anyway I thought a list of birds seen or heard along the loch and on the hill would mark the day;

cuckoo, oyster catcher, curlew, meadow pipit, pied wagtail, common sandpiper, twite, ring ouzel, red kite, buzzard, peregrine, raven, canada goose, mallard, widgeon, common gull, red grouse, willow warbler, wheatear, stonechat, wren.

and non bird stuff, common lizard, a primrose growing within rank heather, grass of parnasuss, quite at lot when you get your eye in, I was looking at my feet quite a lot !! very pale dog violet in patches. A fox barking, not the usual fox bark/yelp, but I know most common bird calls and although Ravens (and all crows) make numerous noises this to me was a mammal. And of course hares now in summer coats.

Well she made me proud despite chasing a lamb beside Loch Turret earlier and with the odd frustratated whimper Oreo fought her way through and over heather 3 times the height of her. Dad also had to fight his way through bushy heather, having lankier legs and being half Dad’s age I had an easier time of it.

After the heather battle it was the summit slog; I say slog but the views were brilliant, with the weather on our side. I think I was just a bit hungry and wanted to get to the top and munch on my “surprise” of roast lamb.

I agree with Dad that it is a fairly easy munro in the terms of steepness of climb (the steepest bit being at the heather battle) but its quite a walk in and the route we ended taking back made me use muscles I’ve not used for a while. Overall the climb up is fairly easy.

Anyway as we grew closer to the top and inevitable cairn it got colder and windier. I stopped to put my jacket on and put Oreo’s wee jacket on too, as I did this I broke out the Soreen and tore of pieces for Oreo while Dad and I munched chunks of our own. Oreo loves Soreen, well don’t we all and it helped us boost up to the top. We found what little shelter there was in the shadow of the cairn, which looks as if it used to be more of a rock igloo at some point in its existence. In the chilling, strong wind we ate the lamb, sandwiches, tomatoes and a nicely spicy raw chillie! Wee Oreo ate as much as wee did almost but was suffering from the cold more than us. I tucked her in my jacket to give her a bit of warmth as we ate but as she was damp underneath the wind must have been uncomfortable for her. After taking some rushed pictures and getting a second wind after our munch we decided to descend (see the ice on the post, snow and cairn shots below).

As I alluded to earlier in this post we took a different route down and in the process skirted another peak, I found it quite difficult to walk along the hill as walking at an angle uses different muscles as your legs and ankles twist and slip. Also by this point the weather had turned as it so often does and we were enjoying an icy cold drizzle. It turned out that we should have just braved the other peak (it may have been an easier walk anyway) because as we emerged over a crest to finally get a view of our destination we found ourself at the brink of a rather dangerous sheer drop. It could have been a different story with heavy fog but thankfully there wasn’t and we walked the edge before finding a point to go down.

With all the twisting and flexing my boots were beginning to really hurt my feet and I was wishing I’d worn thicker socks. Any time we stopped for a drink, a breath or a photo Oreo would voice her displeasure. She was obviously cold and wanted the comfort of a warm lap to sleep on, I fed her some more Soreen to keep her strength up.

We got back to a proper path and had a gentle/blissful stroll back to the car passing some “geo-cachers” looking for hidden treasures.

Although not a bird watcher its always cool to see birds of prey; a red kite (quite close too), a peregrine and the ubiquitous buzzard. Overall I think Dad is right it isn’t the hardest Munro I’ve ever done but I don’t think its the easiest either! At least now I can call the dog MunrOreo.

I took a few half descent pics on the way but still have to read up on how to “really” use the Canon EOS, see below:

So, I very well know that birds have accents from various studies, the RSPB conceded the Scottish crossbill is a separate species from it’s song, lots of birds mimic other birds and other noises too. Birds sometimes don’t sing all of their song, I remember walking around Krakow and hearing the magpies, same calls but slightly different. This wren’s song had phrases similar but the whole song (if it was) was most unlike a mainland bird. This raises lots of questions, was this a Shetland wren? perhaps a St Kilda wren, a known sub-species? are Shetland wrens becoming a sub-species? I need to plunder the knowledge within the Shetland bird club.

