Another Osprey

Today we planned to just follow our noses, visiting local birding sites. First up was the Dulnain Bridge layby - sure enough a pair of Dippers in attendance but staying at a discreet distance. Also, both Grey and Pied Wagtails had nests close by - in fact the Grey Wagtail had nested a couple of feet below the parapet of the layby wall. Three Common Sandpipers were noisily moving up and down the rapids and one finally settled fairly close to me allowing several nice pictures.

Next we drove via Carrbridge and Aviemore to ********* where we checked out an Osprey nest that Dawn and Jim had put me onto last year. Viewing from the road, the nest looked abandoned, and down on the lakeside it looked even more forlorn and then Liz spotted a bird sat in an adjacent tree - another Osprey. I had left the camera in the car so it was a matter of a hasty return. There was no panic - the bird was going nowhere - in the following couple of hours it preened, snoozed, poohed and snoozed some more. Finally, excitement! It flew off on what I thought would be a fishing trip, I readied the camera for the return - disappointment, more nest material. At least the upside is that the returning pair are committed to breeding again.



Nobody home.

 

Because the bird was mostly in silhouette, getting reasonable shots was difficult, so we decided to withdraw and return in the morning when the light would be improved. Oddly, due to other developments we never went back so I do not know whether nest refurbishment was completed.

Nethy Bridge

This post is for Lindy who is my eighth reader, I hope she enjoys it. We met John and Lindy, a really nice couple, at the Mountview Hotel in Nethy Bridge. An excellent birding organisation with some great guides is based here and in the evenings the drawing room is populated with some serious avian observers. Probably the last thing a mini bus full of birders needs is a photographer saying "hang on I haven't got a shot yet" as they are keen to get the next species in the scope. So Liz and I took advantage of the self-catering bungalow situated at the rear of the hotel, this allowed us to do as we pleased at a fairly leisurely pace.

There are walks above and below the village bridge that track the river as far down as Broomhill Bridge. That there are Dippers here is well known and as my readers know it is a bit of a bogey bird for me - one I can never get close to. So we set off one morning to see what we could find, sure enough Dippers were present and as usual scarpered as soon as I showed my lens to them. Though I did manage to capture a record of some sort through the trees, we sat and waited in cover but of course they failed to return. We were delighted to discover a family of Grey Wagtails further downstream, again the light under the trees was abysmal so we drew stumps and decided to return at a later date.

Sure enough on our return, two days later- no Dippers and even worse the Grey Wagtails had moved. Then a pair of Common Sandpipers arrived on the scene and started what I thought was display prior to mating - how wrong can you be. We were enthralled by the wing flapping and loud calling, then from out of the rocky depths of the river bank a juvenile emerged. Doh! - all this cacophony was designed to warn us off, so we hastily withdrew - no Grey Wagtail shots then.

 

The walk above the bridge was more rewarding, a Grey Wagtail posed perfectly for me, just right to be on a stone in the middle of the river, I'm not really sure about the one on the branch. Chatting to a local resulted in advice to venture much further upstream where "Dippers abound". So it was camera and tripod over the shoulder and a long march upstream. Finally, on the far bank we found a lone Dipper, it remained motionless for the ten minutes we were watching it, the white eyelid that is seen when they blink the only indication that it was alive.  Then another, mid stream, perched on a rock and to top it all the sun came out. Click, click. click and I was happy.

 

After this we took the car down to Broomhill Bridge to watch the myriad of Sand Martins feeding above the river, darting between the trestles of the wooden structure on a feeding frenzy, the River Spey is certainly very rich in insect life. Having had a picnic lunch and a brew I decide to lug the camera down the river bank to capture some records of the nesting site in the mud cliffs. About 50 yards down I realised that I had made another error, a male Oystercatcher proceeded to scold me loudly and did his best to poo all over me. Sure enough, a close examination of the gravel island revealed a family of Oystercatchers waiting to be fed. Yet again a strategic withdrawal, perhaps some long distance shots of the colony would suffice. As I got back to the car the male was back in the field, catching earthworms and any available creepy crawlies I guess. Peace was restored.

Across the river is the old Broomhill station, or Glenbogle as it was called in "Monarch of the Glen". We had heard the whistle of a steam locomotive, time to investigate. When I was here in February I had photographed the weekend diesel railcar which runs between Aviemore and Broomhill - well you can't get the old steamers wet can you?  These photographs suffered the disdain of Kevin, a work chum of old, so I promised him shots of a proper choo choo. In the station a bright blue engine of the Strathspey Steam Railway and an ideal opportunity to get  some photographs from a nearby bridge.

