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Scotland General

Red grouse Lagopus [lagopus] scoticus ŠNigel Blake http://www.nigelblake.co.uk/

I am not a Scot so probably won`t do the country justice - although some years ago I lived and worked near Glasgow for a few years and spent some time on the hills and moors. Since then I have been back on several trips to the inner and outer Hebrides, Tayside, Up to John O`Groats and to Calaverlock for the winter geese.

When I worked there I visited every county and city in the central belt. Since that time I have spent some memorable holidays watching eagles on Skye and Ospreys at Loch Garten, finding nesting Red-throated Diver in Islay and Corncrakes in Lewis. I have spent early mornings at Black Grouse leks, and watched short-eared owls clapping their wings in the simmer dim.

My daughter can claim Scottish citizenship should Scotland ever secede from the union, having been born in Paisley. I may not be able to claim such kinship but there are so many beautiful places in the country that a piece of any visitor`s heart is always left behind.

Serious year listers will visit for Scottish (and maybe parrot-billed) crossbills, crested tits, golden and white-tailed eagles and nesting Osprey. Other birders will want to spend winter with the geese on Islay or visit any time for birds hard to find in the rest of the UK (Choughs, real rock doves etc.) or see birds breeding that are winter visitors to the rest of these isles like golden plover, divers, skuas and the like.

This page brought to you in association with:
Cygnus Bird Tours

useful reading

* Field Guides & Bird Song

For a comprehensive list of recommended titles please see the United Kingdom page of Fatbirder

Best Birdwatching sites in the Scottish Highlands

by Gordon Hamlett Buckingham Press 2005
See Fatbirder Review
ISBN: 0953384098
Buy this book from NHBS.com

Birdwatching in Scotland

VHS Video from Bird Images Video Guides filmed by Paul Doherty and narrated by Bill Oddie. 1hr 55mins covering 104 species
See Fatbirder Review
ISBN: 138102
Buy this book from NHBS.com

Collins Guide to Scottish Birds

Valerie Thom, Norman Arlott (Illustrator) HarperCollins 2005
ISBN: 0007197373
Buy this book from NHBS.com

Scottish Birds

By Robin Hull, Mercat Press 2001
ISBN: 1841830259
Buy this book from NHBS.com

Where to Watch Birds in Scotland

Mike Madders, Julia Welstead Paperback - 4th Edition 300 pages (Dec 2002) Helm
See Fatbirder Review
ISBN: 071365693X
Buy this book from NHBS.com

useful information

Proact

Coordinator: Bill Alexander
Members: 10
Join us at http://www.proact-campaigns.net/team
Contact your coordinator via mailto:info@proact-campaigns.net

clubs

British

http://www.bto.org/regional/bto_scotland/index.htm
BTO Scotland - School of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Cottrell Building, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA Scotland. Tel: 01786 466560 Email: scot.info@bto.org

Scottish Natural Heritage

http://www.snh.org.uk/
Our aim is to help people enjoy Scotland`s natural heritage responsibly, understand it more fully and use it wisely so that it can be sustained for future generations

Scottish Ornithologists Club

http://www.the-soc.org.uk/
21 Regent Terrace, edinburgh EH7 5BT 0131 556 6042 mail@the-soc.org.uk
SOC Launched it`s new web site on 2 December 1999. The site gives information about the SOC, including it`s branches, meetings, publications, surveys and conferences, and about birdwatching in Scotland. It also lists the Local Recorders and gives details of local bird reports in Scotland.

Scottish Seabird Centre

http://www.seabird.org/
Get Close to Nature with amazing live close-ups of Scottish wildlife. Enjoy exciting live wildlife action all year round. Spectacular seabird cities with puffins, gannets, guillemots and shags, as well as marine mammals, including grey seals and bottlenose dolphins...

Scottish Wildlife Trust

http://www.swt.org.uk/
The Scottish Wildlife Trust is the largest of the 46 independent charities and 100 urban wildlife groups which make up The Wildlife Trusts partnership. Between them, The Wildlife Trusts have 350,000 members and care for over 2,300 nature reserves throughout the UK. The Wildlife Trusts are working to protect and conserve the UK`s wildlife and wild places for the future.

trip reports

Travelling Birder
http://www.travellingbirder.com
The Travellingbirder.com birding trip report search engine guides you to 7,000+ birding trip reports on the Internet. You can search for trip reports from a specific country and time of year. Not all these reports are in English. So, if you cant find the trip report you want on this Fatbirder page give them a try!

