sutherland & caithness

Sat 31 March– Wed 4 April (extended by a day from 2006 itinerary)

Price £645 pp.  £50 deduction if taking the previous week at Heatherlea. Single supplement £40. Maximum eight guests plus leader Ian Ford or another from our resident team.

Caithness and Sutherland are as far north as you can go on the mainland of Britain. On this holiday we search from Inverness round the coast to key spots south of Ullapool to see a range of northern species in early spring. Key targets include Golden and White-tailed Eagle, Glaucous and Iceland Gull, all four divers (White-billed has become regular in recent years), and ‘real’ Rock Dove. There are many opportunities to check out inviting lochans and stretches of coastline for our own rarities, and in 2005 we saw American Wigeon, Ring-necked Duck and Surf Scoter. There was a long-staying Ivory Gull on a whale carcass along this coastline and also a long-staying Bonaparte`s Gull in 2005. Hen Harrier, Red Kite, Merlin and Peregrine are expected. Whooper Swan and Barnacle Goose from the Greenland population and Greenland White-fronted Goose are still in their winter quarters, and we should see hundreds of Pinkfoot and Greylag Goose. All three ‘common’ divers– Red, Black Throated and Great Northern will be in summer plumage, seabird colonies have Black and Common Guillemot, Razorbill, Fulmar, Rock Pipit and `real` Rock Dove, passerine flocks include Twite, Snow Bunting and Mealy Redpoll as well as Redwing and Fieldfare, returning Greenshank, Golden Plover and Slavonian Grebe are around and Purple Sandpiper are heading north. Little Gull are regularly seen in spring. Long-tailed Duck and both Velvet and Common Scoter are still around in good numbers, and Hooded Crow and Raven are locally common. There are numerous Atlantic Grey Seal on this coast and we may see passing Manx Shearwater. We will look out for Otter, especially in the sea-lochs, and also Harbour Porpoise.

This is a two centre holiday based in Thurso and Ullapool, and this superb extension is a great opportunity to follow up a week at Heatherlea with a real birding adventure, using the guide’s birding skills and local knowledge in the most remote part of mainland Britain, to find our own rarities as Spring moves North.

Comfortable en-suite accommodation.

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Trip Report - Saturday 8th April – Tuesday 11th April 2006

Saturday 8 April      

We left the Mountview Hotel with 2” of snow on the ground and it was still snowing heavily. The road was clear though and we made quick progress to our first stop on the Black Isle to look for Tree Sparrows. We found one on a nearby building and it was joined by its mate giving us excellent views at close range. We also saw several Hooded Crows and a few hundred Grey Lag and Pink-footed Geese in nearby fields. Next stop 15 minutes later was to find a Ring-billed Gull that had been frequenting school playing fields. My bread-throwing skills didn’t even interest the local Herring Gulls so we moved to the local park where all the gulls were devouring someone else’s neatly-cut bread! We found Common, Black-headed and Herring Gulls before I found the adult Ring-billed’s head just visible 25 yards from us. It was not feeding with the others!

It was sunny by now and we all had fantastic views of this American vagrant’s main features on the ground then stunning flight views as well.

We carried on North in bright sunshine and stopped by the Dornoch Firth to add Pintail and Wigeon to our growing list for the day.

At Embo (bizarrely twinned with a town in Hawaii), we had close views of Long-tailed Ducks with drakes in winter and summer plumage. We all agreed that this was one bird that looked better in winter than summer.

Past Loch Fleet, where there were 50 Harbour Seals hauled out on a sandbank and we had a great flypast of 2 Whooper Swans and saw our first Fulmar flying over the trees and after a couple of stops in fishing villages, we had seen real Rock Doves, Rock Pipits, Black Guillemots and a very smart drake Eider.

Cutting inland towards Thurso, we saw several Ravens and a large flock of Fieldfares and Redwings with a Brambling amongst them.

At Scrabster, there was a flock of Eider in the harbour, 2 Atlantic Seals (one was eating a fish when a Great Black-backed Gull grabbed some out of its mouth) and a Turnstone reluctant to give up a piece of roadkill fish at the fish factory.

A final stop at the river mouth before going to the hotel allowed us to find a dog Otter fishing in the heavy swell. We watched it diving repeatedly before catching a fish and coming ashore to eat it. It then swam towards the beach and ran up into its holt above the tide-line. As Linda said “the bird of the day was an Otter!”

A contented group relaxed in the hotel and we saw some of Terry’s photos on the laptop.

Sunday 9th April

Down to Scrabster harbour after breakfast and before we even got out of the bus, Ian shouted Iceland Gull as an immature bird flew past. Out we got and enjoyed great views of the bleached cream bird flying around the harbour before landing briefly. We could all see the pink bill with dark tip and confirm how faded the streaking was on the body-it was a first winter. 2 Atlantic Seals, 2 Black Guillemots and a flock of Eiders were in the calm waters sheltering from the icy north wind beyond.

I wouldn’t say the snowy weather was bad but we did notice that the lambs had their orange jackets on!

We went looking for the local flock of Greenland White-fronted Geese, pausing to check a flock of Whooper Swans and noting how some had really rusty heads. We followed the road down to the shore enjoying huge waves rolling in to crash on the rocks. Linda saw our first Gannet glide past and then I spotted some small waders land at the seaward edge of the rocks. With the scopes we could just about make out through the spray that they were Purple Sandpipers literally living on the edge. Luckily, one landed not far from us and we could see it feeding off the algae as the waves crashed close by.

On with the Wild Goose chase we saw a small flock of Geese land just out of sight and tried to drive to where they were without success. However, we ended up down another road and right at the end we found about 300 Pinkfeet with a probable rossicus Bean Goose, which we’d have nailed if the flock hadn’t all taken to the air!!

