This short trip to the Scottish highlands was undertaken with Tom and Sam, as well as brother-in-law Erul. It was to involve camping at Loch Morlich, some fishing, and birding. My main target was Parrot Crossbill (which nobody knew existed when I last visited fifteen years ago!) and to show Tom as much of the Scottish specialities as possible, particularly new birds for him (pretty much everything apart from Golden Eagle, Black Grouse, and Crested Tit.)
Loch Garten:
We arrived at about 4:30am at Loch Garten after an overnight drive. We dozed for about an hour in the car before setting off on the “Caper Tour.” A couple of Ospreys were at the nest (first of about ten seen that day). and after a nice male Redstart by the hide. Eventually, after about an hour, a male Capercaille was eventually found and seen well by all.
Trouble with the car meant we had to wait around Loch Garten for the next couple of hours for help, fairly close to the car. We took the time to photograph Red Squirrels and looked in vain for Crested Tits and Crossbills (of which a few were heard.) Goldeneyes and Common Sandpipers were on the loch and Siskins were abundant.
Grantown on Spey:
After setting up camp at Loch Morlich I then left the others to fish (they successfully caught Brown Trout and Rainbow Trout for dinner!), whilst I headed to Grantown on Spey to look for Parrot Crossbills. None were found, and only a few Crossbills were heard. The woods were very quiet though I did briefly see Tree Pipit, Wood Warbler. Four Buzzards were also noted before I headed back to meet the others.
Aviemore:
After cooking our fish and relaxing around the camp site we went to the “Speyside Wildlife” heated hide to look for Pine Marten. This was pre-booked and we were all looking forward to it very much. En-route to the hide we saw Roe Deer as well as a large number of Red Deer. However, the Pine Marten proved very elusive before a male eventually showed about 11:30pm. Unfortunately both Tom and Sam were fast asleep and I struggled to wake them. However we eventually all got great views only a few feet away before we stepped out of the warm hide into -1°C night for a cold night’s camping!