2002 [April] - Ashley Crombet-Beolens

http://www.beolens.co.uk/trip-reports/scotland2.html
After travelling over night we spent a few hours trying, and failing, to sleep in the parked car. We were woken to the sound of drumming common snipe all around the wet fields and estuary. Along with the incessant cawing of the many local hooded crows. As dawn slowly broke to the calls of distant Tawny and Little owls in a far off coppice, we began to see the mist slowly lift off the shrouded mudflats and the true splendour of Balcivar, on Scotlands west coast, came into sight! Our aim for the first part of the day was to locate the long staying rarity that was Britains first snowy egret...

2002 [January] - Andy Wraithmell

http://www.birdtours.co.uk/tripreports/scotland/jan2002/scot-jan2002.htm
Winter birding at a number of sites across Scotland...

2002 [June] - John Jennings

http://www.birdtours.co.uk/tripreports/scotland/scottour2/scot-june2002.htm
At this point I should mention the B&B we stayed in. Millbrook is the name and we highly recommend it. If you want to take a look visit this web site: http://www.scotland-inverness.co.uk/millcroft. Or you could e-mail Margaret Leitch on margaret_tomatin@hotmail.com Margaret & Ian are the most friendly people you could wish for, the food is excellent and yet we only paid Ł260 for 9 nights, 10 days. That was for both of us and we even took our two large dogs, which they welcomed with open arms. On top of this we were situated at the head of the Findhorn Valley. What more could you want?

2003 [January] - Ashley Crombet-Beolens

http://www.beolens.co.uk/trip-reports/scotland.html
The Birding day started at around 11 o`clock at Caelaverock Wildfowl and Wetland Trust reserve, where upon driving up the entrance road we were greeted by the sight of thousands of Barnacle geese feeding in the flooded fields to our left, I could sense the day was going to be good! As we exited the car the sound of excited Whooper swans filled the air and the carpark was alive with finches, on scanning through we noted Chaffinch, Greenfinch and House sparrow. We entered the reception full of anticipation to a friendly welcome from the young lady on duty and were informed of the whereabouts of most of the reserves birds...

2003 [June] - Chris Spagnoli

http://www.birdtours.co.uk/tripreports/scotland/scottour3/scot-jun-03.htm
From May 24 through June 4, 2003, I visited Scotland for the first time. This trip combined tourism, spending time with my friends, and, of course, birdwatching...

2004 [May] - Mark Hows

http://www.surfbirds.com/mb/trips/scotland-mh-0604.html
After getting up a bit late plans changed (Barn Owl along A1 in Lincs) and we diverted to Bothal Pool, Northumbs but missed the dowicher by 30 mins or so, birds of note Whooper Swan, Yellow Wagtails and Grey Partridges. Next stop was Vane farm for the Ross`s Goose but there was no sign during a good search still lots of pinkfoots about. We departed for East Weymss and easily picked up the scoters, and the male Surf Scoter stood out amongst the Velvet and Common`s, he was accompanied by a female. At Methil the female King Eider could not be located, and a return to Vane farm did not produce the Ross`s Goose...

2005 [June] - Roberto Lerco

http://www.robertolerco.com/trip/scozia_2005.htm
La Scozia, dunque! Perché la Scozia? Mah, sempre alla ricerca di una vacanza con la famiglia che possa offrire qualcosa sia per il birdwatching che per il turismo naturalistico e/o culturale, la Scozia rientrava nel carnet di possibili soluzioni "miste"...

2006 [May] - Stephen Burch - East Coast & Speyside

http://www.stephenburch.com/trips/scotland06/scotland06.htm
This hardly qualifies as a trip report, since it is based on less than a full day of birding. It is more of an excuse to show some of the pics obtained with my new toy - a DSLR (Canon 350D with EF 400mm lens & 1.4 x converter)...

tour operators

Birding Pal

http://www.birdingpal.org/Unitedkingdom.htm
Local birders willing to show visiting birders around their area...

