My friend recently visited Ullapool in the north west of Scotland for his usual annual pilgrimage, and I gave him a Birds of the North West Highlands logbook as a holiday present. I was interested to see how the booklet performed in its natural environment, especially as Alex is not a keen birder so the logbooks are perfectly pitched for someone with a general interest but not an expansive knowledge.
Alex went out with Charlie (the landowner of the estate) who is a knowledgeable birder to look for some of the local species. I’ll let Alex take it from here:
“We started at Beinn Dònuill, which is the highest point immediately above Loch Achall and Rhidorroch House, where we saw Red Grouse, a Golden Eagle flying past, and also a White-tailed Eagle, plus various “cheepy” birds.
Then on down to Loch Achall near the boat house, where we saw Black Grouse, and at the east end of the loch, a pair of Ospreys and two chicks. A buzzard was flying overhead, and we also saw. Hooded Crow. Curlews and Snipe were in the wetlands area at the end of the loch.
On to the Ullapool river next, and where the Upper Beat starts we saw a Dipper, and Siskins flying between the silver birch trees. Along the quarry road, several Wheatear were observed.
Next was Loch Broom, where near Ullapool harbour we saw a variety of seabirds, including Eider ducks, Gannets, a Black-throated Diver, Greylag Geese and Oystercatchers.
A trip round to Loch Kanaird finished the day off nicely with lots of Oystercatchers.”
A great day’s birding!
Many thanks to Alex for taking this little logbook on a proper tour, and I’m so pleased that all bar 3 of the species he and Charlie saw were in the logbook. He said this about the experience:
I’ve always been aware that there is a diverse selection of birdlife in the North West Highlands, and the logbook gave me an opportunity to explore this side of my holiday. The logbook was great: a friend and ally, as it helped me learn about what I was seeing, rather than pointing the finger at what I didn’t know.
Where will you take your logbook?
