Scotland day four

DAY FOUR

Our final day on the whistle stop tick fest that is the highlands!

I cooked my third fry up of the tour for the Jims before we packed and headed off up the A82.
We tried Nethybridge again hoping to hear or see Capers but nothing showed for us again. I heard a few Cresties in the tree tops before picking up the call of Crossbill then Jimmy picked up three Crossbill in Abernethy Forest and we all got good views as they feasted on the pine cones, a male and two female birds calling well. We're told that these birds are Scottish birds so take it on face value but if honest we couldn't tell on visual or oral inspection.

Crossbill

Crossbill

From here we headed further north to Lochindorb. A nice drive through the moorland gives good views of the Common Gull breeding colony present here before the Red Grouse take over and appear on every corner with a head poking up all along the route to the Loch.

RED

Arriving at the loch we found Buzzard, Osyercatcher, Lapwing, Curlew and Mipit but overall the place was pretty quiet so after a snack break at the loch side we took the long route towards Glasgow heading across country planning a stop at Loch of the Lowes reserve as we head south. We knew the male Osprey had been back a few days and had hoped to catch a view of him but we hit the bullseye with news that the female had also returned today. The hide was alive with local press cameras and news crews ready to broadcast the news that Lady had returned for her 24th year at the reserve. The male bird is her fourth mate and has been with her for three years now. She has laid 62 eggs in her 24 years and raised 50 young from the nest.  (How many survive is the question with only about 20% being my guess but that's still ten Osprey in the world for people to enjoy because of this fantastic bird)

Osprey at Loch of the Lowe

Osprey

The birds bonded well on her first day back in Scotland.

We enjoyed watching the birds at the nest with the male treating his women to a fish lunch before starting the process of making little Ospreys again. The flight home was getting closer so we headed across to the airport with a brief stop at the Robert the Bruce memorial where the old fella got a little history fix to round off another memorable trip to the Highlands for us.


Trip costs for those interested..............

Easyjet flights £63 return Stansted to Glasgow each
Baggage charge £26 each
Hire car £25 each (£75 total) Europcar VW Golf
Car insurance excess waver £27 each (Without this the hire carries a £1000 excess for any damage)
Petrol c£50 each for the trip as a total
Cottage £70 each for three nights (£204 total hire cost of two bed cottage in Fort William)
Only other expense is food and drink.

So all in four days and three nights birding in Scotland for c£260 each

Bird list

House Sparrow
Starling
Goldcrest
Goldfinch
Chaffinch
Greenfinch
Bullfinch
Twite
Siskin
Blue Tit
Coal Tit
Great Tit
Long-tailed Tit
Crested Tit
Wood Pigeon
Collared Dove
Feral Stock Dove
Scottish Crossbill
Treecreeper
Tufted Duck
Teal
Goosander
Red-breasted Merganser
Mallard
Goldeneye
Gadwall
Wigeon
Eider
Canada Goose
Greylag Goose
Mute Swan
Red-legged Partridge
Pheasant
Black -throated Diver
Red- throated Diver
Red Grouse
Black Grouse
Grey Heron
Hen Harrier
Common Buzzard
Goshawk
Golden Eagle
Sparrowhawk
Red Kite
Kestrel
Osprey
Raven
Carrion Crow
Hooded Crow
Jackdaw
Rook
Jay
Magpie
Little Grebe
Great-crested Grebe
Slavonian Grebe
Meadow Pipit
Rock Pipit
Yellowhammer
Stonechat
Whinchat
Wheatear
Black Guillemot
Common Gull
Black-headed Gull
Herring Gull
Lesser-black-backed gull
Cormorant
Shag
Coot
American Coot
Moorhen
Blackbird
Song Thrush
Mistle Thrush
Redwing
Fieldfare
Reed Bunting
Oystercatcher
Curlew
Redshank
Greenshank
Lapwing
Great Sotted Woodpecker
Skylark
Pied Wagtail
Grey Wagtail
Dunnock
Robin
Wren
Chiffchaff


see here for trip report from 2013 also : 
http://briansbirding.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/scotland-2013-trip-report.html