Things That Go Bump In The Night
13th December 2024
When I first picked up a D-SLR back in the Midlands, what seems like a lifetime ago, I would spend hours visiting the local nature reserves around the Midlands. As I became more adventurous, I'd find my own locations, and keep visiting in the hope of success. People would often comment at how fortunate I had been to see some species and leave with images, but they didn't see the countless trips where I'd seen nothing and not even switched on my camera!
While there are nature reserves around here (Merkinch, Udale Bay, Insh Marshes, Loch Garten etc.), there are many areas for me to explore in search of some of the wildlife to be seen in the Highlands.
Just down the road from home is a stretch of coastline that usually sees plenty of wildfowl, including ducks and sometimes geese, many gulls, some waders, such as turnstones and redshanks, plus in the colder months, there are occasionally rarer birds such as scaup here.
Last winter I failed to get anything vaguely decent in terms of images of the greater scaup, as they were always miles off the shore, and would move further away if I tried to approach, even in the car.
Greater Scaup
So this year, armed with 1000mm reach (I've bought a 2x teleconverter for my EF 500mm lens) I crept along the shore, crouched down in some tall grasses, and waited.
I was of course sporting that camouflage look reserved only for us muppets that dare to wear it out in the public. And while it is somewhat of an acquired fashion taste, it definitely works with wildlife.
I only had to wait about half an hour for the group of scaup that had drifted further out as I walked over, to return again.
They're diving ducks, rather similar to tufted ducks I guess, and were finding plenty to eat around the shallows. And I was fortunate with the light too, showing off those lovely colours on the heads of the male birds.
Hawfinches
Over on the Black Isle, is a new area for me to explore. It is around the Black Isle Brewery, which is a brewer I've enjoyed the beers of, for many years.
I had seen reported on both the Scottish Highlands bird sightings page and also Bird Guides, that five hawfinches had been spotted in this area, albeit mobile. I had to investigate.
Years ago, I would travel over to the Forest Of Dean to see these shy, elusive finches, and would tear my hair out trying to get images. They were always the last birds to drop down from the yew trees, and always get spooked, either by people wandering by, the sound of my camera, or just scared by the behaviour of the other birds nearby.
With mirrorless cameras being silent now, I had high hopes of a better success rate.
Unfortunately, the hawfinches hadn't read the script, and remained frustratingly distant. They were definitely feeding in the yew trees, but almost always out of sight of where I was standing. I had a good chat with the owner of the land and brewery, and she offered me access to their garden, but I declined. It always used to lead to problems when going into gardens, as other observers would assume they also have access, and that would certainly upset the owners.
So I stayed on the road, and waited. The weather was beautiful though, and there were other birds around, such as other finches like chaffies, green and bullfinches. Even a few goldfinches over, plus distant siskins feeding in the conifers. Plenty of corvids noisily flying around, and the occasional buzzard or red kite.
The hawfinches though, frustrated. They would be calling, so I knew they were present. I'd get glimpses through the branches, but never long enough for a pic, and then they would fly over, and off across the paddocks, perching just too far away for a photo, and usually against the low winter sun.
Great to see, but I think the chance of getting a good image from here is ridiculously slim. And even my patience isn't that good...
The Black Isle offers a variety of habitats ranging from deciduous and conifer woodlands, through to sandy and rocky beaches, cliffs and rock pools, scrub and arable land, cascading rivers, and much more.
Much of the coastline is accessible, and viewable from roads, so like Mull, is easy to scan. And it was on such a day of following the roads around that I struck gold.
I had been looking for long-tailed ducks, or perhaps common scoters if I was lucky, as it was a calm, almost windless day, and I hoped for some serene images of these interesting birds. Alas they were just too far out, even for my R7 and 1000mm lens combo, effectively a 1600mm reach.
So I started to head back towards the road home, and had to slow for some roadworks. As I did, I glanced across to some scrubland near the shore, and the flock of corvids that were busy mobbing something...
A barn owl!
I hadn't seen one hunting in the daylight since before moving to Mull. Thankfully there was somewhere safe to park, and after a bit of cursing at my entangled cameras and binoculars, I managed to get my Canon R5 mk2 and RF100-500mm lined up and capture some shots of it quartering the area near the shoreline.
It caught several rodents, eating a couple whilst perched in trees, and then at dusk, as I lost the light, it dropped down into a ditch to consume the last one. It didn't fly out again for a while, and I decided it would be a waste of effort trying for anything else in the gloom.
Wonderful to see, though it may have been passing through, as I've returned to the same area twice since, and not seen it.