Several thousand Pinkfeet and hundreds of Greylags later, I found a flock of Greenland White Fronts on top of a hill trying very hard not to be seen at all and we could see the orange beaks and legs as well as the white blaze and dark belly streaks. We’d also seen a colourful group of 150 `northern` Golden Plover.

We had lunch beside Dunnet Bay under a blue sky and more rolling waves and found at least 6 Great Northern Divers in the bay. A scan of yet another Goose flock produced a Barnacle Goose. Then onto Dunnet Head, the northernmost part of the British mainland, with a clear view of the cliffs of Orkney.

The icy wind with frequent showers of hail and snow continued but we saw plenty of Gannets, Fulmars, Guillemots, Kittiwakes and a single Great Skua.

Many snow showers and sunny spells later, a stop to admire a flock of about 100 close Whoopers produced a good view of an adult Berwick’s Swan, a very scarce bird around here.

Back near the hotel to round off the day, we went to the river mouth and amazingly saw the dog Otter again briefly…it wasn’t over yet because the icing on the cake was a bitch Otter fishing with her cub upriver. We watched them for an hour and by the end, we realised they were oblivious to the traffic and pedestrians passing close to them. If only all Otters were so friendly!!

To quote Linda, the bird of the day was “two Otters” which Stephen echoed with “the other Otters”.

Monday 10th April

We visited Scrabster harbour first thing and found an absolutely stunning summer plumage Great Northern Diver. Our view was so good that Linda commented on its red eye! There were plenty Razorbills, Long-tailed Ducks and the usual Eider and Atlantic Seals and Black Guillemots but no Iceland Gull. We were lucky yesterday!

On the way to Tongue we stopped at a roadside lochan to have a close look at a summer plumage Red Throated Diver which dived and surfaced at the other end of the loch but when it saw we were birdwatchers, it took off and did a Thunderbirds landing right in front of us.

A yodelling Greenshank landed on the shore nearby. John, always one to look behind us, pointed out a Black Throated Diver on another lochan and its mate was there as well. 3 summer plumage diver species before 1030 can’t be bad!

The forecast rain didn’t appear so we enjoyed the sunlit hills and moorland, especially the snowy peaks.

Further stops let us have good looks at a pair of Wheatears and a summer plumage Slavonian Grebe and a pale beaked Great Northern Diver but Ian’s serendipitous  parking provided us with the bird of the day-a male Merlin clutching a dead bird within 10 yards of the bus!! Found by Linda who looked close instead of the rest of us trying to find Barnacle Geese two miles away, it flew 10 yards behind us onto a rock where we had incredible views of its bright yellow legs, peach collar, blue back and streaky underparts for 15 seconds before it was off and away.

We had lunch at the most northerly Golf Course on the British mainland at a sandy beach with a turquoise sea and white rollers. A small group of Long-tailed Ducks dived nearby and 3 Great Northern Divers loafed offshore as Gannets glided around. Flocks of Pinkfeet and Greylags were attempting to leave for Iceland 300 miles to the north over open sea but the wind was too strong and they flew back to land in one of the last fields in Scotland.

We made a quick visit to Smoo Cave with its breeding Fulmars and Rock Doves.

Down the West coast, we stopped to admire 6 Greenshanks and a bizarre sighting of 3 male Reed Buntings that walked down the road to see our bus! Close Red Deer stags fed by the roadside but Eagle watching was to no avail-just a few Buzzards-until we got to our destination Ullapool. From the rivermouth, I saw a distant White-tailed Eagle  which promptly disappeared around a crag to be replaced by a pair of Golden Eagles which only stayed in view for a couple of minutes-but enough to give us hope for tomorrow.

The bird of the day was unanimously the close Merlin.

Tuesday 11 April

Heavy rain and low cloud greeted us this morning so time to remind ourselves of the saying “Rain at 7, dry by 11”. This turned out to be true today.

First stop, thanks to Stephen, to enjoy a pair of close Black-throated Divers loafing on a loch where we could see the pinstripes on the neck and red eye clearly as well as the other features of this stunning bird.

Second stop-also thanks to Stephen-when he saw a large bird over a cliff. We all saw there were in fact 2 birds, one big one small, and they showed themselves quickly as a Golden Eagle and a Raven. The size difference was very obvious and the long wings and the long tail of the raptor were very clear. The pair were chasing each other around the cliff top taking the lead turnabout. The Eagle landed briefly then was back on the wing for more fun, diving at the Raven and rolling to show its talons. Again the Eagle landed and this time it was in view and we watched it at maximum zoom. The golden head looked luminous and we could see the dark eye and yellow at the base of the heavy bill. Wow!

On to a layby overlooking the sea and a male Merlin shot past the bus and down the road at typical Merlin speed but everyone saw it. We had nice views of a summer Great Northern Diver and limited views of a Red Throated Diver but only Ian saw a flock of 50 Barnacle Geese disappear round the corner. We were just about to move on when I spotted a large bird over a distant hill. It was head on but we could all see the wings were held flat. As it came closer, it turned revealing itself as an immature White-tailed Eagle with typical barndoor profile. We watched it for 5 minutes before it went behind us over the hills.

We concentrated on Divers now and by the end of the day had seen 4 Black Throats, 7 Red Throats and 23 Great Northern and we had all had outstanding views of all 3 species in various plumages. As an example, we watched a winter Great Northern eating 2 crabs and as it was only 10 yards offshore, we could see every feather.

On the way back over the Black Isle, we saw a Red Kite very close to the bus and 2 others.

A great ending to a great trip in a remote area. A total of 99 species of bird and 8 mammals by the time we returned to Nethy Bridge with another 6 birds added by next morning before the guests left.

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