[View with PicLens]

The photos are labelled, there are fields of marsh marigold in Shetland with sprinklings of primroses, the oyster catcher is nesting 3/4m from the access road into the SGP site, I have never seen so many oyster catchers and indeed curlews as on Shetland. The diver was on Loch of Tingwall so were the whoopers, but I had to swing the van in reverse down a field entrance to get the whoopers, they had the last laugh (whoop) because there the van stayed for 40 minutes till a passing motorist pulled me from the too loose subbase. The ringed plover was also pictured from the van and is nesting near the Sella Ness camp. Still have not seen a swallow on the Shetlands, but inevitably the sea swallows are now returning.

Was watching on station by 8.30 am, on the 22/4/12,  female Osprey on eyrie, male nearby but not on sentinel position. Four clamouring Jays fly by making a grunting noise, not the usual “someone is being murdered in the woods” noise. Song thrush is the dominate singer, chiffchaffs and chaffinches  the chorus, wrens the sopranos.

The pics are the male osprey at about 10.00 am, showing off his now revealed yellow ring on his right leg, while clasping a large (trout?), I could see the female on the nest cup making begging noises, while the male was nearby beginning at the head of his (or a private ponds) trout. I wondered if she would leave the nest cup and he would immediately offer the catch, as happened with the flounder before, did not have long to wait, but the result was different. She did get off the nest cup and vigorously went for a carrion crow hidden from my view, and I don’t mean chase, I mean try to injure, a very determined attack with the crow equally re-attacking/defending, there was only ever to be one winner and the crow beat a retreat. The male Osprey stopped feeding and watched the whole murder intended chase, she returned to the eyrie and settled back on the eggs, he resumed feeding. I went harrier hunting.

The other pics are Shelduck, this time 12 of them! at least 4 males in good natured rivalry. Why some are on the wall and facing away from the others, defeats me. they did all fly off together accompanied by that laughing call the females make. Surely it’s to early for these birds to be unpaired for the season ahead? The wood pigeon is in my garden and is more attracted to the food than has fear of me.

On the estuary a single female marsh harrier, without wing tags, was nest building, saw her put nesting material down in the same spot three times, then I thought she was off hunting, she did something I have never witnessed before, she climbed in height and circled and climbed and circled all the while moving down the estuary. I watched till she was a thin black pencil line on the grey cumulus. No other harriers around. (I witnessed an almost exact repeat of this on the 23/4/12.) Hopefully when a male appears she will use the same nest site, as I am off to the Shetlands for 20 days just at this crucial time to spot the nesting site. I have never seen a harrier attack a buzzard before, this one did, the buzzard was upside down at one point presenting talons in this mid air battle. The buzzard was no match for the aerial harrier who left the scene with jaunty flight, my scope in pursuit.

Still not seen or heard another Swallow, but did hear and see a male blackcap after a 20 minute skulk  through the woods to positively make sure. That’s the benefit of knowing birdsong, perhaps I will remember it’s song next time, or more like it next year. A skein of about 100 geese flew over Dundee heading North.

Picture of this years Male osprey clearly showing a ring on left leg and clutching a flatfish, taken on Osprey diary 2012, 1 but I thought the camera didn’t work as the batteries gave out during the shot. This week, Ospreys doing nought but being alert, I was there a few days  ago and just as I pitched up the female rose off the eyrie and the male soon joined her. My first thought was human interference, and not me, but scanning around there was nobody. They both settled again and I spotted the culprit, a third Osprey flying low downriver.

My other pics from this week are a Fallow Stag and Shelduck. The Fallow was giving a bellow now and then, I could not hear it but the posture was obvious, he has a damaged right antler and I wondered how that could have happened when another Stag appeared, thought I was in for some action but the beasts were content in each others company, there is a much smaller white fallow around, similar to the one I saw two years ago, white as a sheep. Missing from the Shelduck pic is another male to the left, being kept at a distance by the male in the pic. Both males were extending their necks and whistling, however I could not hear due to a song thrush giving it max  from a tree nearby. Chiffchaffs been here for more than a week, still only seen a solitary swallow, no geese evident in skeins or on the estuary. When the shelduck landed some 200m away so did oyster catchers, so I was treated to a great piping display which I could definitely hear!

