Super Suprise at Saltholme

Usually every weekend we get up early to go birding, this weekend was no different but instead of birds we were looking for bikes. We got up early to go and watch the Tour de France as it was right at the bottom of my street. After it had finished we then started to head of to RSPB Saltholme.

We went there because a Black Winged Pratincole was at a reservoir fairly near Saltholme and earlier that morning it had flew of and we thought Saltholme may have been one of the best places it could turn up but throughout the day we had no luck.

When we arrived in the Saltholme car park the first thing we did was have a check in the Phil Stead Hide where we saw Little Egret, Grey Heron, Common Terns, a Reed Warbler and quite a few Mallards.

Grey Heron

 

Afterwards we then moved on towards the visitor centre, on the way we watched a Reed Warbler going back and forth to its nest. When we were in the visitor centre some of the staff told us that the Roseate Tern was still showing from the Paddys Pool Hide but before we had a check in there we first decided to go to the Saltholme Hide. On the way my Dad suddenly shouted Fox! I turned to see a cracking Fox walk straight out into the open and then it sat down on a small patch of grass around about 5 meters away. We sat watching this stunning creature for a while but then I couldn't believe what happened next, it got up and started walking towards us! It eventually came to close that my camera wouldn't focus and it was probably touching distance away! It was an absolutely amazing experience! After the Fox then moved on into the undergrowth and we moved on to the Saltholme Hide.

 

Fox

 

In the Saltholme we didn't see much apart from a group of 8 little Egrets at the back of the pools. After we then moved on to have a look in the Paddys Pool Hide for the Roseate Tern. When we arrived we asked some people if they had seen it and they said they had seen it earlier in the day but they couldn't see it at the moment. In the front of the hide the Great Crested Grebe family was still around. I started scanning the island in the middle of the lake for the Roseate Tern and within around 5 minutes I managed to re find the bird sitting on a fence in the corner of the island, last week the bird showed more distantly, this time it was a little closer. We were about to go when the Roseate Tern took of and landed on a perch right in front of the hide! I was really nice to finally get close views of this cracking bird.  

 

Great Crested Grebe

 

Roseate Tern

 

Afterwards we had a walk around the lakes what we walked around last week. We also had a check on our Oystercatcher nest which is still on 3 eggs. Several other birds were around the pools such as Dunlin, Little Ringed Plover, Lapwing and Redshank.

 

Oystercatcher

 

 

 

 

Birthday Birding

On Saturday the 28th of June I turned 13 and for my birthday I got a new lens which I then tested it out at one of my favourite reserves, RSPB Saltholme.

As we arrived we asked some people around the visitor centre to see if the Roseate Tern was around and it was. They said it was showing from the Paddys Pool Hide so we went straight there. When we arrived the bird wasn't in sight but as we waited lots of birds kept us entertained such as a very nice Med Gull at the back of the lake in with some Black Headed Gulls, a Great Crested Grebe family and lots of Common Terns sitting on perches in front of the hide.

Common Terns

 

Then someone had finally got the Roseate Tern through their scope, the man allowed us to have a look through the scope. It was always quite distant but at least we got to see it. It was very nice bird to see and through the scope the bird looked fantastic. After around 10 minutes all the birds lifted of including the Med Gull and Roseate Tern and sadly both of them could not be relocated. Here are a few record shots of the Roseate Tern and Med Gull.  

Roseate Tern

Med Gull

 

We waited a little longer to see if any of them came back but non did so we then moved onto the Wildlife Watchpoint Hide in hope of seeing Water Rail, Garganey or Water Vole. Sadly for the whole of the time we were in the hide we didn't see any of these species. When we left the hide we got nice views of a Whitethroat which sat up nicely on a bush.

 

Whitethroat

 

We had to go a bit early today as we forgot the reserve closed at 5pm but as we were leaving I had a check on the feeders from the visitor centre and there was a little Hedgehog feeding below them. 

