The Heights...

This past week has been pretty wet and miserable which has resulted in little motivation to go out birding. The Blue Tits are almost keeping me entertained coming and going with nesting material. Had a bit of a surprise yesterday when I looked out of the window to see a huge Herring Gull sitting on the fence. Got some really good views of 2 Red Kites yesterday, both had blue wingtags on the left and white on the right but just couldn't get a long enough view to see the code on them.

Today it was looking not too bad weather-wise so I decided to head up to the Heights of Brae (known as just "The Heights" locally) up behind Dingwall to see if I could spot any Wheatears that had returned.

I stuck on my wellies and went through the first gate headed to what is usually a passable burn with stepping stones but unfortunately with all the rain lately the water was above the stepping stones so I couldn't get across to the moorland beyond to check for Wheatear. I looked around to see if I could get over at another point but I didn't see anything worth attempting. So I managed about a 500m walk and then it start chucking it down with rain. In my short time up there though I did manage to see my first Skylarks of the year (I have heard plenty just not seen any), Curlew, Carrion Crow, Raven, Common Gull, Red Kite, Buzzard, Chaffinch and my first Meadow Pipits of the year. I headed back to the car and made my way back down to Dingwall where I couldn't even go check the gulls at the fish factory because some bloody gypos have parked their caravans in the way!

Not the best outing but always nice to hear a Skylark and I will try again another day.

The Heights of Brae

Skylark during song flight.