Highland Hundred (plus four)

When I first started birding, way back in my pre-teen years, I spent a lot of time making lists of the species that I'd seen: day lists, year lists and, of course, the all important 'life list'. I guess it must have been the hunter-gatherer instinct kicking in.

Over the years, I've outgrown the list-making habit. The quality of the bird-watching experience is now far more important to me than the quantity of species recorded. Together with other flora and fauna, birds help define the character and ambience of wild places - something I now value more highly than ticks on a page.

Having said that, Liz and I decided to keep a list of the birds we encountered on our recent trip to the Scottish Highlands. We thought it would be fun to see how many species we could clock-up, especially as we would be visiting a wide range of different habitats: mountain, forest, coast, etc.

Over the fortnight, we managed to 'bag' a grand total of 104 species. Thanks to the weather, our running total ground to a halt at 99 half way through the second week, but we were able to pick up a few more species in the last few days (including a goosander on the river outside our B&B in Inverness).

The full list from our trip is set out below. The names and taxonomic order are those currently used by the British Ornithologists’ Union. I'm not particularly happy about some of the new names that the BOU recommends, such as 'willow ptarmigan' instead of 'red grouse'.

1. Greylag Goose, Anser anser
2. Eurasian Wigeon, Anas penelope
3. Eurasian Teal, Anas crecca
4. Mallard, Anas platyrhynchos
5. Tufted Duck, Aythya fuligula
6. Common Eider, Somateria mollissima
7. Common Goldeneye, Bucephala clangula
8. Red-breasted Merganser, Mergus serrator
9. Goosander, Mergus merganser
10. Willow Ptarmigan (Red Grouse), Lagopus lagopus
11. Grey Partridge, Perdix perdix
12. Common Pheasant, Phasianus colchicus
13. Red-throated Diver, Gavia stellata
14. Great Northern Diver, Gavia immer
15. Little Grebe, Tachybaptus ruficollis
16. Northern Fulmar, Fulmarus glacialis
17. Northern Gannet, Morus bassanus
18. Great Cormorant, Phalacrocorax carbo
19. European Shag, Phalacrocorax aristotelis
20. Grey Heron, Ardea cinerea
21. Eurasian Sparrowhawk, Accipiter nisus
22. Common Buzzard, Buteo buteo
23. Golden Eagle, Aquila chrysaetos
24. Osprey, Pandion haliaetus
25. Common Kestrel, Falco tinnunculus
26. Common Coot, Fulica atra
27. Eurasian Oystercatcher, Haematopus ostralegus
28. Ringed Plover, Charadrius hiaticula
29. Northern Lapwing, Vanellus vanellus
30. Dunlin, Calidris alpina
31. Eurasian Woodcock, Scolopax rusticola
32. Eurasian Curlew, Numenius arquata
33. Common Greenshank, Tringa nebularia
34. Common Sandpiper, Actitis hypoleuco 
35. Great Skua, Stercorarius skua
36. Black-headed Gull, Larus ridibundus
37. Mew (Common) Gull, Larus canus
38. Lesser Black-backed Gull, Larus fuscus
39. Herring Gull, Larus argentatus
40. Great Black-backed Gull, Larus marinus
41. Common Tern or Arctic Tern, Sterna hirundo or S. paradisaea
42. Common Guillemot, Uria aalge
43. Razorbill , Alca torda
44. Black Guillemot, Cepphus grylle
45. Atlantic Puffin, Fratercula arctica
46. Rock (Feral) Pigeon, Columba livia
47. Common Wood Pigeon, Columba palumbus
48. Eurasian Collared Dove, Streptopelia decaocto
49. Common Cuckoo, Cuculus canorus
50. Tawny Owl, Strix aluco
51. Common Swift, Apus apus
52. Great Spotted Woodpecker, Dendrocopos major
53. Sky Lark, Alauda arvensis
54. Sand Martin, Riparia riparia
55. Barn Swallow, Hirundo rustica
56. House Martin, Delichon urbicum
57. Tree Pipit, Anthus trivialis
58. Meadow Pipit, Anthus pratensis
59. Rock Pipit, Anthus petrosus
60. Grey Wagtail, Motacilla cinerea
61. Pied Wagtail, Motacilla alba
62. White-throated Dipper, Cinclus cinclus
63. Winter Wren, Troglodytes troglodytes
64. Hedge Accentor (Dunnock), Prunella modularis
65. European Robin, Erithacus rubecula
66. Common Redstart, Phoenicurus phoenicurus
67. Whinchat, Saxicola rubetra
68. Stonechat, Saxicola torquata
69. Northern Wheatear, Oenanthe oenanthe
70. Common Blackbird, Turdus merula
71. Song Thrush, Turdus philomelos
72. Mistle Thrush, Turdus viscivorus
73. Sedge Warbler, Acrocephalus schoenobaenus
74. Blackcap, Sylvia atricapilla
75. Garden Warbler, Sylvia borin
76. Wood Warbler, Phylloscopus sibilatrix
77. Common Chiffchaff, Phylloscopus collybita
78. Willow Warbler, Phylloscopus trochilus
79. Goldcrest, Regulus regulus
80. Pied Flycatcher, Ficedula hypoleuca
81. Long-tailed Tit, Aegithalos caudatus
82. Blue Tit, Cyanistes caeruleus
83. Great Tit, Parus major
84. Crested Tit, Lophophanes cristatus
85. Coal Tit, Periparus ater
86. Eurasian Treecreeper, Certhia familiaris
87. Eurasian Jackdaw, Corvus monedula
88. Rook, Corvus frugilegus
89. Carrion Crow, Corvus corone
90. Hooded Crow, Corvus cornix
91. Common Raven, Corvus corax
92. Common Starling, Sturnus vulgaris
93. House Sparrow, Passer domesticus
94. Chaffinch, Fringilla coelebs
95. European Greenfinch, Carduelis chloris
96. European Goldfinch, Carduelis carduelis
97. Eurasian Siskin, Carduelis spinus
98. Common Linnet, Carduelis cannabina
99. Twite, Carduelis flavirostris
100. Common Redpoll, Carduelis flammea
101. Common Crossbill or Scottish Crossbill, Loxia curvirostra or L. scotica
102. Common Bullfinch, Pyrrhula pyrrhula
103. Yellowhammer, Emberiza citrinella
104. Reed Bunting, Emberiza schoeniclus

