The Juvenile Birder

Short Stay Story in Scotland! We set off from home at around 12:30am and arrived in the Scottish Highlands at around 10:00am. As soon as we got out of the car, we were struck by the freezing cold weather. We started scanning the open moors in hopes of finding either White-tailed or Golden Eagle (either would be a lifer), along with other raptors. After stopping in various passing places along the narrow road and scanning the crags, ridgelines and moors, we were unsuccessful in finding any raptors. We did however see around eighty  Greylag Geese (presumably Icelandic birds overwintering) along with around ten Goldeneye . We then decided to try for the eagles at another location. We arrived at our next site at around 1:00pm and straight away got to scanning. We were joined by a few other birders who were also looking for eagles. Suddenly, I noticed a commotion, and one of the birders that was there seemed to be getting his scope onto something. I asked him if he had seen anything, an...

Ancient Woodland Adventure! We arrived at a small woodland at around 5:30am targeting Wood Warblers. We went up a steep yet short trail yet to no avail. We then went down the trail back into the woods, but still nothing. Just as we were about to leave, we heard their unique song. Excitedly, we scanned the trees and managed to spot at least four Wood Warblers  singing and chasing each other around. We waited around for a few more hours, trying to get a record shot, but we ended up leaving empty handed. We then went to a private reserve to try and find more woodland birds. This reserve has two halves, the woodland and the mosses. We first walked onto the mosses, spotting an  Osprey  along with multiple House Martins , a few Swallows  and a pair of Ravens . I then found a black and white bird singing on a wire. It was a Pied Flycatcher !  While photographing the Pied Flycatcher, I noticed some movement in the tree next to me. Upon closer inspection, I realized it w...

Can't See Everything Every Time! We arrived at 6.45am at a private site for Golden Pheasant. We started wandering in the woods, looking for them. After a bit of searching, we saw one in someone's backyard, there was no netting in the yard. We were lingering around the garden to see if it flew or was ringed and we were going to knock on the house when we heard someone talking in the garden we had just seen the Golden Pheasant in. We walked towards the noise and saw a man calling something over. We asked him whether the Golden Pheasant was his pet or a wild bird and he then tells us that it is indeed his pet, who he had raised at put in his garden. He said its name was Cocky and he was trying to call it over to feed it. He also told us about how he had raised many Golden Pheasant in the past, but when he put them in his garden, they just flew off. This was because he didn't ring or clip his birds. After realising we were searching for plastic, we ended up leaving and looking ...

Highlights of the Highlands! We set off from home at 12am with the intention of arriving to the Capercaillie site at first light. We parked up at 6.50am and started walking along the tracks. We scanned the trees and heather looking for them. We then went on a track that a male had been previously seen on. We turned a corner and saw a big shape in the trees. At first, we thought it was some litter, but when we looked through our binoculars, we saw that it was a male Capercaillie ! It sat in the tree for a bit, before flying off. We were shocked at how well the bird showed and managed to get a record shot of it! We then walked further ahead when another male Capercaillie (probably the same one from earlier) flew straight past us deep in the forest. We then continued walking and got good views of  Roe Deer  but didn't see any more of the target elusive birds. We then travelled to a site, known for Scottish Crossbills, seeing some Red Squirrels for the first time along the way. W...

 Deer Stags ! (image from internet) We arrived early at 8:20am ​in hopes of catching a glimpse of the Eurasian Otters that are making an almost daily appearance at the Lower Hide. We were told that 3 Eurasian Otters were out 20 minutes ago and are best seen at 8:00. We then went past the Lower Hide into the woodland in hopes of seeing some a Common Chiffchaff that had been spotted there. We had no luck but did hand feed 2 Marsh Tits, Eurasian Blue Tits and Great Tits. We also saw a large flock Eurasian Siskins along with two male Eurasian Bullfinches and a Eurasian Jay. We then made our way to the Lilian's Hide where we saw a Northern Shoveler/ Cinnamon Teal hybrid. The bird has escaped from an ornamental garden and is wild. It comes to Leighton Moss nearly every Winter and may also stay during the summer. Not a wild bird though. We also saw lots of Common Snipe, a Common Redshank a Great White Egret, Northern Shovelers, Mallards, Eurasian Teal, Northern Pintails and a male Common ...