Birds – Wild Scot

Okavango Delta, Botswana

I have been wanting to visit the Okavango Delta in Botswana since I was a child. My wife and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary in July 2022 and this gave us the perfect excuse to finally go. After a few days in Chobe, we flew into the delta by small plane into a exclusiveContinue reading “Okavango Delta, Botswana”

Chobe National Park, Botswana

So if you have been following this blog for a while I guess the title of this post might come as a bit of a surprise. Yes I have decided to expand the blog beyond Scotland. My wife and I are planning to go travelling in Central and South America next year and I knowContinue reading “Chobe National Park, Botswana”

Isle of May (in May)

It appears that a visit to the Isle of May is an annual pilgrimage for me one way or another. So it was good to connect with one old and three brand new birding friends to pay another visit this week. We saw the usual sea birds on the way out including a Sandwich Tern,Continue reading “Isle of May (in May)”

Winter Wonderland at Caerlaverock

As a season, winter can be cold, wet and dark but if you can look beyond the weather there is a wonderland of wildlife out there to be observed. Now I look forward to spring and the return of all our summer migrants (along with warm sunny days and emerging flowers) as much as anyone.Continue reading “Winter Wonderland at Caerlaverock”

Christmas birding and the year of the Snow Goose

Nothing like a couple of weeks off to plan to get out and see some wildlife after a busy few months with work. And I thought I would just share what I have been seeing over the Christmas and New Year break. Taking a walk from my house in Menstrie and I see the KestrelContinue reading “Christmas birding and the year of the Snow Goose”

Aberlady Bay & Esk Mouth

It is often a rare Scoter (small black duck) that takes me east of Edinburgh. Previously I have been out this way looking for the over-wintering White-Winged Scoter. But this week it was its very close relative (until recently the same species in fact), the Stejneger’s Scoter that peeked my interest. I haven’t been outContinue reading “Aberlady Bay & Esk Mouth”

Birding on North Ronaldsay, Orkney

Over the last few years we have used the October break to get away for a bit of birding and hopefully find some new rarer migrant birds. That has taken us south to Norfolk the last few years (and outside the scope of this blog) but this year we headed North, took the ferry acrossContinue reading “Birding on North Ronaldsay, Orkney”

Argaty Red Kites

This week I visited Argaty Red Kites. Argaty Farm is close to one of the first Red Kite re-introduction sites in Scotland and they have really adopted the kites along with wildlife as a whole. They run daily feeds for the birds most afternoons which is a great opportunity to see wild birds close up.Continue reading “Argaty Red Kites”

Isle of May

Last week I took my annual pilgrimage to the Isle of May. I go here once or twice most years and for sheer numbers of seabirds it never disappoints. I had planned the visit to coincide with some friends going but this was really just an excuse as we were mainly going to do ourContinue reading “Isle of May”

Sheriffmuir in May

My favourite habitat at this time of year is the moorland in and around the Ochils. What seems mostly dead in winter suddenly comes alive with long-distant migrants arriving along with more local birds which expand their territories into all that available nesting ground. You can actually see a huge amount of wildlife just byContinue reading “Sheriffmuir in May”