UK - Scotland : June 2024 - Part 3

8th June - Oban

Weather was fairly good as we walked down to the seafront at Oban, having failed to find a single Black Guillemot the day before, I almost started thinking whether we would see any during our time here. To my relieved, I immediately saw a few perched on the edge of the seawall the moment I got there. 

Black Guillemots at Oban esplanade

It was incredible to see them in such a location, mere few feet away from morning dog walkers and joggers! For the next hour or so, we had the most wonderful time observing them at close proximity.

Black Guillemot - star bird of Oban!

It was interesting to see a few of them seemingly paired up, engaging in courting behaviour, and visiting their supposed nest holes in the crevices of the seawall. They were literally nesting two feet below people!

Nest holes of Black Guillemots on the seawall

Black Guillemot - courting

The sun came up higher and provided good enough light for some flight shots, they were quick on the wing, but was also quite forgiving as they constantly flew in and out of the bay. They do look very smart with the white patches on their wings.

Black Guillemot - inflight

After a wonderful morning session with the Black Guillemots, we headed to the north pier to board the boat for the Oban Sea Tour. The boat was not very big, but had a good viewing platform on the roof, as well as towards the back. Being a weekday, there weren't that many participants. We started off quite well as we sailed along the Sound of Kerrera, with a White-tailed Eagle drifting past above us.

White-tailed Eagle

Shags were a fairly common sight throughout the boat trip, as well as a couple of Great Cormorants as well. A few Herring Gulls followed our boat.

European Shag

Great Cormorant

Herring Gull

Once we reached the east side of Mull, we started seeing a few Alcids, mostly Common Guillemots and Razorbills. We saw the odd Black Guillemots as well, although I refrained myself from taking any more photos of those lovely birds. Surprisingly, a single Puffin was seen along the way! I guess this was at least a slight consolation for not being able to visit Isle of May this time.

Looking towards the Isle of Mull

Razorbill & Common Guillemots

Atlantic Puffin - our only bird of the trip!

A few distant Arctic Terns came through. Our boat stopped briefly to look at a pod of Harbour Porpoises, which came fairly close to the boat. We looked out for Dolphins or even Whales but did not see any.

Arctic Tern

Harbour Porpoise

As we approached the east coast of Isle of Mull, we got a few Kittiwakes following our boat, and quite a few Northern Gannets were feeding in the area, constantly diving in the water for fish, a behaviour that is ever so entertaining!

Black-legged Kittiwake

Northern Gannet

Northern Gannet - diving sequence

We looked out for otters but didn't see any, only Harbour Seals were spotted basking in the sun along the coastline.

Harbour Seal

The boat tour also went past several monuments on the Isle of Kerrera, Mull as well as Lismore, such as the Gylen Castle, the Duart Castle and the Lismore Lighthouse. All in all, I would say it was two hours well spent and a very enjoyable trip.

Gylen Castle

Duart Castle

Lismore Lighthouse

When we returned to Oban, I noticed a male Eider perched along the beach on the seafront. We hurried over and managed to get a few photos of this handsome sea duck before it swam off into the Bay. I've wanted to see a male Eider ever since I knew they existed, but have only seen females on my last visit to Shetland, as for some reason by the time I got there they have all moved on! Nearby, a few Rock Pipits were feeding along the beach during low tide.

Common Eider - male

Rock Pipit

After lunch, we began our long drive back towards Edinburgh. We didn't stop too many times along the way, but a brief stop by Loch Lubhair was somewhat successful, as we encountered a White-tailed Eagle being harassed by an Osprey! The Osprey was obviously unhappy about the eagle's presence, and attacked the big bird continuously for nearly ten minutes! It wasn't until the White-tailed Eagle flew into a tree to take cover that the Osprey finally gave up, not before flying in close right above our heads and disappeared out of sight.

Loch Lubhair

White-tailed Eagle

Osprey

9th June - Edinburgh

I knew the main birding part of our trip was over, but there were a couple of good birding sites near Edinburgh I wanted to try. So, in the morning, we headed towards the Musselburgh Lagoons for a quick look. This is probably the best known birding site in close proximity of Edinburgh, although I think June is probably not the best season for this area. We got a good list of common species such as Goldfinch, Common Whitethroat, Blackcap and Great Spotted Woodpecker. On the lagoon there were Common Gulls, Eurasian Curlews and several Common Shelducks.

