You Should Have Been Here Yesterday

The weather in the Highlands was marvellous today.  Blue sky, white fluffy clouds and temperatures well into the 20's.  OK not the record temperatures they got in Englandshire but very acceptable.  It was even hotter in Alexs' car.  For some weeks the engine has been overheating and the only way to keep it cool is to have the cabin heater full on.  The only way to stay just about comfortable was to have the windows fully open as well.  Hopefully some time soon Skoda will deliver the spare part that is needed.

Lochindorb Castle

We had chosen to go to Lochindorb for two reasons.  The first was to get a Quail ticked for our 200 target.  This was a longshot.  When I was there three years ago I had heard Quail.  There had been no reports of Quail there this year.  We did not hear a Quail.  The second reason was to get photos of a Black-throated Diver.  This was not a bird that was new to our year last but our sightings had been of birds in winter plumage which is drab in comparison to its elegant summer feathering.

At our first and second stop along the edge of the Loch the only indication that they were present was a poster.

We also had an eye witness account from someone doing a bird tour for two Americans.  He told us that 'Yesterday they were just here and close to the Loch shore'  If I had a pound for every time I had heard 'You should have been here yesterday/last week/ an hour ago....' I would be able to afford all manner of expensive optical and photo equipment even after I had deducted a pound for every time I had said the same thing.

On our next stop we found the Divers. There were two of them and they were on the far side of the Loch.  But I a got a photo, but it wasn't as good as the one I would have taken if I had 'been here yesterday.'

Black-throated Diver

I dd get photos of some of the other birds that were around.....

Lapwing Chick

Red Grouse and Chick

Redshank

Common Sandpiper

....and a Toad

I was quite surprised by the number of people driving round the Loch searching for the Divers.  The Divers had disappeared by the time some of them arrived.  At the same time a van load of kayakers arrived and we saw someone getting fishing tackle out of the car.  Its possible that with that sort of disturbance the late bird watchers might not get to see the  Divers and may only go away with 'you should have been here an hour ago' ringing in their ears.

We headed home via Aviemore and Craigellachie Woods NNR which lie to the west of the village just the other side of the A9 Perth to Inverness road. 

It is mainly a birch wood and is the summer home of many warblers, flycatchers and other species.  Alex, who is on 198 birds for the year wanted photos of Pied Flycatcher and Redstart.  I wanted Redstart for my year list.

Once our brains had filtered out the A9 traffic noise it became clear that the wood was full of birds because we could hear the chip, cheep, chirrup of birds coming from all directions.  Occasionally we could identify the sounds - a Great Tit, a Willow Warbler, Wren, Chaffinch and so on.  Even less frequently we managed to see a bird but none were are target species.and sightings were mostly fleeting as they were high in the leafy canopy and highly mobile.

Total on list 192

A Day with the RSPB

23rd April

The Aberdeen and District RSPB members group had a day out.  It was planned that we meet at the Linn o' Dee Car park at 10.00 for a bird watching walk.

Brian, Alex and I left from Fraserburgh and took a route that took us to Huntly on to Strathdon and over to Deeside via the A939 and B796 to join the A93 at Balmoral.  This went over open Grouse Moor and sure enough there were Red Grouse aplenty.  We had enough time to stop for photographs.

Red Grouse

Red Grouse looking like a Whisky Advert

We even had time to get some habitat shots

Brian getting close and personal to a Red Grouse

  We also saw a Black Grouse (Blackcock).  Unfortunately it was strategicaly placed behind some fencing.

Black Grouse

When it eventually had enough of us trying to get a clean, fenceless shot it flew off.  Only then did we see that there was a female (Greyhen) as well.

Blackcock and Greyhen in Flight

Unfortunately the A93 was closed due to a very bad accident earlier in the day and we could not get to Braemar and then on to the Linn o' Dee.  All the RSPB trippers were waiting at the road closed sign wondering what to do.  At last a decision was made and we went in convoy the Glen Muick instead.

At Glen Muick we saw more Black Grouse and more Red Grouse,  a Snipe

Snipe

Lots of Red Deer

A Peregrine - a long way away on top rocky outcrop.

Peregrine

The highlight of everyones day was a flock of Crossbills.  Red ones are males and the green ones female.  There are three types of Crossbills live in this part of the world.  'Common', that can also be found throughout the UK bat are not that common, 'Scottish' that are endemic to the UK and only live in the Scottish Highlands, and 'Parrot' again in the UK these only live in the Scottish Highlands but can be found in Scandinavia.  Parrot Crossbills have much thicker bills than the other two.  Common and Scottish are very difficult to tell apart.  To be sure you would have to take sound recordings of their songs, take detailed measurements or a DNA sample.  None of these techniques were available to us, so these are either Common or Scottish.  As a year lister aiming to see 200 species in 2017 this leave me with a bit of a dilemma.  Do I just list these birds as 'Crossbill Speicies' and count it as 1 for my list or do I say 'this is the right place and the right habitat I'll list it as a Scottish Crossbill'.  I know that if I see a Crossbill outside the Scottish Highlands it will be a Common Crossbill.  So by calling this on a 'Scottish' I will have 2 ticks rather than 1

Male Crossbill

Crossbills

Female Crossbill

Male Crossbill

Female Crossbill

Here are a few more images from the trip.  Great landscapes.....

Looking towards Lochnagar

Field Trip Leader Tony getting in the way of a Loch Muick view

.....more common birds....

Chaffinch

Song Thrush

Wren

Lapwing

.....and the group

It is Brian looking back at the camera.

But the days story does not end there or even with the trip home.
On the way back I got a message that a  Bonaparte's Gull was at the Loch of Strathbeg.  Other messages came through saying that it was 'now in a ploughed field' and 'not seen for ten minutes'.  Alex and I decided to look for it and there it was in the ploughed field.  I have to say that we only saw it thanks to Paul who had re-found the bird after it had left the Strathbeg reserve. 

Total on list 153