19th April

I decided to make a quick visit to Portland this morning in search of some Spring migrants.

I started at the bird observatory, which was extremely quiet in rather windy conditions. A Garden Warbler had been seen in the garden earlier, but besides that all seemed quiet. A brief search for it drew blank, so I decided to head down to the Bill for some sea-watching. I was eventually rewarded with my first five Manx Shearwaters of the year, along with eight Common Scoter and numerous Auks, Gannets and Fulmars. I then walked up to the Top Fields, where there was much more migrant activity. At least 25 Wheatears were present and a decent number of Swallows were passing overhead. I went to the 'Redstart bush'- a bush which has brought me at least one Redstart virtually every time I have checked it at a suitable time of year, and sure enough, there was a stunning male Redstart sitting it!

Redstart, Portland. This species is undoubtedly one of my favourite British birds and a real highlight of Spring at Portland.

The same bush was literally swarming with Willow Warblers and there were many more of these elsewhere around the Top Fields. Sadly no Whinchat nor any other migrant Warblers (besides Chiffchaffs) were seen, but hopefully I will have more chances to see these later this year.

I then went to Suckthumb Quarry, where yesterday's Hoopoe had been seen again and a Pied Flycatcher (still a species missing from my British list) had been reported. Sadly a long search produced no more than a Blackcap, more Willow Warblers and loads of Swallows heading north.

Hearing news of a Garganey at Radipole, I headed there. On the way, I found a small group of Whimbrel at Ferrybridge, the first time I have seen them grounded here. Arriving at Radipole, I rushed up to a bird-watcher whom I assumed was watching the Garganey. I was a bit shocked to find that he was in fact looking at a juvenile Glaucous Gull, only my second-ever (after one in Morocco last year!) and a bird that I had given up on seeing in Britain before I emigrate in July.

Glaucous Gull, Radipole Lake RSPB. Though seeing this winter visitor from the Arctic in mid-April in Dorset was extremely unexpected, it was not quite in the same league as finding one in Morocco last January!

I then found the fantastic drake Garganey showing distantly from the visitor centre with a small flock of Teal and next to several Black-tailed Godwits.

Distant record shot of the drake Garganey at Radipole, my first of the species in Dorset

Sadly, I didn't have time to walk up to the North Hide for what was potentially a third Dorset tick in a day- a Great White Egret. To be honest, I have seen so many of this species that it seems absurd to put in any effort to see it! Annoyingly I also missed a Red-rumped Swallow that appeared at Radipole during the afternoon, but never mind! I can't really complain after a fantastic morning.

Meanwhile, the first House Martins of the year appeared at Hilfield on the 17th April and a Willow Warbler was present today. My year list now stands at 169- already two ahead of my overall total last year!

Scotland Day Four

We started our final full day of the trip very early once more, again heading to the Capercaillie. This time there was no sign of any at all during our two-and-a-half hour stay, though once again the Ospreys were awesome to watch.

Osprey at Loch Garten. After going from a common breeding bird in Britain to extinction in 1916, Loch Garten was the site of the first returning individuals in 1954. Since then, they have come back strongly, with possibly as many as 250 pairs nowadays. Shockingly, the tree in which these Ospreys nest was destroyed by vandals in the 1980's and had to be reconstructed using telegraph poles. As a result, it's a bit of a mess now, but the Ospreys don't seem to mind.

The Ospreys seem to be very busy right now!

We then headed back to the Findhorn Valley, where we hoped to get improved views of Golden Eagles, and possibly even the White-tailed Eagle that has been seen there recently. Sadly, it wasn't to be, as we saw just one bird of prey- a Sparrowhawk. There were a few distant Red Deer, which was brilliant to see, as well as these very confiding Hares:

European Hare, Findhorn Valley. Sadly we didn't find any Mountain Hares during our stay, but the European Hare was very common in most areas.

I finally managed to photograph a Dipper in the Findhorn Valley as well.

Findhorn Valley

We had planned to spend several hours here, but with very little of any promise about, we decided on a drastic change in how the day would be spent. With news of the Harlequin Duck's continued presence in Aberdeen, we undertook the long journey there. On the way we saw two Swallows and several more large skeins of Pink-footed Geese.

Eventually we arrived in Aberdeen, somewhat doubting whether the journey would prove to be worth it. We started by checking Papermill Drive, off which the Duck had been seen the day before. There was no sign of it here, though several Goosanders and Goldeneye were present- pretty cool birds to have so common right in the middle of a large city! Our view from here was largely obscured by ongoing building works, so we feared that the bird may not be visible. We decided to head to Seaton, from where the bird has been seen regularly in previous weeks. Almost immediately, I found the bird, just off the disused loo block. This is one of the birds I have wanted to see all my life, so I was overjoyed. It showed fantastically well and it really was a pleasure to watch.