Entrance road towards the bird hides

European Goldfinch

Common Shelduck

Common Gull (front)

On the lake we had a Grey Heron, which surprisingly was the only one we saw there. A stroll around the meadows produced a few perched Sand Martins, numerous Common Swifts, as well as Eurasian Skylarks and several Common Reed Buntings.

Grey Heron

Sand Martin

Common Swift

Eurasian Skylark

Common Reed Bunting - male

After breakfast, we decided to go for a walk on Cramond Causeway, the causeway during the low tide allow walkers to walk all the way to Cramond Island. The exposed mudflat created lots of habitats for birds, there were a lot of roosting Herring and Lesser Black-backed Gulls.

Cramond Causeway

Roosting gulls

Herring Gull

Lesser Black-backed Gull

On the mudflat, Eurasian Oystercatchers and Bar-tailed Godwits were seen feeding. A few Common Shelducks came quite close.

Bar-tailed Godwit

Common Shelduck

Closer towards the island we added a few Linnets. The forts on the island was in itself an interesting structure to visit. Looking out from the island to the sandbar, we saw hundreds upon hundreds of Eiders all resting on the sand, although we couldn't get close to them it was quite a sight!

Common Linnet - male

Old bunker on Cramond Island

Common Eider

After lunch, we did a little bit of city touring, before heading to Holyrood Park for a walk, the park is the biggest in Edinburgh and is topped with Arthur's Seat, the highest point in the city. We parked the car and walked the middle of the park, here we were greeted by several common species such as Common Whitethroats, Chaffinches and a few Eurasian Wrens.

Common Whitethroat

Chaffinch - male

Eurasian Wren

We decided not to walk up Arthur's Seat as that looked quite steep, so we opted to take a gentle stroll along Queen's Drive that goes around the park, which gave us good views overlooking all the way around the city. There were plenty of Jackdaws that nested in this area, a few Ravens were also present. A Common Buzzard flew past but was quickly chased off by the resident Jackdaws.

Crow central around Arthur's Seat

Eurasian Jackdaw

Common Raven

Common Buzzard harassed by a Jackdaw

Being slightly higher up had its advantages, for instance birds were very photogenic when they were perched on the top of trees towards the downward slope, as they then become eye-level for me and gave me a nice background to work with. Several  Chiffchaffs singing on top of the trees gave excellent views. There were also a few Greenfinches around.

European Greenfinch

Common Chiffchaff

The best bird though were two male Eurasian Bullfinches, which were very photogenic. I've seen this species several times in the UK before, but never had the chance to photograph them, at least not this subspecies, I have photographed Eurasian Bullfinch in Japan but they look hugely different!

Eurasian Bullfinch - male

A very friendly male Ring-necked Pheasant was the last photographable bird we encountered for the day, they really are very underrated birds, as their plumage are absolutely gorgeous when you see them up close.

Ring-necked Pheasant

10th June - Edinburgh

This was a non-birding day. We toured the city, including a lovely visit to the National Museum of Scotland, their natural history section was especially impressive and done with incredible curation. The 'bird of the day' was probably a Pink-headed Duck, a species now that is of course presumed very close to if not already extinct.

Legendary Pink-headed Duck

National Museum of Scotland

A visit to Edinburgh Castle was most interesting, to be in a building with such cultural heritage. Both the exterior and interiors were equally impressive.

Edinburgh Castle

We also visited Victoria Street, a beautiful cobbled street in the old town, said to be the most photographed street of Edinburgh. The street was made famous by its supposed resemblance to the fictional street Diagon Alley from the Harry Potter books, although JK Rowling herself denied such connections.

Victoria Street

11th June - Edinburgh

As our last day in Scotland, we visited the Royal Botanical Garden Edinburgh. The gardens were immaculately kept with lots of interesting plants. There were a few birds found here, mainly common species, such as Blue Tits, Eurasian Magpies and Eurasian Robins.

Eurasian Blue Tit

Common Magpie

Eurasian Robin

Royal Botanical Garden Edinburgh

We also saw a few Goldcrests, as well as a very friendly male Eurasian Bullfinch, which was feeding on what looks to be some kind of Hawk's-beard seeds.

