Scottish Highlands 30th May–2nd June 2006

by Rob Miles 

After years of snatching birding forays whilst on family holidays, this was a dedicated bird-watching mini-holiday (at my wife’s suggestion) with my 8 year old son James as the extra pair of eyes.  I planned this trip in March, and pre-booked Easyjet return flights from Bristol to Inverness, with a hire car from Europcar waiting to take us to our B&B in Ullapool. (For the record, all of the pictures below are video frame grabs).  

Tuesday May 30th

First day, we arrived on time at 3:25pm, quickly picking up the car, we set off on the scenic route to Ullapool (via Loch Ruthven).  I was surprised to see the first crow at Inverness was an all black Carrion Crow, not the expected Hoodie. We drove the 20 miles to Loch Ruthven, spotting Jackdaw, Mistle Thrush, Blackbird and Barn Swallow on the journey from the airport, and after turning onto the track to Loch Ruthven admired some Chaffinches and a Goldcrest in a garden alongside the track.  As we approached the RSPB car-park a Mallard and a Curlew flew overhead.  Walking through a pleasant woodland path to the hide we saw a Pied Wagtail, a Common Sandpiper, another Chaffinch and a few Sand Martins buzzing over the loch; we also heard the first of many Cuckoos.  It was now nearly 5pm, but once in the hide we were immediately onto a Slavonian Grebe. This was our target and we were rewarded by the sight of two more birds in the distance.  After watching the tranquil loch for a few more minutes we were lucky enough to see a pair close-by performing the classic courtship dance, followed by the dive underwater and the collection of weed as a mating gift. 

We were happy to watch the grebes for another half hour, also seeing Black-headed Gulls out on the water.  Reluctantly leaving the hide, we spotted a raptor gliding over a ridge that turned out to be a Common Buzzard. Driving past Loch Ness and on to Loch Duich, we stopped to admire the classic calendar shot of Eilean Donan castle.  We were now on the West coast, and saw our first Hooded Crow. A pair of Lapwings wheeled over a field alongside the road, and as we got nearer to Ullapool, dozens of Red Deer grazed the slopes and some of the larger stags, sporting budding antlers draped in velvet ambled majestically across the road in front of us.  The hinds looked ridiculously small compared to the stags.  At 10pm it was still bright daylight, the famous Scottish gloaming.  The last bird of the day was a Grey Heron standing in a burn. A very understanding landlady greeted us at 10:45pm, the direct drive from Inverness to Ullapool is about 65 miles, by taking a meandering scenic drive I had clocked up 185 miles. 

Wednesday 31st May  

Leaving Ullapool after an early breakfast we drove around the jetty at Ullapool harbour, spotting a Pied Wagtail, a Rook and a Great Black-backed Gull.Our trip today was north to Tarbet, to take the ferry to the Scottish Wildlife Trusts reserve on Handa Island. On the climb out of Ullapool I spotted what I thought was a hawk, glimpsing a flash of steely blue and grey; nothing behind our car so I stopped, and James got his first lifer, a Cuckoo showing really well atop a nearby telegraph pole.  After admiring this handsome male bird for a few minutes, we set off again and as we drove on the deserted roads, Northern Wheatears fled from fence-posts to alight in the heather.  A Common Buzzard bathed in the early morning sun atop a boulder yards from us, a large flock of Jackdaws wheeled around the roofs of a hamlet and a fresh-plumaged Meadow Pipit gazed down at us from a telegraph wire. We were making good time so we stopped at a viewpoint overlooking a sea loch near Kylestrome and watched three Guillemots and two Razorbills down on the water whilst the plaintive call of a diver reached our ears, we didn’t see it, and we also heard another Cuckoo.  A Cormorant skimmed across the water, and I watched several Commic Terns wheeling about, fixing my scope clearly on a solitary tern soon after revealed a Sandwich Tern.  As we approached Tarbet a male Bullfinch flew across the road in front of us. Parking quickly in the free car park we were just in time for the 9:30am ferry to Handa Island (£10 adult, £5 child return), more of a landing craft than a ferry, that zipped across the water and landed us safely in 15 minutes.  The journey over was filled with interesting birds; as we left Tarbet three Greylag Geese were grazing the hillside above the village, on the water we passed close by a Black-throated Diver and we saw our first Black Guillemot that didn’t dive when the boat circled it so we all got a close view.  A Shag skimmed over the waves and approaching the beach we saw two drake Eiders and two Common Terns. On the short walk to the reserve hut for a briefing it was difficult not to step on hundreds of Woolly bears, the caterpillars of the Garden Tiger Moth. From the sheltered beach by the reserve hut, we were amused and distracted by the Ringed Plover and single chick running around between the pebbles.  

