Of Birds & Cake the Blog of Paul: Holiday Day 1 & 2 : The Journey

Think it is generally accepted that Shetland is one of the birding hotspots of the UK if not Europe and having visited Orkney and the Hebrides multiple times I felt after 57 and a bit years on earth it was time to make the effort!! We decided to split the journey ,staying a night in Dundee and then catching the Ferry from Aberdeen the next evening. Driving from the bottom of Sussex to Dundee is a bit of an effort so we decided on a birding stop off, choosing RSBP Leighton Moss on the way up, mainly because I've never been to it before! The journey was largely uneventful, Red Kites outnumbered Buzzards by 39 to 12 Kestrels came in at 4 seen, a flyover Bullfinch on the M40 was quite good, I'm getting good at IDing birds at 70MPH! Bird of the journey would have been the Merlin that chased a pipit sp along the M6 near Shap, saw one on our journey last year as well! I say would of been, but Margie came in with Ostrich at the junction of the M6 Toll and the M6 though later she said it may have been an Emu😂I downgraded the sighting to large Flightless bird SP😁 presuming it was some sort of farm type scenario unless Margie been at the Tequila again!!!😁

So Leighton Moss was excellent, we only did about half of it due to time constraints, but heard my first Bittern and Water Rail of the year and saw my first Swift and Sandmartins as well. The Reedbeds were alive with Cetti's, Reed and Sedge Warblers, Reed Buntings as well the Bittern and Water Rail, the main noticeable happening though were the Black-headed Gulls which were legion joining the Hirundines and Swifts feeding on insects above the lakes and reedbeds.

I know apologies, I know this isn't the best start to the Holiday Blog can't even blame Margie, think of it as Marsh Harrier food!

Proud Mallard mum!

Grey Heron

Little Egret

Some LM Scenery

Pied Wagtail

Pochard in flight

Pochard not in flight

More Scenery

Orange Tip butterfly loads of these about

So it begins again my yearly attempt to get a decent pic of Swift, don't worry I usually give up after a couple of goes.

Marsh Harrier

House Sparrow

The pics below are Margie's from around the reserve at least she managed a few pics of the gulls!!

Scenery

Coot with Babies

Black-headed Gull

Gulls above the lake!

Channel

Margie went for the Orange-tip on a yellow flower

More Gulls

Possibly Captain Caveman's nursery

Reedmace

No pictures of the Cetti's? I hear you ask?

Oh you of little faith!!😂

Obviously before we left we had to help out with some serious conservation work, IE buying some Cake!! Also a very tasty Chicken and Bacon Sandwich, Sparkly Angel cake was a lifer for me and very tasty as well

Sparkling Angel Cake

Fully refreshed both spiritually and physically, we reached Premier Inn Dundee West where we enjoyed a much needed good nights sleep!!

Day 2

Having enjoyed as much of Premier Inns unlimited continental breakfast as we could manage, apparently I disgraced myself with the pancakes and syrup!!😲 we said goodbye to the oystercatcher on the roof, sure sign of Scotland in the Spring and headed off towards Aberdeen.

Phone pic of the Oystercatcher on the roof!

It is only a short hop to Aberdeen so had decided on a stop over at Seaton Cliffs Nature Reserve, again because I haven't been there and on the internet the red/pink cliffs looked intriguing.

We arrived in good time, however google maps couldn't seem to find the car park and we ended up in a field full of poly tunnels!!! However there was a sign saying Seaton Cliff Reserve so we abandoned the car, much to Margie's disapproval and headed in!! The reserve seems to be just a thin ribbon of land along the cliffs but it was spectacular, we had lucked right in with the timing as not only were the cliffs nicely Pink but every bit of available land was covered in flowering plants, the yellow of Gorse and Primroses and the pinks, violets and whites of other plants I don't know the name of!! If anyone want's to attempt some IDs fill ya boots!

They can write it in red but I obviously laugh in the face of danger😄

Primrose

It's not a Bra for me Moobs it's a harness for the camera, honest guv!!

Most of those pics by Margie, though I did a couple on me phone, A fantastic landscape, extraordinary colours and the shapes caused by weathering and the sea are amazing!

Were there no birds? I hear you ask, well obviously there were but I wanted to set the scene first!! On arrival we were greeted by Housemartins zipping about the cliffs, I failed to get a decent pic surprise, surprise!!😂

Housemartin

Plenty of Linnets about, Skylarks singing the whole time we were there, a couple of Reed Buntings seen and plenty of Rock Pipits

Reed Bunting

Rock Pipit

Linnet

Of course it was mainly about the Seabirds, on arrival it seemed to be mainly Herring Gulls and Fulmar, but we soon found the large Kittiwake colony, lots of Auks and Shags flying around or on the cliffs and some nice views of Eider as well.

Razorbill

Herring Gull

Male & Female Eider

Flock of Eider though I put this picture on cos I liked the swirly water!

Think She's pulled😂

Male Eider

Gannet

Herring Gull love💕

Cormorant!

Gannets

Couple of Shags

Don't think I can string this as a Rock Dove, but lot's of Feral Pigeons living wild!

Black-backed Gull, can't decide which one but think Great?

Already had multiple Shags this holiday!😁(you'd think I'd be over Shag jokes by now, you'd be wrong😂)

Fulmar

Kittiwake

More Herring Gull love, they were at it all over!

Kittiwakes by Margie

Compo has let himself go!!

A fantastic place, wished we had spent longer really, but in a fit of Ferry missing paranoia we left early and consequently arrived in Aberdeen 5 hours early!! The journey was uneventful, although of note was a lot of fields of Daffodils, Aberdeen must be the Daffodil capitol of the world they were everywhere! We had a wander around Aberdeen, grabbed some lunch , I got another lifer, Mars Bar Cheesecake, though it was tasty enough I was a little disappointed as it wasn't deep fried!! We had a walk along the seafront, where we saw some Sandwich Terns but not much else before heading to the Ferry. Good views of Aberdeen as we left a few Gulls in the Harbour mainly Herring but a couple of Common Gulls as well.

Mars Bar Cheesecake!

Heading on to the ferry!

Goodbye Aberdeen

Next stop Shetland

Common Gull

Herring Gull

Common Gull

I am a big fan of ferry trips or rather bird watching from ferries, Margie left me to it and I spent a couple of hours on deck, started quite slowly, though I had a brief view of a Dolphin/Porpoise and a Seal, a few Gannets, Kittiwakes and a couple of big flocks of Arctic Terns although they were fairly distant! Couldn't get a Skua, eventually the cold wind drove me in and I retired to my Sleep Pod!!

Shetland Tomorrow whoop!!!