Sadly the star of the show arrived before the group!  We planned to meet at 9.15 but around 9 am  a White-tailed Eagle flew east over Udale Bay heading towards Cromarty! I could see  that something was disturbing the waders and gulls and thought it must be a marauding peregrine, little did I suspect it would be a White-tailed Eagle. When the group arrived they were suitably sceptical of my sighting.
 
We started at Udale Bay looking though the waders and gulls. A sharp shower meant we had to shelter in the hide for a short time. The usual suspects were seen on the bay: curlew, lapwing, redshank, ringed plover, dunlin and knot as well mallard, wigeon, teal and shelduck but nothing untoward. We then moved along to the car park east of Jemimaville, where we saw scaup, long-tailed duck, a single Slavonian grebe and a single red-throated diver.
 
In the fields next to Kirkmichael we had a flock of pink-footed geese together with two barnacle geese. Walking down the hedge lined road towards Balblair we had flocks of yellowhammers and linnets as well a single brambling with chaffinches near the houses.
 
At the point at Balblair we had cormorant, a guillemot offshore and a  great northern diver flying into the firth.
 
On our way home we stopped at Rosemarkie where we had an astonishing 39 light-bellied Brent geese and a grey wagtail.
 
A very enjoyable outing with great company.
 
Number of species seen: 64
Number of observers: 6
 
Alister Clunas

​The annual SOC Highland Birdrace happened on Saturday 15th January 2022. 15 teams took part this year and all 43 birders had a good day out in various parts of Highland ranging from Badenoch & Strathspey, Inverness area, Easter Ross, the Black Isle, Sutherland and Wester Ross, including the Isle of Rum and even an enterprising team on the Calmac ferry crossing from Mallaig to Eigg. The weather was fairly kind although the light did seem to disappear quickly in the afternoon.

​The day got off to a flying start on Rum where Sean and Ali Morris, Team Rum, keenly went out at 6.30am, before breakfast, to spot Snipe, Woodcock and Jack Snipe by torchlight.

​​Some great birds were seen, including a Ring-necked Duck at Loch Kinellan. Photo Oscar Puls

 Green-winged Teal at Tain Links (left) and Mandarin Duck at Garve  (right) (Oscar Puls)

Team Guttersnipe at Insh Marshes Lookout.

Lords of the Wings, the winning team of young birders Mathew Broadbent and Oscar Puls, saw or heard an impressive 92 species during the race, which beat the previous 2018 total of 86 species. The total birds for the day was 127 which again beats the 2018 total of 116.         SOC Highland Winter Bird Race 2022 Total birds.docx
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As the light faded, oil rigs in the Cromarty Firth lit up spectacularly.
Sue Sykes

The day was concluded over a friendly online get-together where stories were shared and winners announced.
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Best Team name – The Bearded Tits
Most birds per mile travelled – Team Rum
Best Bird – Jack Snipe – Team Rum                  
Worst Dip of the Day – Great Tit – The Loch Long Loons
A great day out!
​
Carol Miller

Not exactly a Beginners’ Walk – more a walk for those who wanted to learn more about the calls, the jizz of commoner birds and glean some tips to make them easier to recognise as they fly off into the distance.


The walk began with excellent close views of five roe deer grazing near Broomhill Station and very quickly we were picking up our first birds – several greenfinches, then a family of house sparrows, a reed bunting and a distant yellow hammer. On a bit and there was a splendid male yellowhammer in full view with a female nearby for useful comparison. A common buzzard was overhead and we picked out some distant greylag geese as well as a pheasant or three, then, whizz, a small male sparrowhawk low down over our path.

There were coal tits a plenty in the pines but no goldcrests today, so on to the end of the first stretch of the Speyside Way. We walked up past the farm where, sure enough and right on cue was a flock of some 200 finches nearly all of which were brambling – a first for one of us and we did get some really good views. By now we were very cold indeed but had to stay put as another, very mobile, flock came into view swirling around over the field and into the trees – the linnets. Our patience was rewarded when they swirled again and came down in the seed heads and, yes, there were a few twites with them.

