House Martins and their nests and weird Scoter

The good news is my House Martins in the nests in my survey have fledged broods in four of the five nests and I'm waiting for the fifth soon. I hope they'll return for second broods but I've got to say it looks like hard work feeding the chicks as they grow larger. Also a strange Scoter and a Kestrel which is becoming a rarer sight, some say the increase in Buzzards are driving them out of their territories

House Martin chick in an artificial nest at St Cyrus National Nature Reserve

Surely not difficult to build and if you can't why not buy and install a few, they'll attract House Martins and they'll even start to build their own nests when the artificial ones are in use. I know they make a bit of a mess and you can take measures to stop them nesting above doors before they arrive in spring

Thought to be a hybrid between a Common Scoter and a Black Scoter, this bird is currently at Murcar/Blackdog north of Aberdeen. An SOC article discusses its origin but I haven't been able to see a copy yet. A crop from a video taken at extreme distance

Kestrel at St Cyrus, one of a few places where they remain as constant breeders