Apart from picking up the local birds for my new year bird list, my first trip further afield was to Scotland with Heatherlea. Taking the caravan as far as the Lake District I managed to twitch a Red Flanked Bluetail in upper Teeside, saw Dipper, Goosander, amoung the more common birds.
The first morning of the day stay took us to a Black Grouse Lek just south of Tomintoul
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| Black Grouse Lek |
A trip around the Heatherlea "private estate" failed as usual to find any Cappers but Crossbills and Golden Eagles were the only birds of note.
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| Crossbill |
At Nethy Bridge the local Dippers were as usual close the bridge
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| Dipper |
A visit to Loch Garten failed to find Crested Tit but a Red Squirrel put on a good show at the feeders
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| Red Squirrel |
And a Siskin put in an appearance.
A day at the coast provided a Little Gull, Velvet Scoters and a Long-tailed Duck and a surprise in the coastal woodland was a Crested Tit
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| Crested Tit |
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| Crested Tit |
A pair of Grey Partridge were seen from the mini bus as was the flock of Tree Sparrows
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| Grey Partridge |
The last day we took a trip up part the way to Cairngorm, hoping for Ptarmigan,
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| Ascending Cairngorm |
About half way to the summit we stopped and scoped the Snow line and to the relief of Holly our guide I spotted one.
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| Ptarmigan phone scoped |
Once every one had had a view we started our descent
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| Descending Cairngorm |
Although an enjoyable trip with good food and company a few Scottish specials were not seen so a return will be on the cards later in the year
