Oh I Do Like To Be....

Friday October 13

Beside the seaside. 

We both slept in this morning, rushing to a 9.00 breakfast.  After eating, we mentioned to the receptionist that we were concerned at the lack of the promised moth-ing sessions. Daily - and free to guests - events are posted  in a single sheet 'The Daily Chirp' left on every breakfast table. These include guided walks morning and afternoon. Longer guided trips in a minibus cost extra. e.g Red Deer rutting and Reindeer viewing.
The receptionist phoned Sue, the Wildlife guide, who told us the extremely disappointing news that the trapping had been cancelled due to low expectations of catching anything at this time of year. True for the usual October temperatures, but, it has been 15C for the last few days. Sue admitted this, saying that it was warmer than July. The only advice she offered was to talk to the Inch Marshes warden who is well known for having found several colonies of the rare Scottish Mountain Burner, previously only known from one small area. Very disappointing. Even if I'd brought my own trap, I don't know of any flowering ivy around Grantown. We did look.

The sun was shining, with a strengthening westerly breeze leading to the birch trees shedding what Pam called yellow leaf confetti, as we left for the north coast. Both the roadside gutters and the air above were full of leaves as we drove to Findhorn Bay. The road passes the track to Lochindorb and some pretty bleak high moorland and mountain scenery. Just the right place to see a Golden Eagle. We had good views of it circling away hassled by a Carrion Crow.

Reports of two Lesser Snow Geese amongst the flock of Pinkfeet visible from the hide on Findhorn river estuary yesterday, gave us hope. Not to-day. Pam got out to recce - the hide  can only be accessed via a keypad, its numbers only available if you phone someone. No geese to-day and she had to balance her binocs against the hide to try and hold them steady. I put my phone away, no point in getting the code.

The deeply potholed track to the beach gave us views of a pair of Stonechats swaying atop some low vegetation. We drove on to the eastern end of the bay, where we were astonished to find sand where there was always a deep layer  of  sugar almond shaped stones onto which one walked from the parking area. Now a steep drop to a sandy beach. The power of the sea.

Burghead has long been a favoured place of ours for sea watching. From the site of the Maltings to the rocky western promontory and then the town harbour. We had a lovely afternoon scanning the sea and rocks. Bright sunshine, disturbed waves, 

 white-topped chop 

and a constant light procession of Guillemots, Razorbills, diving Gannets, the first Long-tailed Ducks, a few Eider and one Puffin. 

We both loved it. 

 

Shags, Herring Gulland an Oystercatcher watching an approaching dog and its owners.

 Back to the hotel via a coffee at a superior garden centre and Sainsbury's at Nairn for a bottle of fizz for to-morrow. Having to pay the hotel corkage on top is still less than buying their cheapest Cava - and one gets the fizz one likes best. (The champagne was really good and we were not charged corkage as per menu).

Pam's choice of how to spend to-morrow.

Leisurely 110 Miles -the Pretty Way

Thursday October 12

Loch O' Lowes Scottish Wildlife Reserve doesn't open until 10.00. As it was only 12 miles from our Travelodge, we didn't leave until 9.10. Then, our planned breakfast at Tesco's became a takeaway and the kitchen staff were excruciatingly slow. Takeaway because the cafe was upstairs and we had a shopping trolley. They didn't have the sort of stairs which take a trolley - Gt Yarmouth does.

Both of us were hungry after scrappy and minimal cold food yesterday, I only had  porridge pot, a muffin and a diet bar all day. We ate our very nice bacon rolls in the car park, whilst they were still hot.

Pam drove almost to the door of the Loch o' Lowes Centre, using the disabled parking area. As I got out, Redpoll flew overhead, their trilling buzz unmistakeable. This reserve is best known for its Osprey nest, long deserted by now, the adults already on their wintering grounds in west Africa. We enjoy watching the feeders from the Centre windows, especially if a delightful Red Squirrel pays a visit.

We had the window to ourselves for much of the time, an older Scottish couple and four American visitors came and went. Not as much variety of species as in the spring but well into the teens in the number of Coal Tits.

I prefer to photograph birds and animals in their natural habitat rather than at the feeders. Try telling that to the Coal Tits and Red Squirrels. They all have ADHD. Add to it that Coal Tits are bullied by other birds, especially Chaffinches, and you have an impossible situation. They snatch and run - and so do I with my camera. Not a good photo, yet the best I managed.

