Saturday 30 July 2011

Rye Meads

As well as an amazing view of a male and female Kingfisher, we saw our 200th (Wood Sandpiper) and 201st (Black-Necked Grebe) species of bird in Britain. Both birds were distant, but the Kingfishers were very close.

Kingfisher
Kingfisher
Green Sandpiper
Little Grebe
Common Tern
Juvenile Common Tern

Saturday 23 July 2011

Dunwich Heath

We saw a few Dartford Warblers during the circular walk - one was very close (but flew off before I could raise my camera) and a few were too far away to get a decent photograph. We also saw Roe Deer, Stonechats and Linnets.

Gatekeeper Butterfly
Male Stonechat

Monday 18 July 2011

Juvenile Green Woodpecker

Taken from my house

Scotland 2011 - Top 15 Photos

1 - Puffin
2 - Badger
3 - Puffins
4 - Common Frog
5 - Puffins
6 - Arctic Tern
7 - Siskin
8 - Common Frog
9 - Arctic Tern
10 - Oystercatchers
11 - Juvenile Swallow
12 - Ring Ouzel
13 - Red Squirrel
14 - Bottlenose Dolphin
15 - Meadow Pipit

Sunday 17 July 2011

Scotland 2011

After 1,575 miles travelled, 89 species of bird heard or seen and over 2,500 photos taken - our holiday has come to an end. Thank you to everybody who has been following my blog, I hope you have been enjoying my photos and continue to follow my blog. Within the next few days I hope to post the "Top 15" photos from the last 10 days, so have another look in the next few days.

Overall Highlights:
Pine Marten
Puffins
Ring Ouzel
Bottlenose Dolphins
Dippers
Red Grouse
Ospreys
Badgers
Spotted Flycatchers
Red-Throated Divers
Red Squirrels
Goldcrest
Wheatears
Common Frog
Field Voles
Golden Plover
Slavonian Grebes
Crossbills
Brown Hares


Day 10

We stopped off at Bempton Cliffs for a few rainy hours this morning. Great views of gannets, puffins and juvenile kittiwakes as always.

Highlights:
Gannet
Sedge Warbler
Tree Sparrow
Skylark
Puffin
Juvenile Kittiwake
Razorbill
Guillemot
Reed Bunting
Red Kite

Total number of species of bird seen or heard throughout the holiday: 89

Gannet 
Gannet
Gannet
Bempton Cliffs
Gannet at Bempton Cliffs













Gannets
Fulmar
Fulmars
Juvenile Kittiwake
Juvenile Kittiwake
Jackdaw

Saturday 16 July 2011

Day 9

We travelled over 300 miles south today to Whitby, stopping at Glenshee again (the Ring Ouzel and Wheatear were still present) and North Berwick (we had lunch on the beach with a great view of Bass Rock). Tomorrow we will be visiting Bempton Cliffs before heading home.

Highlights:
Red Grouse
Ring Ouzel
Wheatear
Eider Duck
Puffin
Gannet
Kittiwake
Common Gull

Total number of species of bird heard or seen after day 9: 84

Red Grouse
 Male Red Grouse (top) with young (bottom)
Ring Ouzel
Wheatear
 Glenshee
 View from the cottage before we left
 Bass Rock
 Gannet flying towards Bass Rock
Bass Rock

Friday 15 July 2011

Day 8

We spent the day at the Cairngorm Mountain - we took the mountain railway and had a gudied walk to the top and reached the peak of the mountain (the 6th highest point in Britain!). From this point also saw the 2nd and 3rd highest mountains in the UK. During the journey there and back we stopped at Loch Morlich and watched a distant Osprey and a Red-Throated Diver. Today was our last day in Scotland.

Highlights:
Osprey
Red-Throated Diver
Goldeneye
Siskin
Meadow Pipit
Red Squirrel

Total number of species of bird seen or heard after day 8: 82

View from the peak of the Cairngorm Mountain. The loch in the picture is the highest loch in Britain with fish. Patches of snow can also be seen on the right.










View from the Cairngorm Mountain
Red-Throated Diver
Osprey circling above Loch Morlich

Thursday 14 July 2011

Day 7

We went for a circular walk around Tomintoul this morning then had a 5 hour Land Rover Safari around the Glenlivet Estate this afternoon.

Highlights:
Juvenile Golden Plover
Spotted Flycatcher
Brown Hare
Red-Legged Partridge
Juvenile Lapwing
Sand Martins
Mistle Thrush

Total number of species of bird seen or heard after day 7: 80

Brown Hare
 Juvenile Golden Plover
 Red-Legged Partridge
Spotted Flycatcher
Common Gull and Lapwing
Glenlivet Estate
Glenlivet Estate













Film of the Glenlivet Estate, zooming in on Easter Corrie (we are staying in one of the four cottages on the site).