A few Photos from a trip to the Cairngorms

 We spent a couple of weeks recently up in the highlands, staying at Ballater and then near Loch Garten.

I'll start with a few pictures of Red Deer at Glen Muick. The weather was pretty poor wile we stayed at Ballater so the phot opportunities were few and far between, but these deer were quite accommodating.

After Ballater we moved on over the Lecht and stayed in a  lodge near Loch Garten. We had only been in the lodge an hour when along with the Coal Tits, Blue Tits and Great Tits a Crested Tit put in an appearance, we were over the moon!

The feeders outside our lodge were brilliant, in addition to the tits, we had Goldfinch, 

Chaffinch, Dunnock, Robin, Rook, 

Woodpigeon, loads of Treecreepers, 

and these Great Spotted Woodpeckers;

We had more Crested Tit sightings down at the RSPB centre at Loch Garten,

Not forgetting the abundant friendly Coal Tits of course,

Elsewhere we popped into Nethy Bridge for a walk along the River Nethy looking for Dippers and were successful!

Back at the lodges Red Squirrel were frequent visitors

Finally we went out with Speyside Wildlife, to their private hide in the hope of seeing Pine Marten.

All in all a great trip, In addition to the photos, we managed Golden Eagle, White-tailed Eagle, Red Kite, Kestrel, Buzzard, Goldeneye, Tufted Duck, Wigeon, Teal, Whooper Swan, Mute Swan, Hooded Crow, Heron, Siskin, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Wren. In fact when crossing 'The Moors' at Findorn Valley, we had the White Tailed Eagle, Red Kite and Buzzard all together, but not enjoying each others company!

Looking forward to our next trip wherever that may be.

More Bears and Birds

 Here are some more pics from our Canada and Alaska trip:

Savanah Sparrow on our balcony;

Bald Eagle, Juneau, Alaska

We did some whale watching at Juneau and were rewarded with more Sperm Whales;

At Skagway we had decent dusk views of some Surf Scoter,

In Glacier Bay apart from the Glaciers and incredible scenery, we had some good views of Sea Otter.

There were always Shearwaters about too.

One afternoon this Peregrine decided to hitch a ride on our cruise ship and flew alongside for a few minutes.

Orca!

In Banff Mule Deer were just wandering around the town.

Up to Churchill, just getting there was an amazing experience, birds were quite scarce, but it was nice to see some Pintail,

Snow Buntings,

and Ptarmigan. 

But the main attraction were the Polar Bears, we had great sightings over the course of the time we were there as they waited for the weather to turn and the ice to form in Hudson Bay.

Finally it was nice to get a glimpse of Arctic Hare.

Now that things have settled down and I have a bit more time 😏

I hope to post more regularly again.... we shall see. Next stop the highlands!