Wren - the first and only photograph I've taken of this species

Male Great Spotted Woodpecker

A Carrion Crow had learned to flap its wings madly long enough to grab a peanut before flying off with it.

We both thoroughly enjoyed the photography hour - despite the grubby glass viewing windows and dull light.

The loch held Great Crested Grebes, Goldeneyes, Tufted Duck and Mute Swan. My camera shutter stuck in the closed position, I was unable to take any more photos. Very disappointing and rather worrying. I fiddled with various things when I got back to the car. It's working again !

Both Redpoll and Siskin flitted in the tree tops, calling constantly. 

The A9 to Aviemore passes through miles of bleak wet moorland and high mountain territory,  with very little wildlife in view. One Buzzard and a few Carrion Crows only. 
Through Aviemore to the familiar and homely Carrbridge, where they are celebrating the 300th anniversary of their much photographed pack horse bridge. Would Station Road, famed for its bird feeders, bearing Crested Tits in the winter, be true to its reputation? Not to-day. 
Pam is an excellent fungus spotter. These are not named yet, I find it very difficult and only have a pocket sized ID book. All photos taken from the car - some 'farming' needed to remove twigs etc.

Grey Birch Bolete ?

Must be tasty to something..........

This is where the pretty way comes in.......Pam does not resist the compulsion to drive to Lochindorb, even though this is not a good birding time there. But, the trees look lovely at the moment, the Birches in particular dressed in varying shades of yellow. What would 'her tree' look like? Great, especially as the sun came out burnishing its golden yellow even brighter against a purple hill beyond and the grey Loch below. I took some pics on Pam's camera for her, I had the better angle.

A Merlin whizzed across our path as we approached, a really lucky chance encounter. Two seconds either way would have been a miss. Six Red Grouse in total, one of them almost black when first encountered, with bright white, fluffy legs and feet. Weird.

Roadside parking for the Grant Arms where we were greeted and dealt with very pleasantly. The lift is as archaic as the building. We are on the second floor, in room 213,  a short walk from the lift. The latter has a heavy, folded plastic concertina outside door with a latticed ironwork door inside. Both have to be closed after entering and on leaving. If anyone forgets to do it on leaving, the lift is marooned where it's left. That happened to us on the way to dinner. Pam had to climb to the 3rd floor to bring it down. A few minutes late for our 6.30 meal I mentioned this to our waitress. She shuddered and said that she'd only used it once, it gave her the creeps. Most reassuring.

We were tempted by the talk on Mountain Burnet moth at 8.30 but decided not to go. I'd read all about the  several new locations of this rare moth found by to-night's speaker and the substance of his lecture. Now, if he'd brought a specimen........

Weatherwise, a much better day than expected from the forecast . A little light rain early morning followed by grey overcast with a short sunny spell.

North coast is planned for to-morrow for sea ducks and Sainsbury's.

Mixed Bag

Wednesday October 11

Should we start the day by re-tracing our footsteps to Udale Bay? I didn't mention it to Pam as I knew that the tide was going out again and the birds had been so distant yesterday. Plus the aditional mileage. We should have done, two sub species of Canada Goose to-day and one flock was in a roadside field. Ah well.

We breakfasted, in the rain, at Skateraw Bay. Curlew, a small passage of Gannets, Redshank, Eider, a lone Bar-tailed Godwit and Shags, in addition to the usual gulls. Tree Sparrows near the entrance houses were a welcome addition. Even the Snowy Owl in his cage was hiding in a corner.

Aberlady Bay at low tide is not a pretty sight. I love Snettisham in its muddy glory, why not this place? Plenty of Wigeon, flights of newly arrived Pinkfeet, a large flock of Lapwing and a plethora of Herring Gulls with a few Greater Black-backed.

Longniddry Links No 3 was no better, neither was the weather, time to negotiate the Edinburgh Ring Road with its ever changing speed limits. We were copped here once......

A new road system since the Spring was a surprise. So was crossing the magnificent new Queensferry Bridge. Awesome. When was that opened to traffic? 

 Queensferry Crossing was first opened to motorists in the early hours of August 30.
The Northbound carriageway admitted traffic first, before the Southbound carriageway was opened 45 minutes later.

