Scotland Day 5: Back in the Highlands and some major highs at that
Although the scenery and wildlife of Skye was amazing, to wake up back in Nethy Bridge and to the amazing breakfasts the Mountview Hotel serves up was so good.
A few of us were up early for an early morning walk down to the bridge to see if we could see the dipper but alas not. We took a little walk into the forest and I tried my best to find a lesser redpoll for Phil who had missed them up to now. We saw plenty of siskin and goldcrest but no redpolls.
We happened across a few creepy installations left by well, witches would be my guess. The others suggested it was just kids but I don’t know.
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| Not a dipper in sight. |
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| Not a lesser redpoll in sight |
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| Not an evil witch in sight |
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| Not a window in sight |
After our fruitless walk which we did at least come back to our hotel without being bewitched which was nice, we had 'that' breakfast and prepared for another amazing day.
It began with a quick trip to Craigellachie, a nice trail through a rocky woodland. Our hope had been for early wood warbler and at a stretch, pied flycatchers but nothing doing. Must have been a witch’s curse or something.
We had a pair of kestrels nesting on a crag face with some courtship taking place.
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| Common Kestrel |
We had with us today an extra guide called James. He was on trial so was keen to impress. He quickly picked up a tree pipit singing and soon found it. The one yesterday had been fleeting so it was great to see one happily singing from a tree for a minute or two.
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| Tree Pipit |
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| Willow Warbler |
After a while we decided we may as well move on as it went very quiet so we moved on. We headed off to the base of Aviemore in the Cairngorms. Here we hoped to see snow buntings and ring ouzel. There was an area that is popular with snow bunting as people put seed down and within moments, the snow buntings are supposed to come in and feast on the seed. So we waited and waited some more. The weather was warm and sunny, not typical of the place and equally not typical was the lack of the snow bunting.
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| Ring Ouzel |
Chris had wandered off unnoticed but returned to report a ring ouzel near the ski centre. Everyone moved rapidly to seek out this mountain blackbird. There were two birds and occasionally they gave us reasonable views but never came that close.
After Aviemore, we travelled south towards Kincraig, stopping at Loch Insh where there was a pair of Osprey nesting.
Having had our fill of osprey we moved on to Strathdearn, our lunch spot. This is a pretty unassuming place but offered a nice location to break out the wonderful lunch boxes the Mountview Hotel prepared for us. If I haven’t mentioned it before, we had had a comfort break here earlier on the tour but obviously nothing worth writing about; but this time it was different. This time, we saw red.
but not in anger. In fact, in awe. One of the party and I want to say Dave (not the guide Dave but the punter Dave) picked out movement in the firs across the road. The movement belonged to a red squirrel and that movement paused long enough for all of to get good, albeit, distant views of the squirrel. of course, the red squirrel is a must have on any Scottish trip and we had missed a few opportunities to see this largely endangered UK mammal so far on the trip. So well done Dave! The siskins and a red kite took a back seat for 30 minutes while we marvelled at this wonderful creature.
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| Red Squirrel |
We were all very happy now. The onward ride to Loch Ruthven was full of anticipation. Our luck was high and the chances of seeing the slavonian grebes here must be written the cards right?
Right. I know you all thought I was about to tell a tale of woe but never anticipate my writing style, got it?
Got to love Slavonian grebes in summer plumage. The loch was clear and I mean clear of birds. There was that heartbeat moment of where are they but Brian eventually picked up one of the pair on the opposite side of the inlet.
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| Slavonian Grebes |
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