Guideliner Wildlife Cruises

http://www.guideliner.co.uk
Are you interested in the fabulous wildlife and natural history of the Western Isles and Hebrides, or perhaps you would like to visit St Kilda? Are you ready for a really good holiday? Then why not join a Guideliner cruise with David Leaver, writer & naturalist, who has sailed & worked in the area for over twenty years.

QuayZone Birdwatching Tours

http://www.quayzone.com/
At Quayzone we offer quality birding tours amid the spectacular scenery of the Scottish Highlands & Islands, one of Europe's last true wildernesses. The Highlands offer unparalleled birding opportunities in the UK. From the high montane landscapes of the Cairngorms down to winding sea lochs and estuaries of the West Coast we'll experience a large variety of bird life and Habitats in the most evocative of scenery...

Speyside Wildlife

http://www.speysidewildlife.co.uk
Speyside Wildlife - Friendly, fun and number one for guides to the Scottish Highlands. They know the terrain, are great for beginners and can find the specialities. Golden Eagle, Slavonian Grebe, Scottish Crossbill, Capercaillie, Ptarmigan, Bottlenose Dolphin, Pine Marten, Red Squirrel and, well, everything else (!) with a day among Sea Eagle and Puffin, Otter and Minke Whale. Or go travel the world with them in search of wildlife!

places to stay

Scottish Island Holidays

http://www.scotsell.com
We hope Scotsell`s Scottish Holidays website will give you an insight into the wide variety of superb individual Scottish holidays and self drive vacations available with Scotsell. More information and holiday ideas are being added to the site over the coming months so please keep in touch and let us know how we can help with your Scottish holiday plans.

Unique

http://www.uniquescotland.com
We are delighted to show you our brochures of furnished holiday homes. All the properties we recommend have been personally inspected and chosen by the Unique team who seek welcoming and comfortable home-from-homes - preferably in picturesque locations.

mailing lists

Scotbird

http://www.scotbird.co.uk
This purpose of this website is to inform Bird Watchers all over Scotland about any unusual activities and appearances. This site is by no means to replace any sites that currently inform twitchers of activities but merely to serve as a central location so that all are aware of what is happening...

Angus Birding

http://angusbirding.homestead.com/
The aim of this web site is to provide the Electronic Birding Community with information at there finger tips of what birds are currently about, primarily in the area of Angus and the Eastern Side of Scotland (Aberdeenshire, Highland & Fife). If there is something of interest fairly nearby, then that will get put on too! If you obvserve an interesting, rare or passage wild bird, then let the rest of us know about it by adding your sighting on the Noticeboard!

Bean Geese in Scotland

http://www.bean-geese.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/
Welcome to our website, which is dedicated to this winter visitor to Scotland. It has been created by volunteers who have given of their time and efforts to make this site as informative as possible, while keeping it simple and easy to use. Our objective is to develop a site which furthers the viewers knowledge of this now rare visitor to Scotland.

Birding Scotland

http://www.wildlifeweb.co.uk/fieldguide/index.html
Where to bird in all regions of Scotland...

Whittles Publishing

http://www.whittlespublishing.com/
An independent Scottish publisher which includes a number of nature books among its titles...

Wildlife Web

http://www.wildlifeweb.co.uk
The longest running andone of the most well-used bird and wildlife sites around. Established in1990, includes hundreds of photographs, latest news, a fledgling on-linefield guide, diary of events, interactive noticeboard, where to go birdingin Scotland complete with point-and-click maps, local guide service, etc,

artists

Gallery - Scottish Birds

http://www.scottish-birds.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk
Photographs and video of birds encountered at various locations throughout Scotland...

Library - Scotscape media

http://www.sol.co.uk/r/rodfleming/Scotscape/birdsIE.html
Scotscape Media is a picture agency dedicated to all aspects of Scottish life. Since its inception in 1997 Scotscape Media has rapidly expanded the range of services it provides. We now syndicate for a growing number of writers and photographers based in Scotland. In addition, Scotscape Media is building an archive of historic pictures which illustrate the life of Scotland in years gone by.

Photographer - Gordon McCall

http://www.mccalls.me.uk
Photo gallery of mainly Scottish birds

Photographer - Mark Darling

http://www.markdarling.ic24.net/
Some nice bird photos mainly taken in Scotland... more to come soon.

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