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Scotland General

Red grouse Lagopus [lagopus] scoticus �Nigel 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.

You will note that in July 2009 we changed the pages to reflect the current administrative units rather than the divisions of the 1970s thru 1990s - to some extent this is closer to the old Scottish counties and will certainly help non-scots when looking for references to areas of the country when deciding on a visit.

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

RSPB Handbook of Scottish Birds

by Peter Holden & Stuart Housden A&C Black 2009 �9.99p
See Fatbirder Review
ISBN: 9781408112328
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 Trust for Ornithology - Scotland

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.

museums

Kindrogan - Scotland�s National Centre for Excellence in Field Studies and Biodiversity Training

http://www.field-studies-council.org/kindrogan/
...are running a wildlife sound recording course...

reserves

Scottish Wildlife Trust Reserves

http://www.swt.org.uk/visit/reserves/
Within Scotland's varied landscape lies SWT's wildlife reserves which have provided a secure haven for wildlife for over 40 years. We have over 120 reserves covering an area of over 20,000 hectares...

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 can�t find the trip report you want on this Fatbirder page� give them a try!

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; 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 �260 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 [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! Perch� 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)...

2008 [July] - Mark Hows

http://www.hows.org.uk/inter/birds/2008trip/scotland.htm
A trip planned to Scotland, this time in prime dragonfly / butterfly / whale watching season to fill gaps in some of my lists. Although these were the primary focus, I did lots of birding and revisiting the site of my MEGA find last year (Bufflehead), I was hoping for more of the same...

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.

Oriole Birding

http://www.oriolebirding.com
A UK-based company specialising in bird watching tours of Norfolk and Wales, and a wide range of other UK destinations, a comprehensive programme of tours worldwide. Neil Donaghy and Ashley Saunders have over nineteen years experience between them, running their own companies Celtic Bird Tours and Oriole Adventures, before merging the two to create this new venture which offers complete bird tour packages. Value for money, genuinely small groups and great birds.

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 Users Forum

http://www.scotbird.co.uk/Forum/login_ip.php?redirect=index.php
Covers all areas of Scotland, with categories such as Introduction, Help Identifying, Local Patches, Twitchers Grapevine to name a few. Site only accessible if you register

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...

ScotBird

http://www.scotbird.co.uk
The mission of ScotBird is a simple one, "To become a central online community for birdwatcher and nature lovers in Scotland. "What started of being a site aimed at Birdwatchers has grown into more than just a birdwatching site, it now covers all aspect of nature from the smallest bug to the largest animal in scotland, although most members are bird watchers several have a more extensive knowledge...

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�

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