A foray outside Somerset

Yes, yes, we all know the best birds are in Somerset, but even we hardened Somerset birders have to get out from time to time.

So I headed north in Thunderbird 1 at the end of August, to the Western Highlands for our annual pilgrimage to the village of Glenelg overlooking the Isle of Skye.

Glenelg

Glenelg is a spectacular spot at the top of the Sound of Sleat, surrounded by towering mountains, forests, rivers and you always have a view of the sea. The quantity of birds may not be the same as we get in Somerset, but the variety of species can be every bit as exciting.

First morning I wake to the chattering of herons from the heronry in the wood that surrounds our house, and a group of around 30 gaggling greylag geese nibbling the bright green pasture that goes down to the foreshore. Since the local farmer enhanced his pasture, these geese come and go all the time. When I saw him I thanked him for improving my birdwatching, however I don’t think he was too chuffed at the higher number of wildfowl that now comes down to his grass.

Another call I hear all the time is the honking of red-throated divers that fly overhead, down from the small lochans on the surrounding hills where they breed to fish in the bay in front of our house. How cool is it that I can look through my telescope from the lounge window and watch red-throated divers! There were a couple of snipe probing the shallows that surround the small lochan in front of the house and most days there were two or three teal ducks dabbling on this tidal pond too.

Around the garden there were various tits, siskin, goldcrests and a family of spotted flycatchers (nice to see, given that they are getting much rarer in Somerset).

Buzzards were common, along with daily sightings of the local sparrowhawk, and the first time for many years I enjoyed watching 2 kestrels regularly in the vicinity of the old ruined Hanoverian Army Barracks nearby - I wondered if they might have nested in there in the spring?

On the river estuary each morning I would see a dipper and a large family of goosanders - I am sure I counted nine birds in a line one morning seven youngsters and the two parent birds. There was a resident pair of grey wagtails, pipits, both meadow and rock and piping common sandpipers. The sand Martin colony was empty, the birds already on their way south, although there was still good numbers of swallows around the village.

On the stoney beach, depending on the state of the tide there was always an assortment of gulls - mostly herring, common, and great-black backed. Curlew and oystercatchers were still in good numbers along with shag, eider duck, and arctic terns. Growing numbers of dunlin and turnstones were also passing through, with some godwits as well.

Over our holiday we managed to get our boat out and explored the Sound of Sleat and round to the neighbouring sea-loch to the south, Loch Hourn. It is amazing the amount of birdlife and wildlife you see when you are actually on the water. There were loads of guillemots, and young puffins - gannets plunging into the water looking for mackerel, several Manx shearwater, and we had a quick glimpse of a white-tailed eagle which is always a thrill - we even saw otters on a couple of occasions and several porpoise (no dolphins this year this year tho, we had missed them by a couple of weeks) - but best of all was, I am pretty sure we saw a sooty shearwater in Glenelg Bay. It was bigger and heftier than a Manx shearwater (more the size and weight of a common gull) black all over with the exception of some light white streaks on the underside of its wings. It was gone in a flash, but I was able to shout to my son to have a good look and we were able to agree with what we saw, and didn’t make it up.

Sooty Shearwater

Another rarer bird that I had never seen before was a single curlew sandpiper among a group of ringed plover running in and out of the waves on the local sandy beach.

Then day before I had to head home to Somerset I was enjoying perfect sunny weather from the decking at the front of the house taking in the view, in fact I was painting the view. I had a cool beer and I was wondering where it had all gone wrong…when I looked up, and about 200 meters away, low in the sky a golden eagle cruised past - although I had them to hand, the eagle was so close I hardly needed my binoculars, but I did raise them to my eyes to follow this king of birds as it glided past my house, without a single wing beat. I was beaming with delight.

Golden Eagle

It is always nice to get to Scotland and in particular to Glenelg, but now back in Somerset as my granny used to say “East, west, hame’s best!”