Along the Moray Coast......Day 3

 Today's plan was to head West along the A96 to Nairn and then make our way back along the coast, past Elgin to Spey Bay to see what we could find on the water.

 We arrived at Nairn early in the morning as the incoming tide was already concealing the majority of the stoney beach. Hooded Crows were foraging among the rocks and washed up seaweed.

 A Rock Pipit appeared from out of it's camouflaged place among the stones and flew up to greet us on the pier wall.

 Back down on the beach a flock of around 20 Redshanks and 10 Oystercatchers rested but were continually disturbed by the waves of the encroaching tide.  

 The Redshanks were only able to rest their heads under their wings for seconds at a time before another deepening wave annoyed them and caused them to move a few more inches up their rapdily disappearing sanctuary.

 Video clip of the Redshanks trying to keep ahead of the tide.Filmed by Majella.

 A small group of Turnstones briefly joined the increasingly crowded, shrinking beach before joining us up on the pier out of reach of the surf.

 We left the flock to battle with the inevitable tide and walked along the pier to scan the Moray Firth for Sea Ducks.

 Photo by Peter Moore.

 Pale-Bellied Brent Geese flew East, their wing tips scarcely above the undulating water surface.

 Through the scope, scanning of the water revealed distant rafts of Ducks with the wonderful Black Isle as a backdrop. Common Eiders, Common Scoters, Red-Breasted Mergansers and some stunning Long-Tailed Ducks calling out across the deep water. Unfortunately all too distant for photographs but we were immensely happy to have seen them none the less.

 

 We left Nairn after an enjoyable 3 hours of birding and relaxing to the sound of the waves and headed back East and in to Findhorn Bay.

 Findhorn Bay was also alive with the sounds of calling waterfowl.More Redshanks, Curlew and dozens of Pintail Ducks all along the shoreline.

 It was only a brief visit to Findhorn as the wind seemed to becoming more Arctic by the minute so we warmed back up in the car and made our way to Spey Bay.

 Spey Bay is most notable for the WDC Scottish Dolphin Centre but today the conditions were not favourable for Dolphin sightings.We stood on the shingle beach for a while gazing out across the Firth. A flock of small birds flew past and landed further up the shingle, it was a group of Linnets. We just managed to get the binoculars on them and identify them before another person with a loose dog many yards away from her disturbed them, making them move on and unnecessarily use up more energy.

 Moving out of the wind we had a short walk along the Spey River. As well as a large congregation of Gulls there were also numerous Goldeneye and Goosanders.

 Song Thrushes, Robins and Dunnocks were hopping among the gorse and another group of Curlew had been joined by a few Greylag Geese in an adjacent field.There was still some daylight left so instead or returning straight to our hotel in Elgin(another expensive Travelodge) we followed the coastal road through Portgordon to Buckie.

 On the way we spotted more Gulls, Herring, Black-headed & Great Black-backed, as well as Wigeon, Oystercatchers, Redshanks, Grey Herons, Mallards and a couple of Buzzards.A wonderful long birding day completed, it was time to head indoors for some shuteye and decide on our destination for tomorrow.

Thanks as always for taking the time to view my blog. It is very much appreciated.

If you do enjoy it then please leave a comment so I know that at least one person has read it ;) lol 

More Scottish wildlife to come tomorrow.

 

 

 

Tales From The Highlands

Days 10 & 11

  A double day blog today to catch back up to date.

  Day 10 - Tollie Kites

  I know you were all dying to find out if we got the car fixed ;) Well we did, the guy at Fortrose garage was great.He replaced two coils and everything is good again except for the £82.50 taken from our holiday funds lol
  The car was fixed while we were out with our friend Jan who arrived for a catch up and then decided we should pop over to Tollie to see the Red Kites as she had not been before and we had only been once,a few years ago.
  We were met by RSPB employee Brad who spoke to us about the Kites and during a long conversation both before and after the feeding, also talked about the mass poisoning in 2014 which killed 16 Red Kites and 6 Buzzards.
  RSPB volunteer John arrived to put out the food in 4 stages to try to prevent the local Gull gang from taking advantage.The Red Kites didn't give them a chance though lol
 

 
  10 Kites were counted along with just a single Buzzard and the Gull gang.After leaving Tollie, Jan dropped us off in Fortrose to save us the walk to pick our car back up.I also saw species 62 of the trip with this Yellowhammer.

  With everything sorted we could look forward to getting out for Day 11.

  Day 11 - The Largest Shingle Beach in Scotland

  After looking at the weather forecast and believing it 😒 we decided to head East along the Moray Firth coast instead of North into Sutherland.The traffic through Inverness was surprisingly sparse for 8.15am as we expected to get stuck on the Kessock Bridge for a while, so we made good time.The drive along the A96 was the same.Just outside of Culloden hundreds of Pink-footed Geese were feeding in a roadside field.
  As we reached Spey Bay we turned off into Mosstodloch to drive down the side of the bay and were rewarded with our first Swallow of the Spring.We parked in Kingston on the East side and stepped out of the car into the wind and sea spray.
  Looking East up the shingle beach.

  Looking West up the shingle beach.

  This is the largest shingle beach in Scotland.It was now a very blustery day with the white tips hitting the shore with some force and was littered with a large amount of driftwood.

  Out in the water I noticed a large raft of ducks, Long-tailed Ducks.

 Numerous Eiders then started to fly in from the East.

 Along with 9 Sandwich Terns.

  Along with these a distant Northern Gannet over the sea and a Ringed Plover on the beach took our tally to 66 species.
  Spot the Ringed Plover.

  A Grey Seal also graced us with its presence and a pair of Goldeneye landed in the sheltered bay behind the shingle.We visited the Scottish Dolphin Centre there, where lots of people were busy buying souvenirs of Dolphins and a talk was been held.
  We left and head back West stopping at both Elgin(never been there before) and Inverness to browse the shops and managed to pick up some more bargains to be used on our carboot sales to help fundraise for wildlife 😊

  Raptorwatch Update

  Buzzards - 30
  Red Kites - 17
  Ospreys - 2
  Hen Harrier - 1
  Peregrine - 1
  Kestrel  -1
  Tawny Owl - 1(heard only)

  Come back tomorrow for Dolphins and Dippers.
  Thanks.

  Stuart