Scotland May 2013

With its swathes of quality habitat, spectacular scenery, exciting wildlife and top-notch birding, Speyside is as close to heaven as it gets for me – certainly in this country. It was therefore great to spend the best part of a week there with Miss Baugh and two of our friends, staying in Aviemore. Whilst not a birding trip, I did of course get plenty of birding in, including several early morning starts; is there anything better than being stood in old Caledonian forest with the dew glistening as the sun streams through trees, whilst listening to Crested Tits or a Capercaillie? Not in my opinion. Highlights as follows:

Capercaillie: I was aware of a bird next to a road somewhere in Abernethy Forest, and quickly found out where this was by grilling the first birder I met. I think every visiting birder this spring must’ve seen this bird (not great for this particular individual, but I guess at least it takes the pressure off at other sites), and was shown some crippling photos of it. However, I had two fruitless attempts, then hearing it distantly on the third, but it wasn’t until my fifth visit that I actually saw it. But it was worth it!

Caper!

Black Grouse: just one bird seen at a traditional lek site near Abernethy Forest. Others heard nearby, although I’m not sure exactly where these were.

A distant Black Grouse

Ptarmigan: three seen close to the path on the walk from the Ptarmigan Cafe up to the summit of Cairngorm, with another visible looking north from the Ptarmigan Cafe.

A pair of Ptarmigan

Female Ptarmigan

Red Grouse: one seen on the hike up Cairngorm.

Looking towards Ben Macdui - there's a Snowy Owl out there somewhere...

Crested Tit: birds were seen and heard at Loch an Eilein, on the south-east side of Loch Gramhna, and at the Caper site.

Loch Gramhna

Crossbills: These seemed rather thin on the ground, and no-one else I spoke to had seen or heard one. However, my favoured spot in Abernethy (Tore Hill) came up with the goods, with birds overhead when I was barely 20 yards from the car. Once I’d found a decent viewing spot, and the birds had settled down, I had some satisfactory views of them feeding on cones in the Scots Pines – but views of what?! Several of them looked heavy-billed, others less so; surely the heavy-billed bird shown below (Crossbill 3) ain’t just a bog-standard crossbeak..? This was a bulky, bull-necked bird - unlike Crossbill 2 below, which had a smaller, more rounded head, and a less eye-catching bill.  I went back for a second look, this time with my RememBird, but only had one fleeting fly-over and failed to get a recording – so I guess I’ll never be sure. 

Crossbill 1

Crossbill 2

Crossbill 3

Osprey: seen almost daily over our accommodation in Aviemore.

Dotterel: I didn’t actually see this species, but heard one calling on our hike up Cairngorm, north of the Ptarmigan Cafe; other, scope-bearing, birders had managed to see two birds on this slope, but I wasn’t too upset having seen the birds at Gringley early in the month.

Ring Ouzel: one in the Findhorn Valley, just before the carpark at the end on a craggy outcrop.

Spot the Ring Ouzel

Slavonian Grebe: I failed to locate this bird on a small lochan near Aviemore, where another birder had seen them recently, so I travelled to Loch Ruthven, seeing 8 super-smart birds on the loch.

Slavonian Grebe

The rather lovely Loch Ruthven

Other nice bits and pieces included Redstart, Whinchat, Hooded Crow, Dipper, Woodcock, Spotted Flycatcher, and Grasshopper Warbler. It was also nice to hear plenty of Willow Warblers, Cuckoos, and see lots of Oystercatchers, and Lapwings (in places – the Highland Wildlife Park was particularly good for the latter!).

Dipper with chick food

Oystercatcher

Lapwing

The biggest dip of the week was Golden Eagle; with less than two hours available to me in Findhorn, this was always going to be a long shot, and so it proved to be. However, the absence of eagles was very almost made up for by meeting Roy Dennis in the carpark; a conservation legend, and what a nice chap. Another slight disappointment centred on the fact that the Snowy Owl on Cairngorm, last seen on 17^th May (near the ski area) , wasn’t pinned down and my chosen guide was unavailable to take me looking for it.

An eagle-less Findhorn Valley

Aside from birds, we saw Red Squirrels, the inevitable Red and Roe Deer, and also enjoyed an evening at a hide (booked through Speyside Wildlife). We were told that Pine Martens were seen more often than not, but by 11.30 it was looking like this was going to be a ‘not’ night, as we’d only seen Badgers by then (nice, but not worth £18 a head!). But then up popped a beautiful little female Pine Marten, which fed for maybe fifteen minutes just yards from us – fantastic!

Red Squirrel

Pine Marten

Not surprisingly, it was a real bind to drag ourselves away from this brilliant place...