heatherlea

Heatherlea spot rare Ocean Sunfish off Isle of Eigg

heatherlea — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 11:22:48 +0000

We spotted the Sunfish between Arisaig and Eigg while looking for Minke Whales, someone on the boat spotted the fin and called out porpoise but Dave got on to it and realised it was an Ocean Sunfish. We had it next to the boat for 10 minutes giving clear views of it’s strange flat body and fins, one of which it constantly flaps above the water. They are often spotted off the south coast of England but very rarely as far north as Scottish waters. It’s latin name is Mola mola which means “millstone”, referring to it’s weird flat shape.

View the BBC News article at this link www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-11082731

View John’s footage of the Sunfish here www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTodA1z93OA

RUTLAND BIRDFAIR 2010

heatherlea — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 09:49:32 +0000

Coming to the Birdfair this year? So are we! Heatherlea will be in our usual place in Marquee 2, so please make a point of dropping round for a chat, you will be very welcome. As always we will be bringing ‘a taste of Heatherlea’ to keep hunger at bay, and would love to see you.

If you’ve been to Heatherlea in Nethy Bridge, you will know all about the exclusive Heatherlea range of beers, brewed for us Cairngorm Brewery. In addition we also have our range of Heatherlea whiskies! Try our 10 yr old Speyside Malt ‘Old Henry’, our 8yr old Islay Malt ‘Golden Eagle’, or our blended ‘Wee Crestie’. We will be holding daily whisky tasting sessions on our stand, listen out for the annoucements at the fair – slainge!

We believe in supporting the birdfair with real money, and Heatherlea will once again donate a Heatherlea holiday to the auction, and sponsor the Talks Marquee. This year Kevin’s talks will feature some of the offbeat events in a year of his guiding life, with another talk focusing on ‘The birds of Scotland as seen by Heatherlea’, a popular subject which has set record attendance levels for talks in Marquee 2 for each of the last three years.

See you there!

Emma & the Heatherlea Team

Kevin escapes the office for our ‘High Season across the Highlands’ week…..

heatherlea — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 13:41:15 +0000

Caryl and I began Heatherlea way back in 1991, and in the early years I did almost all the guiding myself. Once I worked for fourteen consecutive weeks without a day off, and by the time that stretch was over I felt I knew the birdlife of the Scottish Highlands like the back of my hand.

Things changed as we got bigger, however, and our guiding team grew to where we now have five guides working on rotation for 41 weeks of the year, and none of these people is me. I get to go overseas regularly, so I’m having plenty of fun watching wildlife, but in Scotland I’m a stranger beyond my doorstep.

Until our High Season across the Highlands week beginning Sat 5 June, that is. For one reason or another all our guides were busy doing other trips, and Jonny and I were the only two qualified Heatherlea guides available, so on Sunday morning I jumped in the minibus and began a full week guiding, my first for over ten years. Within a very short period, I experienced a strange sensation; what could it be? It dawned on me slowly …… I was enjoying myself!

Here are a few of the highlights as mentioned by our guests at our Friday round-up.

Highlights

Mist-waterfall at coire an Lochan on Cairngorm

Ring Ouzel family, with red deer running across the skyline behind

Boat ride around Handa giving unique views of the bird cliffs

Capercaillie hen with six chicks in private estate

Single dotterel in the mist as a reward for tremendous effort

View down Little loch Broom just before sunset

Crested Tit with begging chick very close to our bins

Moulting Cock Capercaillie at close quarters in our private estate

Male Ptarmigan on Cairngorm plateau posing for photos

Auk cliffs at Handa

Osprey catching a fish at spey bay

Slavonian Grebe in beautiful breeding plumage

Dunlin in beautiful breeding colours on west coast

Osprey on the nest, flying to see off an intruder bird, and eating fish

‘Totally impressed with the whole event’

My own stock rose in value within ten minutes on the first morning, as driving in the pouring rain through the Abernethy Forest, I was lucky enough to see a hen Capercaillie standing on a log about 80 feet into the trees. I was extra vigilant here because I knew that we were passing a known lekking area, and birds sometimes return just after the mating period in the hope of finding a partner. This small female was probably unmated, and having checked in my bins, I called Jonny and the two buses carefully reversed so everyone could see. The bird was not for moving, and we all enjoyed great views.

