Zim Girl's 6th Big Year 2023

[Zim Girl]

Thank you @Dave Williams, @michael-ibk and @Galana.

23 hours ago, Towlersonsafari said:

we have only just discovered Merlin @Zim Girlits great fun!

It is.  @TonyQmentioned it last year and we have been using it ever since. Not infallible though, it keeps telling us we have a Serin in our garden!

 

22 hours ago, michael-ibk said:

Looks like you had a great time in the Lake District. Congrats on getting a lifer, always special. Very cool getting a shot of the Bittern. I especially love the photos of the cliff birds though - and the Eiders of course. 

We did, thank you.  The Eiders are such a lovely duck, we do get them off our coastline but nowhere near as close as can be seen on this reserve.

[Towlersonsafari]

Well @Zim Girlif it keeps telling you that, and you cannot see it , it must be Serin-dip-ity  (I'm here all week!)

[Zim Girl]

Just a couple to post before we head up to Scotland and the Cairngorms on Friday.

 

UK 88.  Rook

Levens, South Cumbria  -  10/06/23

 

[Zim Girl]

UK 89.  Eurasian Collared Dove

Back garden  -  10/06/23

 

[TonyQ]

Have a great trip to Scotland 

[Galana]

Have a good trip. I will try to leave some weather for you. I leave here (Uist) on Saturday and head to Kilmartin for three nights not on an island for first time in three weeks. Pack Mosiguard for the midges they are waking up.

[Soukous]

18 hours ago, Galana said:

I leave here (Uist) on Saturday and head to Kilmartin for three nights not on an island for first time in three weeks.

 

I presume you mean 'not on a little island' 'cos Scotland is part of an island

[Galana]

7 hours ago, Soukous said:

cos Scotland is part of an island

Scotland IS an island to some folks.

[michael-ibk]

Have a good time in Scotland, Angie! 

[Zim Girl]

In June we spent a week staying in the Cairngorms area of Scotland.  We do particularly like this part of Scotland, great hill walking, lovely forests and some pretty good wildlife and bird watching opportunities. But, you do need to be lucky with the weather!  This time, for once, we were actually lucky with the weather.  The few weeks before we went had been very warm and dry so we had our fingers crossed it would hold.  When we rocked up in Aviemore to buy some groceries for the cottage on the Friday afternoon, it was 29 degrees and you really couldn't believe you were in Scotland and not the Med!

A bit too hot for hiking TBH and it's not very often I say that, but it cooled down a little bit over the coming days and some of the forecasted rain never happened, so all good!

 

We stayed in a lovely stone cottage about 10 mins outside Nethy Bridge, with beautiful views right across to the Cairngorm mountain range.

View of the Cairngorm mountains from the cottage garden.

 

I will just post the birds, and a few mammals, as we saw them.

But this one I will get out of the way first, as it is easy to find and we stopped to get it on the way back home, which was the first day of bad weather hence the dull sky.  

 

UK 90.  Osprey

Loch Insh

 

   

[Zim Girl]

UK 91.  Barn Swallow

Cottage garden, Nethy Bridge

 

 

 

 

[Zim Girl]

UK 92.  Eurasian Stonechat

 

Slopes of Meall a' Bhuachaille, Glenmore Forest Park

 

[Zim Girl]

We saw Golden Plover at the top of several hills that we climbed.

 

UK 93.  European Golden Plover

 

Creagan Gorm summit, nr Glenmore Forest Park

 

Creagan a' Chaise, Cromdale Hills

 

[Zim Girl]

UK 94.  Mistle Thrush

Findhorn Valley

 

We walked around the lower slopes of the Monadhliath mountains at the end of the Strathdearn road of the Findhorn Valley, in the hope of spotting eagles.  We had one moment when we were pretty sure we saw a Golden eagle, but it was very far away and into the light and I just couldn't get a picture to prove it.

There was not much else around in the hills, although we did disturb a family of Red Grouse.  The young ones flew off but the adult was scuttling around the ground in front of us looking like it had a broken wing.  We quickly realised it was all an act to distract us from the others, as once it was happy the ploy had worked, it got up and flew off perfectly fine.

[Zim Girl]

One of our targets was to find and take a picture of a Crested Tit.  We failed the last time we were here.  As we were so close to RSPB Loch Garten, we were dropping in nearly every day on our way back to the cottage.  No luck yet.  One of the other places we tried was the Anagach woods at Grantown.  We spotted them here two years ago but too quick to take a picture.  No luck here either.  We did find a very nice Red Squirrel though.

 

We met a birder in the woods who told us there was a Black-throated Diver currently on Lochindorb.  So we went there next to see if we could spot it.

