Birding Braunie

With everything that has happened over the last couple of years, it’s quite something to be able to write about this week long trip up into the Highlands of Scotland. A lot of planning had been put into this by Phil who has plotted practically ever step of the trip we are taking. There are five of us going up for the Heatherlea tour of the Highlands and Skye with three of us, Phil, Brenda and myself starting off from Essex and winding our way slowly but purposely stopping at some strategic sites along the way. We will meet our other cohorts, Kev and Viv at the Mountview Hotel in Nethy Bridge on Saturday evening. Our first port of call was Fairburn Ings. This is a 1,000-acre RSPB nature reserve developed from  the area being flooded regularly by th e River Aire . and  includes a large lake and a number of smaller lakes, ponds and dikes. The area has been the scene of industrial and mining operations for circa 150 years,  and, although the valley floods naturally, the ...

About a month ago, I saw a friend put an image, an excellent image I might add of a Little Owl on his Facebook timeline. I was intrigued. I hadn’t seen a little owl for some time – probably over 2 years in fact so I was keen to find out where he took the pictures. As it turned out, there were a pair of owls and they were close to my previous home in Buckhurst Hill, Essex. The only slight issue was that the birds liked to hang around a few oaks that surrounded a children’s’ playground. Not a good look if you are over 50 and carry binoculars and a telescope to take pictures! It was clearly an early morning visit that was called for. So at 6.30am I set off the couple of miles it would take to get to the park that was also part of the Roding Valley NR.  Not many people around at 6.40am on a Saturday morning with the exception of a couple of joggers and a cyclist. The play area was empty with only a few magpies loitering about. A ring-necked parakeet squawked overhead warni...