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

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

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

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

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

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

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).