What was happening here? The bird was probably sitting up to avoid the wet berry-strewn forest carpet, was no doubt cold, and perhaps preferred relying on camouflage to flying away.

My other highlight? Although everyone loved this bird, by the end of the week no-one mentioned it at the round-up! We had seen so much, including another hen Caper with six chicks and a moulting cock bird, everyone had different things to talk about. I was left with the clear impression that everyone else had enjoyed the week as much as I had, and that, after all, is why we started Heatherlea all those years ago. Above all I enjoyed the pleasure of spending time with those who have trusted us to deliver their holiday, and the delight of finding the birds such nice people came here to see.

I must do this again ……

Kevin

ICELAND VOLCANO ERUPTS AGAIN

heatherlea — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 13:48:52 +0000

I’m sure everyone has been following the reports of the volcano that erupted east of Reykjavik last month, the latest news is of a second eruption today. Andy Jones, our leader on all our Iceland holidays, has been keeping us posted with the latest details “The eruption is larger than last month’s, it is occurring under the glacier and floodwater is being discharged.” Andy has also kindly sent us some pictures (see below) of this amazing sight when it first erupted in March. The volcano, 75 miles (120 kilometers) east of Reykjavik, erupted on March 20 after almost 200 years of silence. Although it’s unlikely to continue erupting for much longer, we do plan to incorporate a visit during our ‘ICELAND - BIRDS, CETACEANS, MAMMALS & GEOLOGY’ holiday 29 July - 5 August 2010. If it’s not erupting, there will still be much to see (a new 82m high mountain) in its aftermath.

We still have a few places left on our trip this summer, but it’s booking up fast - more details at this link www.heatherlea.co.uk/birdwatching-holidays/overseas/iceland.htm or contact the office 01479 821248 for further information.

Emma

Spring into Scotland w/c 27 March 2010

heatherlea — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 12:52:03 +0000

Spring is a time of great change here in northern Scotland, as breeding birds begin to settle on territory, winter visitors become thinner on the ground, and summer migrants start to arrive. This cold winter has held the process a week or two, but things are moving now and our birding days are very exciting. Here are a few words from John Poyner, who together with Dave Pullen was leading our holiday last week.

‘Highlight of the week was indoubtedly seeing at least 15 eagles on Mull, including a ‘flock’ of five birds (three Golden and two White-tailed). One WTE was seen flying at close range against the trees giving spectacular views, and one Goldie was displaying right above our heads. We also saw three otters playing on the shoreline! Other highlights were great views of a Crestie sitting motionless on a snowy pine branch, a flock of 60 Purple Sandpipers huddled by the bus in Lossiemouth, and close views of Bottle-nosed Dolphins at Chanonry Point. Despite one of the worst snowfalls of the winter we collected over 100 species in our week, including all three divers in breeding plumage and lekking Black Grouse’.

This week is warmer, with less extreme weather, and by last night (Wednesday) we had seen most of the specialities, including great Parrot (Scottish) Crossbills, pictures to follow soon!

Extreme weather in Nethy Bridge!

heatherlea — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 11:11:58 +0000

Since 17 December we have had about 6.5 ft of snow in Nethy Bridge. More than most of us in the village have ever seen, and certainly more than Heatherlea has experienced since we began running holidays in 1991. During our Mountview birding weeks we have spent a total of three days during all that time sitting in the hotel or walking locally, watching the snow fall and getting good views of birds (and Red Squirrels!) trying to cope. Numbers of small birds are probably going to be down for a time, though we expect them to soon recover, and local Crested Tits seem to be quite habituated to village birdfeeders!

