We're just back from an exhausting camping tour,
Heres a rough map of our route
As usual this wasnt a dedicated birding trip, and I had the added handicap of my 3 broken toes, but I still managed to add a respectable 21 new species to my UK '08 list
Both the campsites we stayed at, Seal shore on Arran and Point sands on Kintyre were great beachfront locations but left a little to be desired in the way that the sites were run.
As usual, I'll be reviewing them on UkCampsites.co.uk
Seals were easy to approach when they hauled-out on the rocks just to the right of our tent!
The beach was mine from 5am til 8am everyday until the rest of the campsite awoke with their uncontrolled screaming offspring.
Rock pipits singing and doing their parachute-style flight display, greeted me every morning while I cooked up some coffee.
Common waders at Kildonan were Redshank.....
ringed plover
....oystercatcher & curlew.
But on closer examination, the local turnstone flock (about 40 of 'em) was hiding 3 purple sandpipers.
Heres a shot of a ringed plover, a purp and a turnstone line-up for comparison
Other bird present daily were a pair of noisy common gulls.....
a large flock of displaying eiders....
several pairs of Merganser,
and the usual cormorants, shags, gannets, herring gulls and great black-backed gulls.
I spotted 1 red throated diver (in summer plumage) at a distance thru the scope and then found this guillemot whilst scoping the seals.
Obviously it was oiled, but it was on a rock just a bit out to sea.
After Jill and I visited Brodick castle and the Arran brewery ,we returned to the campsite at low tide. A Gbb gull, a herring gull and a hooded crow were all lining the poor guillemot up as a meal, if I couldnt get to it first.
The campsite owner, Morris, gave me his fish landing net and I netted the bird and boxed it. Morris drove it to the ferry company (Cal-Mac), who had agreed to ship it back to the mainland for treatment. I hope it survived. I'm still looking for follow-up on where it was taken.
Arran yielded 2 signs of spring in the shape of my first singing willow warbler of the year and my first butterfly sighting, this small tortoiseshell
Other Arran highlights for me were the golden eagles soaring above the Lochranza whisky distillery (after we had enjoyed the tour and a dram) and 2 brief sightings of a male then a female hen harrier on Machrie moor and the string road.
However, my other half, Jill, had much better luck than me. My early morning forays on the beach had really been in hope of a much rarer UK mammal. In the Kildonan hotel bar one evening, whilst I was inside, enjoying an Arran Blonde (thats a beer, not the village bike) the smokers outside, Jill included, were treated to a large dog otter running past them down to the beach. I had no such luck and still havent seen a wild otter for 2 years now.
Heres me on the Lochranza - Claonaig car ferry over to the Kintyre peninsula.
After the ferry crossing, we headed to Tayinloan, and pitched up at "point sands", another lacklustre campsite with a great location. We came here to meet-up with my friend Phil, and his family. They were staying in a static caravan for the week.
Phils youngest, Niamh (pronounced neeve) was fascinated by the many "mermaids purses" on the beach. Being SCUBA divers, Jill and I were able to tell her that these were actually the egg sacs of the dogfish, a small atlantic species of shark.
Still no otter on the coastline for me the next morning, or many new species for the weeks list. Just this Greenshank.
We drove down to the Mull of Kintyre, Campbeltown and Macrahanish, for a look around. I hadnt been here since I was about ten years old.
Heres Phil, Ann, the kids, the dogs and Jill beachcombing at Machrahanish, whilst my attention was through the scope and out to sea.
Heres some "thrift" growing at my feet while I was taking the above photo.
Whilst we were looking for a nice pub for lunch, we stumbled upon the Machrahanish seabird and wildlife observatory.
I was delighted to chin-wag with Eddie Maguire (the warden) and another 2 visiting birders. RT, BT and GN divers all in the bay in front of the hide, and the first 2 Arctic terns (for my year and the patch) flew past too. Eddie has his dodgyscoping set-up attached to a monitor so that the kids coulds see stuff close-up too.
However, my non-birding party were all more interested in fish n' chips and toilet facilities, so I didnt get to stop for too long.
The divers were mostly non-breeding birds not in full plumage. The above 2 shots are of a great northern diver.
Other birds to be seen were these shag .....
and a pair of breeding whimbrel.
Moving on down to Southend, I found fulmar on their cliff nests
and some northern wheatear.
After 3 nights camping at Tayinloan, we left Phil and his family, and headed on to Oban.
On the way to Oban, I was told that there was an adult Iceland gull in Tarbet harbour that liked fish n chips. We stopped and I threw some bread . A million herring gulls descended but alas not Icelanders.
We stayed in a guesthouse in Oban, as we would be going to a stand-up comedy gig and probably boozing a fair bit too. Jill said she was a bit cold in the tent an night. Being a born and bred Scotsman, I don't seem to feel the cold!
In Oban I got some close-ish pics of Black Gillys (called Tysties in Scottish)
and some gulls and "hoody craws" in the harbour area, but this part of the trip was not really for birding.
On the drive to Hamilton from Oban, to crash at Phils house for the night, we stopped in at Aragaty kites, near Callander. I was rewarded with these lucky dodgyscoped shots, as the kites finished off the rabbit meat that the centre puts out for them.
Red kite was my 21st year tick of the trip and a great end to an exhausting camp trip.
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