Loch of the Lowes (June)

 We also managed a day at Loch of the Lowes to see what progress the two Osprey chicks were making. It's always a joy to visit this Scottish Wildlife Trust site you never know what will turn up, apart from the Ospreys of course 😃

So I will start with a wee video....

We must have watched the Great Spotted Woodpecker family feeding their youngsters for a good half an hour.

So what about the Ospreys:

They are doing well and by the time you read this they will have fledged. (Actually I know they have as we have visited again since this visit and the young female had already fledged and the male was helicoptering and has since branched out)

There were also a couple of Great Crested Grebe nests, both sitting on eggs,

with the males busy finding his partner some food.

On the far shore some Fallow Deer put in an appearance:

Now some more Woodpecker shots:

Then the others:

Another great day out! We recommend it!

First Visit to Loch of the Lowes

 Having joined the Scottish Wildlife Trust we took ourselves off to Loch of the Lowes, just a 45 minute drive from us.

I have to say we were very impressed with the whole set up and the friendliness of the volunteers. Access to the hides (2) is great with great views of the Osprey nest on the opposite shore of the Loch. Each hide have good quality scopes, so there was no need for me to have lugged ours from the car! SO we had a great views of both Osprey coming and going from the nest, bringing back new nesting materials. Both hides also have TVs showing the nest cam, so an all round great experience.

So apart from the Ospreys it was pretty quiet on the Loch itself with Tufted Duck, Goldeneye, Black-headed Gull and a couple of Buzzards putting in an appearance.

The feeders viewed from the visitor centre were very entertaining:

The Great Spotted Woodpeckers 

and the Nuthatch being the highlights

With a good supporting cast of Chaffinch

Great Tits,

and Coal Tit.

Of course there were Blue Tits, Robin, Crows, Pigeon and Blackbird. Finally as we walked back to teh car a Jay put in appearance.

A great place with many more visits to come I'm sure!

More from around Grantown

 We visited Loch Garten mainly to see the Osprey, but also to have a look at the cameras on the Eagle nest. A bonus was a camera on a Goshawk nest. We did see an Osprey return to the nest from the visitor centre:

As you can see it's a fair distance away, but still awesome. We had hoped to see Crested Tits as well, they eluded us when we visited in February and they did so again. Having spoken to one of the RSPB volunteers about it, he said that at this time of year (June) they tend to stay in their territories and don't venture to the feeders at the visitor centre very often.... hey ho, next time!

Plenty of other birds around the visitor centre though:

Siskin,

Chaffinch,

and Treecreeper

A Spotted Flycatcher was seen in the woodland walk, plus all the common tits. 

Next stop was a visit to our favourite Ospreys a bit further down the A9:

We were then going to use the lovely hide at Loch Insh for lunch but sadly some *!*!* has recently burnt it down. 

On the drive home, we went the long way around, over the Lecht, through Braemar and over Glenshee. We were rewarded with this at the Lecht:

A White-tailed Eagle, I'm guessing this is one of the pair nesting at Loch Garten.

Followed by two Merlin Helicopters flying through the valley underneath the Eagle!

Finally from Braemar we drove the Old Military Road to the the base of Glenshee and came across a Curlew,

with a youngster, hiding in the grass (honest!)

That'll do for a summary of the trip.

A Short Visit to the Cairngorms - Part 2 of 2 Everywhere Else!

 So for the other day we visited RSPB Loch Garten, Findhorn Valley & RSPB Loch Ruthven.

We started at Loch Garten as it was so close to our digs, we usually visit in the winter and weren't used to so many people being there. Our real objective was to see the Crested Tits, so with so many people there we decided our chances were slim, so we took a scenic drive up to Findhorn Valley instead and planned to pop into Garten on our way back in the late afternoon.

On the way we stopped a few minutes for a coffee in a lay by next to the River Dulnain. We were pleasantly surprised to see some Goosander and a Grey Wagtail:

As we approached the way in to the valley off the A9, a raptor flew off to our left, so we stopped to check it out, in Eagle country you have to check everything!

Through the bins and in murky light it was difficult to identify, but with the wonders of modern technology, I brightened the photo up and pulled it in, it was quite a way away and it turned out to be a strange tailed Red Kite.

Down in the valley it was very quiet, although we did manage to see a pair of Dippers, our first for the year, we pulled over on the single track road, to try and get a good view, but a local in a hurry forced us to move, don't want to upset the locals, and we lost sight of them. Apart from that we saw Pheasant, 

more Grey Wagtail, Swallows and as we turned of to cross the moors over to Ruthven some Red-legged Partridge.

We had hoped to see some Grouse or Wheatear up on the high moors, but we didn't see a thing!

We eventually dropped down off the moors and made or way to Loch Ruthven, where we saw a first for us, this time in the shape of a butterfly, there were a few Scotch Argus about, but only this rather raggedy one stopped still long enough for a photo:

The star of the show at Loch Ruthven if you are lucky are Slavonian Grebe, and that is the first thing we saw as we walked from the car park towards the hide. There was at least one pair with two grebelets, (I don't know if that's a real word!) Of course they never came close, preferring the far side of the loch, so it was a good job we had the scope. I did take some photos, but again it was very dull day, so I apologise for the very poor quality.

The only other birds on the Loch were a pair of Little Grebe and some Mallard, however as a bonus an Osprey paid a visit a couple of times, but only flew around a couple of minutes each time.

From Ruthven we headed back and as I said earlier dropped into Loch Garten, it was now very quiet, only a couple of camper vans in the car park and nobody up by the visitor centre (now closed for the day) We made a cup of tea and decided to wait for something to turn up, however after a few minutes we were besieged by Midges. We stuck it out for about 15 minutes, but with our midge nets safely in the loft back home, we fled! So no Cresties, just a Chaffinch, Woodpigeon and a Great Tit for our efforts.

Next day saw us drive home via the Lecht and a visit to some old friends, with whom we have become reacquainted, who now live in Kirkmichael. We stopped in the Lecht Ski Centre car park for a short while in case there was anything about, but again being August there was nothing, apart from some Swallows, however as we drove away from the Lecht Tina spotted a couple of raptors to the left, so we pulled over to check them out, but it was just a couple of Tourist Eagles (Buzzards! 😂 ) But just as I was about to drive off I spotted another to the right over a ridge. This time we struck gold! Or more precisely a Golden Eagle. Result! Too far for a photo though.

From there we had a lovely afternoon at our friends and even saw a Red Squirrel from their garden. So all in all a lovely couple of days.

Lochore Meadows - Surprise Osprey

 On Monday we went for a quick walk down "The Meadies" just to stretch our legs really, we popped into the hide but the pond is so overgrown at the moment there is not much to be seen apart from some Mallard.

However towards the end of our walk while sitting on a bench having our obligatory coffee, an Osprey decided to pay a visit, it didn't get too close, but give us a good ten minutes display making 6 attempts to catch a fish, finally being successful on the last!

Not much else seen otherwise,  a family of wrens were nice to see, at least 4 youngsters and a an adult.

Secret Ospreys

 On our way home from Caithness we popped in for lunch at an Osprey site that we know hoping that the Ospreys had returned and were nesting. We weren't disappointed. We of course kept our distance and we careful not to disturb them.

Also picked up a Willow Warbler: