Pied Billed Grebe

My morning's work at Loch Thom this morning, hardly worth it....

Speyside

Good Friday was set fair weather wise and ideal for a trip to one of my favourite parts of Scotland, particularly at this time of year.

I reached Loch Garten with it still dark and time for a coffee before "caper watch". Sunrise over the Ospreys at Loch Garten:

Soon a male Caper was on show, never close but as good a view as I think I have ever had. It was obviously strutting its stuff to something, tail fanned & the occasional jump. The hide was busying & I decided to move on to Tulloch Moor.

Its been a few years since I was last at Tulloch Moor here and the road down is now 'private' although it didn't seem to deter some ! Again the Black Grouse showed pretty well with 2 females in trees and a displaying male on the ground. Added bonus here included singing Tree Pipit & Willow Warbler.

Loch Garten in the morning sunlight was a picture:

Loch Garten in Spring morning sunshine

Reflection of the trees in the loch

Apart from Crested Tit most of the target species were present including Crossbill sp, Redstart, Common Sandpiper, Siskin & Redpoll. I am always taken by the lichens on the trees and the abundant food supply was attracting lots of Treecreepers:

Treecreeper on a lichen covered tree

Carrying Food

Next stop was Lochindorb for Red Grouse and there were plenty:

After lunch I headed to the Findhorn Valley and got lucky with a tour van stopped at the roadside about half way down the valley enjoying a Golden Eagle in the sky with a mobbing Buzzard. A good opportunity for appreciating the obvious size difference of the two species.

Wheatears were plentiful, but I could not pin point a probable singing Ring Ouzel. Some exploration of a mountain stream produced Dipper:

Dipper

Common Gull attracted to my sandwiches

Findhorn Valley

Shows Yer Bars

Never having seen Two Barred Crossbill the prospect of going to see the 5+ wintering in South Yorkshire has been a continual temptation but the drive & the short days & of course the inability to get out my pit early enough have up until now conspired against me. A single reliable one a wee bit closer in Greater Manchester and the lengthening days finally encouraged me to go and by 11:30 am I was on site. Getting lost in Bury and initially being at the wrong car park at Saddleworth Moor explained the lateness of the hour especially considering I left Glasgow at 5am.

The Crossbill had apparently shown at 09:30 but not since & so I settled myself for a long wait. Not a bit of its because by 11:50 I heard "chip, chip, chip" and 3 Crossbill arrived in nearby larches including the male Two Barred:

Soon the 3 birds flew off and there seemed little point in hanging around and I headed back West to Leighton Moss for some lunch and some leisurely afternoon birding.

Marsh Harriers were much in evidence and I caught up with some early migrants such as Sand Martin, Swallow & Willow Warbler. Avocets & Black Tailed Godwits were good at the Allen Pools.

Great Crested Grebe

Very tame Pheasant 

Black Headed Gull

American Herring Gull

I think one could safely say that only a birder could travel 140 miles to see this:

American Herring Gull

Nice also to see lots of Greenland Whitefronts in the Campbeltown area and a brief look at a Snow Goose just north of Tayinloan.

Yellow Rumped Warbler

Can't find my old field notebooks but I'm pretty sure I saw YRW in the States. I certainly hadn't seen one in Britain up until today when I twitched the wintering one near Durham.

Initially found during the recent RSPB Big Garden birdwatch it was skillfully enticed out of its garden and on to feeders in an adjacent strip of woodland & thus allowing many very silly people such as myself to travel hundreds of miles to see it. A collection bucket was part of the 'deal' and with #indyref in full swing I resisted, but only just, the temptation of saying to the man "I'm Scottish I don't have any currency". Instead I dutifully threw my £2 into his bucket.

After all this excitement it was forward to Saltholme which was really pretty boring and then a brief stop near Heddon for a Tundra Bean Goose.

Iceland Gull at Strathclyde Loch

Following up on a report from yesterday, the first bird I saw at the mouth of the Calder was a Juvenile Iceland Gull. I got distracted by the Goose flock and never saw it again during the 2 hours I was there.

There was a drake Scaup on the loch. It appeared to be more mature than the 1st winter that was present in late December, so could be a different bird.

There is a nice drinking and bathing area at the mouth of the Calder due to the water level being low. I presume it is some kind of maintenance there doing but whatever it is really good at present. The number of Goldeneye have dropped a bit possibly because the water level is lower.

I relocated what I know now to be a juvenile White Fronted Goose that I saw at the end of the year in with the Greylags.

Juvenile White Fronted Goose

Spent lots of time sifting through the large numbers of Black Headed Gulls for yesterdays reported Med without success.

American Coot

An American Coot, the 7th record for Britain, was found at Loch Flemington near Ardersier last weekend but it conveniently stayed around long enough for me to twitch it today.

A long boring drive north up the A9 and the first snow of the winter on what was a very cold day.

Three Otters on Loch Flemington were also of interest as was a Little Egret that flew over. Pretty scarce this far north I would think.

Stopped at Arturlie where there were plenty of Hooded Crows on the foreshore and a sizeable Scaup flock was present but far too far to make out the reported Lesser Scaup.

Moved on to Garten Wood in Speyside but that was very quiet. Managed to hear a Crested Tit but that was about it.