jetty – full of sand to-day. Long-tailed Ducks, Eider, Cormorant and Common
Scoter, no waders at all, an indication of the day to come if we’d known.
Pam breakfasted at The Mound
the other side of Dornoch Firth. Still no waders apart from two Common
Sandpipers, there are often 6 or more. Two Red breasted Mergansers, one Teal and a
dozen Black-headed Gulls. As we were packing to leave, a small skein of 16
Pink-footed Geese flew through.
At Helmsdale, a left turn
onto the Melvich Road through the Flow Country. It starts off very gently along
a river through gorse clad hillsides and, gnarled lichen-clad oak.
About 5 miles after
Helmsdale, whilst passing through one of the oak copses, I heard a Redstart song. We parked and Pam
located a beautiful male serenading the morning from the top of an oak.
The road gradually climbs to
moorland with sheep and lambs a real traffic hazard. Now, the cars all carry
fishing rods strapped to bonnet and roof. The first Wheatears and a myriad
Meadow Pipits. A functional railway line snakes its way up too, often used by
aficionados just to say they’ve been. The summit is at Forsinard station where
the RSPB have a small office and video room. We use the loo there and to-day, a
hot drink from the machine. We arrived at 9.45 staying about half an hour
chatting to the Warden and his very helpful assistant. She leads walks at
Dunnet Head on a Wednesday. There were twelve pairs of Hen Harriers on the
reserve last year, a tribute to their work here.
On the descent to the coast,
just the one Golden Plover on a riverside field and a male Stonechat atop a
heather clump.
Dunnet Bay and a stop at the
Castletown end. So calm to-day. We are accustomed to seeing many divers, terns,
Ringed Plover and Dunlin here. We worked hard for one Great Northern, one
Red-throated, a Guillemot and six Arctic Terns perched on a fishing rig. Just
as well we saw the latter, St John’s Pool on the way to Dunnet Head is normally
teeming with them. None. 220 pairs of nesting Black-headed Gulls, 5 pairs of
Lapwing, one Redshank, 1 Teal, 3 Wigeon and a few Coot and Moorhens were found
eventually. Splendid new hide though, the RSPB should take a look at it.
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| St John's Loch - Black-headed Gull heaven |
We’re too early this year
and birds are late returning due to the recent bad weather on the continent,
especially Spain. The calm weather doesn’t bring the seabirds in for shelter
either.
The assistant warden at Forsinard had
told us that no Puffins had returned to the auk colony at Dunnet Head. We
walked down to the lookout point and saw three. There were thousands of
Kittiwakes in large rafts, feeding all around. The Razorbills and Guillemots
were lost amongst them. One Gannet cruised by as did a plethora of Fulmar.
 |
| Fulmar |
‘Proper’ Rock Doves shot through, I still haven’t managed a photo. We also
walked down to the lighthouse to try for a better view of the auk cliffs. There
wasn’t.
Onto the cliffs for a late
lunch, one Raven wheeled through, hassled by Carrion Crows, it must be very
tedious to be constantly hassled, same goes for all raptors.
We left at 2.10. driving
down the road, I saw two raptors appear above the ridge. A female Hen Harrier
and a Buzzard were having an
altercation. The Hen returned and I was able to snatch two shots from the car
before she departed over the moor.
A very expensive car
re-fuelling and the long journey home – rather longer than necessary as we took
one of Pam’s diversions. Long way to go
to add a Blue Tit to the day/month list ! Over 70 birds for the month list,
will be more accurate after to-night’s bird account. 71.
May 2
Another beautiful
day. The temperature was 15C on top of Cairgorm, on the viewing platform
outside the café, 18C at Forest Lodge.
A very new
experience, travelling up in the funicular whilst sharing the disabled section
with two skiers and four snowboarders. Tourists were heavily out numbered, the
car park and slopes were heaving with winter sports enthusiasts. They were so
excited too. Alison had told us that the winter had been rubbish but snow
conditions were very good at the moment. The train announcement was conditions
on various pistes too – not the Cairngorm history we’re used to. The funicular
whizzed up in half the usual time and ran every 15 minutes.
Getting out onto the
viewing platform was hazardous, a couple of feet of hard-packed, ice-covered
snow over most of it, the right hand side cordoned off. We slithered our way to
the edge, met a Norfolk birder and immediately saw a pair of Ptarmigan feeding
50 yards in front of us. Another pair was in view off to the side near the
skiiers. Jammy. The pair below got to within 30 feet of us before sauntering
off. Delightful.
 |
| Ptarmigan viewable near right. |
I was able to show several very grateful trippers the view of
them through my scope and tried some digiscoping. As one of them said ‘I could get to like
snow if it was like this with hot sun on your back’.
 |
Male Ptarmigan in nearly full summer plumage, walking uphill, I love his furry wellies.
My best digiscoping yet. |
Successfully
negotiating our way back, we had a hot chocolate before returning on the 12.00
train.
After a hopeful 10
minutes at Coire na Ciste, no Ring Ousel this year, we drove to Abernethy
Forest Lodge RSPB. WE started the walk down the hill past the dog kennels
before I changed my mind and thought one of the other walking trails would be
better. We walked half a mile or more seeing nothing before a Crested Tit appeared in response to my
call. We had views of the whole bird feeding upside down on cones. Great.
Whilst having lunch
sitting in the car, I heard a Redstart – Pam thought she’d heard one earlier. I
saw a flash of red fly by, located the landing place, Pam got out and we saw a
male Scottish Parrot Crossbill
drinking from a puddle. It didn’t stay long, must have known I had my camera
ready.