A flock of a dozen boisterous Common Terns wheeled by, and we saw the first of many Wheatears and another Meadow Pipit.  Walking the track towards the cliffs at Puffin Bay we saw the first of many Great Skuas and Arctic Skuas. An Arctic Skua was chasing off two Great Skuas even though it was much the smaller bird.  All of the Arctic Skuas on Handa Island were the light phase birds.  We heard and then sighted a Skylark and were soon at the headland watching the sea cliffs, packed with nesting Fulmars, Kittiwakes, Guillemots, Razorbills and sadly, only two visible Puffins.  There had been a rat problem on Handa Island but these were eliminated in 1997, but most of the Puffins still nested on an offshore stack, and they still had to run the gauntlet of hundreds of assorted skuas. A few of the Guillemots were Bridled.  

We rested on the headland for lunch, watching an Arctic Skua wheeling above us in an aerial ballet. 

A very obliging Great Skua posed for this picture 

James was lucky enough to see a Minke Whale sounding off from the headland, and we then trudged the long circuit back to the landing beach, on the way seeing lots of Kittiwakes collecting mud from a boggy patch (must make a change in the nest from the usual guano) and it was nice seeing a party of three Eiders, two drakes and a duck, on a rocky beach. Last bird on the island was a male Stonechat atop a wind-pruned bush.  We saw a Black Guillemot on the trip back to Tarbet, could have been the same bird we saw on the trip out, but the diver was gone from the bay.  The trip from Ullapool to Tarbet and back was 96 miles.  That evening, after a supper of haddock and chips from the UK’s No.1 chippy, we watched a large bull Atlantic Grey Seal being fed fish scraps from the decks of a local trawler moored alongside the jetty, as Common Gull, Herring Gull and Lesser Black-backed Gulls wheeled around for a share of the spoils.  

Thursday 1st June  

I was tired of driving so we booked the four hour cruise around the Summer Isles on the MV Summer Queen, departing Ullapool Harbour at 10am. Very pleasant cruising up the quiet waters of Loch Broom, seeing a lone Shag, lots of gulls (Common, Herring, Lesser and Greater Black-backed) and small rafts of Guillemots, Razorbills and the odd Black Guillemot. A few Great Skuas wheeled around and we saw the first of several Gannets.  We passed the first of two seal colonies, all Atlantic Grey Seals, some in the water and some basking on the beach.   

We landed on the only inhabited Summer Isle, Tanera Mhor, and had 45 minutes to stretch our legs, visit the Post Office for some of their unique stamps and explore; whilst doing this James and I spotted a singing Willow Warbler, a Meadow Pipit, and down on the rocks by the beach, a friendly Rock Pipit.  On the journey back, more of the same in respect of seals and seabirds, I was struggling to hang on to my breakfast in what was now a very choppy sea-state 6, (causing the afternoon cruise to be cancelled).  James spotted a Bottle-nosed Dolphin surfing through the waves and also of note was a Gannet on the water, with an attendant Great Skua.  Every time the poor Gannet took off, so did the Great Skua and this duet was being played over and over whilst we watched as the boat took us closer to the calmer waters of Loch Broom.  Never has deep-fried haggis and chips tasted so good, from Ullapool’s  No. 2 chippy, one made famous by Rick Stein who liked their chips so much he threw one to a seagull but ate the rest as they were so good.  Mooching around the town we saw Blackbird, Starling, House Sparrow, Song Thrush, Collared Dove and Robin.  I decided to take a drive that evening to the lay-by alongside Gruinart Island, hoping we might see White-tailed Eagles.  I was scanning the sea and the island when James called out that a large bird had appeared over the ridge behind us.  I looked through my bins and then raced to get my scope out of the boot.  It was indeed our one and only Golden Eagle and we were able to enjoy its distant but majestic soaring for what seemed like ten minutes but was probably only five. This 70 mile round rip from Ullapool and back made the whole Scottish adventure worthwhile, the icing on a very filling cake. 

Friday 2nd June

For our last day I arranged an early breakfast and check out and we headed off to Aviemore.  After a drive of 101 miles, spotting more Swallows, a solitary Raven, Swift, Magpie, Pheasant, Sparrowhawk and Common Buzzard, we were heading up the mountain road to the new Cairngorm funicular railway. You are not allowed to leave the summit visitor centre and walk around at the top, but this hardly mattered as we didn’t have much time with an afternoon flight back to Bristol. We didn’t see any birds at all, although a few Snow Buntings hung around the car park occasionally we were told, and Ptarmigan were nesting nearby. A fellow birder told us he’d spotted a Ring Ouzel on the journey to the summit from the funicular carriage window. The views at the top were spectacular though, and well worth the drive.  Arriving back at Inverness airport in bright sunshine and good time, our last Scottish bird was a Kestrel hunting on the airport outfield.   In total we drove 498 miles, saw some wonderful scenery, James got 11 lifers, I got 4, we both ate far too much junk food and missed enough good birds to make a trip back next year essential. 

Rob Miles,   4th June 2006