Hi Chuck welcome to the community from Sheffield England, I've left a request for help in the Loch Garten Osprey group as I know a few of them are in Scotland and a few in the general community are from up there too, so hopefully you will get some good suggestions.
My Flickr photos
In reply to Alan:
Hi Chuck and welcome to the community from me in central Scotland.
It’s been several years since I’ve been to the Uist’s but there is a variety of species to be seen there. We’ve seen Golden Eagles on North Uist but perhaps Skye or Harris would give you a better chance of these birds. The RSPB have a reserve on North Uist (Balranald) which takes in a variety of habitats from shoreline through to Machair and farmland. We’ve seen Corn Buntings here and our only sighting of the elusive Corncrake. Corncrakes can be heard often but are seen much less often. The Uist’s are very open with lots of moorland and freshwater Lochs. There are very few trees here.
Further south, a trip out to the Isle of May in the Forth Estuary is a must. We always take the boat out from Anstruther (The May Princess). Advanced booking is essential but well worth it to see the nesting seabirds. The Isle of May is a fantastic place to see Puffins at close range along with all of the other seabirds. (Shag, Guillemot, Razorbill, Fulmar, Kittiwake, Various Gulls, Eider Ducks etc.) There are also Grey Seals to be seen around the Island. The trip out takes around 1 hour with 2 – 3 ½ hours on the Island depending on tides. I can highly recommend this trip, a fantastic experience.
On the other side of the Forth we have Bass Rock with the largest colony of nesting Gannets in the world. There are boat trips out from the Scottish Seabird Centre at North Berwick but in my personal opinion a trip out around the Rock on the Sula from North Berwick is by far the better of the two. (again, advanced booking is recomended but the Sula can often have places left at short notice, sometimes even joining the end of the queue at the pier will get you on board). The trip only lasts around 1 hour but is guaranteed to stay with you forever; it’s a spectacular experience to be so close to so many of these large birds. Usually when take a trip on the Sula we will then move onto the small nature Reserve at Aberlady (around 7 miles from North Berwick). This reserve is always worth a visit with Skylarks, Meadow Pipits and Stonechats in abundance in May. The reserve also covers some coastline on the south shore of the Firth of Forth and mudflats which are exposed/flooded with each tide. There’s always something or other to see here.
Further south again a trip to St Abbs Head is also highly recommended. Nesting seabirds here are once again a sight to behold. The best place to park is at the lighthouse at St Abbs head and arriving early in the morning is recommended. As you approach St Abbs you’ll see a signpost for a tea room called ‘The Old Smiddy’. If you bear left before the tea room a single track road will take you through a farmyard and on through a gate which allows you to drive on up to the lighthouse at the top of the cliffs. You can also walk out from St Abbs but depending on your level of fitness and weather conditions it can be a bit of a walk with some steep climbs along the way (and you still have to walk back). I hope this has helped; all of the above places are highly recommended in May. Other than the Uists, all of the above places are within a 1 hour drive from Edinburgh. I'va added a picture of the Sula in harbour as there don't appear to be any photos of the boat on the web site.
And a short video taken from on board Sula.
My bird photos HERE
In reply to Paul A:
Hi Paul,
Thank you for these suggestions. It looks like we will have plenty to see. I will certainly look into fitting some of these things into our trip.
Chuck B