Inchcailleach Island and Inversnaid RSPB Loch Lomond

So we've arrived in Scotland.  A tour of 10 days that will take us to Glasgow and surrounding area then on to the Highlands.  We've read in a few guides that some can find birding in parts of Scotland frustrating - basically saying that pace of birding here can be slow, it's quality not quantity - and today was a fine example of that.

Inchcailleach Island

Inchcailleach Island is a NNR in Loch Lomond and is about 20 miles from Glasgow.  The island is accessed by a small boat sailing from Balmaha.  The sailings are run on a ad-hoc basis and at time of writing the crossing costs £5 PP (adult return) with the crossing taking about 3 minutes.  The boatyard is well signposted and owned by the friendly Macfarlane family.

The boat dropped us off at the North East point of the island and we decided to work our way around the reserve clockwise.  The first thing we noticed was the dense foliage.  It's mostly Oak woodland with Alder in the wetter areas.  The higher ground gives way to Scots Pine and Larch.  Plenty of birds singing but seeing them would prove to be much harder!  Usually we watch with the naked eye and wait for movement then follow up with the bins but the foliage was so thick this method proved unfruitful.  The south part of the island brought:

Chaffinch
Willow warbler
Blue tit
Carrion Crow
Wren
Robin

Not a vast number of species eh.

Things got slightly more interesting as we headed to the north of the island:

Garden Warbler
GS Woodpecker
Raven 
Cuckoo (heard)
Blackcap
Long-tailed Tit
Goldcrest
Greenfinch

The path doesn't take you to the outer reaches of the island (it's more of a inland circle) so there was potentially much more to see.  I believe the island has the most southerly breeding population of Capercaillie so no doubt these are present in the areas the path steers you away from.

The drive to Inversnaid RSPB passed a number of small Lochs:  Loch Ard, Loch Chon and Loch Arklet.  Species noticed briefly whilst passing were:

Red- Breasted Merganser

Buzzard

Peregrine

Common Sandpiper

Canada Goose

Pied Wagtail

Inversnaid RSPB

Inversnaid RSPB has no visitors centre and  free parking is provided by the local council which the neighbouring hotel also uses.  The reserve's nature trail takes you along the banks of Loch Lamond then up an unforgiving set of very steep steps to a summit then back down again.  If you're here looking for birds I'd strongly suggest not going up the steps and just sticking to the path that runs along the banks of the Loch.  The climb up is tough and the most interesting birds, are to be found on the banks feeding on the abundant midges.  The climb up is good however if you want to see butterflies - and a nice view!

Species here were:

Pied Flycatcher

GS Woodpecker

Hooded / Carrion Crow Hybrid

Robin

Common Sandpiper

Pied Wagtail 

Swallow

 On the drive home we saw a number of raptors but were not always in an ideal spot to pull over and have a better look.  Most of them were Buzzards but Becky thinks she may have seen an Osprey over the Loch.  Whilst passing over Keltie Water I saw a very small raptor, mostly grey with a black tail being mobbed by 3 garden birds - I can only assume this was a Merlin.  I also heard what I'm pretty sure was a Curlew calling which was nice to hear as they are mostly absent from the estuary at the moment.  On to Aviemore tomorrow.