Birds of Shustoke Reservoir Warwickshire.: A Week in Scotland

Sunday, 10 September 2017

A Week in Scotland

Had a week in Scotland, on the Saturday Joy and I went to the Football and then on Sunday I had a day out birding on the Angus coast looking for Roseate Tern in the Carnoustie area. Unfortunately the birds didn’t appear although there was a good selection of birds on offer.

On Monday we climbed a Corbett just north of Braemar called Carn na Drochaide (818m). We parked in the Linn of Dee at Allanoquoich where the bridge over the river was washed away a few years ago. We managed to find a new footbridge further up the glen and from there it was a straight forward climb up to the summit cairn.

The summit of Carn na Drochaide with the Cairngorms behind.

Me in the same place

Carn na Drochaide from Braemar

Managed to fit in a little more birding during the rest of the week seeing little really, mostly because I didn’t fancy driving far. Short-eared Owl, Knot and Osprey were above the only birds of note.

Then on the Thursday we climb another hill, this one I had fancied for a while, it was long, close to Perth and its also the area of Scotland that my cousin traced our ancestry back too! It was beautiful but I wouldn't mind betting its cold in the winter.

We parked at Bridge of Tilt near Blair Atholl walking up the pleasant gorge over Gilberts Bridge after close on two hours we emerged from the trees onto the open hillside we crossed another old stone bridge which must have been used for cattle droving before after another mile or so crossing another stone bridge in the middle of nowhere with the hill Being Mheadhonach (901m) dominating the skyline behind it.

There was a faint path to follow which went straight to the summit. We could see the weather was deteriorating so we managed to get back to the bridge before a short sharp shower hit, where we managed to get a degree of shelter. Then in bright sunshine it was back to the car.