Harlequin Duck, Seaton Park, Aberdeen. This species is an extremely rare vagrant to Britain, with just 18 previous records in the country. It is found parts of Arctic Canada, Alaska and Russia, as well as Japan and Iceland, the most likely origin of this bird. What an awesome bird!

Checking the bird news, I noticed that a King Eider had been found on the north Aberdeenshire coast. We headed there immediately and found a birder there watching it. This was another one of the birds I have always wanted to see and we had fantastic views of this pristine-plumaged male through the scope. Finding it with my camera was a bit more difficult to say the least, but I was pleased that I had managed!

King Eider, St Comb's, Aberdeenshire. What an absolute beast! It is the bird third from the right in both photos.

With this and the Harlequin seen today, I had enjoyed two of my favourite birds I have seen in one afternoon. I was pretty happy.

Also offshore at St Comb's were approximately 100 Common Eiders, four Black-throated Divers and a single Red-throated Divers.

We then hurried to Lochindorb for one final attempt at finding the Rough-legged Buzzard. As we approached it, I caught sight of a raptor next to the car. Inevitably it was another Common Buzzard. An hour-long search at the Loch resulted in two more Buzzards and a Kestrel, as well as a fantastic Goshawk. Sadly our main target didn't appear, so we decided to head back to the hotel. On the way, we spotted three unusual birds near the shore of the lake. Stopping the car, we quickly realised that they were breeding-plumaged Black-throated Divers!

 WOW!!!! I can't think of any more extraordinary-looking birds that I have seen in Britain. It was absolutely fantastic and about the best way possible to end our trip to Scotland.

As we finally had to leave, we spotted a three more Divers a little further out. These were Red-throated Divers, also in breeding plumage. What a day!!!

Red-throated Diver, Lochindorb. Interestingly, the Divers we saw off the coast were in full winter plumage, but all the birds on Lochindorb were in breeding plumage.

It was another early start the next day as we headed back up to Inverness for our flight back to London. On the way we saw a roadside Barn Owl, a very nice final bird of what had been a great trip.

Scotland Day Three

It was another early start this morning, as we arrived at Loch Garten's Osprey hide at half-past five for the Capercaillie watch. Virtually straight away, the RSPB volunteer located a male Capercaillie on the camera. Soon, a second male appeared and chased the first bird off. Despite the entire hide searching desperately for either bird, it seemed that it was impossible to see them from where we were standing. For the next two hours, there were no more sightings, though it was a great pleasure to watch the reserve's famous Osprey pair coming to their nest distantly in front of the hide. I also saw my first Tree Pipit of the year.

Having once been virtually guaranteed at Loch Garten, the Capercaillie has now become a really quite irregular sight here nowadays. The species has declined markedly across Scotland in recent years, with a number of causes, including further habitat fragmentation, disturbance of birds lekking and collision with Deer fences. It is believed that there are fewer than 700 males remaining here now, and a second extinction in Britain (the previous one was in 1770, after which it was reintroduced) seems a very distinct possibility.

After the watch had ended, I searched the car park for the supposedly easy-to-find Crested Tits. Despite finding many Blue, Great and Coal Tits, along with Treecreepers, Goldcrests and a huge number of Chaffinches, there was no sign of any. We decided to try the area around the other car park. Again, the other three Tits and Chaffinches were abundant, while two Goldeneye were seen on Loch Garten itself. But no Crested Tits! We did find another Crossbill near the car park, and this one was certainly not a Common Crossbill. It had a very chunky bill and neck, much more so than any Common Crossbills I have seen. I have ticked the bird off as Scottish, though this is slightly playing on my conscience as I am not entirely sure as to whether this species actually exists! Either way, it was one of Parrot or Scottish Crossbill and was consequently a new bird for me. It is staying as Scottish on my list for now, but this may have to change should the classification of this bird change!

Loch Garten

Our next stop was Cairn Gorm. We travelled to the peak of the mountain by the train, filled with skiers and snowboarders about to descend on what can only be described as one of the most miserable-looking ski-runs imaginable, with lots of mud and rocks exposed through the shallow snow. Scanning from the Ptarmigan Restaurant at the peak, we quickly found a decent number of Snow Buntings present, with some coming very close to us.