Lochindorb is a pretty big expanse of water and despite trawling up and down the roadside twice we didn't spot the Diver.  We didn't feel too bad about it as we spoke to other birders later in the week and they all said they had tried and failed.  

We did get a picture of the Common gulls that nest on the moor leading up to the Loch.

 

UK 95.  Common Gull

 

Dava Moor

 

 

 

[Zim Girl]

The wildlife highlight of the week was an evening spent at a local badger watching hide.  The hide is run by a wildlife community group based in Boat of Garten.  We had tried to book this the last time we were here but they were full.  This time we booked early in the year and got a place.  Details are on their website.  Boat of Garten Wildlife Group (cairngormwildlife.co.uk)

The hide is booked 2 or 3 times a week and each booking is private.  They only charge a donation of £10 per person.  Incredibly good value.

We were met in Boat of Garten by a lovely chap called Steve.  He then drove us to the field where the badger sett is situated.  At the bottom of the field is a small enclosed hide or really 'shed with windows'.  It had plenty of room inside for the 3 of us.  The windows do not open but the views to the outside are good.  It was 8.15pm when we got there.  Steve spent a couple of minutes throwing out peanuts and calling for the badgers.  He has been taking people to this hide for many years and has never had a 'no show'.  We settled down to wait.  Steve was very good company and extremely knowledgeable about the Strathspey area, history, culture and wildlife.

It took about 25 mins for the first badger to come down.  This was the first time I had seen a live badger so a bit of a thrill.  Steve said usually the older females will come first, feed, and then go back and then the younger ones might come out.

This was a 5-6 year old female.  I hope not to bore you with too many badger pics.

 

 

Steve said they know we are there, but so long as we are quiet they are perfectly happy.

 

She stayed for around half an hour then left.

At about 9.30pm another female came out.  This one was younger, around 2-3 years old.

 

 

 

Then while she was still there, another young female joined her.

 

 

They did at one point come close, right under the window of the hide.

They both stayed for around 25 minutes and then trotted back up the hill to the sett.

It was now 10pm and time to go.  As we were walking back up the field we looked back to the wooded area where the sett was and could see one of the badgers watching us.

We had a fantastic time and I would definitely recommend booking this if you are in the area.

 

 

 

[Zim Girl]

Back to birds.  On the many trips to Loch Garten we also saw Goldeneye with youngsters.  They breed around the Loch and if you go in the late afternoon when it is much quieter around the Loch edge you can often see them. 

 

UK 96.  Common Goldeneye

 

RSPB Loch Garten

 

[Zim Girl]

Apart from the badgers, our other most wanted mammal was Mountain Hare.  Again, we have only ever caught brief glimpses of them running away.  I am not counting the time, many years ago, when we went on this 'highland safari' trip in Perthshire and were driven into the hills to 'find' this very accommodating and quite obviously 'tame' hare happily posing for the tourists.

 

So, we were very pleased to run into a group of around 5 or 6 hares near the summit of Geal Charn-Mor.  A hill that can be accessed quite easily from the west side of Aviemore. They wouldn't let us get very close but it was still a great sighting, watching them bound around for about 15 minutes before they finally disappeared.

You can see the white fur still on their hind legs, bums and backs of their ears, and one of them still had a good bit of white still running through it's main coat.

 

 

 

 

 

[Zim Girl]

Back to Loch Garten.  We were determined to find these Tits.  We had been told by the staff at the visitor centre on the first visit, that the best places to try were near the boggy bits between Loch Garten and Loch Mallachie.  So we wandered the Loch edges, merlin app in hand, vainly listening out for them.  Then finally, one evening, we heard them.  High, very high, at the top of the Pines we could just see movement.  We settled in and hoped they would come down a bit or at least extricate themselves from the mass of branches.  They didn't and we walked away a bit disappointed with a picture of a dark blob in a mass of dark twigs.

Not to be defeated, we went back to exactly the same place the next afternoon.  They were there!  So for ages, I shuffled around under the trees clicking away at the shapes flitting around.  Eventually I had something that actually resembled a bird.

Now don't get too excited, but I give you our best efforts!!

 

UK 97.  Crested Tit

 

RSPB Loch Garten

 

[Zim Girl]

The big walk day!  Something we had wanted to do last time we were here but didn't really have the best weather for it, was to climb Ben Macdui, the UK's 2nd highest mountain after Ben Nevis.

Target birds for this were Ptarmigan, Dotterel, Snow Bunting and Ring Ouzel near the lower slopes.

Taking the path from the Ski station west towards the Northern Corries, these slopes, once you are high enough, are one of the best places to find Ptarmigan in summer.  Our biggest problem is never really having enough time to stray far enough away from the path to look properly among the rocks where they are more likely to be.  There is a lot of walking to be done!  We scanned a lot while walking but no luck.  Then unbeknown to us at the time we came so close.  We had seen off the path, a couple taking photos, at first it did look like they may have been taking pictures of birds, so we started to walk towards them, then we decided that they were just taking pics of each other, so we turned around.  Bad decision!!

