19th August Trip to Dinnet and the back of Glen Tannar

One of a few not very succssful trips was a day at Dinnet with Alex.  The aim was to find a Redstart for my list and a Green Woodpecker for Alex to move from his 'heard' listing to a 'seen' listing and of course to get photographs.

We Started at the Vat o' Burn carpark and crossed the road into the Muir of Dinnet NNR.  This is where Alex had seen Redstart last year.  Of course this year the most exotic bird was a Robin.

Robin

We went to parts of the birch woodland that I did not know existed.  There is a long boardwalk over marshy ground that held lots of Dragonflys

Black Darter

The other insect that was abundant was a Scotch Argus butterfly.  I had never seen one before and for some reason I thought they lived on heather moorland and were rather scarce.  Actually they live in damp woodland and are common at least locally.  This one was on heather so I was partialy right!

Scotch Argus

 From Dinnet we went just a little way to the South Deeside Road to walk a farm track that basiclly led round the back of the Glen Tannar estate.  Here the target was Green Woodpecker, Tawny Owl and Garden Warbler. What we saw was Crossbill and Buzzard.  Now, you know and I know that Crossbills live in conifers and eat the seeds out of the cones.  So it came as something of a surprise to see two of them flying from one willow tree to another.

Crossbill

Crossbill

We also know that there are three types of Crossbill that live in Scotland, Common, Scottish and Parrot.  It takes something of an expert to tell the three apart.  What you need, to be certain is a DNA testing kit and sound recording equipment that will produce a sonogram, a sort of chart showing the sound frequencies of the birds call.  Alex and I only had our cameras but we are told that these are Common Crossbills.  Our hunt for Scottish and Parrot Crossbills has to continue.

And we saw a Buzzard....

Buzzard

Buzzard

.... and took some other photos as well

A large derilict looking barn with new bails

Very Old Potato Harvester

Old Gate New Fence

  I've put these up because somehow they typify the Scottish Highlands countryside.  These were all in the same place and I could have taken more of the same, the lorry that clearly no longer fit for the road, the pile of large bits of wood, the rusty old stock feeding thing.  You get the idea.  When I first moved up here I was all for something being done to tidy up the countryside and get rid of all the debris and scrap that is lying around.  That was fifteen years or so ago.  Now my attitude has changed.  I don't want the old barn and steadings converted and 'gentryfied', I want to see old farm machinery, yes and rusty old cars, and I want to see old wooden gates.  Along with the mountains and the moorland, the (highland) cattle running with calves and herds of sheep these things from the past, often no longer useful are what makes Scotland, well Scotland and unique.  And they are good for wildlife.  See the lichens on the gate.  How many mice and voles live in the field with the uncut grass and the potoato harvester that feed owls, kestrels stoats and weasels.  What nesting habitat is there in the derilict looking steading and for what cretures?  Many rural parts of England and alas of Scotland to are becoming too tidy, too efficient at the expense of our wildlife.  And that is not good for the soul or the mental health of the nation.

Rant over

Total on list 201

Three Days Birding

On Sunday I was up at 4.00am to find some early morning birds on Deeside.  First stop the Boat Inn in Aboyne.  This is where Garden Warblers hang out.  On Sunday they were having a lie in.  There was not sight nor sound of them.

Second stop was the Oak Wood at Dinnet.  I was here the Sunday before with Trevor and Alex.  But t was in the afternoon so we didn't expect to find a great deal.  Early in the morning there should have been Redstarts. There wasn't, there were lots of Blue and Great Tits, Chaffinches, the odd Great Spotted Woodpecker, a few Roe Deer and lots and lots of Wrens.

Dinnet Oak Wood

 From the car park to the wood you cross the river Dee.  Here is the view from the bridge

Down Stream

Up Stream

The final stop was the Forest of Birse.  I had a short trip here with Alex a few weeks ago but to be honest I didn't really know where to look.  There should be Whinchat and the smallest chance of a Merlin.  I walked a mile o so up the valley and into the grouse moors.  No Whinchat, no Merlin but there were lots of Meadow Pipits.

Meadow Pipit perched on Heather

 Common Gulls were plentiful as were the Rabbits

Rabbit in the Heather

There were Oystercatchers and Lapwing and views

Shooting Lodge

Old Kirk

All this heather and a big shooting lodge and I didn't see or hear a Grouse!

So Sunday was a 200 mile or so trip and not one bird added to the list.  If all the targets had been there I would have been on 199. But I did get some photos.

Monday I got an email responding to my request for information about Barn Owls.  So at 20:30 I set off for the Loch of Strathbeg.  I got settled into a hide and waited.  There was a Whooper Swan just in front of the hide.  It should not have been there it should have been in Iceland.  I waited some more.  The sun was setting so there were more views.

In the deepening gloom the Common Terns were still going back and forth between the sea and the colonial nest site at Starnafin collecting sand eels for their young.  The Mallard duckings were refusing to go to bed.

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Then, as the mist was rising at about 22:00 the first Barn Owl came into view.  It was and remained on the far side of the Loch.  Quartering slowly over the fields and reed beds occasionally it would go head first into the vegetation.  Then after one such dive it made a beeline for an old boat house to meet another owl.  Then both of them started hunting.  Capturing all this on camera was nigh on impossible it was so dark and they were so far away. This is what the camera with a 400mm lens captured

I resorted to digiscoping by hand.  To get any image at all the shutter speed had to be slow so wings are a blur.   Even so the lack of light pushed the ISO to maximum creating a lot of noise.  Here are the best! of the ones I took and they are cropped as well.

 

If you look carefully at the last one you will see one owl flying and two on the roof.  I didn't see this until I had the images on the computer.


 10 mile round trip max. and one tick.

Today (Tuesday) Tim posted on social media that he had heard a Quail at Longside in the morning.  Alex messaged me to say it was still there at noon.  As I had to go that way, sort of, to get some garden bird food some time this week I thought why not go now.  So I did.  A Quail is a bird that is heard but seldom seen.  I took a video of the field in order to record the sound. So put the speakers on and listen to the strange whip like call of a Quail.  You will also hear Tim as he drove up the road to stop and have a chat.

I have never seen a Quail.  I have heard them on several occasions.  They fly in from Africa for the summer and hide in the grass, or in this case a barley field.  The only way you know they are there is by hearing its call.

20 mile round trip that I was going to do anyway and one tick

Why do I go on these long journeys?

Total on list 197