Goldcrest

Eurasian Bullfinch - male

Finally, we took a quiet stroll along the Water of Leith Walkway, or one section of it. This streamed walkway runs right through the centre of Edinburgh, and is known to hold a good number of wildlife, including Dippers, Kingfishers and Eurasian Otters! We knew it was very unlikely we would see any otters, but we did see a few Goosanders, including a mother with seven chicks!

Water of Leith Walkway

Goosander family

And that marks the end of our trip up to Scotland, we took the late afternoon plane back to London City Airport. I would say our trip went fairly well, we saw most of the birds we set out to see, with the exception of Dotterels and Snow Buntings, but weather simply didn't permit us to hike around suitable habitats, as unusually low temperature made hiking up the Cairngorms almost impossible for us, as we were expecting temperature to be around 10 -13°C up near the summit, not -2°C! So, considering all that, I thought we did quite well in finding a Ptarmigan in this kind of weather conditions!

It was also a shame that we couldn't make it to the Isle of May in the end, although that didn't really make much difference to our total trip list, and there weren't really any lifers there for me, I really wanted to get a good photo session in there of the Puffins, Razorbills and Guillemots.

I gained a total of 8 lifers on the trip. So, all in all I would say the trip went fairly decently, hopefully we can revisit some of these areas at different times of the year, which will definitely get us some different species.