Next day I was on station about 10.30 am and she was sitting and he was doing his sentinel from the highest tree nearby. Knowing this situation could remain for hours if she had already been fed, I went big tree scanning again, chiffchaffs were giving it plenty in the warm sunshine, as was a song thrush, a buzzard objected strongly to me being around then went quiet after a loud mewing flight over my head. I returned after an hour, I had heard the Osprey calling for fish as the air was very still, so was glad to see he had vacated the sentinel post and presumably was off fishing. He was, he returned with a largish flat fish and stood nearby the eyrie and began eating at the head, he only had a couple of bites when she came of the nest cup, he immediately flew to the eyrie rim and disentangled the flat fish form his talon and she was off with it to a fence post and remained there for 40 mins and ate the flesh of the whole fish. He was seemingly content on the eggs and she flew back to his sentinel post and stayed there. I wanted to see how the cross over from male to female would happen but she was happy to stay perched in the sunshine. during this long watch when cloud cover diminished the heat haze I noted he has a ring on his left leg and she has no rings. I believe I am watching the same female Osprey as last year, this is a new male as last year the male had no rings. I am of course confident I am not mixing up the sexes.

In flower noticed lady’s smock, dog violet, lesser celandine, dead nettle, primroses, dandelion and cherry trees. Greylags and Pinkfeet still around.

PART 2

I had not intended to wait a year as per Ian’s comment for Part 2, but somehow here we are a year on!!

We stayed for four days at Bird safari Camp in our en-suite tent along with a number of other travellers wanting to escape the Christmas hype and do some birding instead.  The camp was everything that we had hoped for with wonderful friendly staff, fantastic food all overseen by the boss lady Binta.

Mornings were spent on early walks at 7am with our guide Lamin who was expertly knowledgeable on all of the birds by sight and sound.  A number of good species were viewed including Pearl Spotted Owlet, Verreaux’s Eagle Owl, Shikra, Grey Kestrel, Lizzard Buzzard, Yellow Crowned Gonolek and Grey Backed Camaroptera.  From the Bird Safari Camp we made a couple of outings by boat and by road.  One of these outings was an afternoon boat trip on the Gambia River where we had some superb views of numerous kingfishers including Grey Headed Kingfisher, Malechite Kingfisher and Blue Breasted Kingfisher.  Views of Chimpanzee and Baboon on some of the islands in the river were also had along with some glimpses of Hippo – thankfully not too close as our boat was not particularly big!

Another afternoon trip was to Bansang Quarry where a colony of Red Throated Bee-Eaters nested.  In addition to the bee-eaters we had some good views of Pygmy Sunbirds, White Backed Vulture, Vielliot’s Barbet and Cutthroat Finch – a great we bird with a scarlet throat as the name indicates.

After our four days at bird safari camp we headed back down river on Christmas day via the Wasu stone circles; a quick stop at some wetland ponds by the roadside allowed us some good views of Egyptian Plover, one of the birds that I had particularly wanted to see on the trip.  We arrived at our lodgings for the night at Tendaba camp where we were given our Christmas dinner – I opted for the wild boar rather than turkey!

The next morning we had an early start with a canoe trip into the mangroves of the Baobolong Wetland Reserve, which is Gambia’s largest protected area and an important RAMSAR site.  Slipping quietly through the mangrove channels afforded some fantastic close views of some great birds including Pink Backed Pelican, African Darter, African Finfoot and White Backed Night Heron; the latter two which our guide told us we were lucky to see as they were generally elusive.

After Tendaba we headed back the coast where we stayed for two nights at Footsteps Eco Lodge (www.footstepsgambia.com/).  These last two days were spent relaxing and a couple of birding walks which added a few more new species including Red Necked Falcon, Orange Cheeked Waxbill and Sulphur Breasted Wood Shrike.

