This weekend turned out to be rather relaxing (from Saturday afternoon at least) with Theresa and I taking a slow drive along the coast to Montrose while doing birding along the way. Our Scotland tally so far is 63 species which is not too bad all things considered and bearing in mind that almost all of these birds are new to us. I just can’t get past the fact that I am seeing species in Scotland that look almost exactly the same as many of our African species – a Redstart and a Rock thrush for instance appear almost identical.

Although their habits are rather different, the birds appear (certainly outwardly) the same. Perhaps the varying environmental conditions have altered species behaviour more over the course of time than their actual appearance. Of course we talk about convergent and divergent evolution accounting for the similarities in many species and geneticists confirm that this is true and yet when I see the species out here in Scotland, I can’t help but wonder if we have really pinned down the way in which evolution is forging and changing species. Darwin would be having a field day were he still around. The keepers and assistants on Invermark and Andy in particular have been a fountain of knowledge when it comes to local bird knowledge and has enabled us to get as many as we have. I’m hoping to get at least 70 to 80 species before we have to head back to Sunny South Africa.