WREXHAM? It Darn Near Kills 'Em - Scotland Adventure Part I

 The Skirl 'o' the Pipes - the Beat 'au' the Drums

It was only a metaphoric 'kick in the backside' from Hugh and Janet that set me on a trip away to rediscover what was once an annual pilgrimage while working in the Oil Industry. During each of those 18 years, when flying back to Aberdeen by helicopter for my April 'field break', it was customary to spend the first week to 10 days scouring the central and northern reaches of 'bonny' Scotland for any forms of wildlife. Biting the bullet firmly, as my skills on today's open roads leaves a little to be desired, the decision was made and a sketchy plan, as had been usual in the past, was laid. Between that time and the day of departure, as reported through these pages, there was an unexpected visit from my dear friend Dave Foot at which time he was made privy to my intentions. His reaction said it all which was countered by an invitation for him to join me on the venture, which he accepted wholeheartedly. However, this was never to be a Bird Race, bombing off to every corner of the country, but a journey at a sedate pace while seeing as much as was humanly possible. Dave brought to the table not only his uncanny skills of finding and spotting wild creatures 'in the field', but also his adept ability to locate things which would be of mutual interest via his (are they called) Smart Phone! It was also considered a good idea to keep a Trip List which, over the next few posts, will be followed in chronological order.

It should also be noted that throughout this series

some of the images will have been drawn from both our own

Archive and the Internet

only in an effort to illustrate the subject matter!

The start and cut off point for our adventure was to be

Parley Court Farm Gateway

with the first bird on that list being 

 JACKDAW
followed by
Carrion Crow, Wood Pigeon, Blue Tit, Magpie, Herring Gull, Great Tit, Rook and Starling
before hitting a nice little run of Raptors such as 

 SPARROWHAWK

 but more or less only in silhouette.

 COMMON BUZZARD

KESTREL
 but

RED KITE

even along a short stretch of the M4 corridor, a hot bed, was a long time in showing.
Before our first 'booked' overnight stop we also added
Mallard, Black-headed and Lesser Black-backed Gulls, Raven plus Grey Heron

 by which time both rain and mist had set in big time, as can be seen through the windscreen.

At a very soggy
Wrexham, Wales 
we headed, under fast fading daylight,
for the high tops of the moors in the hopes of at least catching a sight of
BLACK GROUSE
which we did but without gaining any sensible stills or footage.
It was well before

First Light

the following morning

with only further deteriorating weather conditions

we returned to the
Black Grouse Lek

 where we also added 'drumming / displaying'

COMMON SNIPE
and Blackbird.

while the

BLACK GROUSE
were on show through the gloom along with a couple of

CURLEW

in all

we counted

19 Male birds,

all

strutting their stuff,

but with only a single Female putting in an appearance.
Already formulating a plan for a re-visit on our return journey, at the
very last knockings we also added

FIELDFARE
to the list.

Crossing the border into
SCOTLAND

the Jock's were doing their level best to improve things as we started

Heading for the Highlands

before driving through the village of

PITLOCHRY, PERTHSHIRE

and soon arriving at a most pleasant and 'sun-kissed' small Lochan

 The Cuilc

where, in a matter of moments, our target and seemingly very sleepy

 RING-NECKED DUCK

was located.

 First 'Coy' Encounter.

 

but it soon perked up

putting on a fine display.

In it's usual range this Duck is more or less confined to the USA

and comparable with our own

Tufted Duck

(right in this shot).

Again with Tufted Duck for comparison.

It was time to put a few more miles behind us intending to reach
Carrbridge, Inverness-shire, and our Bed and Breakfast

for 4 nights, before nightfall.

More of that on the Post to follow!

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