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Eagle Action

21/5/2013

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Strathdearn aka Findhorn Valley came up trumps this afternoon, with perfect eagle conditions and a grey sky excellent for scanning. Almost immediately as I arrived I picked up a pair of adult Golden Eagles high to the west, circling until several thousand feet up. Within minutes two more appeared in the opposite direction and slightly closer. Both immature birds with a lot of white on the tails, possibly a new pair bonding. Not long after, another eagle appeared, this time low against the hillside, lumbering along the flight distinctive...a young White-tailed! All within the space of about 15 minutes!
The pair of adults reappeared several times to the west, and another immature flew across to the east, this bird different from the pair seen earlier. Already a total of 6 different eagles.
Possibly this same bird was seen again heading west some time later.
Three Peregrines scrapped noisily overhead, seemed to be a pair seeing off an intruder, perhaps one of last years young, while a male Ring Ouzel sang from a dead tree on the hillside behind us. Fantastic birding, there must have been in excess of 40 people up there today enjoying the sights, there'll be a burger van there next.
It was an excellent afternoon for the guests of The Grant Arms BWWC who joined me, well worth the visit!
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Moray Firth Birding

15/5/2013

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The Moray Firth is one of the most spectacular coastal birding spots in the UK, always coming up trumps with a great variety of birds at any time of the year as well as it's resident population of Bottle-nosed Dolphins.
Yesterday saw a huge passage of Terns, Common, Arctic and Sandwich, attracting in passing Arctic Skuas with their acrobatic attacks on any bird carrying a fish in it's beak.
A slow procession of Gannets dived among them, birds from nearby Troup Head or maybe heading further north to Shetland and several Manx Shearwaters glided across the choppy sea.
Sea duck numbers are dwindling, a few rafts of Common Scoter, the odd Velvet and a few small groups of Long-tailed Duck raced across the water.
A look for the White-billed Diver was unsuccessful, though there were several Great-northerns and a Red-throated offshore at Burghead.
Always one of my favourite places to birdwatch, the species list is often 60+ on a good day with sites for Tree Sparrow, Grey Partridge and Corn Bunting to add to the list as well as a few fresh water lochs to check also.

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Cairngorm

8/5/2013

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Picture
Lovely day for heading up Cairngorm on Monday, access is still open from the top station as there is still plenty of skiing. This little chap was feeding right below the window of the restaurant. It may seem surprising but apparently the wintering Snow Buntings seen around the ski area are not the same birds that breed in the corries. The wintering birds are part of the Icelandic population and our breeding birds must head south somewhere else, perhaps the Norfolk coast. I don't really know if there is a point of crossover, but I suspect there is.
Dotterel should be returning any day now, I suspect they are already somewhere in the area on lower ground but not heard any reports. The snow cover is melting pretty fast with today's warm temps so it shouldn't be long before it clears. I will be offering guided walks weekly for small groups, these will start from the Ski area car park and last for about six hours, taking in some of the plateau around Cairn Lochan. A spectacular day out and as the season progresses a chance to see some of the special arctic plants on the mountain too.


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Darling Buds of May

5/5/2013

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After a few wild, wet and chilly days the weather seems to have finally warmed a little. Crested Tits are now getting down to nesting, once they have laid becoming quite tricky to find as they become largely silent and quite skulking until feeding young.
Caper are still lekking, but it won't be long before they have done their stuff, hopefully mated with the hens and nesting begins. After this, the males begin a moult and skulk off to some quiet part of the forest to shed their feathers and recover from a season's lek activity. Fingers crossed June will be dry to allow a decent rate of chick survival this year, they desperately need the boost. 
The next two weeks see peak migration in the Highlands, with waders streaming through heading north and a push of passerines also heading on further. The best time for any rarity to turn up so here's hoping. Spring gathering today in Nethybridge, lucky we've got a beautiful day for it. This year I won't be buying a parrot, but that's a long story......

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    Author

    John Poyner.

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