Scone Palace and Loch of the Lowes

                                              

 

Monday morning we set off to visit Scone (Skoon) Palace to look for the elusive Hawfinch. They are very secretive birds that live in the very tops of the tallest  trees, hence having to go and look for them when the trees are bare as you never find one when the trees are fully clothed. When we arrived I was a bit disappointed that the main avenue to the castle was not covered in snowdrops as it usually is but we must have got there a week or so earlier this year so I will have to go back. Would you believe just after we arrived someone started shooting so that put an  end to our hopes  of  seeing  these very shy birds.  The shooting did not seem to bother the Robins and the Blue Tits but there was no sign of the Hawfinch. We wandered  around the footpaths for a while but no luck. Just as we were heading back to the car one Hawfinch flew across the road high up in the trees but that was just the one.  There is a flock of about 30 of these birds at Scone so one is not very good and we did not get a good look at it so we will go back another day.  Back to the car and heater on off we went to The Loch of the Lowes which is near Blairgowrie if that is of any help.  This is where the Wildlife Trust have hides and a visitor centre so the public can view a pair of breeding Ospreys.  They have not arrived back from the Ghana yet, it will be the beginning of April before they come back.  When we arrived no, it was not shooting this time, but there was a great deal of hammering and noise as the visitors centre is having total refurbishment so we seemed to have picked the wrong day here as well.  There is a big feeding station behind  the visitors centre and that was very busy with the usual bird table birds but we usually get Woodpeckers and squirrels but the noise must have put them off.  We then went to one of the hides and there was a small number of Whooper Swans and they were very close and calling which is wonderful to hear. The loch itself had been frozen but had thawed.  When I was a little girl I used to walk out to the middle of this  loch with my Mum and Dad as we visited  this area a lot on the motorbike and sidecar ah those were the days. Petrol was still rationed but the motorbike was very thrifty and we could manage a run out on a Sunday. I wonder what birds I would have seen back then when there was virtually no traffic on the roads.  Back to today we had a good day but the birding was not that great but there will be other days.   Love,

                       Joan