Caithness Birds 🐦‍⬛

Great article featuring Caithness - East coast patches #CaithnessBirds

Still a few White-fronted Geese scattered through the county today. Lots of Pink-footed Geese new in and the first Lesser Black-backed Gulls are back #CaithnessBirds

Merlin on a fence post

Smart dark faced, white collared, and heavily streaked Merlin (presumably a 2cy) landed briefly at Nybster this morning #CaithnessBirds

Green-winged Teal at Loch of Wester, 2 Snow Buntings in Sinclair’s Bay and 2 Great White Egrets at Scarmclate today #CaithnessBirds

Kumlien’s Gull in flight

Kumlien’s Gull on the sea with Herring Gulls, Common Gulls and an Oystercatcher

Looks like a Juv Kumlien’s Gull in Dunnet Bay this morning with @ninaohanlon.bsky.social
#CaithnessBirds

White-billed Diver

White-billed Diver showing very well at Gill’s Bay this afternoon with @ninaohanlon.bsky.social
Nice find by A. Branch
#CaithnessBirds

Three White-fronted Geese in a mixed Greylag and Pink-footed Goose flock

Three Euro White-fronted Geese at Huna this afternoon. Nice #PWC2026 birds #CaithnessBirds

We are receiving increased reports of dead auks, including Puffins, particularly in North East Scotland. It's quick and easy to report any dead or sick birds you find through the 'Deceased bird' function on the home page of the BirdTrack app

Photo: Puffin by Richard Selman / BTO

#ukbirding

Juvenile Iceland Gull flying over a choppy sea.

Third juvenile Iceland Gull from our house in two days. Today’s was a particularly dark individual #PWC2026 #CaithnessBirds

Drake Green-winged Teal sleeping at St John’s Pool - photo by J. Smith

Green-winged Teal at St John’s Pool this morning, and two juvenile Iceland Gulls at Nybster #CaithnessBirds

GPS tracked Icelandic Greylag Goose movements tracker link below. Greylags ‘Alastair’ and ‘Willem’ are currently in Caithness arcgis.stofa.is/portal/apps/... #CaithnessBirds

Juvenile Glaucous Gull in flight about to come in to land on Dunnet Bay

Four of the six Tundra Bean Geese in a muddy field at Huna

6 Tundra Bean Geese at Huna, Water Pipit and Glaucous Gull in Dunnet Bay, Iceland Gull in Scrabster/Thurso today. Also a few Barnacle Geese are new in #CaithnessBirds

Juv Glaucous Gull still in Dunnet Bay and Juv Iceland Gull at Harrow Harbour today #CaithnessBirds

Water Pipit in sand dunes standing side on.

Water Pipit in Dunnet Dunes/outflow this weekend #CaithnessBirds

A bearded man looking down at a slice of cheesecake in his hands by the side of the road with green fields and blue sky in the background.

64 species on our 25 km cycle around NE Cairthness yesterday, with Great-spotted Woodpecker and Tree Sparrow good additions to the 10 km #PWC2026 list.
The only photo I took was @rob-hughes-birder.bsky.social admiring his cake!
#CaithnessBirds

A small group of gulls standing in shallow sea water, in the centre are a juvenile and second winter Glaucous Gull.

A very enjoyable @webs-gsmp.bsky.social count at Dunnet Bay this morning with my first Glaucous Gulls of the year - plus a smart Water Pipit was a great bonus! #CaithnessBirds

Water Pipit (2nd Caithness record), 2 Glaucous Gulls and 3 Velvet Scoters in Dunnet Bay; 3 Taiga Bean Geese Loch Heilen/Greenland; 2 GW Egrets and 90+ Greenland WF Geese on Loch of Mey today #CaithnessBirds

Juvenile Iceland Gull on the sea in a harbour

Juv Iceland Gulls in Wick harbour and south past Nybster today. Also a Great White Egret still on St John’s Loch #CaithnessBirds

Adult Little Gull in flight over the sea

Juvenile Iceland Gull lifting off the sea

Juv Iceland Gull and three Little Gulls in Freswick Bay at lunchtime today #PWC2026 #CaithnessBirds

9 Snow Buntings and 2 Black-throated Divers at Nybster today #CaithnessBirds

White-tailed Eagle in flight

After an absence last year, White-tailed Eagle flying past our house was a welcome #PWC2026 tick #CaithnessBirds with @ninaohanlon.bsky.social

PWC 2026 scores.xls

Happy New Year and good luck to everyone who is out #birding, making a start to their #PWC2026 totals this morning!

If you have not yet signed up then use this link to do so! - docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

Remember to keep us updated on your finds by using the #Patchbirding and #PWC2026 tags!

Christmas can be an expensive time of year, so how about something for free?

The @scottishbirding.bsky.social and Scottish Birds Records Committee are hosting a FREE online conference over the evenings of February 24th to the 26th. Three talks per night and some real belters among them.

Lone Waxwing in a private garden in Reay today #CaithnessBirds

The Taiga Bean Goose at Loch Heilen was ringed in E. Finland in July 2020. Usually wintering in S. Sweden, it was sighted in Norway (26th Sept) before Caithness. Full details can be found here submit.cr-birding.org/animals/1417... #CaithnessBirds

Hooded Crow on a beach

Hooded Crow on a beach with other Hooded and Carrion Crows

Particularly pale mantled Hooded Crow with our typically darker grey mantled local Hooded Crows (and Carrions) in Dunnet Bay over the weekend #CaithnessBirds

Taiga Bean Goose flock standing in a field

16 Taiga Bean Geese at Loch Heilen on my @webs-gsmp.bsky.social count today. One of which looks to have been neck collared in Finland! Will share its history when it comes through #CaithnessBirds

Adult Bonaparte’s Gull still in Dunnet Bay this afternoon plus Smew on Scarmclate and four Ring-necked Ducks on Watten yesterday #CaithnessBirds

Firecrests at John O’Groats, Auckengill and Berriedale today. Also Siberian Lesser Whitethroat and Mealy Redpoll at Auckengill, and a Yellow-browed Warbler at Dunnet. Odd movement of 8 Long-tailed Tits flying over John O’Groats too #CaithnessBirds

Just the 9th record of Firecrest in Caithness