May 9th 2023 on a slight easterly I found this Dark Eyed Junco at Rattray. A first for mainland Aberdeenshire and around the 11th record for Scotland. This bird prompted me to buy a camera as it vanished for 45mins before anyone else saw it prior to reappearing and showing well. #BirdingScotland

Never tire of seeing yellow browed warbler. This one at Rattray from autumn 2024. Not seen one in 2025!

Seems fitting to post a Pallas’s Warbler I found at Rattray on 17th October 2024. There’s a Pallas’s this morning at Rattray. Note to self - try getting out of bed before 10am on a Saturday!

Next Rattray bird was a find tick for me. On 21st August 2023 I had been along the track and searched the garden without much success. Then this icterine warbler flew across the car and showed well for about 20 seconds. Managed this dreadful photo with my phone. Still the only one I’ve found.

Decided to run a wee series of birds of Rattray. It forms part of my local patch and has been pretty good to me over the last 4 years. Here’s a lesser whitethroat - not common up here but a regular spring and autumn migrant. This was spring 2023 which was a good year at Rattray

Amazing how times have changed. I remember twitching great white egret in Cheshire in the late nineties

At RSPB Strathbeg last Thursday there were 4 great white egret and 2 little egret. This pic is from the summer showing 2 GWE and a Little Egret at the reserve

For various reasons we are staying in an apartment in Aberdeen. The Shetland ferry arrived this morning, viewed from the balcony. For some that will invoke lovely memories of birding in the northern isles and for others the worst sea crossing of their lives - or indeed maybe both!

Rarity finders: Eastern Nightingale in Aberdeenshire

A major prize was hiding among a fall of common migrants at Rattray Head for Andy Carroll, who discovered a fascinating nightingale from the east:

A couple of recent finds at Rattray. The nightingale and Greenish Warbler.