Red-throated Diver

I had great views of the Red-throated Diver at Arlington today. Winter plumage of course, so no red throat at the moment but still a great bird to photograph. I had about fifteen minutes with the bird all to myself, until a dog walker turned up and walked too close, resulting in the diver heading out towards the centre of the reservoir, out of range of the camera (and the dog).

heading off out of range

A great set of pictures but what to do next. There was a big flock of Redwing in the fields south of the Reservoir but they were all a bit distant.

Redwing

So I decided to try the Black Redstart at Tidemills again. It was there but if anything it was even more distant than last time I tried. There is a lot of building work going on in the fenced off compund so the Black Redstart was out in the reptile translocation area most of the time. You can get good telescope views but it is really out of range of the camera and to get a shot you are photographing into the sun. 

I would not normally have bothered with these pictures but there is one new development, it looks as though there is now a female in the area. She seemed interested but I think he needs a bit more encouragement.

Male - keeping his distance

Female - with the male out of focus in the background

I would really like to get a picture of this male but he is proving to be hard work.

Out of interest is anyone aware of what is happening with the reptile translocation area? Have any reptiles been translocated or is this just a cover to support the expansion of the east docks. I would have thought that the two areas were quite different environments?

I finished off the day at Newhaven west. I could not find the Iceland Gull that had been reported there but that may just be a reflection of my gull identification skills. It was worth the visit though just to see the Fulmars setting up their nests on the cliffs.

Fulmars always look like devoted couples.

but aggressive in defending their nest sites

A friendly Turnstone on East Pier - probably use to being fed by the fishermen

A good days birding with some decent photographs to show for it but I have dipped on getting a decent photograph of the Black Redstart yet again.

Golden Eagle

Thursday 12th March

The forecast was for heavy rain by 11.30 so we only had a small window in which to find and photgraph Eagles. Dave had a location in the Findhorn Valley in mind and he could not have chosen better. As we arrived a couple of Ravens flew over and then a larger bird of prey. It could have been an Eagle but we were unable to confirm the sighting.

We got the cameras and scopes ready expecting a long wait but within minutes we had another bird drifting over the crag and this time there was no doubt, a Golden Eagle. Then the dilemma, look at it through the scope or try to get a picture. I, of course, tried both and probably did not get the best out of either, and, when a second Eagle turned up, I made an even bigger hash of it by locking up the controls on the camera and missing the shots of the two tumbling together.

The pictures are awful but given the weather and the distances involved I was happy to get any images.  For me they are a record of a few of the best hours birding that I have experienced. Ravens, Eagles, a Peregrine, a Sparrow Hawk, and a Dipper all without moving more than a few feet from the car.

It is only when you see a bad picture that you realise how effective the human eye is. Watching them live they appeared close and you could see all the detail, looking at the pictures visibility looks something close to zero. All the shots have been rescued after a lot of work on Photoshop.

A flyby - my only half decent shot

Perched on top of the crag - very distant

The white patches on the wing show this as a subadult probably year two or year three. It takes between five and seven years for the bird to gain its full adult plumage.

The rain set in at eleven thirty just as forecast and with nothing else for us to see in the valley we headed up to the coast. We found a raft of about forty Scaup just of Alturlie Point and a Red-throated Diver off Burgh Head but other than this there was not a lot about.

Scaup, male and female

Red-throated Diver

Well that gets rid of a lot of the worst photographs from the trip and just in case you were wondering what happened to Wednesday the answer is not a lot. Here are a few equally poor shots from that day.

The first just in case you are not sure of the differences between a Shag and a Cormorant and the second a Song Thrush as we could not relocate the Twite and the Yellowhammer I could hear singing disappeared very time I went to press the shutter. The seals looked promising but I was slowly sinking into the mud and could not get any closer.

Shag and Cormorants at Burgh Head

Song Thrush

Seals at Findhorn Bay