Highland Birding Holiday Day 3 : 10th October 2013
The last day of our birding break was to be devoted to a bit more sea watching so we headed off for the coast first thing taking in some other sites en route.
We took the A939 out north out of Grantown-on-Spey and turned off for Lochindorb (Loch of the Minnows) where we hoped to perhaps see some late divers but, again, we were out of luck. The view was magnificent and the castle, once the home of the “Wolf of Badenoch” was an impressive sight. (He was a son of King Robert II of Scotland, and derived his name for his extreme cruelty and persecution of the church and anyone who opposed him in any way dispossessing and murdering at will. When his wife deserted him and the Bishop of Moray supported her, he left his stronghold at Lochindorb Castle and burned Forres and Elgin. In 1390 he burned Elgin Cathedral. Looking at the huge castle isolated in the middle of a vast loch it is easy to imagine how he felt so secure within it.)
There wasn’t much to be seen here in the way of birds except the usual Red Grouse. We also saw some migrating Greylag Geese and a single Jay.
We continued on northwards through the forest near Milltown before crossing north and east to join the A940 to Forres and Findhorn Bay.
At Findhorn Bay we started at the west side where we saw Mute and Whooper Swans and Curlew as well as Skylarks, Starlings, Meadow Pipits and Gulls. We drove around the bay to the east side where there was a salt marsh that we could walk onto. On a long spit in the water there was a very large flock of roosting Wigeon and elsewhere there were spits containing Curlew, Pink-footed Geese and Lapwing. On land there were Meadow Pipits and Swallows.
It was here that we saw one of the best bits of bird behaviour of our whole holiday. As we looked out onto the various sand spits we noticed a bird tussling with a Great Black-backed Gull over what appeared to be a dead Guillemot. Closer inspection showed it to be a Peregrine Falcon and try as it may it could not get the better of the Gull. Eventually it flew off a little and looked sulkily back before proceeding to give us a most amazing display.
For the best part of twenty minutes we watched this Peregrine flying at the roosting Wigeons. Every time the Peregrine flew at them they would rise up briefly before thinking better of it and larding back quickly. Clearly the Peregrine, perhaps a juvenile, was trying to separate a bird or two from the general flock and once or twice it seemed as if it did but still failed to catch the vulnerable birds. Over and over it attempted to flush some loose birds out but the Wigeon were not having any of it and in the end we felt a little bit sorry for the Peregrine, first thwarted by the Great Black-backed Gull and then by some cunning Wigeon. It was quite a sight and easily the longest views of a flying Peregrine we had ever had. However, there were still other places to check out so we then went on to Findhorn Dunes.
At Findhorn Dunes we set up our scopes and got really good views of Common Scoter bobbing up and down on what was still a rough sea. There were also a lot of Gannets. We moved on from there to Roseisle Forest and Dunes. According to the warder there, there are new bird hides recently erected which he recommended but John had brought us there to see what we could see on the water so we parked up in the car park and took the path down to the dunes.
According to the warder there, there are new bird hides recently erected which he recommended but John had brought us there to see what we could see on the water so we parked up in the car park and took the path down to the dunes.
We tried to find a bit of shelter leaning into the dunes and started scanning the sea which was still heaving and there was a vigorous wind blasting us. Even then we got more excellent views of Common Scoter and John thought that he had seen a diver but – and this was a bit of a feature of the day – often I could not locate birds he had spotted. As we were focused on the Scoters a small black bird zoomed through our view and I did see this but not enough to identify it, as John confidently did, as a Storm Petrel that was flying unusually close to shore.
We also saw Gannet, Oystercatchers and Curlew and as we got back to the car we heard Goldcrests in the tree tops.
From Roseisle we headed off round the coast further to Burghead where we again saw Common Scoter, Razorbill, Shag, Gannet, Oystercatcher and, best of all, I got a brief but satisfactory view of a Long-Tailed Duck – another “life tick”. Unfortunately we didn’t get the classic view of a male in full breeding plumage swimming inside the harbour, that Burghead is famous for, but it was better than nothing. Particularly after failing to pick out the Great Skua John also tried to point out to me. Whilst having our lunch parked by the sea wall we also saw Grey Heron, a dozen Turnstones on the nearby rocks, a Pied Wagtail and a very accommodating Rock Pipit that perched on the promenade railings right in front of the car.
Our last stop on the coast was at Lossiemouth where I again managed to miss the Long-tailed Duck, Kittiwake and Razorbill that John saw – all I could see were hundreds of feeding Gannets. It was a little better for me when we moved round to the coast a bit away from the bitter wind and we had a good position for taking in the estuary of the River Lossie which at that point is mainland, a small channel of water and a spit of land on the other side. On the far side of that is the North Sea. Here we saw Cormorant, Great Black-backed Gulls, Black-headed Gulls, Oystercatcher, Redshank, Teal, Wigeon and Mallard as well as Turnstones and a pair of Goosander.
By this time we were pretty tired and we still had a long way to go to get back home. We drove back along the B9040 and then the B9089. We made a short detour onto a path that took us through Steybrea Wood before returning to the B9089 and on to Forres before joining the A940 and then the A939 which took us by various forests and moors through Dunphail, Dorback eventually ending back at Grantown-on-Spey. En route we saw Buzzards, Rooks, Crows and Jackdaws, Blackbird, House Sparrow, Pheasant and Chaffinch, Woodpigeon and Magpie – the latter, quite an uncommon bird here.
We got back to the hotel and showered and got dressed for dinner which was another splendid meal. After we finished we met John in the bar for our de-briefing which is all part of his service. He summarised all the places we had been to and all the birds we had seen and answered any questions we had. I did ask him about the birds we had missed – Ptarmigan, Snow Bunting and, most of all for me, the Divers and Slavonian Grebes. The recommendation was, of course, to return to the area in late May next year and try our luck again.
“My Tracks” Route of Day 3
View Travel Route Day 3 in a larger map