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

30 Days Wild:Day 7 - An Evening Walk Down The Lane

                                                                   

  I didn't think I would get anything much "wild" done today as I have been in quite a lot of pain so ended up being indoors most of the day :( I did however manage to catch up on some entertaining reading "My Garden And Other Animals" by Mike Dilger, a great read.

http://mikedilger.co.uk/writing.php

  Lots of painkillers later and with the temperature becoming more bearable I decided I would go for an evening walk out the village so set off around 7.45pm.

The view from the edge of our village in North Lincolnshire.

  I walk down the road before going into the field til I get to the far tree line, then cross a road and follow the lane down to the River Ancholme.It was great to see the dog walkers field had only been cut back enough to allow a track with the rest left to grow wild.

  There were still dog walkers around with their dogs off the lead but the songs of Chaffinches and Dunnocks filled the air and a Buzzard glided over the meadow.

  When I got down the lane it was busy :( People were cycling, jogging or just walking their dogs.I stopped at the entrance to one of the fields where I usually see Hares and spotted 2 before they were disturbed by the noisy cyclists.

  The next field still had crops in it so was more difficult to pick any wildlife out but this is the place where I did my first wildlife film, filming a Barn Owl quartering the field.

  My Barn Owl film from 7 years ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2i4nmkoBe4

  Rooks, Jackdaws, Wood Pigeons were numerous but I also saw 4 Lapwings, a Red-legged Partridge and a couple of these stunning Yellowhammers.

  The long grasses at the field's edge held a large number of Silver Ground Carpet Moths as well as a few Straw Dots.

Silver Ground Carpet

  This horse seemed to be curious as to what I was up to at the edge of its paddock.

    About an hour into my walk and Majella had driven down in the car so I actually made it the whole way to the river.This is the River Ancholme, the path on the right is actually part of the sponsored walk I will be doing in July for Tiger Awareness.Its just another 7 miles up that river to get to the midway point and pub and I'm starting 3 miles from the other direction lol ;)

  On the way back home another Hare had come out of the field and onto the roads edge.

  A few minutes later I was back home and getting out of the car to the sound of screaming Swifts over the garden, quickly followed by a cold beer ;)