Scottish tour part 2

 After a couple of nights at Dunbar it was time to move on to a small site near Pitlochry the reviews said that red squirrels had been enjoyed there also Pine Martin in the forest across the road. I had success with the squirrels but the forest was far too dense so no joy with the Pine martins.

We stayed for a couple on nights enjoying the reds on many occasion before moving off to Rosemarkie on the Black isle hopefully to see the Bottle nose dolphins chasing the Salmon on the incoming tide at Channory point 

 

As you can see from the above I was successful but the quality of the photos is not good and the conditions of the sea didn't help.

Moving on we past numerous lochs on our way to the top but alas only found one that had a Black Throated Diver on this is all I got.

 

Same shot just cropped a bit.

Finally an enjoyable trip as far as the wildlife is concerned but sadly I feel the last ,the roads in the highlands fall far short of acceptable ( potholes etc ) an ex police person told us the Highland council find it cheaper to pay compensation claims than fix the potholes.

And my final grouse 

The Scottish highlands has to be the wild camping capital of the world

With no regards for health and safety

sorry about the grouse

thanks for looking

JOE

Dunbar part 1 of our Scottish tour

                Dunbar harbour was our first stop ,and a nice day it was too

A real nice place for a morning birding.

Plenty of these floating about in the harbour entrance.

Nearly all the rock were covered with nesting Shags

Kittiwake's always nice to see and hear !

Back at  the Caravan site just listen and look up and you will see lots of singing Skylarks .

The weather was kind and Dunbar made a nice start to our Scottish tour

Thanks for looking (part 2 to follow)

Joe

getting ready

 Local dippers this morning looking a lot happier now the river levels have dropped, now that spring is in the air they were spending this morning nest building here's a couple of pics.

This local kestrels never far away always keeping an eye on things .

Springs on its way STAY SAFE

Joe

Related blog

 Here's a few pics that are related to my wanderings over the last few weeks, a visit to my local patch saw nothing of note but I did come across this Grey Partridge in the snow with a bit of early sun on its head.

My recent hike to Beacon Point was not all about Shore Larks but also a bird that always gets a mention this time of year (rightly so) the Twite these birds were extremely mobile on my visit and took me quite some time to come up with any pics at all this being my best.

 

a bonus was a pair of Linnets mixed in with the Twite

Whilst I was at the QE11 searching for the Red Throated Diver  this rather obliging Whooper Swan came on the scene managing to keep its head above water in the first shot and then stopping off for a portrait.

Thanks for looking 

Joe

Seeing red and Larking about.

 Tuesday was the first chance I have had to get out and about, hoping for a break in the weather I headed to the QE11 to see if I could catch up with the juvenile Red Throated Diver that's been hanging around for weeks now. I parked up near the conservation area that's the north west corner of the lake where it had been seen many times before alas not this time, scanning the lake came up with nothing and now it had started raining I was just about to give up but I drove up to the eastern corner just in case and pleased I did as there it was quite a way of but coming closer with every dive (just needed a bit of sun ).

Alas no sun.

 

Wednesday saw a much better day so I chose an early start to try and catch up with the Shore Lark at  Beacon point Newbiggin. I was unaware how far it was from the car park to beacon point, as I am nursing a bad leg at the moment the long walk along the coastal path took its toll, however I did make it and wasn't disappointed 

               It was nice to get out and about again having spent a few weeks working on the house                             I just need to get this leg put right .

Thanks for looking

Joe.

A few weeks ago.

A few weeks ago in the bird hide at Holywell pond a fellow birder told me about a family of Long-Eared Owls in the wetlands area down at St Marys ,a few days later my mate and I decided to give it ago knowing full well that they might have moved on however our luck was in and the info we had was spot on this is what we got .

Just as I was about to press the button somebody else came along and it didn't like that and moved on

However we found it later on looking a lot more relaxed

 

Now we are going to jump forward to a few days ago when my son brought in a caterpillar he came across working in somebody's garden see if you can identify this said he .

A very different and indeed colourful caterpillar, my good lady was quick on the case and soon came back with its a Vapourer Moth caterpillar about 27 mm long and below is the end result

Thanks for looking

Joe.

Gosforth Park

 A couple of weeks back I paid a visit to the park and  was off to an early start just as well really having opened the shutter I saw this Barn Owl across the far side ,I stumbled for the camera to get a shot switched it on and managed one with no idea of the settings this is the result.

Having sat for quite some time and been joined by many others I finally got the chance to see the Purple Heron that had been here for quite some time ( a first for me )

Watching the weather forecast( for what its worth ) we decided to try our luck on Wednesday of this week we were blessed with a pair of Kingfishers on the small pool adjacent to the Ridley hide and managed a nice Kingfisher reflection.

 because the pool was sheltered  it turned out quite nice ,then on the way out we came across Old Nick in the corn field who was very obliging.

I have just given him that nickname because of the nick in his right ear.

Thanks for looking 

all the best

Joe