Skiing and twitching

When the American Coot turned up on Loch Flemington early in the New Year, I began to plan a trip to Scotland to see it (given that the bird was less then 2 miles from my aunt and uncle's house), and to hopefully do some skiing too... Luckily, the bird stuck, and I managed to tick the coot half an hour after sunset on our first day, and returned for another three looks. 

Not the most exciting bird in the world I have to say, and I wouldn't have bothered to go for it if it wasn't for the skiing as well - we managed three full days (which is good for Scotland!) and the snow on Cairngorm was excellent. No Ptarmigan were seen, but several Red Grouse were in evidence on the mountain.

Our one non-skiing day was spent pottering in Aviemore followed by a half-hearted attempt for Golden Eagles in the Findhorn Valley; this failed, but I did bag Raven and Dipper, and had decent views of a Mountain Hare (with another dashing across the pistes at Cairngorm two days earlier). I also managed a quick look at the sea of Nairn, which was actually pretty quiet but I did add a few Eider and Long-tailed Ducks to my trip list, along with a pure-looking Hoodie (having seen several hybrids). Having done lots of birding up here last May, I didn't feel the need to go chasing after all the other Highland specialties.

So, a good little trip.