	Species	Scientific Name	Location
1	Greylag Goose	Anser anser
2	Canada Goose	Branta canadensis
3	Mute Swan	Cygnus olor
4	Egyptian Goose	Alopochen aegyptiaca	London
5	Common Shelduck	Tadorna tadorna
6	Northern Shoveler	Spatula clypeata	London
7	Gadwall	Mareca strepera	London
8	Mallard	Anas platyrhynchos
9	Eurasian Teal	Anas crecca
10	Common Pochard	Aythya ferina	London
11	Tufted Duck	Aythya fuligula
12	Common Eider	Somateria mollissima	Oban, Musselburgh
13	Common Goldeneye	Becephala clangula	Lochindorb
14	Goosander	Mergus merganser	Edinburgh
15	Red-breasted Merganser	Mergus serrator	Oban
16	Red Grouse +	Lagopus lagopus	Lochindorb
17	Rock Ptarmigan +	Lagopus muta	Glenshee
18	Black Grouse +	Lyrurus tetrix	Dava Moors
19	Common Pheasant	Phasianus colchicus
20	Red-legged Partridge	Alectoris rufa
21	Little Grebe	Tachybaptus ruficollis
22	Slavonian Grebe +	Podiceps auritus	Avielochan
23	Great Crested Grebe	Podiceps cristatus
24	Rock Dove	Columba livia
25	Common Woodpigeon	Columba palumbus
26	Eurasian Collared Dove	Streptopelia decaocto
27	Common Cuckoo	Cuculus canorus	Lochindorb
28	Common Swift	Apus apus
29	Common Moorhen	Gallinula chloropus
30	Eurasian Coot	Fulica atra
31	Pied Avocet	Recurvirostra avosetta	London
32	Eurasian Oystercatcher	Haematopus ostralegus
33	European Golden Plover	Pluvialis apricaria	Glenshee
34	Common Ringed Plover	Charadrius hiaticula	Musselburgh
35	Northern Lapwing	Vanellus vanellus
36	Eurasian Curlew	Numenius arquata
37	Bar-tailed Godwit	Limosa lapponica	Cramond
38	Common Sandpiper	Actitis hypoleucos
39	Common Redshank	Tringa totanus
40	Atlantic Puffin	Fratercula arctica	Oban
41	Black Guillemot	Cepphus grylle	Oban
42	Razorbill	Alca torda	Troup Head, Oban
43	Common Guillemot	Uria aalge	Troup Head, Oban
44	Black-legged Kittiwake	Rissa tridactyla	Troup Head, Oban
45	Black-headed Gull	Chroicocephalus ridibundus
46	Common Gull	Larus canus
47	Herring Gull	Larus argentatus
48	Great Black-backed Gull	Larus marinus
49	Lesser Black-backed Gull	Larus fuscus
50	Arctic Tern	Sterna paradisaea	Oban
51	Common Tern	Sterna hirundo	London
52	Black-throated Diver	Gavia arctica	Lochindorb
53	Northern Fulmar	Fulmarus glacialis	Troup Head
54	Northern Gannet	Morus bassanus	Troup Head, Oban
55	Great Cormorant	Phalacrocorax carbo	Oban
56	European Shag	Gulosus aristotelis	Troup Head, Oban
57	Little Egret	Egretta garzetta	London
58	Grey Heron	Ardea cinerea
59	Eurasian Spoonbill	Platalea leucorodia	London
60	Osprey	Pandion haliaetus	Lochindorb, Loch Lubhair
61	Golden Eagle +	Aquila chrysaetos	Lochindorb
62	Western Marsh Harrier	Circus aeruginosus	London
63	Eurasian Sparrowhawk	Accipiter nisus
64	Red Kite	Milvus milvus
65	White-tailed Eagle	Haliaeetus albicilla	Lochindorb, Oban, Loch Lubhair
66	Common Buzzard	Buteo buteo
67	Common Kingfisher	Alcedo atthis
68	Great Spotted Woodpecker	Micropternus brachyurus
69	Common Kestrel	Falco tinnunculus
70	Peregrine Falcon	Falco peregrinus	Findhorn Valley
71	Ring-necked Parakeet	Psittacula krameri	London
72	Eurasian Jay	Dendrocopos major
73	Common Magpie	Pica pica
74	Eurasian Jackdaw	Corvus monedula
75	Rook	Corvus frugilegus
76	Carrion Crow	Corvus corone
77	Hooded Crow	Corvus cornix	Loch Ness, Oban
78	Common Raven	Corvus corax
79	Coal Tit	Periparus ater
80	Crested Tit +	Lophophanes cristatus	Loch Garten
81	Eurasian Blue Tit	Cyanistes caeruleus
82	Great Tit	Parus major
83	Eurasian Skylark	Alauda arvensis
84	Sedge Warbler	Acrocephalus schoenobaenus	London
85	Common Reed Warbler	Acrocephalus scirpaceus	London
86	Sand Martin	Riparia riparia
87	Barn Swallow	Hirundo rustica
88	Western House Martin	Delichon urbicum
89	Willow Warbler	Phylloscopus trochilus
90	Common Chiffchaff	Phylloscopus collybita
91	Cetti's Warbler	Cettia cetti	London
92	Long-tailed Tit	Aegithalos caudatus
93	Eurasian Blackcap	Sylvia atricapilla
94	Common Whitethroat	Curruca communis
95	Goldcrest	Regulus regulus
96	Eurasian Treecreeper	Certhia familiaris	Loch Garten
97	Eurasian Wren	Troglodytes troglodytes
98	White-throated Dipper	Cinclus cinclus	Dulsie Bridge
99	Common Starling	Sturnus vulgaris
100	Mistle Thrush	Turdus viscivorus
101	Song Thrush	Turdus philomelos
102	Eurasian Blackbird	Turdus merula
103	Fieldfare	Turdus pilaris	Lochindorb
104	Ring Ouzel +	Turdus torquatus	Cairngorm, Well of Lecht
105	Spotted Flycatcher	Muscicapa striata
106	European Robin	Erithacus rubecula
107	Common Redstart	Phoenicurus phoenicurus	Loch Garten, Lochindorb, Corrimony
108	European Stonechat	Saxicola rubicola
109	Northern Wheatear	Oenanthe oenanthe
110	Dunnock	Prunella modularis
111	House Sparrow	Passer domesticus
112	Grey Wagtail	Motacilla cinerea
113	Pied Wagtail	Motacilla alba
114	Meadow Pipit	Anthus pratensis
115	Rock Pipit	Anthus petrosus
116	Common Chaffinch	Fringilla coelebs
117	Eurasian Bullfinch	Pyrrhula pyrrhula
118	European Greenfinch	Chloris chloris
119	Common Linnet	Linaria cannabina
120	Common Redpoll +	Acanthis flammea	Glencoe
121	European Goldfinch	Carduelis carduelis
122	Eurasian Siskin	Spinus spinus
123	Yellowhammer	Emberiza citrinella	Troup Head
124	Common Reed Bunting	Emberiza schoeniclus