A new visitor at the hide today and a very welcomed one. Not too many of these about and not an easy bird to get close to. This Stock Dove actually nests in an Owl box I put up a quarter of a mile away.
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Now that I am getting on top of the work at the hide I found some time to take a few pics today.
Not so many about these days, I had to stop or Id have ran this chap over.
Been doing a lot of maintenance recently, but grabbed an hour today. Good and sad news today, the Baby Red Squirrel was taken by a Buzzard, but I missed the shot. That is nature though, but on a high note the jays brought in three youngsters. I seen them yesterday for first time, but had no camera.
What a fantastic day, here are some of the best photos from the trip.
A selection from the hide today, highlight was the Sparrowhawk returning again and the juvenile Nuthatch.
Took Ally up this afternoon and we had a great show from various birds and mammals. Highlight had to be my first encounter with a baby Red Squirrel. It was so cute and small 
Been flat out at work so not been out this week, did manage an hour at the hide tonight and all the usual suspects turned up. Here are a few of them.
Jimmy came down from Ayrshire for a photo trip. I knew it was going to be a good day as first thing we seen on the road up was a Roe Deer and fawn. Once in the hide we had an unexpected visit from Gordon which was good. I think he liked the set up Jays and Woodpeckers galore and also a few fledglings of varying species. Chaffinch, Blue & Great Tit, Great Spotted Woodpecker and Greenfinch. Also Nut. After a couple of hours we had a drive across the moors where we seen Barn Owl, Meadow Pipit and young, Skylark and also Whinchat. On the way we had a close encounter with a Wood Warbler, Jimmy has never been close to this cracking bird and was rather excited Then we had a walk through the woods in search of Redstarts, but all was quiet on that front. We did get some nice Wren photos though, not an easy bird to photograph. All in all a great day.
A few hours up at the hide and the Jays and Woodpeckers are showing really well now. Then across to the Sand martin colony and several of the burrows have been dug out by a Badger or Fox and some remains of the nests and fledglings were on the ground.
