Scottish Birds

The big

Starting with the giants, we were buzzed by a magnificent grey heron at St Andrews:

The stars — unfortunately fairly unapproachable — were of course the ospreys. Odin the Magnificent at Loch Garten, in his favourite camera tree:

and the male osprey at Loch of the Lowes on Tayside:

The small

For the little ones, we cheated by staking out the bird feeders. Crested tit (on the right):

Greenfinch:

Chaffinch: Siskin:

Female Great-spotted Woodpecker:

Some juveniles; a robin, and a yellow blue tit:

The weird

Two very different plovers. The dotterels  are completely bizarre waders, preferring mountains (such as the Cairngorms) to the coast:

Weird in a different way are the lapwings, which we saw at Montrose: funky punky crests, iridescent colours, and outsize wings:

Linlithgow was home to some obviously pampered chickens:

The maligned

Gulls with itchy heads:

and hollow bodies:

And a very elegant rook: