Last Monday, 6th July, 11 of us from Dundee RSPB group set off for Scrabster to catch the 7pm ferry to Stromness, Orkney. Because we were setting off from different parts of Dundee, we decided to meet up en-route at Alness, 20 miles north of Inverness.
We had only gone a few miles when my car told me to stop and check the coolant!!! We stopped off at Coupar Angus where there was a garage and they checked it over and we were then able to carry on with our journey. Fingers and toes were crossed for no more problems.
Between Dundee and Bruar on the A9 we had already put Goldfinch, rook, crow, lapwing, buzzard, blackbird, jackdaw, oystercatcher, common gull, black headed gull and woodpigeon on our list. As we neared Inverness, we were hoping that one of the next birds to be seen would be the red kite. One of the people in our car was from the north so took us to where we would definately see them!! We took a detour off the A9 to Munlochy Bay. First bird was a hooded crow sitting on a wire.In the bay we could see curlew, black headed gulls, oycs, tufties, mallard, heron, lapwing, shelduck, common gull, herring gull and woodpigeon. On a wire not far away sat a yellowhammer, skylark and meadow pipit. Swifts and swallows were also present. We were just about to get back into the car when a kestrel flew past carrying its lunch. We had no luck with the red kites!!
We arrived at Alness and stopped at Morrisons for some lunch. One of the other cars arrived and seemed quite pleased they had seen two red kites and we hadn't.....I think they thought there was a competition going on and that was them one up on us!!!
Leaving Alness, we drove across the Dornoch bridge and added common tern to our list before stopping again further up the road at Loch Fleet. Here we added Osprey, common sandpiper, red breasted merganser, pied wagtail, fulmar and great tit. We then carried on our journey north where we turned off at Helmsdale and headed towards RSPB Forsinard. On the way we managed to see a dipper, numerous meadow pipits and starlings. Our next stop was very sudden at Loch an Ruathair when someone in the back shouted hen harrier. The other car was way in front of us, stopping some hundered yards further on, not realising what we had seen. The harrier was only up for a few mins before dropping into the heather, not to be seen again. Scanning the lochan we found a black throated diver with a youngster. We stopped a couple of miles further up the road where the other car had stopped and with a big grin on our faces informed them of the harrier....that made us evens, although they hadn't seen the dipper either!!! We added willow warbler and heard greenshank on the moor before setting off for Forsinard.
At Forsinard, we had a look round the rspb building which was the old station and then headed outside when we saw a spotted flycatcher on a fence on the other side of the railway line. We then saw their nest which was in a tree stump, next to the crossing gates. It took me a good five mins to notice what everyone else was seeing. They were so well hidden against the wood and took ages before seeing four pairs of eyes staring back. We walked round the reserve adding siskin, greenfinch, mistle thrush, dunnock, some interesting plants and a magpie moth.
We then headed off to scrabster to catch the ferry. As we drove down towards the harbour area i had to swerve to avoid a couple of lapwing chicks that were wandering around on the road. While waiting for the ferry we added Great Black Back gull, black guillemot, guillemot, great skua, house sparrow, rock pipit and kittewake to our list.
From the ferry, our list included great black backs, arctic terns, kittewake, herring gull, cormorant, shag, gannet, black guillemot, guillemot, razorbill, puffins, arctic skua, great skua, eider ducks, oycs and common gulls.
From the ferry, we drove the few miles to Kirkwall where we were staying for the next few days. Curlews, arctic skuas, swallows, hooded crows, herring gulls, mute swans, fulmar, arctic terns, blackbird, lesser and great black back gulls and woodpigeons were seen en-route. When we arrived at our guesthouse, i phoned Alan Leitch, one of the RSPB wardens to find out if there was anything of interest around and he informed us of a great white egret that had arrived the previous day. An [B]american wigeon and green winged [/B]teal were also at the same spot. Four of our party decided to go off and see if they could locate the egret. It was 10pm!!! They came back with grins on their faces at 11 ish, with a couple of distant photos, while the rest of us who were too tired after the long journey, hoped that the bird would hang around til the morning!!! Fingers and toes crossed once more.
Photos from day 1 include
1 Hooded Crow at Munlochy Bay
2 Flycatcher youngsters
3 Flycatcher parents near the nest
4 Black Guillemot in the harbour at Scrabster
5 Great Black Backed Gull at same harbour
Day 2 to follow
Darell
Look forward to Part 2 Darell.
Indeed. Fife SOC are planning a trip for 2010, so logistics are similar ...
Rob