Birding Braunie

How beautiful is Skye? I have such happy memories of this isle from 2008, a family holiday that was spent on the coral beaches and in some of the finest restaurants the Isle had to offer. And speaking of fine food, after another, yes another full Scottish breakfast, we went a short distance to Broadford Bay for an unscheduled stop. One of our party needed some travel medication and the this was the nearest place for a pharmacy. While we waited, we used the time to check the bay for birds. Our group at Cabost So this feels like a good time to tell you about the dynamic of the group on this trip and the personalities that made it such a great tour. There were 13 of us on the trip plus our two Heatherlea guides. We needed two small mini buses and travelled in convoy. In the front bus, the seating arrangements were pretty straight forward. Kev and Viv, two of Phil’s friends, Mo, a lady from Somerset and Wendy, a seasoned Heatherlea customer (0ver 150 trips with them to Scotland...I know, m...

Today we leave Nethy Bridge for a couple of days and take the day traveling to the Isle of Skye. Our guides had a number of key sites for us to visit and at the top our target species list would be golden eagle and ptarmigan. We took a break at Achnasheen, and to be precise, the railway station. We were there for about 30 minutes but in that time we saw wheatear, sand martin, siskin, red deer, a singing redwing and more black grouse on a neighbouring hillside. Achnasheen Station Redwing This was a quality coffee/comfort stop as the birding was phenomenal at this station. (No trains mind.) We carried on the scenic route towards Applecross and stopped briefly at Loch Shieldaig and spied a great northern diver and a few shag, albeit distantly. Meadow Pipit We carried along the  Bealach na Bà on the Applecross peninsula eventually parking at the base of Sgurr a' Chaorachain. From here we would start looking for 'Rock' Ptarmigan  or just plain old Ptarmigan I suppose, but...

So where did the summer go? Come to that, where did I go? My blogging seems to be flagging which is possibly due to a couple of reasons. 1. I’m a lazy so-and-so and writing a blog can only be fun when I have been somewhere great and seen lots of brilliant birds and stuff, or, 2.  I’m too busy doing other stuff and birding isn’t that important really. Okay, it is important but so many things in life take priority and that’s life unfortunately. I tell myself if I won the lottery (difficult at the best of times but sort of impossible when, like me, you don’t do it) I could/would go birding everyday. But then surely it would stop being fun? I love it when I do get the chance and try to make the most of it as it might be a while before I do it again. This weekend looked promising and even the weather appeared to be on my side (for once). I just had a million and one things to do first. Lots of gardening and DIY needed to be rapidly done on Saturday and even a late meal ...

Spent a couple of hours this morning over at Rainham Marshes looking for Wheatears. A few had been seen over the previous couple of days and so I figured there was a reasonable chance I could bag a couple for myself. The Thames river bank by the RSPB reserve is littered with debris, everything you could possible imagine is strewn along the tide line. It is a wonder these beautiful birds want to spend their time in all this mess but clearly it holds a good supply of grubs and caterpillars. Female Northern Wheatear There were I estimated, five  Northern Wheatears along this stretch of the Thames, three males and two females. On the shore itself, Oystercatchers , Curlews and Redshanks piped in spring. A few Reed Buntings and Linnets made themselves heard while a few Meadow Pipits and Skylarks chased around the more grasser areas of the landscape. Male Northern Wheatear I was lucky to get the two shots I did as these wheatear are very flighty right now but in a few w...