Home From Home........Day 5

 It was time to leave Elgin and the Moray coast and head back South(but not too far as to get too close to the Welcome to England sign 😉). We drove down, cutting across Inverness-shire spending just a few minutes on the A9 before turning off and then South on the B851 towards Fort Augustus.

 As we were coming this way we decided we would check out RSPB Loch Ruthven just in case any Grebes had arrived earlier than expected. It is known as one of the best places in the UK to spot breeding Slavonian Grebes. Unsurprisngly there was no one else there and part of the Loch was covered in a thin layer of ice. The rest was perfectly still making it ideal for spotting movement on the water.

 As we headed up the small winding path ripples betrayed a skulking bird on the edge of the loch. We stood still as it drifted into sight. It was indeed a Slavonian Grebe, still in it's Winter plumage.

 Fantastic to see as we thought we were a bit too early. A few Tufted Ducks were also on the loch and a Robin bounced around the wooded path. On the way back to the car we spotted a pair of flighty Stonechats, our first of the year.

 Continuing our journey we scanned the skies for Raptors and saw a couple of Buzzards and the fields held several Highland Coos. This one having his afternoon nap.

The B851 runs just West of Loch Mhor so it was always worth checking out for more Waterfowl. As we approached the end of the loch we were greeted with the sight of hundreds of Pink-footed Geese.

 A few minutes later as we passed the Knockie Estate two more Raptors were flying towards our position.We pulled to the side of the road to try and get a better view. As they got closer we could clearly see the size of them and I shouted Eagles. Two White-tailed Eagles glided over us and continued East towards Loch Killin.

 Woohoo, Otters, Slavonian Grebes and White-tailed Eagles over two days and we hadn't even gotten to our main accommodation for the week yet. This is why Scotland is the best place 😉😀

 One of the reasons we come on this road is it takes you over moorland before going down to the edge of Loch Ness and Fort Augustus and so it is a good place to look for Red Grouse. We stopped at the main layby which was crowded with tourists, some of them wandering through the heather so thought it would be tricky to find any nearby. Among the dull Winter heather though the bright red eyebrows of a Red Grouse are easily spotted. A group of 6 moving alongside one of the fences.

View from the B851 layby where we watched the Red Grouse.

 It was just another 45 minutes down through Fort Augustus to Fort William to pick up some shopping and then half hour back up to Glen Spean and to the farm.

 On arrival it felt amazing to be back after 2 years, it feels more like home than being at our house in Lincolnshire.We were greeted by our wonderful hosts, Robert and Margo and the accompanying menagerie.

 It is the first time I've been back since the heart-breaking loss of Tug but this trio managed to put a smile on my face. Georgie, Shadow and Neville were happy to see us.

 I also found an instant new friend in their lodger, Chester. 

Thanks as always for spending your precious time browsing my wildlife blog 😀

I do hope you enjoyed it.

Much more to come over the next week with trips to Mull, the West coast and the Cairngorms as well as plenty of wildlife at the farm.

Til tomorrow 🙏😊

 

The Journey Begins......Day 1

 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.

  

   

30 Days Wild - Days 14-16

  Well doing the right blog on the right day didn't last long lol so back to a triple header to once again catch up.

Day 14     Off Their Trolleys

  Apologies to begin with but this isn't a scenic blogpost for Day 14 but a pretty awful sight caused by Humans with no respect for the planet we live on.
  At high tide in Newry the River is full and looks like any other , but at low tide when the mud banks are exposed the river shows itself to be a scrap mans dream(if he could get to them).

  In this one 100m section of the River Newry running along Kilmorey Street I counted 52 trolleys, with more parts barely showing out of the mud :( Not surprisingly there is no trolley park there are more(probably because they ran out of trolleys) but the effects are still there affecting the river and its wildlife.
  I have contacted Newry and Mourne Council both by email and Twitter but have had no response so I guess the trolleys are there to stay.They would probably say it's too expensive to remove them.

  Maybe we should have to pay £5 for the use of a shopping trolley to make sure it is returned to the store and not have it dumped in a river by a moron.

  Please look after our environment, our future generations need it to survive.


Day 15     Birding in Westeros ;)

  If the title of this section confuses you then I guess you do not watch HBO's most popular ever TV series "Game Of Thrones" :) We actually spent the day in County Down, Northern Ireland along Strangford Lough starting with a morning visit to WWT Castle Espie.

  Like most of the Wetland Trust reserves there are 2 parts to it, the Nature reserve with hides for "wild" birding and the captive waterfowl area where you can get close up to Ducks and Geese from around the world.
  Feeding the hordes.
  Red Breasted Goose.

  African Combed Duck, Ross's Goose, Pochards & Mallards.

  My fiance Majella feeding a Baikal Teal.

  Some of the other waterfowl at WWT Castle Espie.
  Wood Duck

  Eider

  Baikal Teal

  Lots of wild Mallards

  Red Breasted Goose

  Barrows Goldeneye

  After the feeding frenzy we headed to the hide overlooking Strangford Lough.

  The tide was out so not much about besides the Black-headed Gulls, Oystercatchers and a couple of Black-tailed Godwits.

  I then noticed this nest on the hide.

  It's occupants were a Wren family, with the parents catching insects and returning to feed the brood.

  Ox-eye Daisies

  A newly emerged Ladybird on a fence post.

  A return to the visitor centre/cafe to feed ourselves and then it was time to head South along the Strangford Lough shoreline to "Westeros"

  Westeros, the main land mass in Game Of Thrones, to us was actually Castle Ward.Heading to the farmyard aka Winterfell.

  Winterfell

  A few extra bits were added for the filming.

                                   

  Around the Castle Ward grounds there were more locations used in the series.

  Three women were hung from this tree by men in the tv show.

  There were plenty of Bullfinches in the grounds and this Grey Heron flew overhead, trying its best to look like one of the Dragons from Game Of Thrones;)

  If you are a fan of the show or just want a nice day out at a country park and castle then Castle Ward is a massive place to explore.

Day 16     Birds In An Irish Urban Garden

  Due to all the walking the previous day my left knee had now flared up from my Arthritis and looks to be once again filling with fluid that will need draining in the not too distant future.So it was a day of rest.

  I got out my Nature dot-to-dot book and found a puzzle to do.It was a Fox with 1104 dots to join up.It took a while and made my eyes hurt lol

                                    

  The other thing I got to do was put out some meal worms and see what birds would come down into the mum-in-laws garden while I hung around with my camera.It's a small urban garden in a city and mainly paved.

  Male Blackbird on a mission to get the mealworms first.

  Jackdaw balancing act.

  A Magpie quickly joined the Jackdaws.

  The Rooks were a bit more cautious of my presence so stayed further away.

  Male House Sparrow couldn't have cared less about my presence and came on the closest fence and bounced around my feet.

  The irridescent colours of the Starlings lit up in the afternoon Sun.

  Even though I was prevented from getting outdoors again, I could still interact with Nature from house door :)

  If you think you don't have any time for Nature during the day just try and spend 10 minutes in your garden instead of watching TV.Put some bird food out and even in a small concrete urban garden the birds will come :)

  Thanks for reading the blogs again and keeping up to date with my #30DaysWild challenge.