So the end of January has come and gone and we managed to get away for a few days up to Braemar, although I wasn't feeling great (still not! A stinker of a cold or whatever that seems to be going on forever, at least it's not Covid! Tested for that.)

Anyway despite some high winds and at time torrential rain we did get out to some of our old haunts. We started with the Linn of Dee, where we were treated to some Red Deer grazing not far off the road:

But with the torrential rain not a bird was seen! We drove on down to the car park at the Linn of Quoich and stopped for a coffee, the low and behold the rain suddenly stopped and a juvenile Golden Eagle flew over us and circled over the woods on the opposite side of the Dee, before disappearing. I didn't attempt a photo as it took us by surprise and we concentrated on watching, before we lost it.

After that we drove back up to Braemar and explored the Old Military Road that follows Clunie Water up to Glenshee. This gave us a Dipper sheltering out of the wind:

Not very close, but our first Dipper of the year.

Next day we drove through Ballater and parked at Glen Muick (pronounced Mick, but we call it Muck 😂) The wind was fierce and very cold, we nearly abandoned our walk down to the Loch. 

Again no wildlife was seen on our walk to the boathouse, although we did hear some Grouse.

From the boathouse we carried on on the circular walk, starting the homeward leg, where we spotted some more sheltering Red Deer:

The only other wildlife seen were some Bullfinches and a Buzzard passing through.

Next day we drove over to Loch Garten, specifically for Crested Tits, but for the first time ever in the winter they let us down! Just loads of Coal Tit, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Chaffinch and Great Spotted Woodpecker.

We popped over to Milton Loch in Boat of Garten, where there's a hide, so we could sit for a bit and have lunch. Not much going on just a Goldeneye, Mute Swan and Mallard. Also the feeders by the hide were empty, so no woodland birds or Red Squirrel that we had seen on previous visits.

We did get a bonus though, there were some ripples in the water to the left of the hide, we thought it must be a Mallard under the overhanging bushes, but then this popped out:

A Dipper very pleased with that!

So finally we headed home on the Saturday, stopping at Glenshee in case there were any Snow Buntings about, sadly not, but we did see lots of distant Mountain Hare:

There is another post to come on the way to Braemar we did drop into RSPB Loch Kinnordy, so I'll do that another day.