I started the month of October down at Cramond Beach. I had realised I had not been Birding there for awhile and as October is a great month to see thousands of Waders I thought it be nice to go down and see what was there. It didn’t disappoint me as soon as I arrived I could see in the distance specs of birds so I headed to my spot and couldn’t believe the amount of birds there were. I saw dozens of Graylag Geese, Redshank, Lapwing, Oystercatcher, Black Headed Gull, Cormorant & many more even a Pied Wagtail showed up a great start to the month.
I had a good week up in Aviemore in The Scottish Highlands. This was a trip I was meant to go in 2020 but Covid came along and that was the trip cancelled. Last year I was meant to go up but heavy snow came and that trip too was postponed so it was great to be finally get there at long last. The house we stayed in called Dalfaber House was in a great surroundings of trees and I heard Redpols had been spotted there sadly I didn’t see any but there were lots of Blackbirds around. Was with family so did fun activities and at the end of the trip before going home had a visit to RSPB’s Loch Garten Nature Reserve. I last visited the reserve in the 1990’s on a school trip to see The Ospreys which was great but I wasn’t into birds then so it was great to return as a Birder. Obviously this time of year the Ospreys are long gone but there was a bird I really wanted to see and that was a Crested Tit. After a nice walk through pine trees I went to see the feeding station of feeders and there was lots of birds including Blue, Great & Coal Tits as well as Chaffinch . The big surprises were Goldcrest & Treecreeper but the main star was you guessed it The Crested Tit. I felt amazed and happy I found the bird I wanted to see I’m hoping to go back soon but hope it won’t be a longer wait.
After a few days I had a full day Birding in Musselburgh starting at The River Esk & then Musselburgh Lagoons. Before I started my Birding I had my lunch and while I was having my lunch I had drawn the attention to a young Gull. I didn’t throw scraps at it but it was eying up my lunch but I managed to get a few snaps.
The River Esk was jam packed with lots of Canada Geese and a few Graylags too. There was also Black Headed Gulls, Mallards, Mute Swans, Feral Pigrons & Gooseanders.
I then moved on to The Lagoons and visited all three hides and while I was there I saw lots of Lapwings, Teals, Shelducks, Redshanks, Oystercatchers & Starlings. It was a great day Birding .
I can’t believe we are in November now the year is just flying in and I can’t wait what my November Birding has to offer. Yesterday I had a great start Birding at my local patch Cammo the autumn colours were just amazing. I can’t believe my next blog will be a 2022 Highlights Blog.
The Edinburgh Birdwatcher 