Netherlands/Scotland Holiday: part 4 of 4 25-29th

(Story continued from part 3)

25th

A Greylag Goose

A Foxglove

Today Rona, Mairi, Abby, Laura, Ellie and I went south to a wood near Loch Inver
while Dad and Peter went fishing

A partially toppled tree

Anyone see the spider?

A mushroom or toadstool

A mushroom or toadstool

Bat houses

A view of Scourie from across the bay

After visiting the woods, Rona took us to a bookshop/cafe

And afterwards we went to Loch Inver and it's visitors centre.

The 26th

A Chiffchaff, one of several outside the caravan

A Chaffinch

Today we went to the Durness Highland games

Marsh Ragwort

The pipe band

The boys egg and spoon race (with me on the far right)

I took part in three events: the pillow fight (you have to knock someone of a log with a pillow),

the egg and spoon race and the sack race.

The hammer throw

When we left the games it started hammering down with rain and we could see the lightning about a mile in front of us.

The 27th

A Buzzard flying over the caravan

A Wasp

Badcall bay

This morning Peter took some of us out on his boat for a trip around some of the nearby islands

Peter's boat

A Red-throated Diver

A Shalder

Another Red-throated Diver, the closer you get the more stunning they become

See the crack the Black Guillemots are in, that's where they have their nests

A Scorpion Fish and a crab 

This Butterfish ended up in the crap pot (It was thrown back in the sea)

Close-up

A Lumpsucker caught in the crab pot, I think it was about a centimetre long

Shags

Badcall

Handa Island

A "Bridled" Guillemot

Common Guillemots or Longvi

One of two bonxies that were swimming around our boat

Handa's western side

Guillemot with a fish

A bit of the cliff which has come down

A Lion's mane Jellyfish

The biggest fish I caught

A good catch

Scourie from the west 

A very shallow channel  (any see the head at the end?)

After we'd gotten ashore we walked up a hill towards Edith's and had a speak with her for a while

At 7.00pm we went to Rona and Peter's since it was our last day

28th

A panoramic of Badcall bay 

Early morning mist over the mountain

A Daddy-long legs

The view out the caravan

Thyme and Tormentil

Just before we left to go to Scrabster we went and said goodbye to Rona and Peter

Two of a kind

A Robin

On our way to Srabster we stopped at a cafe in Durness

Durness

We arrived in Tongue and went to a Cafe on the edge of the village

A spinning wheel

The Tongue Cafe

At half five we arrived at the ferry terminal, while everyone else waited in the car I went along a path leading to a lighthouse to see what I could find

A stripy Snail

St Johns Wort

While I was out walking I spotted two Sand Martins.

We arrived in Orkeny at about 8.30pm and then we drove up to Kirkwall

A calender in a shop on the Kirkwall high street

At 11.00pm we got on the Northlink boat to Shetland.

The 29th

When we arrived back in Shetland, I went to the South Mainland with my grannie to try and see a Two-barred Crossbill, A Gull-billed Tern and a Rosete Tern.

We went to Scatness to try and see the Gull-billed and Rosete Tern, but when I went to look for the Roseate it was no-where to be found so I spoke to a birder from south who had come on the Northlink the same night as me to come and see the two terns and the T-b Crossbills, he showed me where he had seen the Gull-billed 15 minutes before but it had disappeared somewhere.

So instead we went to Sumburgh Head to find the Two-barred Crossbill

A Common Gull and some Sanderlings at Grutness

Ponies at Grutness

When we got to Sumburgh Head, my grannie had decided that she would stay and look at the puffins at the bottom of the cliffs while I went to the lighthouse to see the Two-barred Crossbill

My first Two-barred Crossbill on top of a storage container at Sumburgh Head.

(Thanks to Gary Bell for pointing out the bird)

It alighted itself several metres in front of us.

A very handsome bird

After spending about half an hour looking at the Two-barred Crossbill, I went back down to the car park to get my grannie and we then headed back north to Brae

On the way we saw this foal.

And this is the end of my Netherlands/Scotland Holiday, I hope who ever has read this has enjoyed it.

And here is the list of species I saw in the Netherlands/Scotland 

(Du=Names in Dutch)

Birds

New species= Egyptian Goose, Jay

Total seen species=71

Great Crested Grebe (Du=Fuut)

Egyptian Goose (Du=)

Black-headed Gull (Du=Nillgans)

Wren (Du=Winterkoninkje)

Blackbird (Du=Merel) 

Robin (Du=Roodborstje)

Mute Swan (Du=Knobbelzwaan)

Swallow (Du=Boerenzwaluw)

Chaffinch (Du=Vink)

Great-white Egret

Blue Tit (Du=Pimpelmees)

Little Grebe (Du=Dodaars)

Marsh Harrier (Du=Bruine kiekendief)

White Stork (Du=Ooievaar)

Meadow Pipit (Du=Graspieper)

Great Black-backed Gull (Du=Grote Mantelmeeuw)

Comorant (Du=Aalscholver)

Nuthatch (Du=Boomklever)

Great Tit (Du=Koolmees)

House Sparrow (Du=Huismus)

Chiffchaff (Du=Tjiftjaf)

Common Crane (Du=Kraanvogel) 

Black-tailed Godwit (Du=Grutto)

Oystercatcher (Du=Scholekster)

Lapwing (Du=Kievit)

White Wagtail (Du=Witte Kwikstaart)

Rook (Du=Roek)

Woodpigeon (Du=Houtduif)

Magpie (Du=Ekster)

Jackdaw (Du=Kauw)

Eurasian Jay (Du=Vlaamse Gaai)

Common Pheasant (Du=Fasant)

Tree Sparrow (Du=Ringmus)

Song Thrush (Du=Zanglijster)

Arctic Tern (Du=Stormvogel)

Common Tern (Du=Visdief)

Grey Heron (Du=Blauwe Reiger)

Swift (Du=Gierzwaluw)

Spoonbill (Du=Lepelaar)

Goldfinch (Du=Distelvink)

Black Redstart (Du=Zwarte Roodstart)

Herring Gull (Du=Zilvermeeuw)

Starling (Du=Spreeuwen)

Bluethroat (Du=Blauwborst)

Buzzard (Du=Buizerd)

Kestrel (Du=Torenvalk)

House Martin (Du=Huiszwaluw)

Mallard (Du=Wilde Eend)

Stonechat (Du=Roodborsttapuit)

Coal Tit 

Dunnock

Red-throated Diver

Coot

Greenfinch

Whinchat

Hooded Crow

heard Goldcrest

 Common Redpoll

Common Sandpiper

heard Blackcap

Great Skua

Pied Wagtail

Siskin

Shag

Common Guillemot

Atlantic Puffin

Sandwich Tern

Sedge Warbler

Kittiwake

Gannet 

Black Guillemot

Raven

Carrion Crow

Sand Martin

(The birds from Shetland have not been counted in this list)

And this is the end of my Netherlands/Scotland Holiday, I hope who ever has read this has enjoyed it.