I've included a couple of birds, crossbill and 'comic' tern, that we weren't able to identify down to species level - we just didn't get a close enough view to pick out the distinguishing features.

There are a few surprising omissions from this list. Although virtually ubiquitous in England, the magpie (Pica pica) appears to be absent from much of northern Scotland. According to Birds in Scotland, the moorhen (Gallinula chloropus) also has a patchy distribution in the Highlands.

The willow warbler was by far the most abundant of the migrant warblers (and possibly the most abundant of all the songbirds too). In contrast, we only came across two chiffchaffs, one blackcap and one garden warbler. The common whitethroat (Sylvia communis) is another species missing from our list; perhaps it's just me, but they seem to be very thin on the ground this year.

The song thrush is a declining species which appears on the UK's Red List of Birds of Conservation Concern. However, it seems to be doing very well in the Highlands. In most of the areas we visited it was the commonest species of thrush, occurring in a broad range of habitats (including pine woods and conifer plantations). It is worth noting that two of the species accused of predating song thrush nests, the magpie and the grey squirrel, are both absent from the Highlands. The song thrush also thrives on the Isles of Scilly, where nest predators are similarly scarce.

Bad weather prevented us from venturing on to the tops of the Cairngorms where we might have picked up some of the mountain specialists, such as ptarmigan (Lagopus muta), snow bunting (Plectrophenax nivalis) and dotterel (Charadrius morinellus).

On our final day in Assynt I had a fairly close view of a golden eagle - glimpsed briefly through the window of a speeding bus - but, sadly, it was gone before I could point it out to Liz. We had our best ever view of this species in Assynt in September 1998. It was one of those truly memorable, once-in-a-lifetime birding experiences: we were sheltering from the wind behind a craggy outcrop when two eagles, an adult and a juvenile, swept past less than 20 metres away!

Many thanks to:

Christopher Madeira for allowing me to use his photo of an osprey;

Jo Jones for allowing me to use her photo of a willow warbler.

Comments

[Mike]

Sounds like an amazing trip, Roger!

[jams o donnell]

It does sound like you had a great time Roger. Great photos as ever!

[james]

Roger,
We lived in Highland Scotland from 1998 to 2002. Agree totally that some 'spp.' e.g. Song Thrush and Willow Warbler remain, or have become, very numerous (especially in the "new habitats")in many areas of the Highlands e.g. Mid-Argyll.
Seems that, as in so many things, the conventional wisdom (Red Lists) reflects the awareness generated by the demise of enclosed, organic mixed-farming in lowlands.

Any idea about Spotted Flycatcher numbers in UK yet this spring?

Thanks for being/going there!

JX

[Allan Kinnear]

Hi there,

I would just like to comment on the following comment regarding Song thrushes in the Highland region.

"It is worth noting that two of the species accused of predating song thrush nests, the magpie and the grey squirrel, are both absent from the Highlands."

During the past few weeks we noticed that our garden bird feeders were being emptied on a daily basis, and the culprits were a pair of magpies. Nothing unusual I suppose, but I live in Ft William in the Scottish Highlands and this is the first magpie sighting I have seen around this area. We have also noticed a distinct lack of the normal bird activity in our vicinity i.e. Thrushes, tits, etc.since these invaders appeared.

My only hope is that the grey squirrels do not arrive along with these scavengers.

regards
Allan Kinnear