Scotland Part 3 Cairngorms
After what was a fantastic day yesterday it was going to be hard to beat. The plan for today, Weather depending was to venture up into the mountains to track down some Ptarmigan. A bird I am yet to see. The forecast looked good so we set off after another awesome Scottish breakfast. There had been a lot of snow recently so hopefully the Ptarmigan would be a bit easier as they come lower down the mountains in search of food. The area we were heading to was also a Ski resort so the snow had brought in a lot of skiers and hill walkers.
We Parked up at the Cairngorm ski resort and set off up the mountain, the snow was well trodden on the path so not that difficult to walk on. All the way up we saw good numbers of Red Grouse. It was about a 35-40 min walk before we heard some Ptarmigan and it wasn't long before we located them. Its not that easy looking for a pure white bird in a pure white environment. Believe it or not this is were we encountered a slight issue, a dog was off its lead and causing havoc it was chasing everything in sight. This could work in our favour as the dog was higher than the Ptarmigan and it seemed to push them down towards us. It also flushed my first views of a Mountain Hare.
I am not one for selfies but the scenery was pretty good
Marcus thought it would be a good idea to go off Piste and duck in behind a ridge and hopefully the birds would come over the top, this worked well and i managed a few shots as the Ptarmigan come over the ridge. It was also pretty cool walking in probably the deepest snow I had ever experienced in my life. We don't really have major snow falls in Bristol. What an awesome start to the day Ptarmigan and Mountain Hare in the bag now to get some decent shots and hopefully not die in the process lol. There were a few avalanche warnings in the area but Marcus assured us we were pretty safe in this area.
The above picture managed to get onto Flick explore and had over 7000 views at last check
We then located some more Ptarmigan and began to stalk these for some close up photography. Again we got some great shots, it was whilst photographing these that Marcus spotted a Mountain Hare laid up against a rock he was very well camouflaged and difficult to see so we gradually edged closer. Marcus warned us that if his ears pricked up he wasn't comfortable and he would probably make a dash for it so we carefully moved in watching his body language. The hare didn't budge and by now we were almost on top of it. The first picture of this isn't cropped!! But was taken by borrowing Marcus 500mm with a 1.4 convertor. When I bought my 400mm I was in two minds on what to buy the 500mm or the 400mm after feeling the weight of the 500mm for just a few minutes my arms were glad I went for the 400mm. Was great to have the opportunity to use this monster lens though.
We spent about 30 minutes photographing this amazing mammal it wasn't fazed by us at all, 100% confident on its camouflage and was sure we hadn't seen it so it didn't need to move!! It didn't even move when a Search and Rescue sea king flew overhead. Thankfully this seemed to be just on a training session on not search and rescue. Was great to see though even if was potentially going to scare the Ptarmigan away.
After locating another group of Ptarmigan we followed these off Piste again, were we saw quite a large group probably in the region of 40-50 birds. These were going to be difficult to get close to as the become more jumpy when in large groups. We did however mange to get in between the group and this is were I got my best photographs.
Kirk, Ian and Myself
We decided to head back down the mountain to the Car park which is pretty reliable for Snow Bunting. I have seen plenty of Snow Buntings before but these have always been at costal locations. The Cairngorm birds are of a population of British breeding Snow Buntings. There was a small flightily flock in the Car park one stayed still long enough for us to get a few photos.
After finishing with the Snow Buntings there was enough light to head to Lochindorb again on the return journey back the the Grant Hotel. There were a few about in the late afternoon sunAnother fanatic day which didn't leave much left on the list for tomorrow