 
Café and hot soup next – very welcome as we thawed out before going on into Dell Woods where blue, great and coal tits were helpfully feeding together giving us a chance to look at the size differential. The female woodpecker obligingly came down to look at us but it seemed that we weren’t to get lucky with a crested tit – another lifer for one of us. However, again, patience is the name of the game and, before dusk fell, there he was in all his subtle crested glory, busy with the peanuts before going to roost for the night.  
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Because there were only the three of us we had some interesting conversation too, ranging from reintroductions and rewilding - to species of snakes and fungi – to the iniquities of some drivers and so-called wild campers! Only 27 species but a thoroughly good day! Why don't you join us and improve your birding skills in friendly company?

Sue Sykes

A late decision was made to meet at Udale at 0930  instead of North Kessock, due to tides and possibly rain.  It was a good decision as the tide was already rising and birds gradually being pushed up as we arrived. With eight in the party there were plenty of eyes to spot species of duck, waders, gulls and geese.  Lapwing, oystercatcher, godwit (both species), knot, redshank, dunlin, shelduck, wigeon, teal and mallard all took flight but a raptor could not be spotted.   A noted absence was  grey heron although this was offset by a little egret flying in. A hybrid American wigeon was spotted.  A single whitefront was grazing with pinkfeet in a field of cattle, and a lone and very distant barnacle was seen.   The carpark was soon overflowing as we were joined by vehicles and bird watchers from the Grant Arms Hotel led by John Poyner.  We moved on to Ivy Cottage, Jemimaville carpark for a coffee stop whilst viewing good numbers of scaup, a few eider,  a couple of long-tailed duck and slav grebes; and Alex spotted an elusive red-throated diver.  We returned towards Rosemarkie stopping briefly in search of finches but the fierce wind had frightened them off.  Alex rejoined us with tales of the diver giving him excellent views!

We then visited the land of Arabella Croft, Hill of Fortrose to pick up a good flock of mixed siskins and goldfinches. Three species of tits were on the fat balls and a walk in the woodland turned up  goldcrest, robin, treecreeper, redpoll with redwing and blackbirds gobbling up rowan berries..   A jay and bullfinch were heard and whilst we ate lunch two red kite flew over.

We then moved on to a very windy and damp Chanonry Point where gannets, shag, cormorant, and guillemot were added to our tally. Finally we reached  Avoch seafront after a detour via country lanes as the road was blocked.  I later learned this was a fallen tree.   The light was falling but, at last, we found a grey heron and on the road home a white pheasant with a female brown one were noted.
 
Notable ‘misses’  turnstone, collared dove, starling, linnet, red-breasted merganser.
 
Total number of species:  67

Mary Galloway

​With 13 attending the trip and the weather decidedly mixed and cold, the omens weren’t exactly favourable, but we all made the Arabella rendezvous in good spirits, Sparrowhawk already seen, though no swans or geese in the fields.  The first arranged stop was at Nigg ferry where the waters were very choppy and some of the hoped-for grebes and sea duck were distinctly missing. However, Red Kites, Buzzards and a Raven all hung up above the cliffs in the wind and Razorbill and a few Gannets on the water were claimed quickly.  A nearby walk to the beach for passerines produced very little, so it was off to the RSPB Nigg Bay hide as high tide approached.  It fairly belted down, but we were soon ensconced in the hide and there were clearly many hundreds and eventually thousands of birds moving about and showing well, though the light was often very dull.  Pintail – especially the males – were showing well and two groups of Brent Geese, totalling 52, took the eye. Waders were to the fore, passing in substantial groups, Bar-tailed Godwits, Curlews, Oystercatchers and eventually Dunlin allowing good views.  Given the very high tide and the suitable habitat it was surprising that Teal and Snipe were absent.  Quite a few of our number said that this had been their best-ever visit to the site, so we left for Balintore well satisfied.  There, from the large car park, we looked out to a very active watery scene and little was easy to nail down, but a Long-tailed Duck was at distance and two Snow Buntings passed in front, with Rock and Meadow Pipits also present.  No sign of Purple Sandpipers, but Angus’s recommendation of the harbour being a likely spot was taken up and we soon were enjoying superb views of the Purps being drenched by spray lashed up over the harbour wall, plus good numbers of Turnstones and a few Ringed Plovers.  Dave’s spotting of a very late Arctic Tern at the same place was perhaps the most remarkable bird of the day, it drifting off after 5 minutes.  