Hedgehog

 

After we then went to have a look at this Common Tern colony just down the road. As soon as we arrived the Terns came over and they started mobbing us, it was an amazing experience. They were only a couple of meters above our head! Some of them even came to close that I couldn't get them in the full photo.

 

Common Terns

 

After we had a walk around some lakes where we saw some juvenile Ringed Plover, Oystercatchers, Meadow Pipits, Skylarks and more Common Terns and my Dad also found an Oystercatcher nest. Around one of the lakes there was a few juvenile Pied Wagtails sitting in some trees and a Magpie also came very close.

 

Pied Wagtail

Magpie

 

 

 

Brilliant Bempton!

Today we went to Bempton Cliffs to meet up with Toby Carter and his Dad, Gary who I know from Twitter.

Before we arrived at Bempton we had a check on a Willow Warbler nest what we found at Wykeham forest but sadly it had been predated but we did get our best ever views of a Goshawk which flew really close by us.

Goshawk

 

After we then headed of to Bempton to meet Toby and Gary. In the roof of the visitor centre there was Swallows nesting, it was great seeing the parents feeding the chicks. When we reached the cliffs we went to a series of viewing points and as we got further along all the sea birds seemed to show much better. We also from one of the view points got brilliant views of a single Puffin.

 

Puffin

 

At one of the viewpoints Toby spotted a very nice Meadow Pipit sitting on a fence post, it allowed us to get very close. Other birds around the cliffs included Razorbill, Guillemot, Gannets, Kittiwakes and there was also quite a few more Puffins. Quite a few birds had chicks and also loads of them were on nests.

 

Kittiwake

 

Guillemots

Meadow Pipit

Razorbill

 

After we went to this bit where Gannets seemed to be coming really close and they were. They were only a few feet above our head and some landed really close to us.

 

Gannets

 

Sadly for us it was time to head back but on the way back Toby was telling us about a Bee Orchid in the Bempton car park. When we reached the car park he showed us it and what a stunning little thing it was, it colours were amazing!

 

Bee Orchid

 

it was a really great day out, thanks for a great day Toby and Gary.

 

  

 

Scotland!!!

Day 1
On 26th of May we set of for Scotland. The drive was about 7hrs so it was quite a long time. We eventually arrived in Scotland at around 3pm. On this day we didn't do much than just have a walk down to the local river where we saw some showy juvenile Song Thrush also on this river throughout the holiday we also got some Dipper on it. Just outside our Cabin we also had feeders, on them we got mostly Chaffinches and Siskins.

Song Thrush

Siskin

 

Day 2

In the morning we went to Loch Killin where we found some nests, Common Sandpipers, Meadow Pipits and Oystercatchers were all found also we had a fly over Goosander. After we decided to go to Loch Garten in hope of seeing the Ospreys but on the way we stopped of at Loch Ruthven in hope of seeing the Slavonian Grebes but sadly we had no luck. On the way to Loch Garten my Dad spotted something big sitting on some mud just at the side of this loch, he had a look through his bins and told us that it was an Osprey! It wasn't long before it flew of but what a great start to the day.

 

Osprey

 

As soon as we arrived there was an Osprey sitting on the nest watching over 3 little chicks and overhead there was another 2 Ospreys. After we had a walk through the wood where we had nice but brief views of Crested Tit and incredible views of a juvenile Treecreeper which allowed us to get very close.

 

Treecreeper

 

Day 3

Today we went to Tomatin in hope of seeing a Golden Eagle or maybe even a White Tailed Eagle. Once we had reached the spot we saw some birders with scopes and bins so we asked them if they had seen anything and they said that they have seen a White Tailed Eagle! We got out of the car and started looking but sadly we had no luck accept for a fly over Goosander and a nice Mountain Hare in amongst some rocks. After a while of waiting we decided to head back but on the way back through the mountains my Mum spotted a massive bird flying low over the trees, we quickly got into an area where we could see the bird much better, at this point there was no doubt that it was an Eagle, it dwarfed the Buzzards which were mobbing it, I looked through my bins to realise that it was the White Tailed Eagle! It circled fairly low above the car for a good 5 minutes, it was an absolutely incredible bird, plus to see one fairly close was amazing!   

