Scotland Day Three

It was another early start this morning, as we arrived at Loch Garten's Osprey hide at half-past five for the Capercaillie watch. Virtually straight away, the RSPB volunteer located a male Capercaillie on the camera. Soon, a second male appeared and chased the first bird off. Despite the entire hide searching desperately for either bird, it seemed that it was impossible to see them from where we were standing. For the next two hours, there were no more sightings, though it was a great pleasure to watch the reserve's famous Osprey pair coming to their nest distantly in front of the hide. I also saw my first Tree Pipit of the year.

Having once been virtually guaranteed at Loch Garten, the Capercaillie has now become a really quite irregular sight here nowadays. The species has declined markedly across Scotland in recent years, with a number of causes, including further habitat fragmentation, disturbance of birds lekking and collision with Deer fences. It is believed that there are fewer than 700 males remaining here now, and a second extinction in Britain (the previous one was in 1770, after which it was reintroduced) seems a very distinct possibility.

After the watch had ended, I searched the car park for the supposedly easy-to-find Crested Tits. Despite finding many Blue, Great and Coal Tits, along with Treecreepers, Goldcrests and a huge number of Chaffinches, there was no sign of any. We decided to try the area around the other car park. Again, the other three Tits and Chaffinches were abundant, while two Goldeneye were seen on Loch Garten itself. But no Crested Tits! We did find another Crossbill near the car park, and this one was certainly not a Common Crossbill. It had a very chunky bill and neck, much more so than any Common Crossbills I have seen. I have ticked the bird off as Scottish, though this is slightly playing on my conscience as I am not entirely sure as to whether this species actually exists! Either way, it was one of Parrot or Scottish Crossbill and was consequently a new bird for me. It is staying as Scottish on my list for now, but this may have to change should the classification of this bird change!

Loch Garten

Our next stop was Cairn Gorm. We travelled to the peak of the mountain by the train, filled with skiers and snowboarders about to descend on what can only be described as one of the most miserable-looking ski-runs imaginable, with lots of mud and rocks exposed through the shallow snow. Scanning from the Ptarmigan Restaurant at the peak, we quickly found a decent number of Snow Buntings present, with some coming very close to us.

Snow Buntings, Cairn Gorm

Another birder then found two distant Ptarmigan and I enjoyed some decent views of the birds, a fantastic new species for me. After watching the birds for some time, we decided to head back down, only to find that there had been a technical error and the trains had stopped running. We decided to walk down, and this decision was rewarded when we found two Ptarmigans very close to us, showing brilliantly-well.

Ptarmigans, Cairn Gorm. These awesome birds are certainly amongst my favourite that I have seen in Britain- such a cool species, with an amazing ability to thrive in the coldest and windiest place in Britain.

Not long after seeing these birds, the wind started to pick up. It soon became virtually impossible to stand up. We decided it would be wise to get back to the car as quickly as possible as it seemed that the mist was also beginning to descend. As we headed down, a Ring Ouzel shot past us.

Cairn Gorm

This is Britain's only herd of 'wild' Reindeer. They were introduced in the 1950s, and there are now about 150 of them here.

After safely reaching the car, we headed to Loch an Eilein for another attempt at finding Crested Tits. In the fantastic woodlands surrounding the loch and the ruined castle on its island, we found an abundance of woodland birds, mostly Chaffinches and Coal Tits, along with numerous Blue, Great and Long-tailed Tits, Siskins, Goldcrests and Treecreepers along with two Bullfinches and my first Redpoll for over three years. I have no idea about how it's been so long since I saw one! Eventually, a Crested Tit appeared and we were treated to fantastic views of it feeding just above head-height. It seemed that there were at least three present of this new species for me in Britain (I have previously seen them on Mt Ventoux in southern France).

Crested Tit, Loch an Eilein

Loch an Eilein. The weather was a bit miserable!