May 2025 - Syke, The Hebrides and Mull (mainly)

After a 3 day dash back to Norfolk for Mum’s funeral at the end of April we hit the road again. Rather than drive all the way to west Scotland in one go we ambled up via the Yorkshire Dales, the Scottish southern uplands and Loch Lomond. 

At Brimham Rocks in Yorkshire I was chuffed to find Lathbury’s Nomad Bee associating with the many Ashy Mining Bees there and a singing Wood Warbler. An overnight by the Ribblehead Viaduct surrounded by Red Grouse followed with Common Sun Beetle, Heather Beetle and the hoverfly Parsley Blacklet all being new insects for me there. At Earshaig near Moffat as we continued north Crossbills, Tree Pipit, Woodcock, Bilberry Bumblebee and Tree Wasp were the highlights. Beside Loch Lomond Wood Warblers were much in evidence with Red-breasted Carrion Beetle also seen. 

The 3rd of May saw us head over the bridge onto the Isle of Skye. The birding highlights of a busy bank holiday weekend (bad timing!) were Great Northern Diver, Twite, Whinchat, Wheatear, Ring Ouzel, Hooded Crow, Sedge Warblers and my first encounter with the educational Hebridean Song Thrush. Wintergreen Barberry was also a nice find as we headed for Uig and our first ferry - to Tarbet on the Hebrides. What a ferry journey it was too! The sight of 4 Orcas looking back towards the NW coast of Skye will be one that lingers long in the memory. Add to that 2 Minke Whales, Puffins, Manx Shearwater, Bonxie, Black Guillemot, Barrel Jellyfish and then a circling White-tailed Eagle as we approached Tarbet and you have a rather splendid 3 hours!

The next 3 weeks had us island hopping from north to south along the length of the Hebrides taking in Lewis, Harris, Berneray, North Uist, Benbecula, South Uist, Eriskay, Barra and Vatersay before the ferry back to Oban. The birding was superb with showy Corncrakes the undoubted highlight but with White-tailed Eagles, Hen Harriers, Twite, Glaucous Gull, Arctic Terns, proper Rock Doves, Arctic Skua, Red-throated Divers, Great Northern Divers, Red-breasted Mergansers, Hebridean Song Thrushes, Spotted Flycatchers I was kept amused. It was also lovely to see waders in breeding garb with Red-necked Phalaropes the stand out species together with Ruff, drumming Snipe, Whimbrel, Golden Plover, Dunlin, Greenshank and Sanderling. I also spent some time concentrating on bumblebees and managed to nail Northern White-tailed Bumblebee, Cryptic Bumblebee and the rather easier Moss Carder Bee. 

After returning to the mainland I made a point of heading north from Oban to visit the fabled Glasdrum Wood. In the last couple of hours before the weather turned I managed to score with some excellent views of Chequered Skipper plus Small Pearl-bordered Fritillaries preceeded by a nice Sword-leaved Helleborine near our Oban campsite. A solitary Whooper Swan on a roadside loch on our way to the ferry at Lochaline was pleasing but we didn’t hang around long on the mainland however before sailing out to our final 2 islands - Mull and Iona. 

Due to deteriorating weather Mull was a bit of a struggle but it wasn’t without its highlights. It’s hard to argue with Golden Eagle at a nest site, White-tailed Eagles, mega views of Corncrake on Iona and the range-restricted Transparent Burnet at Calgary. 

April 2025 - Yorkshire, Northumberland and Scotland

Our adventure began in Yorkshire where a visit to Druid’s Temple near Masham yielded c6 Crossbills and 3 Red Grouse of note. That night the Red Grouse theme continued with up to 5 around our overnight park-up in the Hambledon Hills. 

1000+ Butterbur plants were quite a site at our next overnight at Seaham before we headed north into Northumberland. I’d earmarked a visit to Seahouses to see the long-staying and weird Eider x Mallard hybrid. It lived up to expectations and showed amazingly well. At our campsite near Bamburgh several Tree Sparrows entertained. 

Last stop in England was Berwick-on-Tweed where despite all the time we were to spend in Scotland gave  us our only Otter of the trip - feeding in the middle of the wide river from the old bridge. 

After time in Edinburgh it was into Fife next where I found an ‘eastern’ Jackdaw at Elie while a Coppice Mining Bee at Reekie Linn in Angus was a nice new insect for me. On Deeside I failed dismally with Ptarmigan at Glenshee but Mountain Hares were some consolation. Two days at the beautiful Linn of Dee were lovely with good Scottish Crossbill candidates, Tree Pipits, Goosander, Siskin, Dipper and close Red Deer encounters. 

Speyside was next up - and provided what, for me, was the highlight of the trip. That was close-up views of Capercallie in the Abernethy Forest - what a moment that was as it strolled out of the wood and along the track! Speyside also delivered Black-throated Divers, Red-throated Divers, Slavonian Grebes, Osprey, Black Grouse, Red Grouse, Pine Martin, Badger, Reindeer and Ring Ouzel. Despite much searching Crested Tit remained as ‘heard only’.

Moving north through Inverness (where we had Dipper and Goosander on the river in the city) Chanonry Point was our planned stop. Here we got some mega views of Bottlenose Dolphins plus a summer plumaged Red-throated Diver, Red-breasted Mergansers and a self-found White Wagtail. Moving up the east coast it was mainly common seabirds but 4 Bottlenose Dolphins off Brora stood out before Belinda got her much-wanted Puffin on the cliffs at Dunnet Head. 

Working our way along the north coast and through the Flow Country we had more Puffins (at Puffin Cove!) plus a Bonxie there. A memorable night in the wild at Cnoc Craggie involved 2 displaying Short-eared Owls, Osprey and our first White-tailed Eagle. To wrap up April we I had a wildflower tick in the form of Roseroot at Smoo Cave and at Scourie (scene of our fave campsite) Great Northern Divers, Black Guillemots, Cuckoo and a Glaucous Gull south at the bay mouth.