Scotland 2009

Got back from Scotland yesterday after a train journey of 14 hrs. Was somewhat disappionted that so many species were far away and could not be photographed. The White-tailed Eagles were at least a mile away. This is the first time we have had good views of Waxwing and we were amazed how they all left the tree at the same time and dived headlong into a nearby shrub loaded with berries. John missed the Crestie when we were up there 5-6 years ago but was successful this time around.

Scotland Birds

Scotland Birds

Eider

Scotland Birds

Scotland Birds

Don't be fooled by the rainbow, it was freezing and at one point I had five layers on! Sue

More from Scotland on next page.

Scottish Landscapes

We had a lot of snow while away, so couldn't go far up the Cairngorms but this really is a mountain Hare, albeit a very distant one and yes , we know it looks like a plastic model. The Reindeer are much paler in colour than we realised, no sign of Santa though.

Scotland

This is the Mountview Hotel which is a dedicated birders hotel and a picture of Aviemore station which must have one of the best backdrops around. And finally, we entered the Heatherlea Highland bird-race and along with our two team members, Mike and John, we won with a score of 92 and to prove it here are our certifates and a picture of John with our prize, a tee-shirt each! So now we can say, been there, done that, got the tee-shirt.

This weeks birds

The series of Dipper images were taken under a bridge in Truro, hence they are a bit dark, but unusual because they show the Dippers nesting in a box. John

Out and About

Went down to see the Snowy Owl on Friday ( I fell in the Gorse, sue ), although we saw it, it was too far away to get a decent picture. Had to settle for a Wren instead, not quite the same.

The Little Egret was taken at the Library in Hayle.