I have been back home for several weeks but have only just got round to writing up a trip report for my visit to northern Scotland and Shetland.
Some of you may already have seen my photos in the WAB
Gallery but here is an account of what proved to be a very enjoyable trip
. I hope you enjoy reading about it.
Health warning .... it is a
LONG trip report so please feel free to move on to the other delights of WAB. I will not be offended .... well, only a little
.
28th May 2008 – moving north
I drove up to Manchester on the Wednesday as I had a ticket to see Bruce Springsteen at Old Trafford, the Theatre of Dreams and home of the English and European champions!
Er …. sorry …. I digress .... back to wildlife before this thread gets kicked in to The Treehouse
.
Having said that, my frequent visits to see United have produced wildlife in the past …. feral pigeon and an unidentified bat species. Not exactly a wildlife hotspot!
As I was going to Manchester, I dropped in at Neumanns Flash in Cheshire to see the pair of
Black-winged Stilts that had been resident there for several months. This was my first sighting of this distinctive wading bird from southern Europe since the sad demise of “Sammy” at Titchwell in Norfolk who I saw every year from 1993 to 2004. The pair in Cheshire eventually produced a single chick which was sadly predated in recent weeks. It was very pleasing to see the Black-winged Stilts although the views were very distant even through a telescope.
29th May 2008 – onwards and up to Inverness
Thursday involved travelling from Manchester up to Inverness by train. The route across the Pennines, up the east coast of England, past Edinburgh and then up through Perthshire and Speyside was highly enjoyable.
There was plenty of wildlife to see en-route including
Brown Hare,
Roe Deer,
Red Deer and
Common Buzzard but unfortunately no train-spotted
Osprey through Speyside. One of the most memorable sightings was the very white Bass Rock gleaming in full sunshine in the Firth of Forth, the white being caused by 1000s of breeding
Gannet.
I thought small groups of
Swift over Aviemore and Inverness was notable this far north but in fact I saw even more northerly birds later in my trip.
30th May 2008 – Speyside and the ferry to Shetland
On Friday I picked up my campervan from near the NTS Culloden Moor battle site and had a whistle stop tour round Speyside before travelling east to Aberdeen for the overnight ferry to Lerwick on Shetland.
Milton Loch at Boat of Garten produced a few
Mallard and
Tufted Duck and most notably a pair of
Wigeon.
There was also a pair of
Wigeon with 2 ducklings on Loch Garten together with just a single female
Goldeneye. The forest around the loch and the RSPB visitor centre produced
Siskin,
Chaffinch,
Blue Tit,
Coal Tit,
Woodpigeon,
Great Spotted Woodpecker, a female
Osprey on the nest and 3
Red Squirrel on or around the bird feeders. There was no sign of any
Crested Tit which were very evident during my last visit in March but
Common Redstart and
Willow Warbler were both heard singing in the forest.
Red Squirrel ....
A lunch stop in Grantown-on-Spey provided a sighting of 2 more
Swift and the river at Dulnain Bridge had its expected
Dipper.
A visit to Lochindorb to the north of Grantown-on-Spey produced 2 beautiful summer plumaged
Black-throated Diver, 3
Mallard, a pair of
Greylag Geese with 5 young, 2
Oystercatcher, 2
Common Sandpiper,
Common and Black-headed Gulls, a few
Swallow, small numbers of
Red Grouse on the surrounding moors and a calling
Cuckoo.
After a minor panic
trying to find the ferry terminal in Aberdeen, I boarded the Northlink ferry for Shetland in the early evening. Around 10
dolphins (unsure of species) were seen just outside the harbour and 1
Sandwich Tern plus plenty of
Shag,
Eider and
Herring and Common Gulls were also seen.
A few beers on board
prepared me for the 12 hour overnight journey to Shetland which was thankfully very calm
.
Richard