23rd November 2021: Moray coast

 We had a fabulous day out on the coast in every way - much warmer and a host of wonderful birds. We started at Hopeman, where a jaunty Stonechat welcomed us from his sentry post at the top of a bush by the car park. A short walk led us to the sea, where we found a huge raft of majestic Eiders, including many males in their stunning winter plumage. In the midst of this large flock a King Eider had been reported in recent weeks, and so we set to the task of trying to locate the one bird amongst a cast of at least hundreds. Initially the birds were right at the edge of scope range, but they gradually flew a little closer and we dutifully scanned back and forth across the group. Amidst frequent cries of ‘I’ve got it… I can’t see it now…it was the third bird from the front in the small group, but it’s disappeared now… it’s just dived’ we eventually managed to stumble across the target bird, it’s magnificent brightly coloured bill very obvious when found. 

Spot the King Eider!

Very poor photo, but it’s at the front!

On the rocks several Shags were resting, and Turnstones were soon joined by a few purple Sandpipers, and around twelve Sanderling. A couple of Redshank were also feeding.

On the sea, alongside the Eiders, there were many other excellent birds present including Red-throated Divers, with bills tilted diagnostically upwards, many Long-tailed Ducks at various stages of moult showing a rich variety of markings, but some superb birds with spectacular long tails. A few distant Black Guillemots were loitering hopefully close to a fishing boat and a pair of brightly coloured Red-breasted Mergansers passed speedily across the bay.

Our next stop was Lossiemouth - where we notched up a reasonable collection of ducks, gulls and waders. Teal and Wigeon were plentiful and at close range in glorious sunlight they showed off their striking colours to perfection. A few Curlew were on the saltmarsh, and good numbers of Bar-tailed Godwits roosted at the water’s edge, heads tucked under their wings. One of the group managed to pick out a single Knot to add to our list. Meanwhile, adjacent to the car park a  lovely Yellowhammer posed atop a wooden post at the edge of an area of gorse and a single Hooded Crow was perched on another post. There was some debate between the guides about the authenticity of this bird as it was not ‘west of the glen’, and therefore may be deemed a hybrid! 

From here we drove to the coast off Lossiemouth forest, where a thirty minute walk through the pines led us to another stretch of sea with huge rafts of birds - this time a medley of sea ducks dominated by Common Scoters, but with good numbers of Velvet Scoters intermingled, including a couple of birds very close to the shore so the distinctive orange bill markings and white under-eye were clearly visible. Time for another game of ‘Hunt the Rarity’, this time searching for both Black and Surf Scoter. I confess this was beyond my skill set, never having seen either, but eventually our guides managed to locate a few Surf Scoters, pointing out the white cheek markings and eider-type bill. Again there were a number of  Red- throated Divers and Long-tailed Ducks showing well , together with A few Razorbills, a single Scaup, a lone Eider and a small group of  Goldeneye. As we returned through the pines, a number of ‘Cresties’ were calling, and we eventually managed to pick a couple out briefly, as they flitted through the treetops in a mixed flock with Coal Tits.

Our last stop of the day, in rapidly fading light was at Loch-Na, an inland water body surrounded by woodland. I spotted a Sparrowhawk sat poised for action overlooking a small ditch as we drove in. On the loch we encountered a Gadwall, which caused great excitement among the guides, as this is apparently a very rare bird up here in the Highlands. More exciting for us was a Ring- necked Duck, lingering amongst the ‘Tufties’. Our only disappointment came right at the end of the day, with news that the other bus had flushed a woodcock from the track as they drove out of the car park. That would have been a fabulous finale to a fantastic day!