Highlands Day 3 : 16th October 2016

We stared out at 8am and drove down to the main car park at Abernethy Forest. This proved unproductive so we changed plan and went on to the RSPB Loch Garten visitor centre where we had more success. After the Osprey season they actually mothball the visitor centre and hide, which I find incredible since they still gave Red Squirrels and Crested Tits in the winter by way of visitor attraction

Although the visitor centre is closed, some people put out food to entice the birds to show themselves and this they happily did being quite happy to come to both the feeder in the car park and then to the hand rail outside the visitor centre. At the feeders it was mainly Coal Tits so we looked in the trees towards the visitor centre and got our first Crested Tits.

There were a group of birders from a Heatherlea tour standing watching the birds eat from a pile that their tour leader had loaded onto the hand rail. The coal Tits are so tame they can easily be enticed to land on your hand to feed. When they went, we took over, and we stood and watched as inumerable Coal Tits came and went. There were a few other birds coming to eat but the stars were two Crested Tits who stood about five feet from us at chest level giving me the longest look at Cresties I have ever had. John also heard a Parrot Crossbills but I didn’t see anything so that was one that got away.

We walked on the usual hide that you observe the Ospreys from but because there are no Ospreys at this time of year you can walk around the area more freely and this is an area where Capercaillie can sometimes be seen. Needless to say, we did not see them so we decided to get on with the day. We had planned to go up Cairngorm in the morning and go down the Findhorn Valley in the afternoon but we decided that we should take advantage of fair, if dull, weather to try for Eagles down the valley and go to Cairngorm in the afternoon.

As we drove down the “valley” we saw Mistle Thrush, Robin, Wren and a Buzzard perched on a roadside post. We stopped the car half way down, near the bridge, and got out to scan the mountain ridges. A group of three Goosander flew overhead as did a mixed flock of thrushes, the latter much higher up. We got a Red Kite and more Buzzards. A little later a small group of Lesser Redpolls also flew over.

We drove down to the end and set up to wait for Eagles. There were plenty of Ravens around and even more Buzzards. All the birds were hunting after yesterday’s rain so we weren’t going to find birds just soaring around. Any Eagles were more likely to suddenly come over the top of the mountains and then low over the ground. This made it difficult to spot them but we eventually got brief views of a Golden Eagle. John thought we might be better off back up the glen where the little woods are and the car park by the bridge so we headed off there.

We got more Buzzards and Ravens then eventually we got great views of one male against the background of the hills to the right of the road as you drive down the glen. A little later we got a brief view on the other side of a bird John deemed to be a second-year Golden Eagle. A couple of chaps joined us ; one was the gillie of the Avielochan hide where the Slavonian Grebes breed that the BWWC owns and the other was a local birder who specialises in Eagles. While they were talking I caught sight of another bird which they confirmed as also be a Golden Eagle so we’re doing not too bad in that department but still no White-tailed Eagles, even though one had been seen there recently.

By this time it was past lunch so we decided to head off for Cairngorm. The weather was holding up quite well until we started the rise up the mountain. The forecast was for rainfall around 4pm but here we were in the car park at 2pm with a howling gale and driving, heavy, rain.This is a familiar story here and, again, we got the train up only to stand in a howling rain storm before eventually getting tired of wiping our optics every few seconds. We gave up and descended the mountain beaten. For me this is the second time in a row (or is it third) where I have failed to see a Ptarmigan up there. It was all the more annoying because John had recently seen a dozen of them in a group and from the train!!!

We were feeling pretty cold and tired so we headed off, stopping off at Loch Morlich, just in case. There were only a few gulls and a small group of Tufted Ducks.As it got darker we tried stopping at a favourite Crossbills spot which was totaly devoid of birds of any sort. The afternoon was getting dark so we called it a day at around 5pm.

A disaster ? Well, only if you think Golden Eagles and Crested Tits don’t make your day. Also, they were an additional two “year ticks” making my annual list 192. Only eight more to go !

Year Ticks : Crested Tit at Loch Garten and Golden Eagle at Findhorn Valley

Bird Sightings : RSPB Loch Garten

Coal Tit	30
Crested Tit	2
European Robin	1
Eurasian Blackbird	2
Common Chaffinch	6

Bird Sightings : Findhorn Valley / Strathdearn

Common Merganser	3
Common Pheasant	4
Golden Eagle	2
Red Kite	1
Common Buzzard	6
Common Wood Pigeon	2
Peregrine Falcon	1
Eurasian Jackdaw	20
Common Raven	12
Eurasian Wren	1
European Robin	2
Mistle Thrush	1
Lesser Redpoll	12

Highlands Day 3 : 16th October 2016