Watching them, watching us – and watch yourselves!

It’s that wonderful time of the year when our feathered friends are busy brooding eggs or feeding their first young of the season.  From our back gardens to our parks and beyond to the coast and moorlands, right now we can all see birds busy collecting food to feed a mate or rear chicks. In … Read more

The most wonderful time of the year

As the song suggests “It’s the most wonderful time of the year” and indeed it is for Birdwatchers. Wintertime heralds the arrival of birds from the Far North and in particular birdwatchers keep hoping that this year will be a “Waxwing” year. Waxwings are an “irruptive” species, meaning they do not migrate to our shores … Read more

Birds signal the first hints of Autumn

The dew glistens on the grass, the combine harvesters have done their work and the black bound silage bundles sit silently in the fields, the feeling of summer has lessened, and the first hints of Autumn tinge the leaves on the trees. Meadow Pipit Flocks of Meadow Pipit flutter along in front of us as … Read more

The magnificent swans raising their cygnets in and around Forres

By David Slater, Birding Ecosse Walking around any of our local ponds and lochs, such as Loch of Blairs, Sanquhar Pond Burgie Arboretum or the pond at Brodie you cannot fail to notice the Swans, especially at this time of year when the Cygnets are newly hatched and looking so cute in their brown fluffy … Read more

Birdwatching in Spring

Forres and the surrounding area in Springtime can only mean one thing – migration! As the daylight hours lengthen and the temperatures start to rise, birdwatchers keenly await the return of our summer visitors.  Wheatear One of the first to arrive is the Wheatear, a dapper looking bird with the male sporting a rather dashing black … Read more