Scotland

Hard work and long birding days paid off this year in Scotland. The weather was mixed some nice sunny warmish days interspersed with Arctic like conditions. We saw the Pied billed grebe at Leighton Moss on the way north. Black throated diver seen that evening at a local loch.
 Caperwatch was very disappointing and we were there for 3 early mornings but only had one brief glimpse of a male Capercaillie
Our first full day was spent going up the east coast. We connected with the long staying male Harlequin duck in Aberdeen and whilst there also saw a Long tailed tit building a nest. We then travelled to  the Ythan estuary. What a fantastic place this is with thousands of Eider and a single male King Eider. Also seen were Long tailed duck, Arctic tern, Sandwich tern, Common tern and Little tern. We finished the day at Portsoy and saw Great northern divers and a single White billed diver plus a Black guillemot.
The next day the weather was poor. We bagged 2 Crested tits at Loch Garten had a poor trip up Findhorn valley with a possible but  unconfirmed large raptor probably a Golden eagle plus good views of Peregrine. We went to base of Cairngorm where the only notable sighting was 2 Ring ouzel. We finished off with 2 Slavonian grebe at a local fishing lodge.
Our last day proved more fruitful and the weather was better too. We had good views of 1-2 Scottish Crossbill in Abernethy Forest and went to the top of Cairngorm where we had superb views of a pair of Ptarmigan. We finished off with good view of Goshawk at Dunkeld on the way back

Scotland Snowy Owl!

What a spectacular trip this year's Scotland trip proved to be. We spent 2 days in the Cairngorns and had good views of Black throated Diver on our first day in the evening. An Oystercatcher was nesting by the roadside! Red Grouse were abundant and we had a close encounter with a Red legged Partridge. The following day we headed to Findhorn valley and saw Golden Eagle and White tailed Eagle being mobbed by a Peregrine. On our last morning in the Cairngorns we went to Loch Garten and viewed a Capercaillie on the tv monitor but sadly it was out of direct sight. We failed to see Crested Tit but heard one in the Loch Garten car park. Being here a couple of weeks later than usual had made a difference as birds were dispersed not displaying at leks or sat on eggs and were harder to see.

We then headed to Skye and had a fantastic close encounter with a White tailed Eagle coming down to the boat for a fish. We also saw our first Hooded Crows of the journey as we headed west.

Getting to North Uist revealed 4 skuas on the ferry 2 definite dark phase Arctic Skua and 2 possible Pomarine Skuas. The Outer hebrides proved to be the real gems of the trip. stunningly beautiful, wild and unspoiled. Nature was everywhere. The sound of Cuckoo and Corncrake, drumming Snipe, displaying Dunlin, wing clapping Short Eared Owls was wonderful. The first bird we saw on our first morning was a stunning male Hen HarrierThe real highlight though was a Snowy Owl that finally revealed itself after 3 attempts and several hours of searching and all credit to Dave Evans who found it after I had given up and started on the wine!

Other highlights were Black Guillemot, Rock Dove, Reb breasted Merganser, all three species of Diver, Corn Buntings and yet more Golden Eagles on North Uist. One being mobbed by a Merlin