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