Scotland (day 1)

We drove through the night to Speyside and got up very early to see Capercaillie. I saw one male and possibly two fly-by females. There were also some Red Squirrels and some Siskins close to the hide as well as some nesting Ospreys further back. 

After going fishing in the afternoon (we caught Brown Trout and Rainbow Trout which we later cooked!) we went to a nice heated hide to see Pine Martin. We saw one very late, along with Red Deer and Roe Deer. When I got out the hide the temperature was -1 and we were camping!!!

Baby Song Thrush at Fowlmere

Today there was a baby Song Thrush at Fowlmere. Here is a picture of it looking cold in the wet weather...



There is also a Fox den at Fowlmere with baby Foxes in it.

Minsmere

Today I went to Minsmere to see a Spoonbill. It was quite distant and asleep for a lot of the time. Here is a picture of it.



Here are some pictures of more common birds that I took at the scrape.

Amwell Robin

Today I went to Amwell. I didn't see anything too special but I did take some pictures of some of the birds I did see: A really good picture of a Robin, as well as a Reed Bunting and a Wood Pigeon.

 

Otters

Today me and my dad went to Fowlmere to see whether there was anything there. At the main hide there was some ripples which were Otters! They kept disappearing from view,  but then they swam really close and got up on the bank.  Then they went in the river in-between the lake and the hide and then we saw them on the bank again and realised that one was a pup! The adult started scent marking on a tree stump. Later we saw them again, only a few meters away in a stream although it was very dark. They knew we were there but the pup stayed after the adult swam away. It started crying out and the adult came back and made sure that it came with it that time.

Geese

Today I went to see a  subspecies of Bean Goose called rosicus. It was distant and hidden by grass a lot of the time. There were actually two Bean Geese in amongst four Pink-footed  Geese. Earlier, my dad and I may have found a subspecies of Greylag Goose called rubrirostris from Siberia which was a lot lighter than than the normal Greylags.

I drew this picture of the Bean Goose in pencil and then washed it with browns and pinks.

Snow Birds

Last night it snowed and I decided to take some photos of the birds on the feeders and the last apple on the tree in the church by the window in our house overlooking it. I had to compensate for the snow by over-exposing. These are some of the better pictures I took. The Blackbirds were the hardest because of the bigger contrast. The Robin was on the feeders in our garden and was taken from inside the conservatory.










Later I went to Fowlmere to look for footprints. We saw some very cold ducks (Mallards, Gadwall, and Teal) and a Barn Owl (my Dad took the not very good picture.) We found many Fallow Deer and Muntjac Deer footprints and also the tracks of what I think was a mustalid (probably a Weasel?)