Our Holiday in 2021 was a trip to Scotland, we only got the go ahead 2 days before leaving, with restrictions on crossing the border lifted just in time phew!!!😏 We spent the first few days in Dumfries and Galloway, before heading north to Badachro on the West Coast.
We stayed at a very nice Bed & Breakfast near Dumfries, we had limited time but managed to visit several places of interest, Caerlaverock National Nature reserve, a chapel built by Ukrainian prisoners of war, The Forest of Galloway, The Grey Mare's Tail Waterfall, Eskrigg Nature Reserve, Mull of Galloway, Scotland's most Southerly point. All of which were pretty good!
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| Tree Sparrow, a good first bird in Scotland |
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| Twite |
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| As ever scenery in Scotland doing the business |
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| Reed Bunting |
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| Plenty of Geese |
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| Barnacle Geese |
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| Twite and Linnets |
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| Twite |
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| Chaffinch |
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| Nuthatch |
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| Chiffchaff |
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| The Grey Mare's Tail |
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| Stonechat |
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| At the top of an epic climb!! |
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| Dipper |
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| Wheatear |
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| Galloway Forest Park |
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| Wood Warbler |
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| Willow Warbler |
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| Lesser Black-backed Gull |
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| Foghorn at the Mull of Galloway |
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| Rock Pipit |
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| Clifftop Flowers |
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| Wheatear |
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| Shag |
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| Gannets |
Dumfries and Galloway was excellent, definitely worth another, longer visit, felt like we just scratched the surface of the birding oppotunites.
From there we headed north to our cabin on an Island in Badachro, it was quite remote and the cabin was small, but the Scenery was epic as was the Hot Tub!! Quite a few quality birds about as well! We spent most of the time birding the local area, beaches, lochs and mountains (mainly from the bottom😃) but we had a drive up to Ullapool although we missed the opportunity to do a ferry trip to the Hebrides and back!! Also spent a bit of time in the Hot Tub😃
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| Black Guillemot taken from the floating bridge across to the Island |
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| Red-breasted Merganser |
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| Hooded Crow, feels like you are in Scotland proper when you see the first "Hoodie" |
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| The view from the cabin it really was amazing |
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| Great Northern Diver, seem to be off every beach ! |
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| White-tailed Eagle flushed from the beach!! |
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| Greenshank |
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| Dunlin |
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| Great Skua (Bonxie) |
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| Pied Wagtail |
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| Common Gull |
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| Pinkfeet |
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| Bonxie |
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| Goldeneye |
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| Margie enjoying the view from the hot tub |
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| Seal from the Cabin |
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| Black-throated Divers |
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| My favourite Mountain |
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| Iceland Gull in Ullapool Harbour |
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| Saw Feral Goats in several places |
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| More Hot Tub relaxation |
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| Gannet |
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| The weather was changeable but overall pretty good! |
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| Grey Heron |
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| Intrepid or What!? (no need to answer) |
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| Wheatear |
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| Golden Plover |
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| Gannet |
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| The Floating bridge could get a bit hairy in the wind!! |
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| Gannet |
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| Rua Reidh Lighthouse |
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| Hooded Crow |
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| Golden Eagle |
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| Cabin View |
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| Oystercatcher rumpy-pumpy |
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| Wheatear |
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| Meadow Pipit |
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| Gannet |
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| Shag |
It was a beautiful place, the Golden Eagle encounter will live long in the memory and the Iceland Gull was a real beauty, but the Scenery stole the show, the views all around from the cabin were amazing and the bird list from the sofa was also epic!! My kind of birding with the scope set up at the window so even in the occasional bad weather the birding didn't stop. Excellent trip!!!
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