A visit to Trossachs Osprey Hide

Osprey in flight at Trossachs Osprey Hide, wings spread wide against a green forest backdrop.

I recently heard through a friend that a new Osprey hide had opened up at a fish farm near Callander. I decided to pay it a visit. Ospreys are wild birds but they are not stupid, they like an easy meal and will happily take fish from well stocked fish farms. This is a problemContinueContinue reading “A visit to Trossachs Osprey Hide”

Isle of May (in May)

Atlantic puffins on the Isle of May, one taking flight.

It appears that a visit to the Isle of May is an annual pilgrimage for me one way or another. So it was good to connect with one old and three brand new birding friends to pay another visit this week. We saw the usual sea birds on the way out including a Sandwich Tern,ContinueContinue reading “Isle of May (in May)”

Winter Wonderland at Caerlaverock

Barnacle geese flock at Caerlaverock: feeding in a field and flying over trees and hills.

As a season, winter can be cold, wet and dark but if you can look beyond the weather there is a wonderland of wildlife out there to be observed. Now I look forward to spring and the return of all our summer migrants (along with warm sunny days and emerging flowers) as much as anyone.ContinueContinue reading “Winter Wonderland at Caerlaverock”

Waxwing lyrical (in a roundabout way)

Flock of waxwing birds perched on a snowy stone wall, foraging for food in winter.

A roundabout isn’t a place you would usually associate with nature. And a fairly busy roundabout in congested Sighthill, Edinburgh even less so. But… this is winter, and winter means Waxwings. Well sometimes it does. Last year it didn’t! It was a poor year for waxwings. Too many berries in Scandinavia for them to botherContinueContinue reading “Waxwing lyrical (in a roundabout way)”

Christmas birding and the year of the Snow Goose

Flock of shorebirds wading in shallow water, some taking flight.

Nothing like a couple of weeks off to plan to get out and see some wildlife after a busy few months with work. And I thought I would just share what I have been seeing over the Christmas and New Year break. Taking a walk from my house in Menstrie and I see the KestrelContinueContinue reading “Christmas birding and the year of the Snow Goose”

Aberlady Bay & Esk Mouth

Wigeon ducks grazing in a field at Aberlady Bay.

It is often a rare Scoter (small black duck) that takes me east of Edinburgh. Previously I have been out this way looking for the over-wintering White-Winged Scoter. But this week it was its very close relative (until recently the same species in fact), the Stejneger’s Scoter that peeked my interest. I haven’t been outContinueContinue reading “Aberlady Bay & Esk Mouth”

Birding on North Ronaldsay, Orkney

Snow Bunting on North Ronaldsay, Orkney. Small bird with white, brown, and black plumage perched on lichen-covered rock.

Over the last few years we have used the October break to get away for a bit of birding and hopefully find some new rarer migrant birds. That has taken us south to Norfolk the last few years (and outside the scope of this blog) but this year we headed North, took the ferry acrossContinueContinue reading “Birding on North Ronaldsay, Orkney”

Argaty Red Kites

This week I visited Argaty Red Kites. Argaty Farm is close to one of the first Red Kite re-introduction sites in Scotland and they have really adopted the kites along with wildlife as a whole. They run daily feeds for the birds most afternoons which is a great opportunity to see wild birds close up.ContinueContinue reading “Argaty Red Kites”

Isle of May

Last week I took my annual pilgrimage to the Isle of May. I go here once or twice most years and for sheer numbers of seabirds it never disappoints. I had planned the visit to coincide with some friends going but this was really just an excuse as we were mainly going to do ourContinueContinue reading “Isle of May”

Sheriffmuir in May

My favourite habitat at this time of year is the moorland in and around the Ochils. What seems mostly dead in winter suddenly comes alive with long-distant migrants arriving along with more local birds which expand their territories into all that available nesting ground. You can actually see a huge amount of wildlife just byContinueContinue reading “Sheriffmuir in May”