SNOW!!

When the sun went down last night the wind dropped too. The clouds disappeared, the moon was out and the stars were twinkling - stunning. We were just settling in bed when a Tawny Owl landed on the gate and gave a hoot so that was me straight to the window - you guessed, I'm sure, it wasn't there. The male and female were calling to each other so I just peered out the window and eventually one flew by - phew. I was hoping the clear conditions would continue till the morning but it wasn't to be. It was certainly icy as you can see from the picture below and you could see the top of Ben More for about half an hour then the cloud base began to sink. It was snow coming in. It's not snowing hard but it's still coming down now so the visibility is poor and it's not great for photos but I've had a go!

View from the door

Turnstones marching in the ice and snow - honest they are there! 'What do you think of the weather, Bob?'

'I dunno, Bert, but I'm not getting my camera out!'

Does this qualify for a murmuration of Starlings? They certainly had plenty to say. We have a flock of about 20-30 birds round here and you never see them in the gardens as they do all their foraging on the shore or in the fields. I wonder if they'll ever take handouts? Cracking birds though and great mimics, the sound of a distant Buzzard is usually one of these guys pulling your leg:-)

I managed to get 3 shots of this Blue Tit and this is the best of them. I think it gives a good impression of how cold it is though. Brrrrrrrrrrrrr!!
The morning count of birds produced 3 Greenshank, 14 Ringed Plover, 9 Turnstone, 6 Golden Plover, 1 Little Grebe, 8 Curlew, 8 Redshank, 10 Common Gull and 4 BH Gull.

Another flight shot!

Got up this morning and while leaning on the gate enjoying the view the Hoodies started shouting. First one bird then two......something going on for sure. Six birds erupted from behind a bank, grab the bins......six Hoodies and a couple of Common Gulls making like there is something to shout about. Scan about and there it is, a dead bird for sure but what kind? Got the scope out for a better view. Dark chocolate brown plumage and grayish legs was all I could make out so rule out all the ducks and gulls. Looked like it was Mallard sized but definitely not one of those. Off with the slippers and on with the boots, I'll have to walk over and have a look......could it be a Skua perhaps? A quick hop and a skip and I was at the scene of the crime, walk round to the other side of it to find it was............................a chicken!!!!


Overcast and still blowing hard from the East meant it was still Baltic out there. Plan of attack today was to find the sheltered spots and see who wanted their photo taken. The windy days are always good for raptors to be sailing about so I headed up one of the forestry tracks to see what I could pick up. Golden Eagle just dropping behind a ridge and another further back but staying in sight. What a fantastic sight to see these birds using the wind to their advantage. No effort required at all. The wind speed must be about 15-20 mph, not a strong wind by any means, but to see the bird turn into the wind, close the wings a bit and gain speed at a phenomenal rate is just awesome! Not sure what the bird was after as it dropped behind the forestry just as the legs came down but I would have been worried! Fifteen minutes of waiting for something to reappear produced nothing then this beauty floated up from behind the closer ridge. As you can probably see the bird has a sizable piece of shrubbery in it's talons, it must play hell with the aerodynamics but still an effortless flight! The Eagle dropped out of sight again after while so I moved on.
There were other raptors around but I just couldn't get a shot. A couple of Buzzard just cruising by carrying food would have made for good viewing but it wasn't to be. I had a Kestrel nicely lined up till it decided otherwise! Another Buzzard on a telegraph pole just wasn't having it either.
Scanning the sea Loch produced very little as it was very choppy so 3 GN Diver, 1 Kittiwake and a handful of Shag would have to do. Approaching home I saw this Shag drying out so I jumped out, set up and got a couple of shots before he decided it was rude what I was doing. The only other exciting bird I could find was a single Cormorant. Whoopee, I hear you cry, but I'd swap it for a Coot or a Moorhen!

Broken Technology

Thursday was a bit of a black day as that was when the Internet went down!! A phone call to Broken Technology was a delight.

ME: Hello, any idea when the problem will be fixed?

BT: We're very sorry for the loss of service. We have engineers looking into the problem but no other info. There are only 18 households affected. Ring the service update line.

ME: That's everybody here and it doesn't matter how many people it affects. There must be a timescale!

BT: I know nothing. We're sorry for the inconvenience.

ME: That's very helpful, thank you.

Or words to that effect. I had a look at the telephone exchange - nobody there. I like it when they work hard. It's now Monday and they've fixed it thankfully.

I managed to get another year tick on Thursday morning while out for fuel. A quick trip down to Fidden produced 4 Shelduck in a howling gale and also 4 Reed Buntings that couldn't get any closer to the ground without turning into Moles!

I was busy with non birding things over the weekend so no reports there. Today I had to go to Tobermory so I thought some birding on the way back would be nice. Bloody hell, it's cold out there!! A large part of the country is buckling under a small drift of snow so I'm posting a photo of a nice furry hat that was sleeping on the side of the Loch.

It's seems like quite a few people have had to try their hand at digiscoping birds in flight. I hate it because it doesn't work well. The local Hen Harrier has been playing games with me for over a fortnight. I go and sit in the regular hunting spot and she appears somewhere else. If you find her she's off like a shot....except today! She appeared in front of the car and headed off in the same direction as I was going thanks to the Easterly wind. Foot down and try to get in front and then wait. As soon as the bird passed me I was out with gear set up in double quick time only to find she'd dropped out of sight. I was just about to take the camera off the scope when up pops the bird again. I start firing away - the first shot was a peach of a view but blurred. AAARRRRRRGGGHHHHH!!!! A bit of persistence produced a photo I was happy with. Now I don't have to try so hard next time!