Scotland Part 2 Cairngorms
Thursday.
After driving across from Aberdeen it suddenly dawned on me that I had packed any waterproof trousers luckily I had enough time to get to Aviemore to pick a pair up, On Route to Aviemore is Loch Garten an RSPB reserve famous for its Ospreys but in winter its a great site for Crested Tit, would be rude not to stop off to see some tits!!!! I arrived in a snow filled car park were i could see a man with a camera, always a good start. I parked up and headed across. They guy went by the name of Ian and after a brief chat it appeared that we were both in Scotland for the same photography tour!!! Small World. Ian then directed me to the Loch Garten visitor centre were i had my first views of Crested Tit.
Took a few quick snaps before heading off to Aviemore and then on to my digs for the next 3 nights. I arrived at the Grant Hotel in Grantown-on-Spey and was mightily impressed. If your a wildlife lover you will love this hotel. Its wall are filled with fantastic pictures of the local wildlife and it plays birdsongs instead of crap cheesy music through the hotel.
We had agreed to meet up at 7.30pm for dinner and introductions. Marcus was our guide ( can be booked through website www.ebirder.net ) the other 3 in the party were David who was a Local from Inverness Kirk and Ian (who I had already met at Loch Garten) who were both from the South East. We all seemed to hit off immediately and the food was great. It was here Marcus dropped the Bombshell that there was a good chance we could get the weekend off to a flying start with Capercaillie tomorrow morning, if we were all up for it!!!!! Stupid question most birders would bite your right arm off for a glimpse of this rare secretive bird. I won't go into to much detail about this bird as its a sensitive site and would like to respect the wishes of the people who found this bird.
Friday
730 am Breakfast time which like last nights tea did not disappoint. A nice healthy full fat traditional Scottish breakfast, minus the Black pudding. I had everything crossed that we would connect with a Capercaillie today and it wasn't long before we had parked up and headed into the Pine forest in search of this rare beast. Marcus soon found some tracks in the snow which got the blood pumping but it was nearly 2 hours before the bird was spotted. Marcus, Kirk and Ian who had been searching in a different area to David and myself had witnessed the bird fly down from the tops of the pines were it had been feeding. It wasn't long before we all joined up and proceeded to get some photos of the magnificent bird. Its not uncommon in male Capercaillies to become what is known as Rouge birds these birds will literally attack you if you come into contact with them. This bird had become rouge and although it didn't attack us it gave quite a show
We spent 10 minutes photographing and observing the Capercaillie before slowly retreating out of the wood as we didn't want to tire out the bird. Probably one of the best 10 minutes i have had whilst birding. Marcus had set his stall high and had to work hard now to impress us on the rest of the trip.
The afternoon was going to be spent at the Alvie Estate photographing Red Deer. Not before we had our lunch randomly we had this in a local hospital car park. The reason for this was to hopefully see some Red Squirrels that are often seen in the Car park here. We got Lucky and managed a few Red Squirrels and a small flock of Redpolls.
We arrived at Alvie and were met by Graham who was the head gamekeeper. Imagine what a typical Scottish gamekeeper looks like and you get Graham!! So much so that if any TV programme needs a gamekeeper for a piece they all use Graham.
Our transport to get to the Red Deer in the deep snow was a snow cat. Usually used in Arctic Canada it was the perfect transport to get up into the hills to find the deer. The scenery was stunning as we climbed up into the forest covered hills. We arrived at the area the Red deer are feed in and it wasn't long before a large number of stags were making their way down to the track.
The first Stag down was nicknamed droopy due to his antlers that are a bit messed up hence the nickname. A Doe even came down which according to the locals is an unusual sight.
Now a great day in the field could only be capped off by a great evening on the field. Tonight was the 6 nations opener between England v Wales a game i was offered a ticket for but had to sadly decline as i was on this trip. Thankfully the day got better and in a thrilling game England managed to get the better of our poor neighbours (lol)
