April.

April was a bit of a mixed bag with the weather - a bit of sun, a bit of rain and a tremendous day of blizzard conditions. Quite a few of the migrant birds returned too.

Adders were on show all month.

Black-tailed Godwits in the blizzard.

Chaffinch in the garden.

Red Deer outside the house.

Snakes-head Fritillary on Iona.

Great Northern Diver coming into summer plumage.

Golden Plover arrived in good numbers.

Hen Harriers put on a good show.

Female Hen Harrier.

Iceland Gull on the patch.

Lapwings started breeding.

Mountain Hares are still around but the numbers are low this year.

Northern Wheatears were a welcome sight.

Quite a few Otter cubs around.

Puffins arrive in April.

Ring Ouzel was a cracking bird to see.

Short-eared Owl were pairing up.

Starling is a bird often overlooked.

Sundew were starting to emerge.

The Tawny Owls were breeding in the barn.

The views were spectacular!

Whimbrel passage was good.

A Wren was breeding in the brambles.

Quite a few young White-tailed Eagles were hanging around - 11 was my best count.

The adult birds were preparing for a new arrival.

Willow Warbler heralds the start of summer for me.

End of February

We have had a few problems with the internet over the last week so I'll keep this brief. The Hen Harriers have been showing well over the last week with most of the sightings involving a male bird.

Crossbills are a daily sighting at the moment but you have to there at the right time. A male bird tends to stick to the top of the conifers while he sings...

...while a female bird has showed in some better positions.

A good sighting for the month was a small flock of six Long-tailed Tits that hung around for a couple of days.

The bird feeders have been busy with the local birds building themselves up as the breeding season approaches - a healthy looking female Chaffinch...

...and the dapper male.

Plenty of Great and Coal Tits but you can't beat the stunning Blue Tit.

Common Buzzard is a regular sight at the roadside but it was nice to see this pair in bonding flight.

I've had a look for Adders through February but never connected as the weather has not been the best. There is usually Frog spawn in the pools from the middle of the month but I never came across any until the end of February.

Patchwork Challenge - Species 69, points 91.

Wagging.

I was just leaving home when 3 Goldfinches flew into the garden and started taking over the feeders. The Chaffinches tried to scare them off.

One of the Goldfinches was doing a tail-wagging display.

It was a nice start to the day. The newly arrived Barn Swallows were hanging in this time so they must be the local breeding birds.

A tricky bird to get to grips with was a Willow Warbler that was keen to feed up after it's long journey.

This Barn Swallow was keen to stake a claim on it's nest site - hopefully they will have a better breeding season this year.

An addition to the patchwork challenge was a male Northern Wheatear.

All dressed up...

The weather has turned overcast instead of the blue skies but there is still no rain for us. Some of the pools that the frogs have used are now dry and the spawn will be lost. No frogs in the garden pond so it's another bird waiting to get on the feeders - Chaffinch.

Nothing else came close enough for the camera. Even the GN Diver kept it's distance.

No improvement in the weather on the next day but being out earlier helped with the sightings. The Otter family were out fishing and catching well so I didn't have to wait too long before one hauled out.

The Black-headed Gull is that common (for me) so to see two birds coming into breeding plumage was worthy of a bit of camera pointing!

You can find the Red-breasted Merganser close to the shore but they are not that keen if you stop to look. You can see the speed of this bird as it heads off - love the hairdo though!

Not a native bird but Pheasants are striking birds - all dressed up and nowhere to go.

A Common Gull was doing circuits...

...round a herd of Highland Cattle.

I managed to get reasonably close to two of the Skylark when I got home and got some photos of of one of them in the open - result.