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.

  

   

Self-Isolation - Home Garden Safari World Tour

  As well as watching the actual living bird life in our garden I decided to travel the world from our garden and photograph some of the amazing wildlife we saw.
  This is our whole Facebook garden safari trip in one blog with a few extras added that didn't make Facebook. :)

  Day 1 - Africa
  The tour began on the African Plains. Antelope, Zebra, Cheetah, Leopard, Rhinos and African Painted Dogs were all seen our on drive out.

  That evening we were also treated to a night-time drive.The Lions were more active and Hippos were grazing away from the river under the cover of darkness. A lone Red River Hog was also spotted.

  Bonus Trip (not seen on Facebook) ;) Before leaving the African mainland we trekked up to the Virunga Mountains in hope of seeing Mountain Gorillas.We were very fortunate ;)

  Day 2 - Madagascar
  Travelling East from Africa we headed for the island of Madagascar with all of it's wonderful endemic wildlife.
  It was fantastic to watch the Lemurs but the highlight was being able to dive with Green Turtles.

  We spent the evening on a walk through the Madagascan forest and found one of the most extraordinary creatures on the planet, the Aye-Aye.A nocturnal primate that finds it's food through echo-location by tapping the tree and listening for larvae under the bark before fishing them out with it's elongated middle finger.

  Bonus Trip (not seen on Facebook) - On our journey across the Indian Ocean we had a quick stop over in Mauritius and was astonished to find a previously thought extinct bird, the Dodo ;)

  Day 3 - Asia
  An incredible journey from South Asia all the way North to the Himalayas produced some amazing and endangered wildlife.A increasingly rare sighting (due to the deforestation for Palm Oil plantations) of a male Orangutan on his nest.A Giant Panda and a Moon Bear, another mammal struggling due to Human poaching for horrendous bile farms.

  In the snowy foothills of the Himalayas I searched for the elusive Snow Leopard.

  Back South in India I looked for Bengal Tigers and found one stalking a Chital.

  We set up a few trail cameras in the area to see if we could get any closer footage and caught a Mother and her cub on film.The Cub calling and then the Mother then scent marking our camera.

  Day 4 - Australia 

  We didn't have a lot of time in Australia but still managed to see two of the most iconic species there.The Koala and a Kangaroo with her joey.

  Despite the swarms of flies we were able to do some local bird watching and found this Rainbow Lorikeet.

                             

  Day 5 - The Americas

  Starting in the South American Jungles we found a couple of Three-toed Sloths in the same tree.The upper one is obviously cold and needed the jumper ;) and then as we headed in to North America a Nine-banded Armadillo crossed our path.

 A quick detour East to the Everglades saw us come face to face with one of the most destructive invasive Species, a Python.

  Continuing our trip North we searched for awesome Grey Wolves and was lucky enough to spot one before getting interrupted by this Black Bear looking for toilet roll. ;) 

                              

                              

  Bonus Trip (not seen on Facebook) - While in the South American Jungle we spotted Squirrel Monkeys and in Central America a Vampire Bat was seen sneaking up on it's unsuspecting food source.

  Day 6 - Canada

  Moving North out of the USA and into Canada we were able to explore an area just North of the stunning Hudson Bay.Caribou were on their immense migration across the tundra and two Polar Bears were seen.

  We also a saw Moose crossing 😏 

  Before leaving Canada I had an encounter with an Arctic Wolf and her cub.

  Day 7 - UK

  After our long around the world tour it was back to the UK where we have some amazing wildlife.We got the chance to find some before heading home.

Badgers, Puffin and a Chough.

  Back home and a pond is a fantastic way to encourage wildlife into your garden and it works ;) Two Spoonbills, a Mallard and an Otter frequent our pond.

  Bonus Trip (not seen on Facebook) Our Fox statue has found a new friend.

    Behind the scenes ;) 

  Top of the range technology was used to bring the garden safari to life 😂

   Thank you to everyone who had already followed this adventure on my Facebook timeline each day and to those who are seeing it for the first time and trying to imagine just how crazy we have gone in our first 2 weeks of self-isolation.

  Just a few photos of proof that we do see living wildlife too in our garden :) 

  Thank you again for joining us on our slightly unorthodox world safari. :)
 
  Kindest Regards
  Stuart
  #staysafe