A9Birds

Mixed fortunes Mother Nature moves in many ways, reflected in recent weeks by the fortunes of the young birds and around our home. Our Swallow pair, as mentioned in the last blog, produced three chicks.  However a couple of days after hatching, we saw almost three days of continuous rain - a real rarity in these parts, despite what most uninformed folk think about 'Scottish weather'.  The lack of flying insects in such weather, plus the parent birds themselves getting wet and returning to the nest, this chilling the chicks, all combined to mean the youngsters were shortlived.  A real shame, but it's only nature. Ospreys - busy right now feeding their families At the other end of the scale, in terms of size and fortune, are our local Osprey chicks.  The two nearest nests to us both have good sized chicks, and is testimony to the new parenting team on both.  The closest nest has a new female (who replaced the late Green 5B, known as 'Beatrice' to...

Fun in the sun Well we've had some great weather in recent weeks, with the birds making the most of the warm weather (such as letting brooding parents take short breaks from sitting on eggs) and of course the longer days.   In our part of the world, we're now at the time of year where it doesn't get dark, remaining officially in nautical twilight at its darkest until the end of July, and not officially getting to 'night' dark until the second half of August.  It's one of the reasons why so many birds come up here to breed, with extended day length offering the biggest opportunity to feed as well as be aware of predators through most of the day. Gadaggadaggadagga - one of our Swallows dogfights the local male Sparrowhawk Our Swallows have built a brand new nest in our workshop, and it's been great to watch them toil away. One downside of improving their security this year (see last month's blog) is that we can't put a mirror up to see if ...

Sun, snow and Spring Well it's been a hectic few weeks since my last blog, and for those of you who've been able to share it with me (including my customers from Wales and Georgia, USA - two new flags on the customer board!), a big thank you.  Some folk (including our Welsh and American friends) enjoyed first-time sightings of Black Grouse, and whilst they were performing their magical lek displays.  One of the best things of my job as a guide is to show such a spectacle (and in a responsible manner), especially if you've never seen or heard it before.  Not that it ever gets old! Black Grouse cocks on the lek - not a bad shot, even though I say so myself, as it was far away and dark! It's been all about the birds, of course.  Strong northerly winds brought bands of snow, though an eventual shift to southerly winds finally brought in warblers and hirundines aplenty as they arrived after their long journeys from Africa.  Having said that, over 2,000 Pin...

They're back! As I ended my last blog with a 'They're coming...' in reference to Ospreys, as I write this I'm just a few minutes past seeing my first Osprey of 2016..and it's sat atop the nest we can view from our garden.  This fills me with joy, but those who follow my A9Birds Facebook page (link below) will know that the long-resident female of said nest (colour ring Green 5B, and referred to as 'Beatrice' by those who followed her satellite-tracked movements, thanks to Roy Dennis' work these past eight years that the tag has been on her) perished in Spain a few weeks ago, having succumbed to malnourishment due to bad weather.  Last year, Green 5B arrived home to find two intruder Ospreys in situ and - without ceremony - kicked them out.  The identity of the bird now sat there tonight could be one of those, or Blue HU (Green 5B's mate) or another, but what it hoped is that Green 5B's passing will simply be another chapter's end and t...

Singasongofspring In my last blog, I mentioned that signs were already appearing of what's probably Mother Nature's greatest season.  Since I wrote those words, more and more birds have been joining the chorus.  At home, most noticeable were Mistle Thrushes - perched on the pines and spruces around us, their short calls stand out against the voices of tits and finches. Mr Mistle Thrush calls in the ladies Whilst oot'n'aboot, however, it's been the unmistakable call of the Yellowhammer that's been a pleasure to the ear.  Described by many (and it's hard not to think any other way) as if singing the phrase "A little bit of bread and no cheeeeeeese!", the males - resplendent in their saffron plumage - perch atop anything they can as they too beckon in prospective partners.  A great sight and sound. " Warm foccacia and a slice of brie!"  Oh no, hang on, that's not right is it...? Kite flying One other bird I often see on...

Winter's beauty One of the best things about living in the Scottish Highlands are the vistas, and winter especially so when mountains, hillsides and fields receive coverings of snow.  Those beautifully crisp days with blue skies enhance those views even more, though in recent days the extremely cold temperatures in the stratosphere have aided in bringing nacreous, or 'polar stratospheric', clouds to our skies.  In pastel rainbow shades, caught on the beams of the rising and setting sun, they are a joy to behold, as you can see below (and these aren't good examples!): Winter's wrath In my last blog I mentioned the advance of Little Auks into the Moray Firth, numbers of which continued to swell as the days of January ticked past.  The severe weather in their wintering grounds off Scandinavia forced their movement, and if you look at a map you can see how much of a funnel the Firth is for seabirds.  What became surprising, however, was how far west into...

Happy New Year! I hope you, like me, managed to get out on 1st January to officially start the new birding year.  The weather here was bright but with a cold wind, but a good couple of hours checking out spots along the Moray coastline yielded good views of Snow Bunting, Red-throated Divers, plus a very unseasonal Sandwich Tern, still in winter plumage, and it forced a quick check of the Collins' Bird Guide to make sure it wasn't a vagrant Forster's Tern which can look similar in some respects!  Currently we're seeing large numbers of Little Auks enter the Firth, and that day was no exception with small groups passing by throughout our time there.  My iPhone has a bird alert application which 'pings' for Highland and Moray unusual bird sightings, and it's been going off constantly these past few days thanks to these great wee birds passing birdwatchers at wave top height. A male Snow Bunting Not much flooding here, but... We've been very luck...