Scotland Ardnamurchan

A satellite photograph of Ardnamurchan.

We set off at about 7.00 am from Kings Langley, Love Lane. I had brought my iPod Touch, books and a few other things to entertain me on the long journey. As we had brought Theo with us to Scotland we had to take a brack every few hours to allow him to stretch his legs and relive himself. After about 4-5 hours we had crossed the boarder into Scotland and the scenery became more mountaines and green.

 

picture taken from inside the car in Scotland

After going through Glasgow we began having to go onto smaller roads. At about 7.00 pm we arrived at a ferry which brought us over loch Sunart and onto Ardnamurchan. The crossing only tock about 10 mins but me and Samuel still got out of the car to have a look around we reached the top and instantly saw a bazaar of Black Guillemots (bazaar is the correct name for a group of guillemots). When we did arrive on the other side we went onto a pier next to the ferry were Samuel took out his new scope and we carried on observing the Guillemots (footage coming in next post on Scotland) Whilst on the pier we also saw eiders, Shags and gulls. After we had finished birding we carried on our way on a incredibly small road. After a hour of driving at about as slow as a car could we arrived at our self catering house. 

 Our self catering house from the front.

 

 The view from my room

Some how this house had managed to get a sea view from every room. Luckily for me the owners of the house had left a scope for the visitors to use.

 

 me using the scope they lent us.

Later in the week it was my dads birthday. To celebrate it we decided to go to a castle which was near by.

The castle

To get to the castle we had to go across some sand which was only possible when the tied was out.

On the sand there was a surprisingly small number of birds including the Oystercatcher, Common Gull and a Rock Pipit. After that I decided to explore around the castle. 

On our way back to the car I found a bunch of these flowers growing next to the path.

 A Scottish thistle also the emblem of Scotland.

We were on our way home from the castle when a common seal was spotted. I got out of the car and took a few photos of the seal and then after about 15 mins we moved on.

A Common Seal.

 

The next day we went on a cycle ride to a hill which we could climb. To get there it took about one and a half hours and when we arrived the way we had wanted to go was locked off with a sign on the gate saying 

NO ENTERY but my dad still wanted to go that way I saw a small foot path leading up a small hill which I thought we could climb. When we got to the top the view was amazing.

 

The view half way up.

 The view from the top.

A few days later I decided I would like to climb up the mountain were the Golden Eagle usually flow over. My dad had the same idea and so we set off. Unfortunately half way up we were cut off by ferns up to my shoulders which meant we had to turn back

 

The rest is vague so hear are some pictures to see what i was up to.

  

   

Yellow Wagtail's behind school

Today me and my brother went behind the Kings Langley school to look at what could be seen. The main thing to be seen were the Yellow Wagtail's unfortunately whilst I was taking pictures of the Yellow Wagtail's my brother spotted a Lesser Whitethroat by the time I had arrived back to were my brother was it had already left. This was quite annoying as this would have been a new bird on my year and life list. But in exchange for not seeing the Lesser Whitethroat I was able to get some OK pictures.

Farthing Down's Hoopoe (20/8/11)

 

This is Farthing Down's

3 days ago I booked some tickets to go to Coulsdon South station which was near Farthing Down's where a Hoopoe was frequently seen. I had booked the tickets a day early because we had to change train quite often. the next day (20/8/11) we left on the train to go to Farthing Down's our first stop was Watford Junction from there we went to Clapham Junction then to East Croydon and finally to Coulsdon South. When we arrived we walked the rest of the way to the park. When we first arrived at the park we walk briskly as to cover the whole area after about 5 minutes of walking we came across a bunch of birders who had already found the the Hoopoe. They told us were it was and my brother set up the scope to take a look at it. When I looked through I realised how far away it was if we had not come across these birders we would have never found it. maybe after 5 minutes of looking at the Hoopoe it flow we followed it and after a while it flow out of a bit of long grass to a tree a bit closer to us. When it landed on the tree it opened its crest allowing us to see it.

The Hoopoe with its crest down unfortunately.

It then flow back down to the ground to feed luckily this time it landed on the path where the grass was a lot shorter. We looked at the bird just sitting and feeding very close to where we were. Unfortunately not long after it had flown down a jogger came over the hill and and flushed the bird away. We followed it but lost it me and my brother carried on walking in the way it had left but did not see it. After this we decided to head back to were we had first seen it as it had seemed to like that area. on our way we gathered a group of two birders who seemed to follow us as we had seen it already. We set up our scopes to scan the field were we had first seen it. As we waited more birders joined our small group thinking we had found it after a while we were surrounded by about 9 birders not including me and my brother, then suddenly some said they had found it the whole group looked through there scopes to find the Hoopoe feeding in front of a bush. It stayed there for quite a while until all of us payed no attention to it and then it slipped away.

After a while our group with a few less people joined another group to find the Hoopoe again. It was about 1 o'clock when we came across the Hoopoe again this time it was very close. It left that place and moved to another place were we had a brilliant photo opportunity and if thing could not get any better we managed to get even closer to allowing me to film it and my brother to take some pictures.

A bunch of clips of the Hoopoe put together and music added.

The Hoopoe with its crest open.

All these photos are taken when the Hoopoe was about 9m away.

All the photos above are taken by my brother but I filmed the film.