Scotland 2014 Outer Hebrides & the Highlands

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Scotland 2014 Outer Hebrides & the Highlands Scotland 2014 Outer Hebrides & the Highlands 22 May – 7 June 2014 St Kilda Wren, Hirta, St Kilda, Scotland, 30 May 2014 (© Vincent van der Spek) Vincent van der Spek, July 2014 1 highlights Red Grouse (20), Ptarmigan (4-5), Black Grouse (5), American Wigeon (1), Long- tailed Duck (5), three divers in summer plumage: Great Northern (c. 25), Red- throated (dozens) and Black-throated (1), Slavonian Grebe (1), 10.000s of Gannets and 1000s of Fulmars, Red Kite (5), Osprey (2 different nests), White-tailed Eagle (8), Golden Eagle (1), Merlin (2), Corncrake (2), the common Arctic waders in breeding habitat, Dotterel (1), Pectoral Sandpiper (1), sum plum Red-necked Phalarope (2), Great Skua (c. 125), Glaucous Gull (1), Puffin (c. 20.000), Short- eared Owl (1), Rock Dove (many), St Kilda Wren (8), other ssp. from the British Isles (incl. Wren Dunnock and Song Thrush from the Hebrides), Ring Ouzel (4), Scottish Crossbill (9), Snow Bunting (2), Risso’s Dolphin (4), Otter (1). missed species Capercaillie, ‘Irish’ Dipper ssp. hibernicus, the hoped for passage of Long-tailed and Pomarine Skuas, Midgets. Ptarmigan, male, Cairn Gorm, Highlands, Scotland, 3 June 2014 (© Vincent van der Spek) 2 introduction Keete suggested Scotland as a holiday destination several times in the past, so after I dragged her to many tropical destinations instead it was about time we went to the northern part of the British Isles. And I was not to be disappointed! Scotland really is a beautiful place, with great people. Both on the isles, with its wild and sometimes desolate vibe and very friendly folks and in the highlands, there seemed to be a stunning view behind every stunning view. This was a family holiday, so I mainly focussed on finding the country’s specialties during a few very productive days that I went out birding alone. Additional birding was done during family events that often took place in wonderful areas with good birds. I succeeded very well in my attempt to see the specialities, as I managed to find all of my targets except Capercaillie – a bird I did not really expect to see anyway (one can always hope!). My target list was not only based on potential new birds (Capercaillie, Ptarmigan and Scottish Crossbill), but also on the endemic subspecies of the British Isles, as I’d only seen a few of these on trips to England and Ireland. An overview of all endemic subspecies can be found in this online Bird Watch article. Furthermore I really wanted to see several species that only migrate or winter in Holland in their breeding habitat. I very much enjoyed displaying Dunlins and singing Golden Plovers on the moors! Last but not least visiting St Kilda was a childhood dream come true. itinerary We both wanted to visit the coast and the highlands. The Outer Hebrides is an excellent place for birding late spring in a beautiful coastal setting. Most birders head for Benbecula and North and South Uist, but we decided to go to Lewis and Harris instead, because this gave me the opportunity to visit St Kilda. We stayed in a cottage in Tolsta Chaolais on the west coast of Lewis for a week. We spent the second week in a cottage in Newtonmore in the Cairngorms NP. The highland specialties can be found in other parts of the country as well, but since most info on where to find them comes from this area, I decided to make things easy on myself. 22 May Flight Amsterdam – Edinburgh; night in Edinburgh 23 May Edinburgh – Inverness; night in Inverness 24 May Inverness – Ullapool (lunch at RSPB Tollie Red Kite); ferry Ullapool – Stornoway (Lewis); ride Stornoway – Tolsta Chaolais Outer Hebrides: 25 May Lewis: surroundings of Tolsta Chaolais and Callanish 26 May Lewis: Loch na Muilne (RSPB Reserve); Dalmore (Dail Mor); Stornoway castle park; Tiumpan Head 27 May Harris: Ballalan, Tarbert, Laxdale River; Taransey Sound 3 28 May Lewis: Loch na Muilne (RSPB Reserve); Stornoway castle; Tiumpan Head 29 May Lewis: Port of Ness and surroundings 30 May St Kilda (Scottish National Trust Reserve), incl. drive Tolsta – Leverburgh on Harris to take the boat. 31 May Tolsta – Stornoway; Stornoway – Ullapool ferry; drive Ullapool – Newtonmore Highlands: 1 June Loch Garten/ Abernethy forest (RSPB Reserve); Insh Marshes (RSPB Reserve) 2 June Loch Garten/ Abernethy forest (RSPB Reserve) 3 June Rothiemurchus; Loch Morlich; Glenmore Forest Park; Cairn Gorm mountain 4 June Loch Morlich, parking lot Cairn Gorm mountain; Newtonmore 5 June Lochindorb; Newtonmore 6 June Abernethy (RSPB Reserve), Loch Ruthven (RSPB Reserve), grouse moors between Farr and Tomatin; Loch an Eileen 7 June Newtonmore – Edinburgh airport; flight