Flexibility is the name of the game for these Thursday (French Jeudi – no, it’s actually Jove’s Day) outings where the destination is decided on the day by the Leader based on the most recent sightings, weather and tides. So eight of us met at Inverness Retail Park with high hopes we might see a few good birds despite the conditions as, appropriately a flock of Lapwings (Avefria – “cold birds” in Spanish) flew over. Our first stop was at the old South Kessock Ferry crossing where, sadly, we were 15,008 days too late for the American Black Duck. Undismayed, our attention was caught by the wonderful sight of flocks of Long-tailed Ducks flying in from the east and sitting bobbing on the waves. This is a regular sight here in winter but 75 was a good count. Unusually, this is one of the few birds whose winter plumage is more attractive than its breeding dress but perhaps not to Mrs LT Duck!
Greenshanks (Craig Johnston)
We then walked through the nearby woods to get out of the bitter wind and saw a variety of common woodland birds, including a couple of Treecreepers, before we emerged at the pools of Merkinch Local Nature Reserve. A sizeable flock of Redshanks were at the high tide roost here along with three frosty-looking Greenshanks – singletons of the latter are the norm here so this was a notable record. The expected Wigeons and Teals were admired here and at least eight Little Grebes played hide and seek on and under the water. Some time was spent trying to find the regular Kingfisher but it was better at children’s games than the Little Grebes and we had to admit defeat. We then had a quick look at the Caledonian Canal but considered that, with the last sighting on 5 February 2020 (1387 days ago) we were probably too late for the American Wigeon!
Our next stop was further east at Milton of Culloden where the trees offered some shelter from the wind and rain. With the tide receding there were good numbers of gulls, waders and dabbling ducks, including a fine male Pintail. Craig’s call of a Great Crested Grebe was a good one considering he found it using binoculars and it took some of us quite some time to locate it, using powerful telescopes. This is a rare bird in Highland although this individual has wintered here for several years. Alex’s promise of Tree Sparrows here was, sadly, unfulfilled and, indeed, we saw no sparrows of any kind all day.
Our next stop was further east at Milton of Culloden where the trees offered some shelter from the wind and rain. With the tide receding there were good numbers of gulls, waders and dabbling ducks, including a fine male Pintail. Craig’s call of a Great Crested Grebe was a good one considering he found it using binoculars and it took some of us quite some time to locate it, using powerful telescopes. This is a rare bird in Highland although this individual has wintered here for several years. Alex’s promise of Tree Sparrows here was, sadly, unfulfilled and, indeed, we saw no sparrows of any kind all day.
Group at Alturlie Point (Mary Galloway)
Continuing east, we looked from Alturlie Point towards Castle Stuart where we quickly found Shelducks but a distant pair of Light-bellied Brent Geese were more difficult to spot – “They’re in line with the yellow digger.” “I can’t find them.” “The yellow digger down from the poly-tunnels” “I still can’t find them.” “Ah, there’s two yellow diggers!” It’s tricky giving directions whilst looking through a telescope with its very narrow field of view is my defence. A soaring Red Kite (now common) and a Kestrel (now not so common) were easier to connect with and, at last, a pair of Magpies gave us joy.
Alturlie Pools are fairly dependable for producing the odd good bird and a fine, male Shoveler was today’s highlight although a couple of Goldcrests feeding on a nearby bare tree were equally appreciated. We drove slowly along the road by the Alturlie shore where one carload enjoyed good views of a Stonechat, sadly missed by the leading vehicle, probably because the bird was so close. With the light fading we didn’t bother looking for the Lesser Scaup there, last sighted 2,044 days ago. Perhaps we should have but we did enjoy a great day’s birding with a groovy total of 59 species despite poor weather. Why don’t you join us on our next outing and enjoy some sociable birding with friendly experts?
Pete Gordon
Alturlie Pools are fairly dependable for producing the odd good bird and a fine, male Shoveler was today’s highlight although a couple of Goldcrests feeding on a nearby bare tree were equally appreciated. We drove slowly along the road by the Alturlie shore where one carload enjoyed good views of a Stonechat, sadly missed by the leading vehicle, probably because the bird was so close. With the light fading we didn’t bother looking for the Lesser Scaup there, last sighted 2,044 days ago. Perhaps we should have but we did enjoy a great day’s birding with a groovy total of 59 species despite poor weather. Why don’t you join us on our next outing and enjoy some sociable birding with friendly experts?
Pete Gordon
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