A few more pictures from my week in Scotland.
Author Archives: pnbrown13blog
North Uist 9/4/2013
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.
Harlequin Duck 8/4/2013
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.
Skye 7/4/2013
The day was spent on Skye where we saw several lighthouses and both White Tailed and Golden Eagles. We then got the 6pm ferry to Lochmaddy, North Uist from Uig.
Scotland 6/4/2013
Spent most of the day driving up to Scotland. Our first destination for the day was Belach-na-Bah (The Pass of the cattle) which is the road to Applecross, Wester Ross. I had read that it was possible to see Ptarmigan here at the highest point by walking a fairly short distance towards the transmitter on the peak. This proved to be correct and I saw two Ptarmigan just below the transmitter. It was an exciting drive along the windy,steep road to the summit. We then stayed the night at the Kyle Hotel in Kyle near the Skye Bridge.I did about 600 miles and drove for about 12 hours.If you look closely there is a ptarmigan in the last photo.
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and Otter 30/3/2013
Went to Thetford Forest for the day. Lesser Spotted Woodpecker seen at around 8am at Santon Downham in snow storm!!. It was a female that was drumming and calling. A Woodlark was seen at Mayday Farm and an Otter in Thetford. I have added a couple of low quality pictures of the woodpecker and a video where it can be seen it was snowing at the time. There is also a poor picture of the otter taken on my Iphone.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTtz7omgUuo&feature=youtu.be
Siskin and Muntjac in the garden 29/3/2013
Male Siskin
- goldfinch
Muntjac
Jays in the garden 24/03/2013
Two jays in the garden this morning in the snow, first time I have seen them on the bird feeders.
Day trip to Paris 20/3/2013
A selection of photos from our daytrip to Paris for Matt’s 50th birthday celebrations. We went on Eurostar and had a good day out.
Dungeness, Stodmarsh and Lighthouses.
Started the weekend by going to Eastbourne for the Bonapartes Gull but unfortunately it was not seen. Went to Dungeness where the highlights were 1st winter Caspian Gull, 3 Smew including 1 male, 3 Great White Egrets, Tree Sparrows and a very tame Fox. On Sunday we went to Stodmarsh to see a Penduline Tit. We also visited a few lighthouses and a lightship in Gillingham.
Lightship 21 in Gillingham
Penduline Tit
Beachy Head Lighthouse
South Foreland Lighthouse
Fox at Dungeness
Great White Egret
Caspian Gull
Brunsblog 