–– ADVERTISEMENT ––

The Queen officially launched the crossing on September 4, exactly 53 years after she opened the Forth Road Bridge – and it opened fully on September 7.
The structure is 207m above high tide (683ft), equivalent to about 48 double decker buses stacked on top of each other.
It is 50m (25%) higher than the existing Forth Road Bridge
The bridge has windshielding to almost entirely eliminate the need for closures during the frequent periods of high winds in the Forth estuary. Cables can be replaced with more ease than on the Forth Road Bridge - it can be done as part of normal maintenance works without closing the bridge.

---

How did I miss that?

Pam passed me her camera and I tried some shots through the windscreen, desperately trying to get the support masts upright.What looked like gossamer webbing sails hanging from the pillars were very solid when adjacent.

This a better photo, taken from the internet.

A visit to Loch Leven and Vane Farm RSPB is a must for Pam. Thirty Whooper Swans the harbinger of many more to come. Two hundred Pink-footed Geese whiffled wearily down on to the water, a mere handful of the thousands that winter here. Our first Roe Deer fed distantly, white rumps gleaming in the wintery sun. It's not my favourite place as everything is always so distant.

Time to spare and the sun shining. Methil beckoned. What we remembered as Methil was actually Leven, with its shore-side parking area and snack van.
In Autumn 2004, a Masked Shrike turned up in Scotland. I'd had both my knees replaced and had daily visits from a District Nurse to clean and dress my open and  infected wounds. I convinced her that I could do my own dressing, travelled to the Perth area, stayed overnight and hobbled on crutches to see the bird. We then drove to Leven car park in search of birds and breakfast. There I dressed my wounds, whilst Pam got breakfast of bacon roll from what looked like the identical snack caravan. The van was closed to-day.
Having a fresh water inlet, the bay is popular with gulls, waders and ducks. The beach- loafing gulls and waders were constantly disturbed by off the leash dogs, joyously chasing them into flight. When they re-settled, two Sanderling fed amongst them, always a delight. Pam, whilst watching passing adult and black juvenile Gannets, spotted a winter plumaged Tystie pass swiftly by. To my delight, I had 10 Red-breasted Mergansers in my scope at once, one of my favourite birds and one I associate with this site. Our first male Eiders too, making their stately way  out to sea in a line flotilla.
Time to retire, we joined the home going traffic towards Perth, making steady progress. As we approached the dead end left turn off the A9 for our Travelodge, the cones closing it off became apparent. What now? We sailed past in our fast, 3 lane wide stream of traffic, moving inexorably towards Inverness. The Satnav was silent........ Nearing a roundabout, she burst into voice, directing us back the way we'd come but, on the opposite carriageway of course. Some time later, via a lot of instructions, traffic, detours, unfamiliar roads and turnings, we arrived at a back entrance to the Lodge. Waw. Never has our Satnav been so appreciated and intuitive. I love her. Until to-morrow anyway.
Our room number is 101. We've been put into Room 101.

Scotland, Here We Come

Tuesday October 9

Not our customary early start as we are 'only' driving to Berwick on Tweed to-day. We had a good journey, with only one shower en route. 

We didn't miss the sighting of the Angel of the North to-day...... 

A leisurely shared sandwich lunch near Durham before leaving the A1 for Seahouses. Many years since I was here. A booked boat trip to Brownsman for Elsie, the Lesser Crested Tern -  on the way home from Scotland. No tern, on her nest, out of sight beyond a ridge. A furious Lee Evans was present, dressed in his off white mac and black and white shoes, shouting at the boatman for misappropriation of birders' money.   Very true, they knew it wasn't viewable. To add coals to the fire, the warden appeared from his hut and pointed down to where the nest was situated - we assume.

Good ending. we saw her on Blakeney Point a year later. 

To-day, we parked shoreside and looked out at the misty Farnes, ticking off Shag, Cormorants, Turnstones, Oystercatcher and female Eider. A pager message cut short our stay in fast decreasing light. Budle Bay is a few miles north and on our route. A lengthy narrow layby, allows viewing of the waterless bay. What!! Five thousand Barnacle Geese as far away as they could be. The task, to find a lone Richardson's Cackling Goose amongst them. Even at 50x, my Swarovski was struggling - nearly as much as I was.

Pam made contact with a nearby group of birders, one of them from Norfolk, they couldn't find it either. As the light became even worse, frustration was heightened by streams of geese departing north, others returning. You get the message. Time to look elsewhere. 

Pam found a Glaucous Gull amongst the large flock of roosting, loitering gulls and, a Snow Goose showed itself as the flock of Barnacles diminished. Apparently, local knowledge says that this is an unusually large flock for the bay.
Some appalling photos.
The first photo is heavily cropped from a 300mm lens effort, the dark line at the back is the Barnacles.
The second photo even more cropped.

