In the Pink! West Scotland, 12th June

We were on a roll after picking up the sought after Dotterel yesterday so we had (well I had) hatched a plan over a pint of cider the evening before to carry on and attempt to "clean up" on the species we still needed to see. This would need a bit of travelling around so today we decided to head west towards Applecross. We've usually had success in finding good birds such as the two eagle species and divers on such trips before so were optimistic as we set out on a bit of a cool and grey morning.

Our first stop was made near Lochluichart where Ospreys nest on a platform that has been erected on top of an electricity pylon. I guess anything is as good as tree if you're an Osprey, providing it's high enough and secure enough from predators that may come from below. We've been visiting this nest for a few years now ever since we noticed it in spring one year because it was covered in snow and stood out like a beacon! In the summer it is much more difficult to find since the roadside trees, when in leaf, mostly screen the row of pylons from the road. We pulled up in a convenient spot and within seconds the male Osprey had flown over to check us out, they obviously need to know what everything is that enters into their territory. He let us be though when three Ravens entered its airspace, they were far more demanding of his attention and a lot of effort was exerted in removing them from the area.

The Osprey nest at the top of the pylon

male Osprey

Raven

Loch Cowan provides a convenient stop off and we spent a few minutes there surveying the water and surrounding marshes. There are rare breeding waders at this site but this time we only saw a Greenshank in one of the channels along with some more common waterbirds such as Grey Herons and Common Gulls. A Hooded Crow passed overhead, they become more common the further west you travel. 

Grey Heron

We were looking forward to driving up the Bealach na Ba (Pass of the Cattle), the highest road in Britain, stopping at the top and looking for Ptarmigan and then down the other side to Applecross, but in truth were dismayed by the amount of tourist traffic on the route (yes I know we're part of that but it was never this bad). How times have changed! The road lies on the North Coast 500 route and it is being tainted by an endless barrage of cars, motorcycles and motorhomes that are clogging up the narrow roads. It was busy enough in Lochcarron but in Applecross it was much much worse. The beautiful small coastal village was practically gridlocked, there were hundreds of vehicles, people were queueing to get into the pub (nothing wrong with that, I admit) and it was barely midday! We just couldn't bear it, making a mental note to never come back in June again, and chose to drive straight out towards Shieldaig on the scenic coast road instead, also part of the North Coast 500 but quieter since everybody was in Applecross! We did stop at the Walled Garden Tea Rooms for a coffee and cake and to look at the fabulous Highland Cattle on the estate. 

Highland Cattle

While watching the Coo's my phone sprang into life and a very interesting message scrolled across the screen, "Rosy Starling, Torridon...."! Now if you follow my blog (my thanks to both of you, you know who you are!) you'll know about the trials and tribulations of last Friday see (A frustrating day!) when we managed to not find 2 Rose-coloured Starlings on the Moray coast. Now we had another completely unexpected chance! Torridon was about an hours drive away, I consulted the map to see exactly where the bird was, apparently in a hamlet about 5 miles west of Torridon itself and set off at apace. A Lesser Black-backed Gull stood on a fencepost appeared to be urging me on and pointing the way (although it seemed confused as to the actual direction to take!).

Lesser Black-backed Gull

Just past the smallholding made famous by Monty Halls in his TV show, I spotted a chap looking through his scope at something so, despite my haste, naturally pulled in alongside and inquired as to what he was looking at? On a small Lochan about a hundred yards away a pair of Red-throated Divers were idly swimming. Although I'd seen one from the boat to Handa last week, they are birds that I always enjoy seeing. They are also a bird that I still don't have a decent photo of, and unfortunately this sighting wasn't going to change that situation but, like I said, nice to see. They didn't linger either and were soon off leaving me with just a crap record shot. But we had rarer fish (birds) to fry (not literally).

Red-throated Divers. 

Heading straight to Torridon meant ignoring Shieldaig and driving straight past but we'd return the same way later after we'd hopefully seen the Starling. I turned in off the "main" road and towards Torridon village thinking that I still had another half dozen miles to go when I noticed first a familiar car parked and then a familiar figure stood at the side of the road and peering into a small garden through binoculars. It was Steve, who we'd met the other day during our failed quests to find the Rosy's, I parked, wound the window down and asked what he was doing? "The Rose-coloured Starling is in that bush" was his reply. Talk about luck?! If I hadn't have spotted him we'd have been 5 miles away looking in the wrong place! We parked the car around the corner and joined Steve next to the garden. "It's here but it's just dived back into the bush" and then he showed me a back of the camera shot showing the most gorgeous adult Rose-coloured Starling in its splendid pink and black plumage. For the next hour and half the three of us stared hard into the bush, around the bush and just about everywhere else and had no sight of the Starling. This was driving me nuts! My third chance of seeing an adult Rosy, a bird I hadn't seen for 15 years or more (have seen plenty of juveniles in Cornwall and elsewhere but no adults) and I was being frustrated once again. Arghhh! At 4 o'clock we gave up and decided to go for a coffee and something to eat in the village. But I don't often give up so an hour later was back outside the garden. I lifted my bins and couldn't believe it when perched quite openly on a fence wire was the Rose-coloured Starling! A few moments longer to get Mrs Caley on it and relax, phew!

Rose-coloured Starling

I now watched this most beautiful and exotic looking bird at length although it didn't do a lot. In fact, apart from moving it's head to watch me as I altered my own position to get different photos, it didn't move and stayed perched on the wire. Five minutes later it disappeared into a nearby denser bush and we didn't see it again. Actually nobody did since there was no sign the next day. Fortunately I had managed to obtain some nice shots to savour later.

There were other nice birds visiting the garden, in particular several Lesser Redpoll's which were feeding on the ground under the empty feeders as well as also using the fence and a handrail for perching. If I lived in such a place I'd be sure to keep all the feeders well stocked since you never know what could turn up in these remote situations and gardens are a magnet for rare and scarce birds as well as the more common garden birds, as the Rose-coloured Starling proved. On the Isle of Skye two years ago we had been lucky enough to see a fine male Black-headed Bunting at a feeding station in somebody's back garden. Keep those feeders full!

Lesser Redpoll

We returned to Shieldaig and sat on a picnic bench while I half looked at the photos I'd just taken and half peered out at the island where Long-eared Owls are reputed to breed and also where White-tailed Eagles are known to have joined them in island living. Our vigil was rewarded when one of the Eagles flew in from the bay and made directly for the trees that stand on the island, sadly disappearing from view before I could nab a record shot. Completely satisfied it was time to head back to Speyside and plan tomorrow, only 3 days left and we'd yet to visit Elvis!