Wednesday 16 May 2012

Scotland - Day 1

We arrived at Aberdeen airport at c.10.15am and headed straight for Ythan Estuary in the hope of King Eider for our yearlists and Mick needed it as a lifer. The heat haze was incredible hence the poor photos but we managed to find it, I also managed to find a drake Green-winged Teal and we got our trip list off to a good start with Arctic, Sandwich and Little Tern, Eider, RB Merganser, Black-tailed Godwit, Peregrine, Turnstone and 100's of Grey Seals.

Green-winged Teal - Ythan Estuary

King Eider - Ythan Estuary
Next stop for us was Burghead and just as we were arriving a message came through on the pager that the adult White-billed Diver was still present from the Maltings. Eventually we managed to find the bird which gave great scope views but was too far our for any pictures. We also added Red-throated Diver, Great Northern Diver, Fulmar, Kittiwake, Bonxie and I managed to see a single Harbour Porpoise.

From Burghead we headed south towards the Cairngorms and saw several Red Grouse on route to Loch Garten. We decided to head to the Osprey watchpoint and as we arrived the glamorous assistant pointed out two lekking Capercaillie! What a result! Saved a 4.30am start on the RSPB Caper walk the next day. We also had nice views of Osprey, Red Squirrel and our only Crested Tit of the trip which sadly I only managed to snap as it was on the feeder.

Crested Tit - Loch Garten RSPB

Capercaillie - Loch Garten RSPB
We finally arrived at Mondhuie B&B tired and in need of a curry! In the garden we added Tree Pipit and Mistle Thrush but no sign of the Pine Martens. Great start to the trip though...

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.