​It was time to head for Portmahomack and in the front car park we saw some 7 Red-throated Divers, but little else.  Lunch was uppermost on folk’s minds, so we drove to Tarbat Ness for a late one.   Nothing much doing from the car park, but the wind-blown walk to the point gave us Yellowhammers, a showy Stonechat and a very fine Merlin rounded the lighthouse.  We gave the sea a 30-minute watch and had our only Black Guillemot, juvenile Gannets and little else.  A walk back, past the plantation and down to the bothy, didn’t really get us much more bar Linnets as the wind was up at its highest, but it had been dry far more than it seemed likely to be.  Chat back at the cars revealed that most of us had unknowingly driven past 200+ Whooper Swans before Portmahomack, so we ended the day with a slow drive back to the relevant fields behind Sue and Hugh and, for the majority, the last of our 57 species for the day.

The uncertainty over on whether this outing would actually happen – with the leader no longer stranded on Fair Isle! – ten SOC members met at Findhorn Bay LNR car park. After a quick exchange of news with Gordon McMullins and Richard Somers-Cocks, dedicated patch-workers of the Bay who had already seen some species of note out on the flats, the party drove to the “Back” (i.e. Moray Firth) Shore to look at the sea. Unfortunately, with a fierce, cold, north wind and high seas, this proved to be an eye-watering experience. Some distant Gannets, a few Common Eiders and one or two Common Scoters and Long-tailed Ducks flew past but we quickly resolved to move back to the Bay and conditions slightly more conducive to bird-watching.
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By this time the tide had come further in and some, at least, of the birds were recognisably close from our vantage point. Small numbers of Pink-footed Geese were present although a dawn start would have been necessary to see the thousands which roosted here overnight. As well as Mute Swans some Whooper Swans were identified when they deigned to remove their heads from under their wings – we suspect they had just migrated in from Iceland. Mallards and Wigeons abounded but we were unable to pick out the Shovelers reported earlier or the Pintails which now winter here in big numbers.

​Many waders were too distant for confident identification but Curlews, Oystercatchers and Bar-tailed Godwits were seen clearly and a flock of Golden Plovers was well illuminated by the low sun. A Sparrowhawk was noted by one observer who was looking the other way but as the tide rose birds moved away rather than towards us and we decided to move to the River Findhorn. A large car park, with a height barrier, gives access to a pleasant walk along a wooded riverside where we were out of the cold wind. On this occasion few birds were to be seen or heard here – in April/May it is full of singing Chiffchaffs, Willow Warblers and Blackcaps – and we admired (?) the forests of Japanese Knotweed and occasional, menacing stems of Giant Hogweed. An orange blob on a rotten log turned out to be a Slime Mould called Tubifera ferruginosa (literally – “iron-coloured tube-bearer”) – who says the SOC have eyes only for birds?
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Eventually we emerged from the trees and crossed a dry ditch where we were warned to be careful on future visits to be aware of the tide. A Goosander flew upstream and landed on the river but we dared not advance across the saltmarsh to the advancing tide-line – just as well as, by the time we regained the “dry” ditch it was already infilling rapidly and one member had to be piggy-backed across by a welly-wearer! A lesson well learnt for future visits to this site. 

On Sunday 10th October Dean MacAskill led a group of 12 SOC members to some of the hot birding spots on the east coast of Sutherland, beginning with a walk along the beautiful sands of Dornoch Beach towards Dornoch Point. We had several species of note including 1 Bar-tailed Godwit, 1 Common Tern, a growing flock of Linnet, 8 Red-breasted Merganser, Red-throated Divers and 2 Reed-bunting. The two highlights, however, were the enormous number of juvenile Gannets just off-shore, and 1 adult, dark phase Pomarine Skua which was harassing the gulls for a free lunch.
  

