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.

Scotland Trip Part 2

Well the second half of the week saw an improvement in the weather (just about) We listened to the radio and there were no reports on Radio 2 of any closures, so we set out on Thursday to cross The Lecht and drop down to Loch Garten and Aviemore. There are two roads off the A93 that head that way, the first had a sign saying closed due to snow drifts, so we proceeded 5 miles further up to the second only to be faced with another sign!  We turned around and started to make a plan to head back over Glenshee and do something that way only to hear on the local radio 10 minutes later that the pass over the Lecht was open, so we turned around and headed up, I must say that I was thankful in places that we have a Landrover!

So we arrived at the Lecht Ski Centre and used that as our first coffee stop and to use the facilities! Even before we got out of the care the Lecht Snow Buntings did the job, I took more photos as this is a great little bird, but seeing as I have put a couple of Glenshee pictures in part 1 I wont add any more here. We had hoped to see Ptarmigan but alas no luck, just happy with more Red Grouse:

We proceed down off the mountains towards Garten, picking up a Heron, Pheasant and Buzzard.

We arrived at Garten and parked at the Osprey Center, the objective here was Crested Tit, we have always had good sightings, but today it looked like they weren't going to show, until one made a brief visit:

If you like Coal Tits this is also the place to be, I won't say there are hundreds, but certainly a lot and impossible to count, this though is when we had a bit of fun. We broke out the Coffee and had a snack, I was eating a cereal bar, next thing a Coal Tit pays me a visit and tries to land on my bar! So I thought well if they really want to:

Next thing they were at our supplies:

Then the Great Tits joined in:

In addition to these, we added a Great Spotted Wood Pecker, Chaffinch, Blue Tit and Robin, again with the Crested it's quality not quantity!

We then decided to have a ride across to Aviemore on the off chance of picking up Ptarmigan there, so headed through Aviemore Town to the Ski Slopes. We were just heading into town and I was stunned to see a tree full of Waxwing, sorry the photos aren't great but it was pretty dull!

Again just sheer quality!
So on to the slopes, the weather now become very murky, we managed a Goldeneye on the Loch driving up to the slopes, and more Snow Bunting, but no Ptarmigan. So after refueling with some hot Potato and Leek soup from the cafe, we headed back for Braemar via the Lecht as we didn't want to be going over in the dark.
Stopped again at the Lecht to use the facilities, now no Skiers just Snow Buntings! As we descended again we did pick up a new species for the trip some Red Legged Partridge which was nice (getting dark now):

End of part 2