 

White Tailed Eagle

 

Day 4

Today we had a walk around Loch Tarff and then we had a walk around a heath area. There wasn't much birds on the Loch but then a little further on my Dad spotted a different looking bird sat on the water, we had a look through our bins to realise that it was a cracking Black Throated Diver! We kept creeping closer and closer until we were at the waters edge, it kept drifting further away but at first we got nice views of this fantastic bird. While we were driving to the heath area we spotted a bird sitting on a fence so we pulled into a little parking area, the bird was a stunning little Whinchat! Another bird then came along and it was now a male and female, suddenly we saw the female drop down and she stayed down for a few minutes so we thought she may have been on a nest, we quickly went over to realise that she was on a nest and she was on 4 eggs! We left quite quickly as we didn't want to disturb them to much. Also in the area there was several Stonechats. On the way back I spotted some fantastic Black Grouse in a field not to far away from our car and they were also lekking as well! So we found a place to park and we got really nice views of them.

 

Black Throated Diver

Black Grouse

 

Day 5

In the morning we went looking for the Black Throated Diver again where this time we got much better views plus the light was much better as well and we saw some more Whinchats where they also showed a little better than last time to. Afterwards we then went for a look around the bit where we saw the Osprey on the mud back on the second day. Pretty much as soon as we arrived the first bird we saw was a fantastic Spotted Flycatcher flying around a gorse bush and at one point we saw it catch some flies. There wasn't much on the lake other than a pair of distant Goosanders and a few Common Sandpipers. We then went to an area in Moray in hope of seeing some Bottlenose Dolphins. As soon as we arrived we could see some of them in the distance so we went a little bit closer, they didn't stay long, we saw them for about 5mins before they left although we didn't see them for long they were still very nice to see. There was also several Common Terns flying around.

 

Black Throated Diver

Whinchat

Spotted Flycatcher

Bottlenose Dolphin





Day 6

Sadly this was our last full day in Scotland but this day was a fantastic way to end the trip on. We had arranged to go up into the Cairngorms with Andy Howard (a person I know of Twitter) who does guided tours up there to show you some of the fantastic wildlife which lives up there. We were hoping to see Dotterel and Ptarmigan which are two species I have always wanted to see for a while. We arrived at the spot at about quarter to seven in the morning. The day started of very well with a cracking Ring Ouzel flying around some of the hills. On the way up we spotted some Red Grouse in the heather and there was also tons of Meadow Pipits flying around. Once we had got about half way up Andy pointed out the first Ptarmigan of the day and what a little cracker it was!

 

Ptarmigan

 

After a little while we started walking back up and on the way we also spotted some more of the cracking Ptarmigan. After a few miles walk we eventually reached the spot of where the Dotterels area. We had a good search through their spot but we couldn't find any of them until we heard one call, we followed the call but we still couldn't find it. We had been searching for about 20 minutes. In the distance we heard some more calling and then we saw some people looking up onto a hillside and that was where the call was coming from so we went over and soon enough we were enjoying brilliant views of two stunning Dotterel on the hillside, we kept on creeping closer and closer until we were only just a few feet away! It was an absolute amazing experience to get so close to them, their colours are fantastic. It was probably my best birding highlight this year so far!

 

Dotterel

 

Sometimes one of them came to close that I couldn't even get the full bird in the photo, they didn't even seem bothered that we were only a few feet away! After a while we left them in peace and then we went looking for Mountain Hares. We found a fair few, one of them came a little bit closer than the others plus we saw another Dotterel but his one wasn't as showy as the other two but it was still nice to see another one. After that we then came across another Ptarmigan which showed very well sitting up on rocks and then after that we spotted a group of Reindeer up on a hill.

 

Mountain Hare

Ptarmigan

 

Sadly after that we had to go back. Thanks for showing us all the great wildlife Andy!

 

This was an amazing end to my Scotland trip

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 



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