I have just returned from an eleven day birding trip in Ghana with Ashanti African Tours (www.ashantiafricantours.com).  The eleven days were fully packed with birding and travelling the significant distances between the main birding sites.  On arrival on Saturday night at Kotoka International Airport in Accra I was met by my two guides for the 11 days and transferred to our hotel at around 11pm.  After checking in, the guides informed me that breakfast the next day was at 4.30am, leaving the hotel at 5am; this was the case for the remainder of the trip except for a couple of days where we had a long lie, with breakfast at 5am!

The first morning was spent in the dry savannah of Shai Hills Reserve, where  a number of good species were spotted including Flappet Lark, Croaking Cisticola, Vieillot’s Barbet, Gabar Goshawk and Bearded Barbet.  After lunch we headed for some coastal lagoons where numerous waders were observed.  The highlight of this visit, being a Lanner Falcon feeding on an unfortunate Black Winged Stilt, and good views of three Double Toothed Barbets.

Three nights were spent close to Kakum National Park.  The first day at the park was spent with an early morning and afternoon trip to the canopy walkway which is suspended from trees some 40m above ground level.  The walkway is the only one if it’s kind in Africa and is an extremely impressive construction consisting of a number of aluminium ladders bolted together, wooden planks, cargo nets, ropes and steel wires.  The walkway allows fantastic views of birds that spend their time in the canopy and are otherwise extremely difficult to see.  An extremely enjoyable few hours were had in the canopy where I had some good views of more than 50 new species including Pied Hornbill, Blue Cuckooshrike and Sharpe’s Apalis.

Days 3 and 4 were spent on different walks within the forest in and around the Kakum National Park with many more new species viewed including Speckled Tinkerbird, White Throated Bee-eater, Tit Hylia and Rosy Bee-eater.

After Kakum we moved further west stopping at Nsuta forest for evening and early morning walk enjoying good views of Vieillot’s Black Weaver, White Headed Woodhoopoe, Bristle Nosed Barbet , Long Tailed Hawk and Hairy Breasted Barbet.  As darkness fell on the evening walk we tried for the Akun Eagle Owl but to no avail.

Onwards to Ankasa rainforest, again for an evening and early morning walk with further new species added to the triplist; Blue Breasted Kingfisher, White Breasted Kingfisher and African Cuckoohawk were notable.  The elusive Nkulengu Rail was heard but was unfortunately did not show; the Akun Eagle Owl also proved elusive at Ankasa.

We headed back east and spent another night at Kakum.  An early morning walk at the north of the park gave good views of African Harrier Hawk, Blue Billed Malimbe, Blue Headed Crested Flycatcher and Congo Serpent Eagle.

Northwards, we headed to Kasumi, Ghana’s second largest city and spent the night on the outskirts.  An early start and off to the Bobiri Forest Reserve (a butterfly sanctuary).  The afternoon was dedicated to a visit to a site where the Yellow Headed Picathartes roosts.  The site is an hour walk into the rainforest to a rocky outcrop that these birds favour as a nest and roost site.  As we arrived the mud nests were evident on the rock face.  The plan to see these very elusive birds was to sit quietly at one side of the rock outcrop and await the return of the birds to roost; this is the only way to see these birds – our very experienced guides had never seen these birds anywhere other than at the roost.  We waited from 3pm and then at approx 5.15pm a single bird flew in and perched within 5m of our spot seemingly unperturbed by our presence.  The bird stayed for a few minutes and then flew into the canopy above; this was our signal to leave the roost site to allow the others to return in peace.

On from the Pacathartes site we spent an evening and morning at Atewa, following which we headed east over the Volta river to our final birding location, the Kalapa Resource Reserve ( a dry savannah habitat).  As with each of the sites that we had visited, we had some fantastic views of great birds.  Good views at this site included African Wood Owl, African Scops Owl, Long Tailed Nightjar and Black Shouldered Nightjar on the evening walk.  The following morning, our last birding, gave good views of 25+European Bee-eaters and Yellow Rumped Tinkerbird, amongst many.  After lunch we headed back to the airport where we had our final group meal and did a final count; a total of 290 species for the trip with in excess of 160 new species for me.  A very packed trip but all round enjoyable.