Last week the extreme weather showed just how unpredictable this winter has been. On Mull, our group saw 15 eagles (and three otters) on Monday, one of our best ever days on the island. Some notes from guides Dave Pullan and Ian Ford may appear very soon on this blog! As the group returned to Nethy Bridge on Tuesday, the snow started falling and didn’t stop. Overnight and into Wednesday the white carpet grew ever higher, and it was smiles all round on Wednesday morning as people togged up to walk around the village. In the woods, feeders held many species including the above mentioned cresties, and down at Broomhill Bridge we saw Dippers, Buzzards, bemused waders arrived for breeding, and more. Our feeders were covered in Chaffinches and Siskins, with the odd Brambling to liven things too, and Song Thrushes and a Dunnock trying to take advantage of the only food going spare. The next day, the roads were cleared, and off the group went to the coast - what a strange few days!

Today, the River Nethy is crashing through the village, as all the snow on higher ground melts in the warmer air generated by southerly winds. Our group are back on Mull, returning later with tales of eagles and otters we hope! Tomorrow one thing is certain - we won’t be snowed in!

Kevin

HIGHLAND WINTER BIRDING 6 - 13 MARCH

heatherlea — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 18:10:20 +0000

After the Bird Race week, when we had to contend with a lot of snow and interesting driving conditions, a big thaw began to set in with high pressure dominating for the early part of this Winter birding week resulting in excellent weather through to Wednesday.

Thursday saw rain over on the West, but as soon as it stopped by Gruinard Sound we saw Otter, White-tailed Eagle, Golden Eagle and 3 Blacked-throated Divers in quick succession, not to mention 3 Great Northern Divers and the odd Black Guillemot fly past.

Yesterday began wet but cleared up later and the group had great views of lekking Black Grouse. After a walk in the forest, two Caper were spotted - what a fantastic to end to a great week!

Jonny

Top Twenty Highlights

heatherlea — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 17:56:42 +0000

Heatherlea re-opened here in Scotland last Saturday with the first of our ‘Top 20′ birds and mammals holidays, and we’ve been watching eagles, otters and pine martens! Last weeks wildlife highlights included a family of Otters very close to the bus over on the West Coast, and Long-tailed Duck against the snowy landscape of the Moray Firth - what a great start to our 20th season!

North Ron comes up trumps….

heatherlea — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 09:26:32 +0000

Our recent North Ronaldsay and Orkney holiday proved quite exciting! Despite a long spell of strong westerlies our final days on North Ron came up trumps. We managed to relocate an American Golden Plover seen briefly in flight earlier by one of the Observatory staff. The simple instructions were shout if you see any Plover with a black belly as we drove around looking. Within two minutes Angie pointed to a bird a few hundred yards away and exclaimed “do you think that’s it?”………….it was!

Then, hearing of a Sandhill Crane, only the third for Britain, on Orkney mainland we dashed from the airport on our way back to the ferry to find it. With just minutes to spare, we located it in a stubble field at Windwick!

It was a most enjoyable trip, now just need to crack on with the trip report…..

John Poyner

Heatherlea awarded FIVE STARS by VisitScotland

heatherlea — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 15:32:38 +0000

We are delighted to announce that Heatherlea have been awarded FIVE STARS for our wildlife experience by visitScotland. This is the highest level of Quality Assurance award, only given to those operators found to be ‘Exceptional’ by the assessors. Heatherlea are only the second in Scotland to achieve this very sought-after standard, and we are the only tour operator on the Scottish mainland to hold the award. Here is an extract from today’s press release;

Kevin says; ‘the award of 5 stars is a fantastic achievement, well-earned by our dedicated team. We have always set high standards for our days in the field, and our birding guides and hotel staff thoroughly deserve this recognition’.

Heatherlea are about to celebrate their 20th season of wildlife watching holidays in the Scottish Highlands, and Kevin said the award couldn’t have come at a better time. ‘In difficult trading conditions, we are marketing very hard to ensure a great year for our 20th anniversary. We already have more advance bookings for Mountview Hotel in 2010 than at this stage in any previous year. This award will help confirm our strong position as market leaders in Scottish wildlife holidays’.

‘Independent accreditation is very important to us’, said Kevin, ‘because our customers are well-informed and discerning. They recognise good value and will always prefer high quality and good service. Our award can only be good news for Scottish tourism in general’.
ENDS