Natural highs and lows

Whilst the longer holiday meant that were more places we could visit in the available time, there were a few sites to which we wanted to return. One of these was the RSPB reserve at Loch of Kinnordy, and in fact we went twice, the second visit in the company of Megan's parents who joined us in Blairgowrie for a few days. The view from the Gullery Hide. Not "Gallery" as I read it, which neatly explained the lack of artwork on the walls.   Grey Heron hunting at the water's edge Brown Hare in the fields behind the reserve A distant female Marsh Harrier hunting through the reedbeds Osprey beginning a dive to catch a fish Shovelers doing their best to mimic porcelain ducks on a wall Amazing light from the East Hide Looking in the other direction The Marsh Harriers and Ospreys which frequent different habitats of the reserve were all too far away for my puny optics to do them justice. However, it was fantastic to watch several pairs of harriers gliding over the reedbeds and...

Today is April 23rd. Today is not Errol's birthday, neither is it the day of his death. This is because Errol is a swamp dragon, a fictitious character in the book Guards! Guards! by Sir Terry Pratchett. Errol is a small, lazy swamp dragon who falls in love with the huge, female Noble Dragon which terrorises the citizens of Ankh Morpork in the afore-mentioned tome. Errol woos her by evolving his internal plumbing so that he can flame backwards, effectively becoming a jet engine (the parody is that Sir Frank Whittle, inventor of said engine, was rejected by the RAF due to his diminutive stature). Errol by Paul Kidby Coincidentally, the other day, Megan and I visited the Tay Reedbeds , an RSPB reserve on the banks of the Tay estuary. We parked by a church in the village of Errol and followed a waymarked trail through farmland, down to the shore, full of hope at the prospect of possibly seeing Bearded Reedlings. Alas, despite much gazing, we did not. However, there were plenty of ot...

Now that we were ensconced in our actual holiday location (as opposed to taking the circuitous three day route to get there), mornings were quite slow, especially as there was so much wildlife on tap at the cottage. We would wake to the dawn chorus, fall back asleep, then eventually surface once more to shuffle to the lounge to watch the bird feeders on the patio and their clientele of feather and fur. But that's a story for another day. Once such morning, we journeyed to RSPB Loch of Kinnordy, a small wetland habitat midst rolling farmland in Angus. As was becoming a holiday theme, we had to take a diversion due to some roadworks, but the place was still peaceful and quiet when we arrived. For the rest of the morning we were sensory sponges, soaking up the sights and sounds of a mixed woodland, reedbeds, marsh scrub and open water. Ospreys regularly flew over the loch, occasionally hovering and diving at fish, Marsh Harriers quartered the reedbeds, Water Rails squealed from deep c...

We were fortunate, whilst on a trip to RSPB Minsmere on the Suffolk coast, to meet up with an old friend and keen birder, JD. The nature reserve was a couple of hours' drive away, but so very worth it (despite the Cambridge rush hour, tailbacks from roadworks and getting lost a mile short of our destination). JD sent us very detailed instructions of where to meet up, which I expertly confused in that bit of my brain where I hold my map memory. Long story short, whilst pootling slowly along the wrong narrow lane with the car windows open, we scored a drive-by Nightingale in song. Eventually, we found the correct spot with even more detailed instructions... "park by the female Ring Ouzel, walk up the track to the male Redstart and look through my scope at the pair of Stone Curlews". This latter species is part of a family which is also known by the name of Thick-knees, which I'm sure in today's enlightened times would be considered body shaming. We'd barely beg...

The first full day of a holiday always feels like it doesn't need a car, and after two days of driving, this strategy was a no-brainer. The cottage we had chosen was within easy walking reach of a nature reserve. A nature reserve that had a cafe. I'm not quite as stupid as folk think! Furthermore, although I didn't know in advance ( I am as stupid as folk think!) , the cafe had an alcohol licence, so even more reason to walk there.  After a leisurely start to the day, we ambled a short distance down the farm track and followed a footpath alongside a mature hedge, hoping to hear the Yellowhammer we'd heard the previous evening. When this path reached a farm, we turned onto a rougher farm track which soon delivered us, by way of a pair of Kestrels, to Kingfisher's Bridge Nature Reserve . We'd effectively walked around three sides of the arable field behind the cottage, that's how close the reserve was. Following a browse of the visitors' centre, with its i...