Scotland - Tues 2 Oct to Sat 6 Oct

A short break to Scotland started off early Tuesday morning with a ten hour drive ending up at Loch Garten RSPB reserve at 4.00pm. An hour or so at the reserve before checking in to our hotel in Nethybridge produced just one Scottish speciality...Red Squirrel.

We did see some very obliging Coal Tits, a couple even brave enough to land on an out-stretched hand!

Three Goosanders flew over and we later relocated them and two others on the loch itself. As we drove in to Nethybridge I spotted a Dipper on the stream, a good end to a long day.
An early start on Wednesday and a short drive to Dorback Moor where we were treated to great views of Black Grouse. At first we thought there were just three birds present but when they took to the air and flew past we were surprised to count nine individuals. We also connected with our first (of many) Red Grouse of the trip, with a couple on the moor.

On to Abernethy Forest and the first of eight attempts to see Capercaille! No sign of this massive grouse but I did locate a couple of Crested Tits. Next stop the top of Straithcairn, also known as the Findhorn Valley and after dodging a couple of showers we finally got distant views of an adult Golden Eagle. Our final stop of the day was at Curr Wood where our patience paid off as we finally located a hand-full of Parrot Crossbills.

Day three was spent on the coast with various seawatches along the Moray Firth. Starting at Nairn we had a very smart looking Hooded Crow on the beach.

Out to sea a couple of Long-tailed Ducks and both Common and Velvet Scoters. As we moved round to Burghead and Hopeman we also added Eider and Black Guillemot to the growing trip list. A lone Blackcap was found in the scrub at Hopeman and was the only warbler of the trip. Two visits during the day to Findhorn produced a large flock of Pink-footed Geese and a small herd of Whooper Swans. Waders were represented by large numbers of Redshank and smaller numbers of Knot, Dunlin and Golden Plover amongst others and several Turnstone were seen in the various harbours we visited.

Our penultimate day started off with a pre-breakfast trip in to the forest to try again for Capercaille (and fail again!). Next stop the Cairngorms and a walk up to Corrie Cos, this was extremely hard work but our determination paid off with a very obliging Ptarmigan that I picked out amongst the rocks, though heavy mist was a bit of a problem!

A Snow Bunting was seen but missed by me, but I got lucky as I saw and heard three more fly overhead. We also saw a Mountain Hare as we walked up the path. Back down and off to the Findhorn Valley for a second visit. Along the way we disturbed a large covey of Grey Partridge and on reaching the top of the valley were treated to wonderful views of two sub-adult Golden Eagles. A Merlin also put in an appearance, as did a single male Common Crossbill (noticeably smaller and more delicate than the birds we had seen a couple of days earlier). Another couple of attempts at the end of the day looking for Capercaille were again unsuccessful.
The final day of our mini-break and after breakfast and checking out of the hotel we made one final attempt to get the one bird missing from our lists, and this time fortune was on our side as we drove down to Forest Lodge a female Capercaille was sat in the track in front of us. We watched this cracking bird for several minutes until a rather inconsiderate cyclist hammered past the car and flushed it. A brief stop at Loch Garten RSPB failed to add anything so we undertook the long drive home, getting back to Somerset by 7.00pm after a brilliant trip with a total of 100 species on the final list.