Winterwatch Our Way! Part Two

Part Two of the blog starts with a quieter day and a walk around the Muir of Dinnet. We weren't sure what to expect as this was another new place for us and I had read reports of a lot of flooding blocking some of the paths. We struck lucky though and managed a circular walk without getting out feet wet!

The walk started well with a Buzzard in a Rainbow:

Followed by a couple of Cormorants in a tree!:

We did spy some Goldeneye through the trees out on Loch Kinord, but not close enough for a photo. As we continued our walk Jimmy spotted a couple of Fieldfare in the fields those were our first of the year.The only other birds of note were a pair of Lapwing who obviously wanted to be alone! A bit early for that I would of thought:

So a lovely walk with a few coffee stops was had but not many birds seen. We ended the day with a dash up to Glenshee again, for dusk for the Hares and Red Deer.

Another long trip out for day four, this time over the Lecht again for Loch Garten and Abernethy Forest. No sign of 'our' Golden Eagle this time sorry to say and no Snow Bunting at the Ski Centre either, however shall we say the weather was now decidedly wintery!

The main reason for going to Garten is Crested Tit and they never disappoint us!

In addition the Coal Tits here are very friendly:

To our delight we also saw a couple Red Squirrel, some Treecreeper:

and a brief sighting of a Goldcrest:

The light was terrible while we were there and it rained continually but at least the birds didn't desert us. After Garten we had a drive up to Aviemore Ski Centre in the hope of Snow Bunting or Ptarmigan but both must have been on their tea break when we were there! The views were great though!

The later weather forecast wasn't great so we headed back reasonably early again, which was a wise move as with the high winds there was some snow drifts building around the Lecht, in fact a lorry was unable to get up one of the hills the snow was too deep for it on the road. Thank heavens for a Land Rover! We finished the day by adding Red-legged Partridge to the list on our way down out of the mountains. So endeth part two!  Decided that was enough for this one. So sorry there will have to be a part three.