2 Caspian Gulls

Two Caspian Gulls at Kempston this evening; An adult and a second-summer, amongst 40+ Yellow-legged Gulls. 28th July 2010

Holiday highlights

I’ve been home for a week now, and I’ve just about finished going through all my photos from our Scotland holiday. I can’t be arsed to write a day-by-day account of it now, so here are just a few highlights in pictures.

On the way up, this lasagne sandwich caught my eye while we were stocking up on provisions at the last proper supermarket en route to Sutherland. It was duly purchased and eaten for lunch in a layby overlooking the Kyle of Sutherland. Verdict: 6/10 – a nice idea, but the meat was a bit tough.

I was delighted to find a colony of Small Pearl-bordered Fritillaries just down the road from Laxford Bridge – a new butterfly species for me. Being towards the end of the flight period, most were a bit tatty, but I managed to find this reasonable specimen, which kindly sat still for some photos.

The Fritillaries were in the boggy, grassy area on the right of this photo. About 20 were seen in total. There were also half a dozen Golden-ringed Dragonflies zipping around this area.

Laxford House itself was superb – massive (6 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 2 sitting rooms, huge kitchen with Rayburn etc, etc), fantastic views overlooking Laxford River and completely hidden from the road by trees. This is another place which must get rarities in the autumn, being an oasis of trees in the middle of miles and miles of mountain and moorland. There is a record of Red-breasted Flycatcher from here a few years ago, which shows it does have potential. Breeding birds around the house included Spotted Flycatcher, Redpoll and Siskin; other birds seen from the house included Black-throated and Red-throated Divers on the river, Common Sandpiper, Greenshank and Red-breasted Merganser. We also found Otter spraint not far from the house, but didn’t manage to see the actual animal. In case anyone was wondering, we didn’t have the whole house to ourselves; there were eight of us – me, Sophie, my parents, my brother, his wife and two kids.

The world-famous Lochinver Larder pie shop has already made an appearance on Mark’s blog, but just for the record, here are the photos again. If you’re a pie fan, it’s worth making the long trip north just for these.

The stunning beach at Balnakeil on the north coast. Another area which has had a few rarities in the past. These photos make it look a nicer day than it really was!

Nearby is the John Lennon memorial in Durness, where the Beatle spent his childhood holidays at the house of his cousin in Sangomore.


From the sublime to the ridiculous: this bizarre waxwork of that well-known Scot Mohammed Al MacFayed greets visitors as they enter the gift shop at Falls of Shin. The falls are a brilliant place to see Salmon leaping up the waterfalls as they return to their breeding grounds. No, I didn’t manage to get a photo of one.

We did a tour of the Glenmorangie distillery at Tain, on the east coast, one day – great value at just £2.50 each, which included a generous-sized dram afterwards (at least a pub double), and then you got the £2.50 off any purchase over £16 from the shop! I was amused to see this plaque on the door:

On our last full day we went on a boat trip round Handa island. You had to sit astride the seats like a motorbike, and also get dressed up in rather ridiculous waterproofs. I’ve got a photo of Sophie in these as well, but I’ll get into trouble if I put it on here! Having walked round Handa at the start of the holiday, it was fantastic to see the seabird cliffs from the bottom. The smell was even stronger down here too! The ride back to Scourie was fast and exhilarating, but the waterproofs were almost totally pointless – despite the speed of the boat and the heavy swell, there was virtually no spray at all.

I didn’t take many bird photos – apart from the first and last days it was generally grey and wet. Also my Sigma 150-500 seemed to be playing up the day we went to Handa, resulting in most of the photos I took that day being slightly out of focus. I think it was just the contacts, as after I cleaned them it seemed to be OK. Here are some of the better ones:

Other highlights I didn’t manage to get photos of included a sub-adult Golden Eagle soaring over the hills just north of Loch Assynt and a Pine Marten disappearing into roadside vegetation just outside Lochinver. Total bird list for the holiday was exactly 100.

Finally, here’s a panorama of the view from the house in Achriesgill where my Granddad was born. One of my favourite views in Britain...

Colour ringed Common Tern

This juv. Common Tern has spent the past week at Grovebury, it is one of the forty ringed at Wilstone Reservoir this year.

White-spotted Pinion

Been running a trap in my garden in Swavesey for a month or so. This was an exciting addition to the garden list on Saturday night!

Yellow-legged Gulls

Lots of Yellow-legged Gulls have been roosting during the day around the new 'swan' roundabout at Kempston. Only a handful of Herring Gulls are with them. Out of the 59 'herring gull' types there on Saturday afternoon, over two-thirds of them were Yellow-legged Gulls. The top shot shows a juvenile YLG, one of three amongst the flock on Sunday.

Bedstraw Hawkmoth, Over 23rd July 2010

Caught by Jeremy Lindsell, photo by Stuart Elsom.

Hatley moths, 13-21 July

Least Yellow Underwing

Large Twin-spot Carpet

Red/Dark-barred Twin-spot Carpet

July Highflyer

Dark Sword-grass (left)

Black Arches

Rosy Rustic

Dot Moth and Brown-line Bright-eye

More Hatley moths, 13-21 July

Straw Underwing

The Spectacle

Purple Thorn

Scarce Footman

Lunar-spotted Pinion

Mediterranean Gull

This stunning juvenile put in a brief appearence at Grovebury this morning, before heading off north on its own. Grovebury, 18th Aug 2010

2 Garganey

2 Garganey, Blunham Lake, 16th July 2010

Breeding Red Kites

Red Kites are still rare breeding birds in Bedfordshire, however they are slowly filling in after birds have bred in the north and south of the county. These are in mid-Beds. Two chicks have been raised from this nest and have fledged in the last few days. Photos thanks to Tony Squire.