Modern instrumentation.

Nostalgia is a wonderful thing, as the puffing locomotive went through the bridge I was enveloped in a cloud of the most wonderful perfume known to man - coal smoke and steam mixed in quantities that whisk you right back to a 1950s childhood. A smell that is on a par with new mown grass and fresh baked bread. What a shame that modern cameras in capturing the scene cannot record the smells too. On reflection perhaps not, both Bempton and the Farnes had a strong aroma of rotting fish, a reminder of the fish quay in Grimsby on a hot Sunday afternoon in July.  For enlightenment, Grimsby trawlers would not "land" their catch at the weekend, no demand for fish on a Monday. In those days whatever was Sunday dinner provided the basis for the family meal on Monday - oh happy days! Thus a location that was usually covered in water and ice was allowed to dry out and any fish remains would create the pong that would reside in the nose forever.

And that was it - another holiday over - without undue effort we recorded some 116 species, giving 13 year ticks and some reasonable photographs, in what, for the most of the time, were difficult conditions. To cap it all whilst I was away my birding colleague has concentrated even harder on butterflies and I am now way behind.

One or Two

During my visit to Arlington yesterday I had the distinct impression that there were two Ospreys present. During the morning visit I noticed that the first bird had a distinctly out of shape tail with  possible missing feathers and a distinctive "notch" in the fourth "finger" of the port wing, On the later sighting the bird's tail is also damaged but less so and I assumed a second bird but I wasn't sure. However, comparison of my photos seem to support this. The second bird appears to have a darker brown patch on the underside but this may be due to light factors and the underwing patterns differ.


The more I look the more confused I become - What do you think Dick??

"Osprey 1" damaged tail and notch in left wing -  0710

"Osprey 2" tail more or less complete, darker patch underneath - 1250

And.....just one more shot  of this delightful bird.

Arlington Reservoir

To my 3 readers who have come visiting with the expectation of images of the Arlington Osprey then I offer humble apologies. For some unfathomable reason all the high contrast photos that I took today are unusable, normally I process raw images in PSE9 and adjust for white balance etc when first opening the image. Today, shots that appear to be OK on the camera - sharp focus and correctly exposed, when downloaded appear awful. Furthermore, any other adjustments in PSE9 appear very "steppy" and produce really odd artifacts in the image. - investigation is ongoing.  I have uploaded the lower contrast images but even these are lacking the sparkle that is apparent on the LCD screen of the camera - even on the closest zoom - a bit of a disaster.


Anyway with the forecast of clement weather and reports of a good range of birds at Arlington I ventured forth at an early hour. On arrival I walked straight round to the dam wall where, in the south west corner, there was a profusion of Linnets and Pied Wagtails with a large proportion of juveniles of both species. Tucked in the corner by the farm there was a single Egyptian Goose in the company of three Canada Geese. 




Walk like an Egyptian

Out on the reservoir there were at least eight pairs of Great Crested Grebes, the two nearest to me looked as if they could go into display at any time but obviously finally thought better of it. On the dam wall close to the water there were six Common Sandpipers, normally there would be more but the water levels are very high and the "beach" that is exposed just after the outflow tower is well under water.




Common Sandpiper



Common Sandpiper - flat image quality

Sure enough the Osprey turned up at about 0630 and stayed circling the reservoir until about 0730 when it slowly wandered down the Cuckmere River, not having attempted a single dive. At the far end of the dam I found a pair of Turtle Doves, one dropping down to the waters edge for a drink, just as I lined up the camera two dog walkers came through the gate and I  waved goodbye to the birds. Still, nice to know where I can have another go.


It was nice to catch up with Dick again, ever cheerful and helps raise the spirits when they flag. I am fairly sure that he got good shots of the Osprey and he was certainly keen to show me his Sandpiper shots. Also, I met two nice birders from Pembrokeshire, hope they enjoyed their visit to Sussex




Not a wader

So if the weather holds fair as promised by the Met Office it will be another visit to capture the Osprey if I cannot sort out the problem with the camera.

The presence of a herd of cattle behind the dam wall provided plenty of flies for the Wagtails, Swallows and House Martins





Father and son