After yesterday's failure to find a Crested Tit we decided to try the Lossie Forest. I have discovered the Scotland's Bird Club (SOC)"where to watch app" this is a useful tool and was pretty accurate, so if you are going birding in Scotland I recommend downloading it. The app suggested the forest was a good spot for Cresties. Unfortunately once again they weren't playing ball, we walked through the forest to the beach and saw very little. We could hear Siskins, Coal Tits and Chaffinches and the open areas held Willow Warblers but all were difficult to see high in the canopy let alone photograph. We had singles of heard only Crossbill and Redpoll as well. It is a beautiful place though, a nice relaxing walk in the sunshine. Some of Margie's pics through the wood!
As we reached the beach a bird high in the sky turned out to be an Osprey and another soon appeared!! Very nice bonus bird making up for the lack of Cresties!
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| Osprey |
We reached the beach, have to say this part of Scotland has some pretty impressive beaches and this one though stony was no exception, wide open empty spaces as far as the eye can see!! Best of all we could see 3 Ospreys fishing the surf in the distance!! This made our minds up we would do the circular walk to Lossiemouth!! Bit daunting as we already walked well over a mile !! It was a good decision with sensational views of Osprey fishing, sometimes right over our heads, with Common Terns, Sandwich Terns and Gannets diving into the sea just offshore. Red-throated Divers on the sea and Ringed Plovers, Dunlin and Sanderlings along the beach also providing good viewing!!
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| Me dwarfed by nature |
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| Sandwich Tern |
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| Ringed Plover |
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| Common Tern |
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| Red-throated Diver |
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| Osprey |
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| Common Tern |
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| Ringed Plover |
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| Dunlin |
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| Wader Flypast |
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| Osprey with fish, we saw two successful plunges but obviously I missed the shot!!😢 |
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| Sandwich Tern |
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| Ringed Plover and Sanderling |
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| Gannet |
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| Ringed Plover |
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| Black-headed Gull |
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| Wind getting up |
Think I showed admirable restraint on the Osprey pics, you don't think so? Trust me it could have been a lot worse!!!!😂😃
We staggered into Lossiemouth where we indulged in a welcome Ice Cream, I went Raspberry and Dark Chocolate, Margie went down the Cherry route!
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| Raspberry and Dark Chocolate Gelato in a Gluten Free cone, delicious ! |
Wasn't all Ice Creams in the harbour, were a few birds about as well.
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| Oystercatcher |
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| House Sparrow |
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| Goosander difficult light conditions |
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| Mute Swan |
We headed back to the car, following the river back through the woods, still no Cresties but we did find a Brambling! Some nice bits and pieces along the river before we hit the trees as well!
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| Linnet |
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| Common Gull |
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| Skylark |
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| Dunlin along the river also saw a Common Sandpiper |
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| Kestrel, always distant sadly |
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| Brambling |
A lovely if somewhat tiring walk, in the surprisingly hot weather!
We decided after some lunch to have a visit to Loch Spynie, not much on the water, a lot of noisy Black-headed Gulls, a couple of pairs of Wigeon, a pair of Gadwall and a Little Grebe the best of it! The feeders were more fun with several Tree Sparrows, a couple of Yellowhammer, a Brambling and a Great Spotted Woodpecker amongst the commoner birds.
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| Willow Warbler |
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| Shy Little Grebe |
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| Wigeon pair |
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| Black-headed Gull |
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| Great Spotted Woodpecker |
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| Goldfinch |
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| Tree Sparrow |
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| Yellowhammer |
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| Brambling |
We returned to base, where our resident Herring Gulls were having a tender moment
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| Herring Gulls |
Another fantastic day at the beach!!!! Though over 7 miles walked in all is pushing our stamina to the limit!!
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