Birds at Mingarry

The site has over 20 species of resident woodland and garden birds, including siskins, chaffinches, greenfiches, gold finches, bullfinches, treecreepers, coal tits, blue tits, great tits, redpolls, song thrushes, mistle thrushes, blackbirds, robins, wrens, greater spotted woodpeckers, jays, sparrowhawks, and tawny owls. Summer visitors included willow warblers, black caps, cuckoos and swallows.  Brambling have also been recorded on site. Ravens and buzzards can be seen soaring overhead, and the evocative trills of curlew and dunlin and the ringing whistle of greenshanks drift in from the Moss. Hen harriers can sometimes be seen flying in the distance over the Moss. Occasionally, golden eagles can be soaring high over the surrounding hills.

Moidart, Ardnamurchan and Beyond

The Ardnamurchan area is real birder’s paradise with its rich avifauna. In addition to golden eagle and hen harrier, raptors sightings include white-tailed eagle, osprey, buzzard, , peregrine falcon, kestrel, merlin, goshawk and red kite. Corvids include hooded crow, jackdaw, jay, magpie and raven.

All three divers are represented, with red throated and black throated divers as summer visitors in the freshwater or sea lochs of the region. The great northern diver, although in greater numbers in winter, can also been seen along the coast in summer.

Swans and geese include barnacle goose, Canada goose, greylag goose, Greenland white fronted goose (winter visitor), mute swan and whooper swan (winter visitor). Red breasted merganser and eider duck are common sightings in sea lochs and along the coast, whilst goosander are found mainly in freshwater lochs.

Auks are represented by black guillemot, guillemot, puffin and razorbill, whilst the petrels include fulmar and manx shearwater. Gulls include black headed gull, common gull, great black backed gull, herring gull, kittiwate, Iceland gull and lesser black backed gull. Skuas include Artic skua, great skua and pomarine skua.

Waders are represented by common sandpiper, green sandpiper, black-tailed godwit, curlew, dunlin, greenshank, oystercatcher, snipe, red necked phalarope, redshank, ringed plover and turnstone, Amongst the grebes, great crested grebe, little grebe and Slavonian grebe have been recorded.

In addition to willow warbler and blackcap, other warblers include arctic warbler, chiffchaff, grasshopper warbler, sedge warbler, whitethroat and wood warbler. Bunting sightings include corn bunting, reed bunting, rustic bunting, snow bunting and yellowhammer.

Chats and thrushes are well represent by stonechat, wheatear, whinchat and ring ousel in heath or upland habitats, whilst the redstart is found in oak woodland. Pigeons and doves include collared dove, rock dove, stock dove and wood pigeon, whilst the grouse family is represented by back grouse, ptarmigan and red grouse.

Swallows, house martin and sand martins may be seen swirling across land and freshwater, whilst swift are occasionally seen screaming high in the sky with their distinctive fast and aerobatic flight.

Add to these, crossbill, dipper, linnet, gannet, kingfisher, lapwing, little egret, nightjar, golden plover, skylark, spotted flycatcher, twite, waxwing and woodcock. These are just a few of the avian delights that await you.

 

A trip to the Treshnish Isles, an archipelago of small islands and skerries, also affords the opportunity to experience breeding seabird colonies up close. A truly memorable experience.