Snow Buntings, Cairn Gorm

Another birder then found two distant Ptarmigan and I enjoyed some decent views of the birds, a fantastic new species for me. After watching the birds for some time, we decided to head back down, only to find that there had been a technical error and the trains had stopped running. We decided to walk down, and this decision was rewarded when we found two Ptarmigans very close to us, showing brilliantly-well.

Ptarmigans, Cairn Gorm. These awesome birds are certainly amongst my favourite that I have seen in Britain- such a cool species, with an amazing ability to thrive in the coldest and windiest place in Britain.

Not long after seeing these birds, the wind started to pick up. It soon became virtually impossible to stand up. We decided it would be wise to get back to the car as quickly as possible as it seemed that the mist was also beginning to descend. As we headed down, a Ring Ouzel shot past us.

Cairn Gorm

This is Britain's only herd of 'wild' Reindeer. They were introduced in the 1950s, and there are now about 150 of them here.

After safely reaching the car, we headed to Loch an Eilein for another attempt at finding Crested Tits. In the fantastic woodlands surrounding the loch and the ruined castle on its island, we found an abundance of woodland birds, mostly Chaffinches and Coal Tits, along with numerous Blue, Great and Long-tailed Tits, Siskins, Goldcrests and Treecreepers along with two Bullfinches and my first Redpoll for over three years. I have no idea about how it's been so long since I saw one! Eventually, a Crested Tit appeared and we were treated to fantastic views of it feeding just above head-height. It seemed that there were at least three present of this new species for me in Britain (I have previously seen them on Mt Ventoux in southern France).

Crested Tit, Loch an Eilein

Loch an Eilein. The weather was a bit miserable!

Scotland Day Two

After what can only be described as the worst night's sleep of my life, morning thankfully came and with it the Black Grouse. By half-past four, nine males and four females were in front of our tents, all making their remarkable bubbling call. Several came very close to us, completely ignorant of our presence. It really was an awesome and completely unforgettable experience and allowed for some great photographic opportunities!

Black Grouse, Glen Livet

There were also about five Snipe lekking as well, along with mating Curlews and Lapwings calling from everywhere. 

Finally, at nine o'clock, the final Grouse flew off and we were able to get out of our freezing tents and enjoy a very welcome cup of tea. We headed back to our car, and then on to the Findhorn Valley, where we hoped to find some of the Highland's special raptors.

On the way, we tried Lochindorb again, but once more to no avail, though a pair of Merlin were seen, along with more Buzzards, Red Grouse, Greylag Geese and the large Common Gull breeding colony. I also spotted three Whooper Swans in a roadside field near Boat of Garten, which was only my second-ever sighting of the species.

Soon after entering the valley, we began to encounter our first birds of prey, with Buzzards and Kestrels being very common. I also found my first three Crossbills of the trip. The situation of Crossbills in Scotland is a very complex one, to put it mildly. Previously, weak-billed birds were assumed to be Common Crossbills and chunkier-billed ones as Scottish Crossbills, supposedly Britain's only endemic bird species. Then, it was discovered that some of the chunky-billed birds were in fact Parrot Crossbills and that actually this species was rather common in the Highlands. The Scottish Crossbill seemingly covers birds that are intermediate between the two, but there is some overlap, meaning that it is impossible to identify it by sight alone. A sonogram of the bird's call would be required, though it seems that there is again some overlap and that bird's call differentiate between regions anyway- much the same as human's accents and languages. Anyway, currently, most authorities treat the Crossbill family as containing fives species, three of which (Common, Parrot and Scottish) breed in the Highlands.

The bird I saw was undoubtedly a Common, identified from Parrot by its comparatively thin bill and from Scottish by the fact that it was in a Norwegian Spruce Tree, somewhere a Scottish would not be found.

I can be fairly certain that this is a Common Crossbill!

Further down in the valley, I found a Dipper flying fast up the Findhorn River, while Lapwings, Curlews and Common Gulls were ubiqitous. A Sparrowhawk flew overhead, as did a number of Ravens. We reached the end of the valley, and very kindly a local bird guide put us on to a pair of Golden Eagles. They were extremely distant and would only show briefly as they hunted the mountain faces. This was my first sighting of the species in Britain, and although the views were not entirely satisfactory (to put it mildly!), I was really pleased.