​Our final stop was Brora where we battled with the increasing wind to see a small, but delightful, flock of 8 Little Gulls bouncing about over the choppy waters.
Our count for the day was about 43 species. It was lovely to welcome 2 new birders to our outings – Fiona and Caroline. We all owe a huge thank you to Dean for generously sharing his local patch with us, and finding some very special birds for us to see.

On Sunday 5 September about 40 SOC Highland Branch members and friends enjoyed a day pelagic trip out of Arisaig on MV Sheerwater (correct spelling!). Typically, the weather changed after a long benign spell with overcast conditions and a freshening southerly. Nonetheless, the party enjoyed a great day exploring the waters off the Ardnamurchan peninsula and around Muck and Eigg. For many it was the first experience of ‘chumming’, trying to create an oily, fishy slick behind the boat to attract seabirds and petrels. We enjoyed some success, with about six Storm Petrels on the Oberan Bank and a mixed bag of seabirds including Arctic and Great Skuas.

Conditions weren’t ideal for cetaceans but we did manage to see a pod of Harbour Porpoise and a Minke Whale. The highlight however, was a large Basking Shark which afforded us some terrific views. A great day out for all, especially after the recent lockdown. Everyone did a lateral flow test before the trip and masks were required inside the cabin.

Thanks to Ronnie and the crew for a great day out and maybe next year, we will bump into a rarity!

Many thanks also to Bob McMillan (trip organiser) for this report, and the photographers: On the boat (Sue Seright), Manx Shearwaters (Colin Leslie), Preparing to chum and Basking Shark (Martin Benson); also Peter Stronach for his video of the Basking Shark.

Get your 2019 bird list off to a great start by taking part in our bird race on Saturday 12th January 2019. Just a bit of fun and definitely NOT competitive with the short day length making it all the more exciting!

The object of the day is to go out birding – with a friend or friends – and try to find as many different species as you can. It is up to you and your team to decide who will drive and where you will go. It is even OK to venture into Moray…. 

We will all gather at the end of the day for a post-race get together over tea/coffee/whisky (buy your own) at The Snow Goose where we can collect in the results, present some prizes and have a chat about how your day has been. It will be great to have groups taking part from outwith the immediate Inverness area – maybe with outlying teams from Skye, W Ross, Sutherland, Strathspey and so on - and they can submit their records by phone. 

A special ‘What’s App’ messaging group will be set up for the day so we can all keep in touch with our latest ‘finds’.

Don’t worry if you are on your own and would like to join a team, as I can put you in touch with other SOC members taking part.

Unfortunately………we have to have a few RULES……..

• Teams of up to 4 (4 maximum, 2 minimum). 
• In order to encourage some younger people to take part, if your team includes a member less than 30 years old, then you automatically gain 3 extra points!
• Race duration – anytime from 0000hrs to 1630hrs (daylight is officially about 0850 to 1559 – 7hours - so it is up to you to choose how long you spend birdwatching).
• Team members must stay together if birding.
• At least 2 of the team members must see/hear each bird species to count it.
• Please use the attached checklist to record species seen/heard.
• No tape luring allowed.
• When a bird is identified to family but not to species level, it can in some cases still be a tick – e.g. a distant auk that might be Guillemot or Razorbill, can be ticked as ‘Auk sp.’, although neither Guillemot nor Razorbill can be subsequently ticked in addition.
• Bird lists must be submitted to Carol at the Snow Goose by 1630hrs.
• Please register teams with Carol Miller by 6pm on Friday 11th January giving a mobile contact number. People looking for a team to join should also register an interest with Carol and I will try to match you up. Please say if you have a car and are willing to drive. Please feel free to contact me if you have any queries.
• Carol’s email address is carol.miller.09@aberdeen.ac.uk
• Mobile phone number 07901228737
• Or sign up at the indoor meetings on Tuesday 4th December or Tuesday 8th January.
• Persons take part in the bird race at their own risk.

Have Fun and Happy Birding!

​(written by Carol Miller)