Over the Easter weekend, Dazza and I spent time in the southern end of the Cairngorms National Park in glorious conditions. Around an hour from our new property, we began at the Muir of Dinnet just off the B9119. There are two freshwater lochs with fringing vegetation, plus mixed pine and birch woodland, thinning to open moor on the high ground.
It was a pleasant walk down to the waterside with the usual selection of
Siskin,
Coal Tit,
Chiffchaff and
Common Crossbill, a definite influx of
Willow Warblers and a single
Redstart but the highlight for me was a couple of singing
Tree Pipits. The loch itself was extremely quiet with the exception of two pair of
Goldeneye which were likely nesting nearby.
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| Red Grouse abundant around the Cairngorms |
From here we rejoined the A93, the highest public road in the UK and continued on towards our final destination of Glenshee Ski Center. As usual, we stopped on many occasions to enjoy the outstanding views with many
Red Grouse and of course, there's always a possibility of spotting a
Golden Eagle, although sadly not today.
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| Grey Wagtail |
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| Common Sandpiper |
One area we've visited on previous occasions is at Glen Clunie, a small conifer plantation at Baddoch along the A93 and after parking up we headed off across the hills to the west. The River Dee runs along this stretch as it winds down the mountains towards its eventual outlet at Aberdeen. Here we encountered
Dipper,
Grey Wagtail and up to four
Common Sandpipers, many
Meadow Pipits and at least six
Wheatear were also noted. Good scoped views were obtained of two distant
Ring Ouzels and the occasional call of
Raven high up in the hills, there were several
Siskin and
Crossbill along the plantation.
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| Wheatear |
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| Common Crossbill |
With the day ebbing away our final stop was at Ballochbuie Forest, which is best accessed from the car park at Keiloch on the Invercauld Estate. It's one of the largest areas of native pinewood and part of the Balmoral Estate. Once again the River Dee runs alongside and more
Common Sandpipers were noted along with a drake
Goosander and four females.
Capercaillie are now very rare here or even absent and it was no surprise we didn't encounter one but
Black Grouse, more
Siskins,
Scottish Crossbill,
Tree Pipit and a passing
Osprey were the highlights.
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| At least nine Whimbrel along the Ythan Estuary |
With Dazza flying back to Birmingham early Tuesday morning and me driving back Thursday I spent the remainder of my time discovering more of the Ythan Estuary, Aberdeenshire coastline and RSPB Loch of Strathbeg. Highlights during these visits included
Sandwich,
Common and
Little Tern, plus
Common Crane,
Spoonbill,
Whimbrel,
Greenshank and
Little-ringed Plover (apparently quite the rarity up here). The Ythan Estuary holds the UKs largest population of
Eiders, which were literally everywhere,
Red-breasted Merganser and
Long-tailed Duck can also be found in good numbers and waders during my visits included
Dunlin,
Sanderling,
Black-tailed Godwit,
Redshank, summer plumage
Golden Plover, many
Curlew and
Ringed Plover.
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| The Ythan Estuary mouth also holds a huge population of Grey Seal |
