SCOTTISH TRIP

Welcome to the first blog on my new website

Last weekend I decided to make the long journey up to the west coast of Scotland to Scottish Photography hides , run by Alan Mcfayden as I had heard about a tawny owl that had been out feeding during the day . It had started appearing during the long wet spell we had in May because it was obviously struggling to feed it’s young and had continued to visit near to a hide, even pushing out the resident sparrowhawk . 

My love of tawnies goes back to childhood and I felt I couldn’t miss the oppurtunity to go and see it . The trip up took 6 hours compared to the normal 3 1/2 due to people visiting the Lakes and sadly I came home after the first day instead of staying for two as originally planned as I hadn’t felt very well whilst I was there but there was an abundance of wildlife that made the trip very worthwhile . 

Tawny owls are nocturnal and so it is very unusual to see them out during daylight except when they have young but even then they tend to be asleep in trees rather than looking for food. We also had a visit from a Sparrowhawk , Siskin , Red Squirel , Roe deer, Cuckoo, Great spotted woodpecker , Jay  and a first for me a Lesser Redpoll which was a really beautiful bird . Sometimes we forget how stunning the small birds can be . 

I have always preferred to find the wildlife myself but occasionally when something like this happens I feel it is worth trying to get to see it as you are never sure if you will see it again