Dr Mark Avery and Andy Wightman MSP will be among the speakers when Boat of Garten Community Hall hosts Hen Harrier Day Highlands on 6 August, organised by Let's Get Mad for Wildlife who are representing Birders Against Wildlife Crime (BAWC) on the day.

BAWC launched Hen Harrier Day in 2014 to raise awareness of the serious persecution suffered by these spectacular birds of prey. Despite full legal protection since the early 1950s, hen harriers remain absent from vast swathes of the UK. They are now almost extinct as a breeding species in England, and parts of eastern and southern Scotland, primarily because of illegal persecution on intensively managed areas of upland grouse moor.

This year's indoor event will consist of talks, stalls to browse and a raffle with fantastic prizes including a DVD signed by Chris Packham and Sir David Attenborough, signed books and an evening in a Highland badger hide for up to 5 people.  The Hen Harrier Day mascot 'Henry' will also be in attendance for photo opportunities.
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As the hall is situated amongst iconic Scottish pinewoods, a walk around Deishar woods to spot the elusive capercaillie, wood ant nests and crested tit is also recommended to round off your visit.
This free event starts at 1pm on Sunday 6th August, so come along, bring a placard and be a part of conservation history!

For further information please contact Andrea Goddard, BAWC, on getmad4wildlife@gmail.comor visit the facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/1880748768809776

​​A couple of years ago I began wondering how many species it was possible to get in a day in the Highlands, I made a few enquiries and it turned out that there had previously been an annual Highland bird race some years ago with several teams taking part and all seemed like jolly good fun.
In 2016 I struggled to rally much enthusiasm to take part mainly due to other birders I knew having work, holiday or family commitments etc. However Peter Stronach and I decided to give it a bash and despite very little preparation and some pretty awful weather on the day we managed a respectable 118 species.

Our bench mark was now set but even more importantly our appetites were wetted. We had really enjoyed the day but knew with a bit more hard work and preparation plus some luck we could improve on that score.
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And so over the last few months we have been recce-ing sites and planning routes in an attempt to streamline and fine tune our attempts on the day. We had laid down a few ground rules last year and we stuck to these being that we were sticking only to the Highland recording area and also that at least two people had to record each species by either seeing or hearing it.

We recruited another couple of members to the car, Sandy Davidson from RSPB Insh Marshes and my wife Kate, who had run a competing bird race team last year with her family but at a more sedate pace including coffee and cake stops, meeting friends for lunch and a leisurely start time but still achieving a substantial 80 plus species.

The weekend dawned and all the essential preparations were made, ensuring cars were in good order and filled up, optics polished and most importantly preparing piles of food! Only one issue, the weather forecast for the planned date, Saturday 27th May included a weather warning for rain across much of Scotland during the afternoon. So we took the decision to postpone to the following day Sunday 28th. The night before the big day the team assembled at Peter's house near Grantown, a few last minute preparations and tweaks to the itinerary and it was off to bed. One final check of the weather forecast revealed to our dismay that the rain which had yet to arrive had now been pushed back to overnight and the early hours of the next morning...
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Alarms were set for 02:45 AM and at 03:15 bird number 1 was added to the list, a woodcock roading over Peter's house. We set off and went to a black grouse lek which could be seen from a road, it was just beginning to get light when we arrived, as the light improved we tried turning dark lumps into black grouse but alas these all turned into clumps of juncus or pheasants. The amount of sheep across the lek site were thought to have put them off. In the half light we still managed to add a number of wader species such as lapwing, curlew and snipe plus, greylag, common gull, cuckoo and a song thrush belting out and a surprise dipper.

An emergency change of plan and we were off to a different lek site, with a brief pause to add a redshank feeding on a roadside pool. Common species including house sparrow, blackbird, robin, woodpigeon and mistle thrush were also ticked off en-route plus the common corvides and a slow drive across Broomhill bridge yielded grey heron, sand martin and goldeneye. The backup lek site didn't let us down and we added some very welcome black grouse as well as red-legged partridge. Nearby we clocked up a good number of species in quick succession near to Nethy Bridge at a variety of habitats, highlights here included crested tit, wigeon, teal, little grebe, crested tit, plus some common finch species. A buzzard near Grantown was our first raptor of the day at about 6:20am and this was shortly followed by tree pipit and starling.

As we headed through Cromdale a grey wagtail on the bridge over the river was a bonus and house martins were also added here, the resident barnacle geese were also ticked off, asking no questions about their credentials...