The Glaucous is front middle left - headless.

Time to claim our Travelodge room, on the Morrison's roundabout  in Berwick. and to veg out watching soaps on TV.

Snettisham Spectacular

Sunday October 8

Travelling directly to Snettisham RSPB, we arrived a half hour before high tide. The Wash was already fully under water, the tide was 7.1 m, very high. We'd missed the fly in to the pits, that would have been before dawn.

Patience required.

A steady trickle of birders wandered to and fro, one tired looking elder stopping to ask how we'd managed to drive down. It's a long trudge from the car park.

At high tide, a fast flying, amorphous, low-flying smoke  of two thousand birds rose over the pit bank, sped to the far bank and.......flew back again. The twirlies. Much too early.

As the receding tide exposed distant mud, more and more birds left the densely populated islands in the pit, landing in the far distance until the shore looked like a black belt-line.

We both noticed that, regardless of species, an odd bird would helicopter into the air, before dropping to regain its position in the flock. Why?

Time to leave and, take up position for the dropping tide, at the eastern end. Small goups of mixed - common - species dropped into the russet, samphire edged mud

Curlew in the Samphire

Mixed Group

Lunch at Brancaster, entertained by a Little Egret fishing at the mouth of an inlet, the rushing outfill seeming to direct fish into its open beak.
 

No reports on the pager, was it still there? We were able to stop on the road to view the normally flooded field east of Stiffkey village. Yes. A white flash showed briefly amongst the cattle at the back of the field. The Cattle Egret then walked into the open before disappearing again.

Dreech

Sunday October 1

The post heading describes most of the weather to-day. We asked ourselves why we were out at all. Mainly because it was one of the few first day of the month we were able to do so.

And..... I am suffering from lack of birding time. Roll on our trip to Scotland to celebrate  Pam's 80th birthday. We leave on the 10th, taking two days on the way up and then a week at the Grant Arms before making an identical return journey. Warm garments will be needed.

The paucity of birds of any kind, even Wood Pigeons, on the way to our first halt at Sculthorpe Mill, proved our lack of judgement. We had barely hit double figures by Abbey Farm where the general air of neglect is not welcoming. In addition to the very uneven concrete slabs which constitute the path to the hide, the latter were largely concealed by a thick layer of wet, rotting and slippery, leaves and tree debris. The path is never swept, I may well carry out an often voiced wish to arrive armed with a yard brush. No water in the pond and stream, not even Greylags on the meadow with a sky empty of the Red Kite, Buzzards and Hobby seen the previous day.

Pam , in one of our stops in gateways, saw a Sparrowhawk perched on the hedge. I managed one photo - with the car engine still on - before it flew. 

Ah, Snettisham called, the thought of waders lightened the mood as always. Until we arrived. Low tide with miles of dry mud extending to infinity. Careful scanning found Grey Plover, a few Knot, Curlew, Golden Plover, Redshank, a Greenshank called and a Curlew Sandpiper. As notable as the latter were the negatives - no Dunlin, Godwits nor Oystercatchers.

Sounds miserable, it wasn't, we were still enjoying the day. This Herring Gull looked as we might have felt.

The Greater Black-backed Gull had a damaged left foot.

Turnstone, Oystercatcher, Bar and Black-tailed Godwits, Ringed Plover and Dunlin at Brancaster Staithe before we called it a day and drove home, turning inland soon after Brancaster.

The day's total was 60 species, miserly but,  more than we expected. 
Some colour to end with.......

Red Underwing 
A large, showy and much desired moth. This one was too flighty - even after being in the fridge - to photograph out of the box.

The Holy Grail

Tuesday September 19

As we parked at Natural Surroundings, an unknown man entered the gate. Another stranger at a supposedly invitation only moth group? Visitors should pay an entry fee, all regulars pay an annual membership fee.

Getting to the cabin, a small group surrounded the stranger and I was nodded in that direction.He had brought a Clifden Nonpareil, trapped in Surrey, for us to see. Waw. Never thought I'd see one. Big, blue underwing, rare immigrant to the south coast. He displayed it on the wooden bench for all to photograph. It wouldn't open its wings fully for me.....

What a splendid moth. That leaves Deathshead Hawkmoth now........ 

Then, we got on with opening the traps, an anticlimax to-day.