I left home at 03.30 on Tuesday morning to try to beat as much traffic as I could and maximise my time up in the Highlands. It worked and I was on Cairngorm Mountain railway car park by 09:50, and that included a stop for something to eat. It would have been quicker but for some significant road works on the A9. I got myself a ticket for the railway and boarded the train to the summit cafe.
Views from the Funicular Railway Car Park
On the Train
Amazingly I bumped into a birder who I recognised from Spurn who was also heading up and we had a good chat as we made our way onto the viewing area of the Ptarmigan Café at the top of the railway. You are not allowed out of the station/café after 1st May unless you are booked on a guided walk, for reasons I can totally understand, so you just view from the veranda. And, to my surprise there were loads of birders there and, within minutes one picked up a Ptarmigan. The quickest tick I've had in ages. A few minutes later another one put in an appearance. Both still had quite a bit of white on them but were clearly moulting into summer plumage. Sadly they were quite distant and I had left my phoneskope adapter in the car. I could easily have gone straight back down now the main target was in the bag, but it was stunningly beautiful up there. The weather was warm and bright, and although it was hazy the views were still very good.
We also had a couple of Ring Ouzels but that was it. I knew I'd be lucky to see Dotterel from the café, and I think it is probably a touch early anyway, and there were no reports of Snow Bunting so after an hour and a half I headed back down and straight onto Loch Garten RSPB.
I was mainly going to Loch Garten just to sus out the way ready for going on the Capercaillie watch at 05.30 in the morning. But, I was hoping for Crested Tit and Osprey maybe. I eventually managed to see the male Osprey flying around. A bit distant, but based on what the RSPB staff were saying, early morning is best to see him bring food in, so my fingers were crossed for the next day.
Osprey's Nest from the Loch Garten Reserve Hide
I thought I had a glimpse of a Crested Tit from the hide but couldn't be sure. The staff said they had been coming to the feeders just outside the hide but I wasn't so lucky. After about an hour, and once the Osprey had performed a bit I headed off around the reserve. I have been listening to Crested Tit calls and song for about a week now in preparation and it was time well spent. About half an hour from the main car park I heard a bird singing and eventually got onto it as it fed amongst the higher branches, before finally dropping down to give pretty good views. Sadly no photo's as it was just too quick! I did manage a couple of a Chaffinch and a Willow Warbler.
I have to say that the Caledonian Forest habitat is stunningly beautiful, as is the whole of the Cairngorms area. Abernethy in particular was really amazing.
The last picture above is of a 'veteran' Scots Pine of which there were many. I'm guessing it must be well over a hundred years old, minimum.
Day two and I was at the Loch Garten centre for 05:30 for the Capercaillie watch. Total waste of time as there was a heavy mist with views limited to less than 100m. After an hour I abandoned it and went for a wander along the track that leads to Forest Lodge deeper in the woods. I did manage to hear a Capercaillie - a female calling not too far off - but no sightings. There were plenty Crested Tits around, along with Redstarts, Tree Pipits and loads of Siskins. Coal Tits are ubiquitous!
Male Redstart
At 08:30 I decided to go to another site I had been told holds Capers, so went to suss it out with the intention of going the next morning. This next site was much more 'public' and at 09:00 there were dog walkers, joggers and cyclists everywhere. But I had it on good authority that the birds were here so, happy I knew where I was going next day, I moved on again. Next stop was a small lochan for Slavonian Grebes. I found them almost instantly, albeit quite distant. Absolutely stunning! I have never seen them in breeding plumage before so a nice first. I did try a shot through the scope, but it was quite breezy and the blurring was too much. As I was stood looking at the Grebes I heard a rustling in the grass on the shoreline. A stoat was running towards me, completely oblivious of my presence. It got to within about three feet then stopped dead. We stared at each other for a few seconds, then as I moved to get my camera, it shot into the vegetation right along the waters edge. A really intimate moment! Happy with my views of the Grebe's I went off to the Findhorn Valley in the hope of some raptors.
The drive along the valley is amazing. The scenery is again stunning. There are only limited places to stop and look for raptors (or anything else) as its a single track road with passing places, but eventually I found a spot where I could reverse the car, get out of the wind and see 90% of the valley.
The Findhorn Valley
My suntrap for the afternoon
To be honest, it wasn't brilliant, even though the weather must have been producing some excellent thermals. However I stayed put for nearly three hours, the whole stay made more tolerable due to me having got into the habit of taking my Jetboil, sachets of 2in1 coffee and a bottle of water everywhere!
Sadly on the raptor front I only saw a single Golden Eagle very distantly, plus a Kestrel and Common Buzzard. I did manage to see displaying Common Sandpipers though, as well as my first Common Tern of the year and a pair of Dippers when I stopped at a spot on the way back. Just as I was packing my car ready to leave I heard an incredible noise coming from down the valley. I had no idea what it was - possibly one of the large tractors I'd seen elsewhere? A few seconds later I found out what it was. A Hercules C130 doing a low flying exercise. And I mean low. I could see the pilot quite clearly. I couldn't get my camera out quickly enough, even my phone - but did mange this shot which gives an idea how low it was (imagine I'm on the road next to where the plane is, and then consider the plane had started to climb quite steeply by this point)!
On the way back to the B&B I called back in at Loch Garten - not the main car park - for a quick look for Crossbills. I heard them but couldn't see them. But the view from the Loch shore at that point more than made up for missing them.
Last morning and I was at the site I'd been tipped off about. I was there before first light but sadly no signs of Capers at all. On the plus side I did see Badger on the way there, and two Red Squirrels chasing around a tree was entertaining. I also got some close up views of Roe Deer. Then, just as I was heading back to the car I heard a familiar 'chup chup' call from the top of a pine. Sure enough there were six or seven Crossbills. I managed to get them in the scope to check their bills. They clearly weren't Parrot Crossbill, but the bill did look quite big. I managed a bit of a recording of their calls, so I'm going to ask a friend to analyse it with his software to check that these were in fact Scottish Crossbills rather than Common Crossbills.
That was it. End of the visit. I had the prospect of 5 1/2 hours driving in front of me without traffic, so to try to avoid hitting the worst of it I left at 07:30 and was back home at 13:00.
I stayed here at the Beinn Sealladh B&B and have to say it was excellent. Very clean and comfortable. Really friendly owners and great value.
