Scotland - Cairngorms Part 4
Last day of our trip was going to spent at Loch Garten. Its a great place in the summer to see Osprey but in the winter its an easy place to see Crested Tits. These Birds are easiest to see during the winter when they come down to ground level to feed. During the Summer they spend most of their time high up in the tree canopy. The snow had melted a bit since my first visit to the area but hopefully we would still get some decent photos. Unfortunately the light was pretty poor and the speed these birds move at meant getting a decent photo was going to be tricky. The Crested tits were pretty regular to the area and i was lucky to get a couple of half decent photos.
The hardest part was getting the red in the birds eye. We were also lucky to spot a few Red Squirrels although these were always close to the feeders and although great to see them on the feeders the photos don't look very natural.
The only picture I Managed of a Red Squirrel.
The afternoon was spent again at Lochindorb looking for Red Grouse, there were a few about but we weren't always blessed with good light. Was good to see few Raptors in the area. Kestrel and Hen Harrier.
The time had come to say our Good byes after what was an awesome weekend. I cannot recommend Marcus Conway and Ebirder.net highly enough. If you want photos of the Scottish star bird species he is your man to get these. Another trip will be booked again soon.
I left the guys who i hope to meet up with again sometime soon and travelled onto Inverness. I hoped to catch up with some Geese and Sea Ducks before returning back to Bristol.
The following morning i travelled along the Coast from Inverness to Lossiemouth. Stopping at Harbours and other areas on route. First stop was Nairn were there was a Single Female Red-breasted Merganser and not much else. Next stop was Findhorn were I took a walk along the beach and the River. There was a group of Seals sleeping on the mouth of the River and a small flock of Eider Ducks were on the River. There was a single Hooded Crow on the Beach, a British first for me
Hooded Crow - Findhorn
I Carried on stopping next at Burghead which is a great spot for Long-tailed Duck. Sadly there were none in the Harbour just a lone Female Eider and a mixed flock of Turnstones, Redshank and Purple Sandpipers. There was a lot of Long-tailed Ducks at sea but to distant for photos. I also saw a single Auk, unsure of what as it disappeared before I could Id it. Lossiemouth was also quite a nice flock of fairly tame Wigeon was nice
The only other highlight of the day was watching some fighter pilot training at RAF Lossiemouth.
After an awesome few days my time had come to see goodbye to Scotland and begin the long journey back to Bristol. 9 hours later I was back. Roll on winter 2016!!!
