It has been nearly 2 years since I did any blog whatsoever, mainly because I have barely left the house since 2020 and the arrival of the pandemic so it was so good to finally get back up to the Scottish Highlands to see wildlife, scenery and friends.
Hopefully I will have time to blog daily about each day exploring Scotland and it's wealth of Flora and Fauna. We were originally supposed to spend a week on Skye and a week at our friend's farm in Glen Spean but late changes made, cancelled our 7 day trip to Skye in to a shorter 3 days along the Moray coast, before our Glen Spean week.
Before we get to that point, there was the small issue of a 6hr drive from Lincolnshire up to our first overnight stop. To pass the time we played Motorway Raptorwatch 🦅😏 I always keep an eye out for Birds of Prey when we are out in the car so we decided to keep count of the numbers for each road section.
Raptor Count -
M18 - 2 Buzzards
M62 - 1 Buzzard
A1 - 3 Buzzards & 2 Red Kites
M6 - 1 Buzzard
M74 - 6 Buzzards
M73 - 1 Buzzard
M80/M90 - 2 Buzzards
Not a Kestrel in sight but did see our first Hooded Crows of 2022 along the M74.
Due to our late change in destination which meant travelling up to Elgin, we needed an overnight rest and so stopped in Kinross. Unfortunately Kinross is not as busy as it used to be as the very popular market and carboot was closed down years ago and along with it went some of the shops, but it still had the beauty of Loch Leven nearby and that is where we headed before the hotel.
On arrival we were welcomed into the reserve by hundreds of Snowdrops and some beautifully painted Scottish wildlife steps.
We made our way out on to the reserve and the viewing hides and were instantly rewarded with a stunning blue-skied vista and a flock of around 60 Curlew.
The glorious collision of numerous honking calls alerted us to the arrival of thousands of Pink-footed Geese, first circling and then whiffling down into the field.
Not wanting to be left out 3 Whooper Swans followed soon after, gliding down to their water skiing landing on to the Loch.
Other birds seen on and around Loch Leven were Goldeneye, Pochard, Greylag Geese, Little Egret, Tufted Duck, Grey Heron, Great-crested Grebe, Little Grebe, Wigeon, Mute Swans, Mallard, Coot, Moorhen, Black-headed Gulls, Magpie, Robin, Blue Tits, Great Tits, Chaffinch, Lapwings, Mistle Thrush, Kestrel (finally) and a Sparrowhawk.
Little Egret
Little Grebe
Sparrowhawk
Lapwing roost
Greylag Goose
By this time it was very late afternoon and the light was starting to fade but it gave us some wonderful photo opportunities as the lowering Winter Sun glanced over the still waters of the loch.
It was now late and time to turn into our hotel, the expensive Kinross Travelodge to rest up and prepare for the journey further North to the Moray coast.
Hope you can join us tomorrow to continue the journey with us.
Many thanks for taking the time out to browse the photos and read the blog.
Photos taken by Stuart Pike & Majella Fox.
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