January 2016

A nice selection of images from January.

Common Buzzard on the shore.

 Collared Dove looking forward to spring.

 Cormorant drying it's wings.

 Grey Heron posing.

 Great Northern Diver with a crab.

 Goldcrest - stunning.

 Goosander in a flap.

 Iceland Gull at the hatchery.

 Jackdaw eyeing things up.

 This Knot was a good find in January.

 Little Auks were storm driven but soon moved back out to sea.

 Merlin is usually seen flying off so this sitter was a bit special.

 Plenty of Otter sightings...

 ...and a few cubs around too.

 A few flocks of Redwing are fairly easy to find this winter.

 The sun lights up the landscape as it sets - that's when you see the sun!

 A White-tailed Eagle on a dull day.

 This White-tailed Eagle landed next to the car - fantastic!

Jumpy

With the migrant birds disappearing fast and just the odd bird dropping in, the local birds are always going to get more attention. A pair of Hooded Crow hang around the garden but they are still quite jumpy as a rule but this one was happy to stay put on a miserable day.

A trio of Bullfinch were seen feeding at the side of the road but the distance and dull conditions prevented any decent shots. I presume that the right hand bird will be a female as the male plumage is just starting to show on the left hand bird.

Talking of birds dropping in...a couple of Knot did hang around for a few days. They were not jumpy at all.

It seems like you can't go far without seeing an eagle over the ridge at the moment. A WT Eagle cruised along this ridge while a pair of Golden Eagle appeared to be hunting just below.

This long billed bird looked a bit like a Curlew Sandpiper from a distance but when I got a bit closer it was clearly a Dunlin. My, how it laughed!

I'm starting to see quite a few Grey Wagtails around now.

A Golden Eagle flew across the road quite low and it was interesting to see there was quite a bit of white in the tail. It was more noticeable on the top of the tail but a nice sighting all the same.

Dazzling.

The weather was a lot better for this tour but the bright skies provide their own problems! First up was an adult WT Eagle perched in a tree - nice bird.

We were lucky enough to pick up an otter at our next stop so we headed down towards the shore for a closer look. While we were waiting for the Otter to swim past a couple of Rock Pipit were checking us out.

The Otter swam past in the dazzling water.

Another Otter was seen about a hundred yards from the first! A quick view of a male Hen Harrier was all the better for being close.

After the previous days rain the expected influx of waders was in evidence - 38 Red Knot, superb.

Good views of the Adder at lunch...

...plus two Golden Eagle that flew around the whole time we were there.

We had a good afternoon too with a female Hen Harrier, Dunlin, Ringed Plover, Linnet and Oystercatcher all seen.

Even the journey back was productive with BH Gull, RT Diver and Goosander all adding interest to the day.

The last laugh.

Another tour with the same guests but very different weather - pretty dull, plenty of rain and windy. What a day we had! We didn't bother looking for WT Eagle as it was lashing down so a look at the water was in order and we found a Great Northern Diver - awesome.

Next up was an Otter that gave us the slip while we got soaked! A couple of Little Grebe and a female Hen Harrier kept the spirits up. A few wading birds had dropped in with about 14 Dunlin, 2 Ringed Plover and 3 Knot.

A couple of Red-throated Diver showed reasonably well as we searched for another Otter. A brief look at the sea was quite productive as we picked up Great Skua, Manx Shearwater and a Little Gull. The weather wasn't really improving any but we'd had some good sightings including this persistent Goldfinch begging for food.

Another two Great Skuas were seen while we watched the Gannets fishing and the weather started to clear. With bits of blue sky showing it was time to go eagle hunting. We located a Golden Eagle sitting on the hill side that was superb in the scope. We watched as it took off and was joined by it's mate before they both disappeared. We headed further down the road to relocate the birds but we found them in flight heading back towards where we'd come from! Back we went to find nothing but a Red Deer that must have been sniggering at us!

We managed to get the last laugh as we finally got a close view of the Golden Eagles sitting next to the road - cor blimey, mate.

We finished the day with a WT Eagle sitting in a tree as the rain started to fall again - awesome day.

On my way home I bumped into Doc - he loves Greylag Geese

We stood chatting for a wee while, long enough to see a couple of Hen harrier to fly about and for this monster to fly over.

She landed beside the male who was busy plucking a Grey Heron but he soon got the message that he should be taking this one home for the kids!

Last stint.

Another visit to the wader flock was productive as there were a small flock of Sanderling present...

...along with the Dunlin, Ringed Plover and my last view of the Little Stint.

A couple of the Dunlin stood out from the crowd as they sported a ginger colouration.

As you can see the weather was a bit dull but it was helping with the wader count. Next one to be found was a single Knot with a flock of Ringed Plover.

A Hen Harrier gave good views when it flew in front of us but we got better views of the bedraggled Buzzard on a post.

Best find of the day was, for me, was spotted when we were viewing a couple of Red Deer - a single, tatty, Common Swift. This one took my year list to 149.

The Otter we found performed superbly before going to sleep in a place we couldn't see from close by.

As the weather broke we managed to locate a couple of Golden Eagle preening in the sunshine but they were not showing any signs of taking flight. The Adders may have been damp but they were still on show. There were plenty of Stonechat seen through the day but only one that sat long enough for a photo.