Edinburgh - Amsterdam 4 Northern Fulmar, Hirta, St Kilda, Scotland, 30 May 2014 (© Vincent van der Spek) timing The end of May and the beginning of June is a very good time to visit these areas. All breeding birds have arrived and are often in their best plumage, in full song and/or displaying, it’s a good time for seabirds and there’s still migration going on. Especially on the Outer Hebrides anything can turn up anywhere! I hoped for some Pomarine and Long-tailed Skua passage, but the wind blew from the east instead of the west. It’s too late in the season to see lekking Capercaillie. The RSPB organizes so called Caperwatches in Abernethy earlier in the season; officially they run to 31 May, but this year, so I was told by an RSPB-employee, they stopped earlier due to inactivity of the birds. logistics I arranged everything myself, mostly in advance. We flew KLM for € 184, - per person. The nights in Edinburgh and Inverness were both booked at the Premier Inn I booked a type C (a Ford, as it turned out) Hertz car in advance for 17 days for € 507,- Prices and availability of the cottage (Taigh Bhe) on Lewis can be found at: http://www.taighbhe.com/ 5 For the one in Newtonmore, see: http://www.newtonmoreholidaycottage.co.uk/ The Ullapool-Stornoway (Lewis) ferry was booked at http://www.calmac.co.uk/ (€ 165,-). The trip to St Kilda was booked at Sea Harris, a company I certainly recommend http://www.seaharris.co.uk/ (€ 220,-). Red Grouse, female, grouse moor between Farr and Tomatin, Scotland, 6 June 2014 (© Vincent van der Spek) weather There you have it. Typical Scottish weather. We needed a lot of… sunscreen! There were a few showers (nothing too serious) on the first three and the last three days (with some serious rain during one evening and night), but on the other eleven days we had no rain at all. The trip started off a bit windy, but in the second part of the week on Lewis the wind eased down. During my trip to St Kilda there was absolutely no wind at all, which is a very rare on the Atlantic. Though some days were overcast, we witnessed a lot of sunshine. Temperatures during the day were between 13 and 21 °C. No complaints about the weather! 6 Great Skuas, Hirta, St Kilda, Scotland, 30 May 2014 (© Vincent van der Spek) site descriptions Instead of adding a map with the sites visited, I added links to some of my sightings which indicate the spots far more accurately. Outer Hebrides Any foreigner will say that Lewis and Harris are one and the same island and geographically that’s true. They are however historically treated as two different areas. For recent sightings on the Outer Hebrides check Western Isles Wildlife maintained by Steve Duffield. Lewis Stornoway and surroundings (24, 26, 28 and 31 May) Stornoway is the largest settlement on the island. The harbour is a good place for gulls, though I couldn’t find any white wingers. I did see a Black Guillemot when we arrived with the ferry. Stornoway Castle has a large, lovely old park with big trees. Safe a few small pine forests, this is the only forested area on the island. It even has an heronry and a rookery. The endemic island subspecies of Wren and Dunnock can be seen here. North of Stornoway and immediately east of the airport (Corncrakes breed there, or at least did in the past) I visited the peninsular. On the smallest point, along the A866 there’s a small loch: Loch Braigh na h-Aoidhe (when I try to pronounce this, it sound Arabic rather than Gaelic!). This is a busy road, but there are two laybys. A scope is necessary. I was surprised to find five Long-tailed Ducks there this late in the season. The Tiumpan Head is on the far end of the peninsular and this is a good area for sea watching. Fulmars breed on the cliffs. 7 Callanish, Lewis, 25 May 2014 (© Vincent van der Spek) Loch na Muilne (26 and 28 May) Loch na Muilne is the only place on Lewis and Harris where Red-necked Phalaropes are known to breed. It’s situated behind the Black House museum in Arnol. Both the museum and the RSPB Reserve are clearly signposted along the A858. More about the reserve can be found on this page of the RSPB website. This is the exact spot where I saw two phalaropes. It’s a pleasant walk from the road to the viewing ‘platform’. To not disturb any breeding birds, it’s probably best if you view the birds from there and not from the edge of the loch. The phalaropes arrive in the second half of May. This year the first sighting was on 20 May, when no less than six birds were reported. Sure enough, there’s quite some vegetation in the loch, more than in most others, the area is uncultivated and there’s hardly any disturbance, but I couldn’t exactly tell what makes this loch so special for the phalaropes.
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