We met up with this couple later on when they spotted us taking pictures and came over to us.  A really lovely Dutch couple who then proceeded to show us their fantastic pictures of Ptarmigan with youngsters!!  We were gutted, if only we had carried on.  For just a very brief moment we considered walking back, but it was a long way by now.  Next time!

 

However, what had attracted the Dutch couple to us was the very confiding Snow Bunting we had found in the large boulder field before the final climb up to the Ben Macdui summit.

So, not the lifer we were hoping for but our closest sighting of Snow Bunting.  In fact, it would have been a lot closer if I could have caught up with Adrian sooner. He had it just by his feet but I was still clambering over the boulders.

 

UK 98.  Snow Bunting

 

 

Slopes of Ben Macdui.

 

[Galana]

Not too excited but pleased you actually got your Cresties after so many failed years. I have yet to see Scottish ones. they are much easier in the Dolomites as the trees are not so darned high. (Or maybe in Scotland is is the multiple photographers with long lenses that scare them higher?)

Nice Badgers sightings in decent light too.

I worried for you as I knew your start date coincided with the end of the wonderful fine spell but luckily the rain was not as bad as forecast.

Good birds too and I like the look of that Cottage. Maybe next year for us.

Your second post above came in.

ell done on the Snow bunting. they really are lovely. Waiting for the rest of the walk.

 

[Zim Girl]

After Ben Macdui, we were headed for Cairn Gorm itself in the hope of finding Dotterel.  We had previously found them among a big group of boulders a way off from the summit cairn.  We searched this and the surrounding area but nothing this time.

We then started the long walk down the east ridge and past the newly refurbished restaurant and funicular railway line.  You can ride up the funicular from the base station but you cannot access the mountain without booking a guided tour.  This is to protect the sub-arctic alpine plateau (according to the mountain website).

We had hoped to look for Ring Ouzel at the bottom but to be honest, it was so hot by the time we got back and we had had a long day we lacked the enthusiasm for more bird hunting.  Also, a local birder told us that the youngsters of the adults that nest around the mountain garden had now fledged and could be anywhere on the lower slopes.  However, he also told us that he had seen a Black-throated Diver on Loch Morlich earlier that day and the best place to park to find it.

 

So with renewed energy we drove back down to the Loch which is situated in Glenmore Forest Park at the bottom of the Cairngorms.  We found the relevant car park and started to search. Loch Morlich is very big!!

A few minutes later, the birder we had spoken to turned up with a couple of clients he was guiding.  So there were 5 of us searching.  I spotted it first, miles away at the other side of the loch.  We watched for a while and then it looked like it was coming a bit closer but far over to the left of the water.  We had to run back to the road and find the next spot we could access the loch edge.  So now we were a little bit closer but still a long way off. We waited and waited but it was only going further away.  Birding eh??  Still it was a bit of fun with the others and I did at least get another lifer.  Expect even less from this one, hugely cropped.

 

UK 99.  Black-throated Diver

Loch Morlich

 

[Zim Girl]

We had a couple of nice wildlife spots from the cottage itself during the week.  A male Roe deer turned up a couple of times, and we saw a lovely Brown hare just outside the window on the last morning.  All pics taken through the windows.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Zim Girl]

The final bird of the trip was another we had put quite a bit of time into during the week.  We had got Slavonian grebe before but when in Scotland ...........

We tried the usual place near Aviemore a couple of times in the week and when we went over to Findhorn we dropped over the moor down to RSPB Loch Ruthven. A tip, if you are looking for the grebes at Ruthven, one of the places they are known to breed, do not go on a hot day at the weekend.  Even though it was late afternoon when we arrived, the place was full of families with dinghies and paddle boards and dogs etc, etc.  The car park was packed.  The bird hide was empty.  The grebes were most definitely hiding.

 

So, we had a last try near Aviemore before going home and finally our luck was in.  An adult grebe with 2 youngsters.

 

UK 100.  Slavonian Grebe

 

 

 

So, so lucky with the weather this week.  It started raining on the day we left and has pretty much rained every day since we have been home.

But, we will definitely be back.

 

 

[Zim Girl]

When we were at Loch Garten on the day we arrived, on the way down to the visitor's centre, we passed a small filming crew.  It was Hamza Yassin.  Some of you may know him, he is a wildlife cameraman and TV presenter.  He presents a children's nature show and did some work on the latest Attenborough show, Wild Isles.  He also won last year's Strictly Come Dancing!

I sneaked a couple of pictures.