Countdown to Ptarmigeddon!

This morning I've been doing some site scoping ready for Tom (the other, maler half of the blonde birders) to arrive for another weekend of rocketing round the highlands. Having been to a few sites that scream ring ouzel over the past few weeks, I headed to the most promising this morning after hearing a spate of ouzel reports from around the UK. It was a good idea.

The weather was perfect and everything was in full song. Grey and pied wags, around 30 wheatear, meadow pipits everywhere, then - suddenly - the sounds of a blackbird gone wrong. I'd been squinting at the more promising southern slope, but the noise was behind me. 

It took a few minutes to locate the bird, it was very far off, then it took off in alarm, flying a little way down the valley to hurl itself at another male. Below this second rock sat the drabber female, who was joined in a race around the rock, before all three scudded off down the valley. I emptied my camera from my bag and used it to lay out flat and await the birds return.

I wasn't waiting for long, with the female and one of the males soon returning to the scree. The birds were distant, but at one point (after an hour of sitting very still) all three flew low over my head, then back again. After another 20 minutes the male started displaying to the female, dipping his head and cocking his tail. Not wanting to be any source of disturbance, I slunk away down the hill and back to Kindrogan (hoping they'll be in the same spot this weekend).

More of the same - Glen Shee and Kindrogan

Not much to report today, I decided to have another scope round the area, starting with the black grouse site and picking up a showy red legged partridge en route. Then I skipped up to Glen Shee in hope of ptarmingan or snow bunting, sitting on the bonnet of the car to warm my bum in the cold morning. While I struck out on both species, I did get a lovely view of a herd of male red deer in Glen Clunie. On the way back I checked out the greylag flocks; bean and white fronted geese have both been nearby today and I was hoping for a few of my own, but, no such luck. 

The males were right at the roadside today

Distant Record Shot

Back at Kindrogan there was the usual assortment of waiting wildlife. On Friday night I had quick views of one of the resident pine martens from our lovely hide, and the red squirrels have become highly active now the snow has melted, but the highlight of the day had to be the summer-coat fallow deer in with the roe deer at the feeders. I'm hoping he'll hang around for a while as long as we keep the feeders full.

Scavenging amongst the shelled sunflower seeds

Saturday Site Scoping

Out again this morning and on my way to check out some more sites for Tom's visit next month. I was checking on the black grouse lekk at 7:30, rewarded with 5 males this morning, then on to have a scout of some potential ring ouzel territory. A nice valley walk beside a very productive stream which provided me with great views of dipper and grey wag, then up into the hills where I watched both peregrine and golden eagle displaying.

Dipper displaying

I know that it might be a little early for ouzel here, but I really wanted to get a feel for the spot and thoroughly enjoyed the walk - a gentle incline over 4 miles following the valley. The weather was as perfect as ever and I ambled the length of the valley, making note to arrive well before the sun gets over the southern edge of the valley to become totally blinding in that direction. 

Turning back on myself as my stomach began to rumble I made my way back towards the car, taking the opposite river bank to hug the pine plantation. The dipper lead me to a beautiful confluence with a small stream and from there I follow a forrrestry track into the woods where I add two more species to my year list, common crossbill and mistle thrush. Officially ravenous at this point I hop in the car and head back home stopping to pick up a haggis, mince and potato pie before speeding home for the rugby.

Mistle Record

Crossbill

All walk and no play

 ... make Nat a dull girl. Thankfully, when I set out for the hills this morning, I was in for an unexpectedly good day. I let the birds wake me at 6:30 and was safely in the car by 7, making full use of the empty roads to get a head start on any walkers that might be around to flush things. 

Well, I should have taken it as a sign that things were going to be good when at the second turn I had to slam on the anchors to avoid hitting a red legged partridge that was ambling slowly over the road. *tick* one for the year list.

Not five minutes further down the road I catch sight of something the other side of the fence and again test out my breaks... Black grouse, around 9, I had unwittingly found a local lek in my haste to get to the hills. Making a note of the location for a later date, I snatch a couple of quick shots before leaving them to their morning displays. 

As I climbed in the valley I became aware of the copious red grouse lining the road side. There can't have been much traffic along the road before me and I begin to feel that another life tick can be mine this weekend. Only one thing stands between my and my bird... over 1000 meters of mountain. This isn't just a tick quest, its my first solo munro. 

I won't bore you with the details of the walk. I've packed my nice new winter boots (the old Scapa's finally died so I've treated myself to a nice pair of mantas), and the ice is a minimal problem. I just weave my way between the skitie patches as I make my way to the summit. Thanks to my early start, I only saw 4 other people. 

Snow on the tops has long since turned to ice

New Boots!

After the first 150 meters climb I was cursing my heavy lens, it felt like a stone on every incline. Then at about 650m it won me back. I was using it to scope a promising rocky area in the distance, when one boulder just seemed a little too round. On closer inspection it turned out to be a mountain hare, not what I came up here for at all, but very welcome!

Mountain Hare

Leaving the hare I continued to climb, labouring over another steep section. Two bunting shaped birds went over and I paused, grateful for an excuse to catch my breath; but as soon as they had appeared, I'd lost them. I have never seen snow bunting and this seemed like a stupid time to carry on and miss them, so I dropped off the path and tried to skirt the ridge in the direction they had gone.

As I moved of the path I heard a little croak. A male and female ptarmigan, beginning to moult into their drabber summer plumage. I couldn't believe my luck. Just what I was after, two year ticks in one weekend! The pair were very confiding, keeping low to the ground and I was able to get within 5 feet of them. 

I sat in the snow and happily snapped away for a few minutes until the first walking group of the day appeared and flushed them. c'est la vie. I hung around for a while longer, waiting for the walkers to get a head start on me, hoping for a second sighting of the elusive buntings... I never saw them again.

