Monthly Archives: April 2013

Spurn & Blacktoft Sands

by in birds, Grasshopper Warbler, Tree Sparrow, Wheatear and tagged | Leave a comment

Travelled up to Spurn at the weekend to see the Rock Thrush that had been seen there on the previous two days. Unfortunately it was not seen but as we were up this part of the country Michael and I got to meet up with Danny who is at Uni in Hull. We went for a curry and stayed in Hull the night. We popped into Blacktoft Sands RSPB on the way home Sunday. The Wheatear picture below was taken at Spurn, The Grasshopper Warbler picture and video and Tree Sparrow picture were taken at Blacktoft Sands.

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Grasshopper Warbler video :-   http://youtu.be/-fSBIHXmoe4

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Cairn Gorm 12/4/2013

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Cairn Gorm is the sixth highest mountain in the UK. You can go most of the way to the top on the funicular railway. I have been to the top at least 5 times but this year there was a lot more snow than on previous occasions and so there were many skiers on the mountain. There is an Automatic Weather Station situated on the summit of Cairn Gorm which provides temperature and wind data every half hour.

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North Uist 9/4/2013

by in birds, corn bunting, Harlequin Duck, Lochmaddy, North Uist, rock dove, scotland, sunrise, Twite | Leave a comment

Today started with a lovely sunrise ( The picture was taken from the window of our room in the Lochmaddy Hotel).  The weather was sunny all day although still quite cold. We went back to Balranald RSPB to see the Harlequin Duck again. There are pictures of Twite, Corn Bunting and Rock Dove all of which are quite common birds around Balranald. We got the 4pm boat back to Skye and stayed in the Uig Hotel for the night.

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Harlequin Duck 8/4/2013

by in birds, Harlequin Duck, North Uist and tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Finally had a chance to see the Harlequin Duck that has been around since the 18/2/2013. As we had arrived on the boat the previous evening we were the only people looking for the bird this morning. It was spotted after about 10 minutes searching feeding about 200 yards offshore. It later came ashore on a rocky outcrop to preen and rest. Later we toured the Islands and saw 3 Golden Eagles, 8 Hen Harriers, 2 Merlin, 2 Short Eared Owls. There were 100’s of Greenland White Fronted Geese around the Islands along with 100’s of Redwings.

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