Crivens! We've been back from holiday for more than three weeks and I still haven't finished my round-up of goings-on. The month of May is impatiently drumming its fingers on the table top of life and exasperatedly wondering just when it will have its moment in the spotlight. So let's sum up the last few days of our sojourn to the Cairngorm area and the trip home.
Although there was an abundance of wildlife around our rented cottage, for the final day of our holiday, we decided to go further afield, and drove via Tomintoul and the Lecht Road to the Muir of Dinnet National Nature Reserve. En route, we stopped off for breakfast at an excellent roadside cafe near Corgarff, and we can recommend the black pudding and egg rolls.
The Nature.scot website has this to say about the Muir of Dinnet reserve:
"The sheer variety of habitats and landforms makes this an amazing place for wildlife and people alike."
Which is good enough for us, we needed no further encouragement. The birch woodland was full of birdsong, with Willow Warbler, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Redpoll, Tree Pipit all belting out their repertoires. Walking around the edge of the loch, we encountered Yellowhammer, Grey Wagtail, Common Sandpiper, Osprey and Redstart. There was one moment of startled consternation when a small white bird shot across the path under my nose. At first I thought it must be a Snow Bunting, albeit one that was in the wrong habitat, but we soon realised that it was a leucistic Chaffinch, with a very muted palette of its normal colours on its back and chest.
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| Birch woodland |
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| A very confiding Chaffinch |
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| Grey Wagtail |
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| Loch Kinord |
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| Yellowhammer |
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| A leucistic Chaffinch (not a weird Snow Bunting, as I first thought) |
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| Common Sandpipers on some wood (not Wood Sandpipers on a common) |
After a week of fantastic wildlife encounters, it was finally time to journey home. Following brief stops at the local Nethy Bridge butcher and an outdoors shop in Inverness, we lunched in Dornoch and continued northwards on the A9. Turning off at Helmsdale, we pootled along the narrow road to RSPB Forsinard, then continued on to Costa del Scrabster and a short wait for the ferry to Stromness. We had seen 111 species of bird during the trip, 32 of which were new for the year for me, our freezer was now stocked with Cairngorms Connect venison, the memory of three pairs of Bullfinches in the same tree is a special one, and it had been years since I had seen so many Yellowhammers. Happy sigh. |
| River Fleet |
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| Forsinard Flows |
OK, it snowed, rained and was a bit chilly, but it was a grand Summer holiday.
Incredible birds, sadly I've neglected that part of the Highlands. You've certainly wheted my appetite.
ReplyDeleteI didn't manage to photograph the Crossbills, Crested Tits, Redstarts, a Greenshank, nor any of the eagles. I was quite concerned about going in April, rather than June, but it rewarded the effort!
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