A Holiday Trip

As an early wedding anniversary treat for ourselves, we booked a long weekend in a a wildlife-orientated hotel, the Grant Arms in Grantown on Spey. If you fancy a treat, give this place a try; the location is breath-taking, the welcome warm, and the food excellent.This was the view from our bedroom window.

On the way up (beware, it IS a long way!) we stopped at Leighton Moss, scene of this years Springwatch programme. The only regret was that we could only stop a couple of hours; you really need a full day to explore here. We missed out on the Bearded Tits, but instead we came across this Marsh Tit trying out a new home for size. These little birds, along with the visually very similar Willow Tits, are under threat as their habitat is being destroyed, so always pleasing to see.

As we were in the area, it seemed rude not to go and visit Loch Flemington, and see the American Coot that has taken up residence there. This is a rare visitor to this country, and yet this individual seems right at home, having been here for several months now.

Having featured a cute Grey Squirrel in a previous blog, it's time to show the even cuter native Red Squirrel. This little chap howed great interest in the food that had been put out to attract the birds at Loch Garten.

The real attractions at Loch Garten were the Crested Tits. These elegant birds are pine tree specialists. so limited in this country to the Highlands, and were the number one reason for the trip. Worth it? Oh, Yes!!

We spent a number of hours at Lochindob, a small loch on a quiet road. The moorland around was so peaceful, yet so full of life. No drone of traffic; instead the accelerating call of Meadow Pipits as they first soared, and then glided in their characteristic display flight, the cheerful burble of Red Grouse, and the 'gronk' of Ravens overhead.

Here is one of the comical Red Grouse. When alarmed they would explode into flight, but to land it seemed they had forgotten how, and would just fold their wings and almost tumble into the heather, and then stick their heads up as if to say, 'I meant to do that'!

Lochindob was also home to this recently returned Black-throated Diver, smart in it's breeding plummage, and hungry for a fish supper.

This view is along the Findhorn valley. While we only saw distant views of the birds of prey that this valley is famous for, the setting more than made up for lack of raptors. The valley was full of curlew, oystercatchers and lapwing, alond with the usual meadow pipits, and a dipper working energetically along the river.

We would loved to have stayed longer, and it was far too soon that we found ourselves travelling back along the A9, heading sadly south.

Having arrived home, we had one more day before returning to work, so what better way use it than to head into the North Wales hills before dawn, windows open so that we could listen for the odd bubbling sound that marked a Lek site, and then to park up and wait for first light to reveal the sight of male Black Grouse displaying in a series of twirls and rushes at one another. The purpose of this strange 'dance' is to establish the relative rankings, like teenage lads at the dance floor showing off for the girls. 



What a strange month...

"It's him again...  I thought he'd forgotten about us..." Nah - I've just been out and about, making the most of the weekends. For me one of frustrating things about the time of year is the lack of daylight hours in which to go birding. With a full-time job during the week, and being busy on Sundays in another capacity, Saturday is our one 'day out', so I've been concentrating on getting out as much as I can, making the most of the hours (more on that later).

Firstly a 'Thank You' to all the local House Sparrows - these cheerful chaps are rapidly working their way through a sack of black sunflower seeds and a tub of fatballs. If I'm a bit late up, and haven't refilled the feeders the previous night, they line up outside the bedroom window cheeping away - 'Dad, Dad, come and feed us, Dad, now Dad'! Once you start putting a feeder out, they get used to it and will visit each day; but that means a commitment to keep providing the food, and boy, can they munch seed!!  However, whatever the expense of the seed, it is more than repaid by the joy of seeing these beautiful birds... What they lack in plummage, they make up for in character - right Avian Scousers they are! Nationally there has been a huge decline, and it's gratifying that our garden has seen the numbers go from 2 or 3 to around 18...



 One Saturday saw a dash under the Mersey and up to the WWT reserve at Martin Mere. There are loads of captive birds there for the breeding programmes, but the birds that attract are of course the wild ones. The carpark saw Redwings and a Treecreeper, and there are large numbers of Tree Sparrows, with their distinctive chestnut cap - but no decent photos, sorry! Around the main scrape were large number of Ruff - this is the winter plummage, but just look at the patterns in the feathers... In the breeding season the Males gain a distinctive ruff around the neck - I can wait to go back in a month or so and get some more photos...

Of course, life in the wild is not always cute and cuddly - at the far end of the reserve a hide overlooked some beighbouring pools, and beside one them a dead swan attracted the attention of a nearby buzzard. We could see the buzzard diggin deep into the carcass, and tugging out the entrails - not quiet munching, but energetic pulling and tearing. Not pleasant to see, but this is part of natural recycling; the already-dead being reclaimed and reused, cleared up by buzzards and other carrion.

Another Saturday saw a visit to Burton Mere Wetlands, and it's associated Inner Marsh Farm. This reserve is a lot quieter (people-wise) than Martin Mere, but just as rewarding to visit. There are no breeding programmes here, just lots of waders, wildfowl and woodland birds. Here a Black-tailed Godwit rummages in front of the IMF hide, it's beak like a sewing-machine needle exploring the mud, feeling for food. Breeding colours are just starting to come through, and the range of plummage is astounding - it's easy to think that you're looking at 3 or 4 different types of bird, yet they're all the same; the long straight bi-coloured beak, the dark legs and black tail feathers, and a brownish back, mottled rather than streaked.

Also in the IMF pond, the Avocets have started to arrive. I'm surprised given the current cold weather that they haven't turned right round and headed back to warmer climes, yet here they are with their distinctive black-on-white markings, and upturned bills.

On the othe other side of the scrapes, in BMW proper, the feeders are alive with Siskins and Tits - and then this little gem appears... There's often a Nuthatch ot two around, but it;s rare that they stay still long enough to get a decent photo - most of them are just a blur of wings! This one oblingly sat and posed, and made me smile...

I mentioned making the most of the hours...  It was much to my other half's displeasure that I woke her up an hour before dawn, and we headed out into North Wales, very cold, and with snow starting to fall heavier and heavier.... And then all the early-morning grumpiness left as out of the snow we saw a small group of about half-a-dozen male Black Grouse in a rough circle, all with wings held out and curled, twirling around to flash their white tail feathers, and making little rushes towards each other - this wasn't the mason's but a 'Lek' - best description I can come up with is a group of teenage boys all squaring up to each other, showing off to the girls - no intent of harm, but a 'Look at me, I'm Top Dog' (Bird!). Well worth the trip, and a full English shortly afterwards was a further reward.

 

Finally,a plea for help.... two mystery geese. The first was at MartinMere - apparently a wild bird, but it could easily be an escaped domestic. The second was at Burton Mere Wetlands, but is not a resident - It has features of a GreyLag, with the beak, pink feet, and the neck/body markings - but then there's the white head markings, and it was in very close company of a Canada Goose - so I wonder whether it's a hybrid. Anyway, any suggestions would be most welcome...