A day to savour.

 

This morning Stuart and I were out in the garden trying to get everything done before we go away on holiday.  I looked up and there just above my head was the first Swift of the summer.  Quite a good date have seen it much later in the month before they arrive up here.  They are with us for such a short time, arrive the beginning of May have a busy summer breeding and rearing their young and are away again from my part of Scotland by the first week in August  You are fortunate further south Sifts will stay well into September.  I love watching them, they fly in formation like fighter planes. I get a great view of them from our lounge window and from the garden.  Where I stay they are our most common Hirundine. We had our first House Martin on the 1st of May so that is all of that group of birds in now so we can say its summer ha ha. You know the saying 'One Swallow does not a summer make'.

For my records:- Swallow .....6th April

                          Sand Martin.....10th April.

                          House Martin......1st May

                          Swift.....3rd May.   2006.

Thank you for reading my Bird watching tales. Love

                                                                                 Joan.

 

 

Local Patch.

                                   

         

Our Bird Watching trips have not been very successful of late but we have been trying honest but the weather has been so cold as you know we have not been out as much as usual.  Today after Stuart had been for his first physio appointment we thought we would take a trip round our local loch.  First to the RSPB reserve big mistake as the schools are still off it was very busy and very noisy with badly behaved children so we did not stay long. Sorry to complain but today children seem to get away with anything they want to do we were not the only ones thank goodness that were upset by the noise. We did not stay long then back to the car and we drove round to the other side of the Loch.  There has been a lot of work going on a new footpath and a new hide something we never had before on that side of the loch.  We had a lovely walk to the new bird hide and sat watching the Great Crested Grebes displaying I think you will have seen this on TV as it is very special to watch as they rise out of the water beak to beak and seem to dance its so beautiful. After a while I moved over to the other side of the hide we were the only ones in it so we could move around.  Just as I settled down something in the sky caught my eye it was an Osprey so our local one is back too. (See last nights entry) As we sat watching him/her hunting over the loch I was hoping he/she would see a fish and come down but no luck today maybe next time.  As we sat watching over the loch we saw our first Sand Martins of the Spring not too late for up here but a bit later than usual but with these strong northerly winds we have had we are lucky they are here at all just shows you they have to get to their breeding colonies as soon as they can. So after a quiet spell in the bird watching world at last something to write about .

Our total for this year is now 101.

                    

 

The Ospreys are Back

                                         Fish for tea.

The Loch Garten Ospreys have returned again. It is always a big event that they have made their long journey safely again it is such a risky business.  Our summer visitors are late like everything else, we saw our first Swallow on Thursday in Perth and we had a Whinchat while we were up north. If you want to follow the Ospreys summer they have their own web site and camera that is worth a look and a read as the warden does a weekly log and tells all the happenings in an interesting and amusing way. I will put a link for you in the side bar as well as on this entry.  Bye for now enjoy the Spring. Love Joan.

http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/l/lochgarten/diary/index.asp

Feathering Your Nest

Have been rather neglecting this diary of late what with the weather being so cold etc we have not been out our bird watching very much so I though I would tell you of something I saw the other day that I thought was very clever.  The picture above is a large patch of short grassland at Birnie Loch, I have mentioned this place before as we do visit it and walk round it quit often.  We were passing late on Monday afternoon after one of our many visits to St Andrews. This piece of grass is a roosting ground for the Mallard and the gulls and it is also where people 'Feed the Ducks. ' I think you can just about see all the feathers lying about, now there is a Rookery just behind where this photograph was taken. As we sat in the car watching what was going on we noticed that a pair of Rooks were gathering up all the feathers, great beak fulls for their nests, it was not long before other pairs joined in this activity but they were not so adept at this and the feathers kept escaping from their beaks. They say Corvid are very clever birds they seem to be learning from one another all the time.  You have maybe noticed on the motorways that they feed right up to the white line on the hard shoulder but don't venture onto the road and the young learn this from their parents and so the learning goes on very clever not the prettiest of birds but when the sun shines on their lovely black/blue feathers they are something else.  Hoping to get some nice notes next week when we are away.

                                                    Joan.

St Andrews on a Spring Like Day

Will just let the pictures tell the story of a glorious day.

The Big Twitch

        

No, I have not been out bird watching again in fact I have been in bed with the cold, told you I was of unsound mind on Tuesday.  I found the  picture  above taken 30th October 2004 at a place called Kilrenny in Fife. On that particular day we were at Fife Ness the very tip of Fife in fact it is the most easterly point of Scotland. We had word that there was a Red Backed Shrike at Kilrenny (Via Pager very modern us birders) so we headed back to that location.  When we got there a small amount of birders had assembled.  The Warden from Vane Farm was with us and he started to doubt the identification. Red Backed Shrikes are quite rare but not what we call a mega bird (great terms we have).  The bird had been caught and ringed and measured and would you believe it, it was a first for the British Isles it was a Masked Shrike.  Now you may all think that birding on the scale I do it is rare, the picture above is of the site the next day as birders from all over Britain flocked to see it and it was like that for many days to come as the little bird was very accommodating and gave us all tremendous views. I have had a lot of trouble with the picture as my copy is not all that clear but I think you can get an idea of the amount of people our little friend entertained.  It was the biggest twitch I have ever been on and was a real exiting day imagine it, the very first time this bird had been seen in Great Britain and I saw it.

                     

The Star of the year The Masked Shrike.

Swans and more Swans.

27th February & 28th February.

Did you know that there are three different kind of swan here in the wintertime I know you can't see them in the photo but they are all there.  There are 8 Mute Swans 99 Whooper Swans and 1 Bewick Swan, and guess which we were looking for.  We knew that there was 1 Bewick Swan just a few mile away in a flock that has been with us all winter so we had to see it before they head north for their breeding grounds. We were lucky we got parked in a spot where we could view this field from the car, Stu popped into the back seat so we were both sheltered for that north wind. I have a clamp for my telescope that fits it onto the front window so I was happy not having to stand out on the cold.  We scanned the whole flock and no signs of the Bewick. We had been told it was wearing a blue collar so it should have been easy to pick out HA HA. Bewick Swans are a good bit smaller than your Mute and Whooper and there is a difference around the yellow area on their bills.  There were a few of the swans asleep and we thought one looked a bit smaller but at that distance it was hard to be sure. After a while this particular swan held it head up and low and behold it had a blue collar on. We were very pleased at that as it is some years since we have seen one.

                      

                        Bewick's Swan

                                 

                                 Whooper Swan.

                                 

                                  Mute Swan.

Tuesday being of unsound mind we set of again for Scone Palace.  It was a bitterly cold day but we were determined to see the Hawfinch properly and the Snowdrops. As I have told you in Joan's Musings the snowdrops were beautiful and there were thousands of them but the Hawfinch were not to seen. We wandered about in a freezing cold wind but no luck.  There was however a Great Spotted Woodpecker drumming very close by so we set off to see that after about 15 more freezing minutes we gave up it must have seen us coming and flew off. When we passed this way later it was drumming again but we still could now see it plenty of woodland birds but no woodpecker. So I'm afraid a disconsolate and frozen Joan and Stuart headed back to the car and a coffee shop.  Better luck another day.

                        Love, Joan.