Female

Male

Pair 

To cut the rest of the story short. I finished my munro, then headed back down for a well deserved lunch. I'm really glad I didn't try to twitch that Ross's goose!

The Blonde Rides Again - a new lifer

So it turns out that with an actual job you have very little time to go out and bird (except, of course, when you're leading a birding group - but that's very little fun in the hail). So now that I've found myself of island with a few free weekends, I've decided to get out as much as possible. During the week I make do with the feeders at work which provide me with siskin and brambling, and the faithful Kindrogan red squirrels and the promise of pine marten to tide me over until the weekend

Brambling at the feeders

Being off island has its plus points. Kindrogan is a fantastic base to launch lots of Scottish twitches, so when I check out RBA this morning and saw that the harlequin duck was still showing well in Aberdeen, I made up my mind to head out. Cramming a croissant in my face and downing my tea, I packed the car, suddenly eager to be off.

Two hours later I'm at Seaton Park in Aberdeen, pacing downstream from the toilet block to where the bird was last seen, tense as ever. Have I wasted my petrol? Then I see a birder crouched low on the river bank and, opposite him in the mid stream, a small black-ish duck. *insert sigh of relief*

The individual is a first winter male and has been showing well since January. With spring advancing, he's beginning to moult, and a rusty tinge is developing on his flanks. In flight he is neat and compact, with fast wing beats and a direct flight that remind me somewhat of black guillemot. When diving he stays down for around 30 seconds at a time, often surfacing at the same spot at which it dove. Generally it was calm and very confiding, panicking only once when disturbed by a passing roe dear.

The first flushes of orange are beginning to show on his flanks

Head-tilting

The breast feathers have almost a scaled appearance when viewed up close

Orange tinges clearly developing

Running roe

Back in the car I have a two hour drive to reflect on my first lifer of the year and consider heading out tomorrow for the Ross's goose that has been sighted in Tullibody...

Some people get flowers...

I get owls...

Okay, not free range owls (otherwise it'd look like some jet-setting international owl stag-do), but Owl Trust owls. It was a bit warmer than a my walks for tawny and barn owls on the island, and there was reliable coffee and cake.

Most excitingly I got to see SIX of my favourites. Gorgeous little Tengmalm's owls, looking like they were straight out of a story book. AND there were two ferruginous pymgy owls; the tiny, rabid fuzz-balls, no bigger than a fluffed up robin.

The volunteers at the trust were wonderful introducing us to many of the birds, and we spent about 3 hours strolling around, waiting for feeding to get the best shots. Anyway, no more exposition-al text this week, on to the OWLS!

Ashy Faced Owl - one of the Tyto's obvs!

The wonderful, magical Tengmalm's

Great Grey Owl

F. Pymgy Owl - dove killer.

Wintery wanderings

Its been a very busy couple of months, with no NaturalistBlonde HQ to return to when it all just gets too much. As such the posts have been a bit thin on the ground (read non-existant). To catch you up, here's a round up of the last couple of months since I bid farewell to Nettlecombe and started winding my way back North...

December was spent in the midlands, and the only time I made it out of the house for a bit of birding was my birthday. Matt and I headed to the Cromford canal in the hope of the ever elusive hawfinches.

Despite a nice clear start and very few people around, the birds eluded me again. Fortunately there were and abundance of thrushes, little grebes and other bits and pieces for me to practice on, all too busy foraging in the intermittent rain to pay any attention to me and my camera.

Dabchick

In January I moved back to the island and threw myself into re-reading my thesis in preparation for my viva.

I did manage to get a little birding in on my occasional walks to stretch my legs and keep my sanity. This winter seems to have brought good numbers of ducks, but a very poor showing of waders. The bad weather had driven many species to be quite bold whilst foraging, and goldcrest have been very busy all around the island.

On the 19th I had the viva. The copious amounts of snow were making most of the roads impassable, so I decided to leave the island two days in advance and stay with friends outside Glasgow, alternately walking/sledging in the snow and panicking over my upcoming examination. When the 19th dawned we found the car frozen solid, and the first hour was spent trying to get the inch of ice off the windscreen.

When I finally got to Glasgow I hovered for an hour trying to concentrate on any part of the past three years, before finally being ushered into the meeting room. It was a bizarre experience of abject terror combined with total enjoyment. Like a roller-coaster with a prize at the end. Emerging shell shocked after 3 hours, I stumbled through prosecco and cake with the department followed by a nice catch-up with Andy, before retreating back to the island for more alcohol and my own bed (catching a glimpse of the barn owl as I drove past the station).

Two days after my viva I was off to Wales for my Hill and Moorland Leader training at FSC Rhy-y-Creuau. I met up with half of the trainees for 2 days walking in the Snowdonia NP (and realised how massively unfit I am after a year sat on my behind!). The remaining snow provided the most evidence of wildlife while we were out - with raven, stoat and fox prints evident - but generally a poor showing wildlife wise.

View toward Siabod

In the last of the manic work related travels for the month I traveled out to what I've been referring to as the "second home in the hills". Two weeks were spent in high ropes training. and teaching a nice snowy rivers day with the first intrepid group of the year. The highlights of the week were GS woodpecker, green woodpecker, tawny owl, red squirrels, and plenty of evidence of pine marten (poop and paw prints mainly).

Second Home

Brerechan field site - winter edition

Squirrel feeder does exactly what it says on the tin

LTT

Signs of spring were everywhere, with birds singing and squabbling over territory, all of which put me in mind of a range of trips and targets for the summer. In addition to this year's corncrake and capercaille quests, I'm planning for trips to photograph golden eagle, osprey, crested tit, and crossbill - taggers on welcome!