26th November 2021: East coast Scotland

 Another early breakfast followed by a long drive to Aberdeenshire. The weather forecast was ominous - our guide said it was the sort of day that if you weren’t on a birding trip you wouldn’t be going birding! We hoped that the stormy weather might bring in some good birds, but there was always the possibility  that we would see very little.

We arrived first at Banff, where gulls were roosting on the beach. However, the sleet and howling gale discouraged any of us from getting out, and a scan form the bus didn’t reveal anything other than the usual species of gull. We continued on to Peterhead Harbour. Initially this looked unpromising with visibility restricted by many trawlers sheltered in the harbour due to the approaching storm. However, with another stroke of luck our arrival coincided with a lull in the storm and a brief interlude of sunshine and blue skies.  A good opportunity for a cuppa and as we watched a Guillemot and some Eiders loitering in the harbour, our guide managed to find a stunning white Iceland Gull just beyond the harbour wall but very close in.

Our next stop was at RSPB Loch of Strathbey where we took lunch in the shelter of the visitor centre. There were good numbers of Tree Sparrows on the feeders with lovely brown cheeks,  intermingled with many House Sparrows, providing a good opportunity to compare and contrast these species. The visitor centre looked out over the Loch and here the highlights were around twenty Whooper Swans, a flock of Golden Plover in the air and our first Pintail of the trip. A Little Egret was also seen, apparently a rare bird in Scotland though a regular for us here in Sussex.

With the wind and sleet increasing we continued to Cairn Bulg, where from the comfort of the van we found a small flock of Sanderling, then we dove a short distance to Inverallochy, where a scan of the raging sea revealed spectacular crashing waves and a few surfing Shags. A phone call from the office suggested blizzards were forecast locally to the hotel and we should head for home. The wind had now increased dramatically and was howling loudly outside the van. Twice we had to turn around as the road ahead of us was blocked by fallen trees. On our third road, we encountered another such incident, but just as we pondered alternative routes, a JCB arrived and before we knew it we were through. The blizzard fortunately failed to materialise,  but when we checked the news on eventually arriving back at the hotel we discovered there had been a ‘red’ Do Not Travel warning for Aberdeenshire. Quite an adventure to mark the end of an excellent week of birding in beautiful Scotland.