Grantown for petrol
and then Dulnain Bridge. We sat on the roadside metal safety barrier watching a
pair of Common Sandpipers flying in chasing circles over and over again. Silly
birds, it went on for ages. Eventually they landed on the other side and I saw
their nest site in a hole under the bank, behind a large boulder. Pam walked
off to have a look upstream…….and a Grey
Wagtail flew past me , disappearing down river.
Lochindorb beckoned.
On the approach road, Pam saw a bird on top of a roadside stone. A superb female
Merlin, closest views ever. I was about to photograph it when Pam drove off,
seeing a car coming in her rear mirror -
single track road. No other birds of note, apart from a Red Grouse calling so
closely that I was able to photograph him from my window.
Another heart warming
and very successful day.
May 3
Normally, we go the
north coast when it’s not good weather in the Highlands. To-day, we left
Carrbridge in sunshine again, found heavy mist rising from Lochindorb and a
haar over the coast !
Burghead Maltings.
After over an hour’s scanning of the sea we saw….Long-tailed Ducks, Guillemots.
Razorbills, Eider, Cormorant, Shag, 2 Sandwich Terns and 2 Red-throated Divers.
A Rock Pipit kept up his parachuting song throughout. We left the two other
watchers to look for a loo and to explore further along the coast. We ended up
in Hopeman Harbour, standing on the seawall with our scopes. Almost
immediately, Pam was the first to see the adult White-billed Diver. The other birders from Burghead hurried up and
a debate ensued. In the poor visibility, I was reluctant at first to rule out
Great Northern – although the bill looked big and pale enough. The light
improved and I was prepared to accept the collective decision.
Later, two were
reported in the area. By then we had
moved on to Kingston on Spey where we lunched watching 34 Goosanders on a near
pool. I shouldn’t have waited to take a photo – too hungry. On an ebbing tide,
they all floated away downstream into another channel – and out of sight.
Culbin Forest now
charges for parking which Pam was not prepared for me to pay, we rarely see
much there anyway, it’s all conifer plantations and we don’t need to work for
Crested Tit and Crossbill. Although one can never see too many of them.
Cloddymoss is a
little further west, the approach along a gorse-lined track.. By now the sun
was shining, no sign of haar nor any clouds. Our first Chiffchaff as we
arrived, Blackcaps singing away, Orange-tip and Peacock Butterflies flitting
from dandelion to dandelion. Around the small heavily overgrown with sedge and
fringed with carrside trees lochan, we found groups of Cowslips in flower.
 |
| Cowslips |
Low tide and no birds
of note at Alturlie. A call at the Poundworld shop near Tesco for Klipits –
didn’t bring any and cereals need packing on Saturday – before a short Tesco
shop and home.
Got internet access
to-night, interrupted by the delightful Lucy in need of cuddles, still can’t
post this though. Don’t like to stay too long when the guests appear for their
evening meal.
Lyndsey had locked the inner door earlier in the week, forgetting our arrangement for access !!
May 4
To-day…….it snowed.
Well, wintry showers. Not all day, just fairly frequently and in short spurts.
Some were more rain, others small hailstones, some small snowflakes. None of it
settled and it was very cold all day, the highest reading was 7C in the sun,
out of it it was 4C. What we’d expected really.
Having missed
Black-throated Diver, Lochindorb has never let us down before, we consulted
Gordon Hamlett’s excellent Highland Birding book and drove to Glen Affric. It’s
a beautiful glen but rather short of birds, as we were reminded. We saw two
Divers fly off as we arrived at the end of the loch but couldn’t ID them. Ah
well, cut our losses and drive back to Glen Feshie, our normal last day birding
place. We set Delia (SatNav) to get us back via Lochindorb for one last look.
Much higher wind
to-day, the Loch was gunmetal grey and angry, choppy waves being driven into
the shore. The Black-throats usually hang about south of the castle, not
to-day, it was empty again, couldn’t see the nest either. Parking at the other
end, the first to show was a pair of Red-throated Divers, the water was much
calmer here. Maybe that was why we saw one and then another of our only
Black-throated Divers this trip. Great, full house of Highland specialities. I
scoped them for about 20 minutes. A pair of Common Sandpipers flew onto a
nearby rock, making a right commotion, several Red Grouse showed above the
heather too, this must be the easiest place in Scotland to view them.
 |
A pair of Common Sandpipers
At the northern end
of the Loch, Pam swung sharply into a layby. An Osprey was hovering high above
the water. We watched for about 15 minutes, waiting in vain for it to dive on a
fish. It flew away and landed on a heather clump on the opposite side, we
startled it off when we drove by. Only the third we’ve seen this trip.
The usual stop at
Inshriach Nursery where I walked determinedly past all the lovely Alpines , not
going to clutter the car up this year ! First time ever. Their café is called
the Potting Shed, has delicious home-made cakes and a long balcony area
overlooking a huge bird feeding station. Goodness knows how they fill the
feeders as they are hung over a steep drop to the valley below. I managed to
find two high stools (perches) at the counter and we sat enjoying the common
garden birds in their dozens. Mostly Chaffinches, some Greenfinches, Blue Tit,
Great Tit, Siskin, Coal Tit and a Great Spotted Woodpecker. And the cake…….
|
The Woody caused
great excitement amongst the ladies Rambling Group from Nairn who walk the
north coast somewhere once a month. They were all older and fun.
Glen Feshie at 4.30,
adding a Teal and Goldeneye on the over full Uath Lochan to the day list, too
cold to walk. Home to pack, clean the chalet and start packing the car. Delia
says that it will take us 2 hours and 40 minutes to drive to Oban. Birding not
taken into account !!
.JPG)