Along the river Spey near Grantown a common tern and a flyby merganser were something of a surprise but swallow and common sandpiper were more predictable. Next a couple of minutes at Dulnain bridge notched up swift, blue tit and long-tailed tit.
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Redstart, common crossbill and treecreeper were amongst a few other birds found in another local woodland before we moved onto a well known loch for slavonian grebe, as well as this target species we also managed to add reed bunting and moorhen here.

Then it was off to Craigellachie nature reserve at Aviemore, as we turned into the car park at least three ospreys were seen circling over the fish farm. In the nature reserve plenty of spotted flycatchers showed well as well as a pied flycatcher, wood warbler and more common species. The local peregrine also flew in carrying prey.
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Next to scope out Loch Insh where distant tufted ducks, goosanders, mute swans and others were added while a sedge warbler and whitethroat were much closer additions. We continued further up the spey valley via a quick stop in Kingussie  to grab coffees to top up our caffeine levels as we had been on the go about seven hours by this point. Next stop was supposed to be a guaranteed site for kingfisher as Peter had found a nest site and had seen the adults bringing food in regularly just two days prior. Despite spending about an hour here we had no luck, it appeared they had successfully fledged at some point during the previous day and a half...great news for the kingfishers, not so great for us!
 
We began heading back north again, pausing for a brief stop at Insh marshes to tick off Canada goose and a bonus great spotted woodpecker flew over the car park. Alas there was no sign of the reported shoveler. Our next stop was due to be Cairngorm car park to head up the funicular and try and scope out some montane specials plus ring ouzel en route. Unfortunately the low cloud meant that visibility would be appalling from the cafe so this was scrapped from the agenda, saving us some time certainly but with it several species which we wouldn't be able to get elsewhere.
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The risky part of the plan came next by travelling up the A9 from Speyside to the coast in two cars, the lead car had a Jay fly over it and later what was almost certainly a ring ouzel at Slochd. A detour was made to try and bag golden eagle but with no joy, however a few other species were added including ring ouzel seen by all, red kite and stonechat before continuing in convoy to Alturlie.

Here we all got back into one car with Kate now behind the wheel, just as she was pulling off she pointed to a falcon flying overhead saying what's that? A hobby was the answer, it circled around over the firth before heading in land towards Inverness, against the sun but a hobby none the less.

​At the point itself the reported brent goose didn't play ball but a surprise long-tailed duck was a bonus, the eider and shelduck were more predictable as were yellowhammer and ringed plover.
A kestrel on a telegraph post was a drive by tick near Castle Stuart and the summering whooper swan was scoped out on the sea distantly from Ardersier. At Fort George the high tide roost held bar-tiled godwits and knot plus linnet and guillemot also fell here but the resident magpies wouldn't reveal themselves.

Next stop was Whiteness, would the time spent on the long walk there and back be worth it for number of species added? It was 1600hrs already so time was slipping away from us but waders here added dunlin, sanderling and a surprise grey plover whilst other species included sparrowhawk, wheatear, coot and Great-black backed gull at last. Sea watching was unproductive other than a distant flock of kittiwakes.

The farmland species were next, always tricky but we had to give them a try, tree sparrow was straight forward enough but corn bunting, grey partridge and stock dove eluded us although Peter scoped a stock dove which flew before any of the rest of us could get onto it.

We then tried a site on the river Nairn for mandarin which had been very reliable in previous weeks but it wasn't to be on this occasion, to rub salt into our wounds Sandy had a magpie which didn't hang about for anyone else to see.
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After really struggling to find our targets over the last couple of hours and morale starting to drop we desperately needed some new species. A bit of a trek to the far tip of the Black Isle, South Sutor produced the goods, scoping out the seabird cliffs at North Sutor didn't let us down with fulmar, razorbill, shag being added in quick succession as were some pelagic gannets.
  
Despite the tide now being way out and the light beginning to fade a group of pink-footed geese were still hanging about in front of the hide at Udale bay. A visit to the tern colony near Alness added arctic tern plus a more authentic barnacle goose amongst the moulting Canada goose flock meaning we didn't need to feel guilty about the earlier resident birds on our list. Then it was a dash to Merkinch in Inverness to try for a reported gadwall, by this time it was about 2300 and virtually dark and unsurprisingly the gadwall didn't show so with an hour left it was into night mode we went. Young long-eared owls giving their squeaky gate calls were very welcome and would have been a great way to finish at 23:30 but after coming this far we weren't going to give up with half an hour still to go. Back to Alturlie and at four minutes to midnight a water rail made its presence known calling in the moonlight.

