A day about Speyside

This week 3 of us got up for a 6am departure and headed up the road to see what we could see around and about Speyside.

Our first stop of the day was at Kincraig where you get good views of an Osprey nest from the church graveyard.

Whilst we were there we heard a few smaller things about, bullfinch, willow warblers and newly arrived from its migration Spotted Flycatcher.

Heading back towards the village we stopped at the long pontoon bridge. Whilst checking out a distant Grey Heron we also picked up Lapwing, Barn Swallows and Sand Martins flying about and two distant Canada Geese.

It was then that we noticed a female Goldeneye being followed by first one then six chicks in a small group.

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Next stop we moved up the road to the south side of Aviemore to visit the Craigellachie reserve. This is a mature birch woodland and we were hoping for Wood Warbler and Pied Flycatcher. We dipped on the Wood Warbler but after a few minutes we were sucessful in finding a pair of Pied Flycatchers who were making regular trips to one of the nest boxes which have so supported their recent increase in numbers and breeding success.

This ended up being one of my birds of the day but we were soon surrounded by a small flock of Tree Creeper perhaps as many as 7-8. I have never experienced Tree Creeper in a group like this and it was amazing to see and hear them all about.

Our last bird in this location was a family of at least three Kestrel who appeared to be nesting on the cliffs above the wood.

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We then drove to another location which I wont share due to the Schedule 1 status of this bird. Here we had very distant views from the roadside of breeding plumage Slavonian Grebe. I trust you can tell from the poor quality photo which was at the full 500mm of my lens that we kept a respectful (and more importantly disturbance free) distance.

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Next we drove through Carbridge and turned west to Dalnahaitnach Glen. This is a location where I have seen both species of Eagle before and I was hoping to repeat this experience. We did have brief and close views of an Osprey but had to settle for this and three Redpoll and some displaying Lapwing.

I did get brief views of an Eagle (probably Golden) before it disappeared behind a hill. Communication confusion meant I wasn’t able to communicate its location to my fellow birders.

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Next we headed to another location hoping to get scope views of Black-Throated Diver. On the way we passed a large Common Gull colony.

We dipped on the Diver but did have good and sustained views of a Cuckoo – perched and in flight. The Cuckoo activity has been quite poor in my area so far this year so I was pleased to catchup with them here.

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A last site of the day was the Cairngorm Ski Area where we wanted to see Ring Ouzel and if possible Snow Bunting. With the fantastically warm weather we have been having it was no surprise that the Snow Bunting were too high for the 30 minute walk we had in mind. We were also having no luck with the Ring Ouzel and pronounced those ominous words “we will just give it five more minutes and then head back” and sure enough two Ring Ouzel appeared. Our first views were distant but before long we were able to stand under one of the ski lift buildings and get the closest views I have ever had of this charismatic bird as it collected food for its young.

As we walked back down the 4×4 track we kept seeing the Ouzel fly to an area and from the track we managed to make out the next and even saw the parent feeding the young. We didn’t leave the track so as not to distress the birds.

Heading down the hill we saw a few more Meadow Pipits and Willow Warbler.

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We did miss a few hoped for birds but all in all it was great to spend some time in some lovely habitat and catch up with some highland birds before heading home.