Birds & Pine Marten On Scotland Trip- Day 1

It was a lovely journey on the ferry although cold and we had to travel across to the other side of Scotland to Grantown on Spey, however we broke out journey by having a few stops to look for birds.  This view below is coming up the Lough into Cairnryan harbour.

It was amazing with 11 pairs of eyes just how many birds we saw while travelling.  We saw Starling, Magpie, Wood and Feral Pigeon, Buzzard, Pheasant, great views of a Kestrel hovering just left of the minibus, Jackdaw, Rook, Raven, Sparrow hawk, Curlew, Lapwing, Pied Wagtail. Great Black backed Gull, quite a number of fields with flocks of Pink footed Geese as well as Greylag and many pheasant.

We stopped at this small lake were we saw Tufted ducks. Mallard, Goldeneye, Wigeon, Goosander, Mute Swan and Canada Geese.

 We stopped for lunch at a small wooded area where they had put up a lot of feeders where we saw Blue, Coal and Great Tits, Chaffinch, Goldfinch and Siskin.  There were quite a number of blackbirds and Robins feeding on the ground.  

 As we were coming out of the wooded area, we briefly saw a Great Spotted Woodpecker and also a nest box for an Owl.

We arrived at our hotel around 3.00pm having seen Collared Dove, Carrion Crow and 2 Red Grouse on the way with a total of 53 bird  species that day.  We had just time to book in, get unpacked and we were off again as we had booked a RSPB hide to try and see Pine Martens.  Now I am very disappointed with these photographs however I will show you them anyway.  We waited nearly 2 hours before one turned up and we had to remain very quietly and not stand ourselves too near the windows.

This was the table that the Pine Martens come to and there was afresh egg on it.  The first time he came, he immediately took it away to eat it. Apparently he never eats it at the bird table.

After a short time, he was back again and this time he spent more time eating peanuts, and honey.

Were I was sitting, I could see home coming along the trail before he climbed onto the bird table.

This photograph was kindly given to me by Martin McClenaghan, one of the group and as you can see, he is just about to take the egg away to eat.

Then 3 deer tentatively approached the area.  I was very excited to see these wonderful animals so close however they were very skittish and I found them hard to photograph.

I know this photograph is not great however I loved the way the Red Deer was standing and this was the last view we had of them.

We retired to our hotel for a well-deserved dinner and then to bed!!!

I hope you enjoyed hearing about my first day in Scotland even through the photos are not great however they, for me, my memories.

Thank you for visiting and also to those who left comments on any of my blogs.

I am linking this post to Saturday Critters