School of Birding Deep Dive Specials - September '26

Rewinding back to mid-September, and it was time to head back up to the Highlands for another School of Birding - our twelfth! - and this time it was a little different: it was all about focusing on raptors and seabirds, for our first Double Deep-Dive Special.

Thanks to John, Penny, Simon, Sarah, Sally and the team for photos! 

Based as ever at the fantastic Grant Arms Hotel, Simon and I were excited to deliver this new edition to the School's module choices, and we welcomed back some of our absolute favourite clients / repeat offenders to share the new material.

We timed these Deep Dives for September in order to try and maximise time in the field with each of the species groups - resident raptors would theoretically be easy-ish to find with ok weather, and migratory birds of prey should hopefully also be up and at 'em. Seabirds, meanwhile, should also be very much on the move, with a suite of guaranteed species to enjoy on the coast and, hopefully, a trip out onto the waves for more....

Close-in Bonxie at Burghead

In a nutshell, it could hardly have gone better. Everybody was wonderfully engaged and enthusiastic, with the whole team finding birds and sharing the spoils, and my co-pilot Simon absolutely smashing it with his raptor radar and unrivalled, intimate local knowledge. (I've been doing this for many years, and I'm still learning from him - there's no-one better.)

Raptors? Well, as well as the interactive ID sessions at the hotel, in the field we had eleven target species; realistically, then, nine or ten would be a more than decent return. In the event, we not only nailed all eleven, but had great, prolonged, brilliantly educational views of pretty much all of them - more than we could've dreamed of.

Sooty Shearwaters in the Minch

The roll-call was: Merlin, Kestrel, Peregrine, Sparrowhawk, Goshawk, Common Buzzard, Osprey, Hen Harrier, Red Kite, Golden Eagle and White-tailed Eagle; the experiences were, as mentioned, just perfect from a learning perspective, with some absurdly close entounters with some of the rarer members of the list. An unqualified success! 

 

Great Shearwater from the ferry

Seabirds? Well, arguably a little more in the hands of the gods, and indeed the conditions - for the coast, anything but heavy rain would be fine, but for the prospective sea crossing, we needed it calm enough to be worthwhile (i.e. not rough as hell). Our 'pelagic' for these purposes involved a very big boat indeed - the CalMac ferry from Ullapool to Stornoway and back again - which, if it happened, would constitute five hours of seawatching across the Minch and back.

Watching eagles at Spey Dam

As it happened, a day in the middle of the week looked ideal, and so off we drove, through some of the most stunning landscapes in the UK, to the ferry terminal. The conditions were, as forecast, good - the winds were light to moderate, the sky was cloudy (much better than sunshine, which creates too much contrast for observing the birds), and we were feeling quietly confident.

Hen Harrier

Long story short, the mighty Minch delivered, and then some. Our entire team were very much on board, in more ways than one - calling out interesting birds on and over the sea, asking for advice re: ID and flight styles of the birds in question, etc. - and everyone began to develop their seawatching skills in a whole range of ways.

Highlights were many, but of those that spring to mind, Great Shearwater, Leach's Storm-petrel, Pomarine Skua, swirling flocks of Sooty Shearwaters, European Storm-petrel, lots of Bonxies, Arctic Skuas and Manx Shearwaters, pods of Common Dolphins, Bottlenose Dolphins and a Minke Whale are among them....

A memorable day, capped by delivering a talk at the hotel late on (thanks for staying awake, team!).

Proof of arrival in the Outer Hebs - 15 minutes in Stornoway before the return journey!

Over the course of our six full days in the field, we covered many sites in pursuit of our targets, from glens, marshes, rocky coast, the open sea, mountain sides, forest, farmland and more. For such an incredible variety of habitats in such a small area, it's almost unrivalled.

Putative 'Viking Gull' (Glaucous x Herring) at Ullapool harbour

The classroom sessions were, as ever, really fulfilling to deliver and lots of fun (with everyone working together as always) - and being able to teach / learn things indoors and outdoors, in quick succession, is a real strength of our format.

Common Dolphin having fun

So, were the Deep Dives a success? For sure. Will we be doing them again? For sure! But in the meantime, we've a whole host of Schools to deliver over the coming year or more.... April, May, and June are already fully booked, but we have a couple of places left this February (a module one, and a great time for birding up there!): contact us HERE if you want to join the fun.

Goosanders (including a bird with partial leucism above, Bar-tailed Godwits and Bonxies below