As always with bird races we had some very frustrating misses throughout the day and wasted a lot of time on species which just didn't co-operate on the day but I guess it's the unpredictability of birding that helps make it so much fun. We had a number of birds which we just simply ran out of time for and couldn't afford to go to the sites we had for them. These included obviously the montane species on Cairngorm, plus black-throated diver, short-eared owl and whinchat. The biggest dips of the day were as already mentioned mandarin, magpie, kingfisher both eagles and some of the farmland species. Other birds which we just assumed we would pick up along the way but didn't connect with included sandwich tern, grasshopper warbler, raven, lesser-black-backed gull and bullfinch!
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However on the flip side 21 hours birding produced a grand total of 124 species recorded by at least two members of our team. It was a super day and great fun but goes without saying we were all absolutely knackered by the end of it! There were lots of highlights throughout the day but hobby certainly took the prize of best bird. Already thinking about next year's attempt, you never know we may even have some competition...do get in touch if you fancy it!

Written by Jon Clarke

There is a new European Breeding Bird Atlas underway. 

• EBBA2 will cover 5 years of fieldwork in more than 50 European countries, including European part of Russia, Caucasus and Turkey, between 2013 and 2017

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There are some "gaps" in the Highland recording area where levels of recording are below 50% of the expected species. There are currently two areas around Ullapool and near Oban, see maps below.

Just add data for these areas through Birdtrack and this will automatically go towards the atlas, try to record the highest levels of breeding evidence possible.

Peter Stronach

The Highland Records Committee meets annually in January of each year. Following this years meeting amendments have been made to the list of species that require descriptions within the Highland recording area.

Please find below the amendments with the reasoning behind the decision for each species.

The following species to be added to the HRC list:
Egyptian Goose – delegated from SBRC 2017
Glossy Ibis – delegated from SBRC 2017
Ruddy Duck - Category C species with an average of 2.9 record annually in last ten years, only going to decrease given DEFRA cull!.
Spotted Redshank - average of only 0.9 records annually in last ten years.
Bluethroat - average of 0.2 records annually in last ten years.
Ring-necked Parakeet - Category C species that is spreading from southeast England and likely to colonise in the future.
 
The following species to be removed from HRC list:
Black-bellied Dipper -This is a BBRC subspecies 
Tundra Bean Goose – above threshold records per year, note Taiga Bean Goose has been retained.
European White-fronted Goose – above threshold records per year.
Mediterranean Gull - above threshold records per year and rapidly increasing number of records.
Hoopoe - above threshold records per year, 3.1 records annually on average in last ten years.
Yellow-browed Warbler - above threshold records per year, 4.1 on average annually in last ten years and again a species that is rapidly increasing in occurrence.
 
The following amendments to be made to species currently on the HRC list:
Long-tailed Skuas - now includes immatures as well as juveniles requiring descriptions.
Garganey – both males and females now require descriptions.
Surf Scoter – both males and females now require descriptions.
Spotted Crake – all records now require a description or sound recording!.

The following species will have their status reviewed next year (Smew, Red-necked Grebe, Turtle Dove, Lesser Whitethroat, Nuthatch, Hawfinch) along with any others falling above or below annual threshold figures. All changes are effective from the start of 2017.

The updated list is on the Highland Birds website here and on the main SOC Highland page here.

​PETER STRONACH

Leader: Peter Gordon.
 
A small but enthusiastic group met up with Peter at about 10:45 by Burghead harbour in pleasant weather with a promise of spring.

Highlights at the harbour were a line of about 30 turnstones on the wall together with a cluster of redshanks. Several cormorants and a shag were perched on various structures, and a mixed group of male, female and young eider floated offshore. Other sightings were of rock pipits, robin, pied wagtail, sparrow, goldfinch and common and black backed gulls.

A stroll along the cliffs gave us linnets and yellowhammers on the gorse, whilst at sea were guillemots, razorbill, a pair of mergansers, goldeneye, gannets and 3 common scoters.

Later we had good views of bar-tailed godwit, curlew, a large raft of herring gull, a lone fulmar and a welcome skylark. Turning back towards the harbour a pair of stonechats in bright plumage kept us entertained as they explored the rocky shore.

After lunch we drove on to Lossiemouth which had its usual high numbers of gulls, waders, teal and wigeon. Despite the disturbance caused by an enthusiastic dog which was by turn both entertaining and exasperating, redshank, curlew, 2 knots, oystercatchers and a handsome heron were spotted.              

​THEN CONTROVERSY!  Amongst large numbers of black headed , lesser black backed and herring gulls was a single Iceland gull and a gull with yellow legs, otherwise similar to the herring gulls. A long period of observation and recourse to the book convinced some of us that it was indeed a yellow-legged gull, not just a herring gull with yellow legs.

Abandoning the debate, without final conclusion, we continued to Loch Spynie. Here the heronry was active, and amongst the woodland were great and long-tailed tits, goldfinch, wren, chaffinch and woodpigeon. The loch itself yielded scaup, tufted duck, little grebe, coot, moorhen, mute swan, and mallards, with reed bunting on the margin.

The day ended on a high note, returning to the car park, with the water rail heard, and a wood cock shooting across the path. Many thanks to Peter for a thoroughly enjoyable day.

DAVID BONNIFACE

Calling all young birders in the Highland region, some exciting news!!!.

There is a training course being held on the Isle of May this year, just for you!. To find out more visit the SOC website here.

​If you aren't a young birder, but know of someone you think will be interested please let them know!.

Below is a table showing the arrival times of spring migrants over the last ten years 2004-2014, all data taken from Highland Bird Reports. The earliest records are highlighted in yellow. There are several species which have wintered in the area (Whimbrel, Common Sandpiper, Blackcap and Chiffchaff), in certain years.

​The recent House Martin record on Eigg on the 14th March 2017 was a full ten days earlier than the previous earliest record!.

PETER STRONACH

Two of the younger "nextgen" members of the Highland SOC have recently been on birding trip abroad. They headed east, past Loch Flemington, past Nairn, past even Forres and kept going...

You can read about their trip below:

​A fine, bright, but breezy day brought 15 local SOC members out in a search for Eagles up Strathconon way. The meeting place was Marybank, but the intended scan of the flood plain for swans and geese was thwarted by some lingering mist. The sharp sighting of a Great Spotted Woodpecker and the languid song of a Mistle Thrush in the village trees were the highlights of this site, before the party set off in five cars, one more than necessary as one member needed to leave sooner than the others. An initial diversion to Loch Kinellan and Kinellan ponds served to delay the arrival in Strathconon until the optimum time for soaring Eagles and to widen the range of species seen in the day. A couple of Bramblings and two Yellowhammers in the avenue of tall trees were well-received additions to the expected waterfowl; Moorhen, Coot, Tufted Duck, Mallard, Teal and Goldeneye.
 
The approach to Strathconon via Loch Achilty brought some brief sightings from the cars which not everybody saw; Jay, Red Kite sitting on a tree, Little Grebe diving near the loch shore and Goosander on a small island, but numerous Fieldfares in the roadside fields plus less obvious numbers of Redwing and Mistle Thrush were visible to all. On the drive up Strathconon past the village hall, a pair of raptors flying out of the sun raised a frisson of anticipation, but they turned out to be Buzzards. So the party settled to a tranquil lunch at the prime site at a junction of glens, scanning and peering all the while into the far horizons and over the nearby peaks, all well-lit in the late-winter sunlight. The atmosphere was reminiscent of some bygone Antonioni film as the odd Raven was spotted and an unidentified Falcon followed a Buzzard across the glen, but the combined efforts of 30 eyes failed to find a single Eagle.
 
Eventually it was agreed to proceed to the head of the glen, in the hope of better luck. An almost expected pair of Whooper Swans in the loch before Scardroy drifted in and out of invisibility as they merged into the sun-dappled ripples whipped up by the strengthening wind. The party was now on foot heading for the lodge and the member who had a pressing engagement elsewhere was within 20 seconds of departure when a pair of Ravens at last obliged by chasing a Golden Eagle, with much squawking, over our heads and across the glen. Soon after, a noisy party of 5-9 Common Crossbills flitted in the treetops by the lodge, stopping long enough for both sexes to be clearly seen. Now that the duck had been broken Golden Eagles appeared at will. One was seen while driving down the glen and a further pause at the lunch venue was rewarded by long and languid viewing of three birds as they approached from the clouds away back in the side glen and soared and wheeled around and eventually behind the roadside peaks. A contented drive homeward down the glen ended a day in which a total of 45 species noted was considered not bad for inland birdwatching at this time of year..

​ALEX JOSS