Common Gull, Findhorn Valley

After a prolonged time with no Eagle sightings, we headed back out of the valley. A stop along the way brought fantastic views of a male Merlin hunting, along with another Crossbill (presumably Common) that flew overhead and a large number of woodland birds, including Treecreeper, Goldcrest and Siskin,

We decided to check the flooded fields near Boat of Garten, which regularly hold breeding Slavonian Grebes, though we had no luck in finding any, with just a Little Grebe, two Redshanks and numerous Wigeon, Teal, Mallard and Tufted Ducks seen.

Scotland Trip Day One

On the evening of the 10th April, we flew up to Inverness for a short trip to Scotland (my first visit).

Early the next morning, we headed along the Aberdeenshire coast to the small seaside village of Portsoy. On the way, I saw my first Hooded Crow in Britain in a roadside field with a large number of Carrion Crows and some messy Hooded-Carrion hybrids. Several large skeins of Pink-footed Geese were heading north over the road and a few others were feeding in the fields.

We arrived at Portsoy at about eight o'clock and immediately set about trying to find our target bird- the White-billed Diver (also known as Yellow-billed Loon). Offshore were about 70 Long-tailed Ducks, which was a great pleasure to see, along with a large number of Eiders, Guillemots and Razorbills. A single Sandwich Tern flew past in the atrocious weather.

Eider, Portsoy

After some time, I eventually located a single Diver offshore. It turned out to be a Black-throated Diver, but it gave me some much-needed incentive to keep looking. Soon, several more Divers appeared, mostly Black-throated, but with two Great Northern and a single Red-throated. I then found a very interesting bird, with a much paler bill distantly offshore. It dived under before I could get a decent view, but after an anxious wait, it reappeared. It was the White-billed Diver, my first ever sighting of this Arctic vagrant, which has started to become quite regular off the Aberdeenshire coast during Spring (up to 12 were reported as being seen from a boat recently). It was too far offshore for me to find it my camera, so I tried to photograph it through with my phone through the scope. I think this counts as a record shot!

White-billed Diver, Portsoy. I shaking violently with cold at the time, so I was pretty pleased to see that I had actually managed to get the bird in the picture! Needless to say, views through the scope were much better than this!

We then headed inland to Lochindorb in the Highlands, where we hoped to find the juvenile Rough-legged Buzzard that has spent the winter there. Red Grouse were abundant here, with many making their fantastic croaking noise from right next to the car as we searched for the raptor.

Red Grouse at Lochindorb. This was a fantastic place to see my first of this species.

I soon had my third lifer of the day, as we surprisingly flushed two Black Grouse from the roadside. This was not a species I was expecting to see here at all and it was very enjoyable to watch them for some time.

Black Grouse, Lochindorb. Two males and one female were present.

Finally a raptor appeared. For the first time in my life, I was disappointed to find it was just an Osprey in my binoculars, but the disappointment soon wore off as it gave some magnificent views close to the car.

Osprey, Lochindorb

Soon, a pale-looking Buzzard flew past the car. Sadly it turned out to be just that- a pale Common Buzzard. A four-hour search brought about 12 Common Buzzards, several Kestrels, a single Goosander, numerous Iceland Greylag Geese and Common Gulls and what was possibly a second Osprey. But no Rough-legged Buzzard. We then headed off to the River Spey, hoping to find some more local specialities.

A Swallow flew overhead as soon as we arrived, and not long later we found two Common Sandpipers and my first Siskin of the year. A Dipper showed very well briefly, but had flown off before I could take a picture. Goldeneyes were very common on the river, while we also had a distant view of a female Goosander.

We then made our way to the Tomintoul, where we parked. We were then taken deep into the Glen Livet estate to our overnight accomodation:

Basic, to put it mildly! The tiny 'tents'- they were not attached to the groundsheet, which caused large amounts of water to pour in- provided me with one of the most uncomfortable and the most cold night of my life. It was an experience that made me glad that I'm moving to Australia!

By the morning, the same area looked like this:

Two inches of snow had fallen, and I had woken up with my feet (admittedly in a sleeping bag) outside of the tent. The tents were covered in ice and a pool of melted snow was around my head.

On the way to the 'tents', I had spotted this fantastic roosting Tawny Owl:

Tawny Owl, Glen Livet

Before the blizzard hit us, we had been surrounded by the fantastic sight and sounds of numerous Curlews and Lapwings calling all around us, as well as four Golden Plovers, two Snipe, two Redshanks and a single Merlin that flew through.

Our main reason for spending the night here had been to enjoy fantastic views over the Black Grouse lek early the next morning. We were certainly not disappointed, as I enjoyed one of the most fantastic nature experiences of my life. That shall be covered in the next post!