As we had already had 2 really good birding outings in just 3 days, Jacqui suggested a trip a bit further afield for Saturday, while we were traveling home on Friday. Her suggestion was a trip up the A9 to see Crested Tits at Loch Garten with a few other local specialities possible, and then dropping into Killiecrankie on the way home for Nuthatch. Naturally, I agreed. We decided on an early morning departure - an 0700 pick-up, meaning we would hopefully arrive at Loch Garten around 0930 or so.
 |
Crested Tit
|
Unsurprisingly, given that a large chunk of our trip was in relative darkness the birds seen en route were few and far between. However, when we arrived at Loch Garten around 0915 we had good views of a
Crested Tit nice and close in front of a couple of photographers before we wandered up to the feeders by the Osprey visitor centre where we watched a particularly bossy Crestie chasing the Coal Tits off while he fed. Apart from the numerous Coal Tits being hand-fed by visitors there was a Great Spotted Woodpecker and a Treecreeper plus a few Great and Blue Tits around. The first mammal of the day was a Red Squirrel nearby.
We headed next to the Cairngorm ski centre car park to look for Snow Buntings. Unfortunately we had just missed them - confirmed by some photographers nearby. We waited around for a while but only saw a couple of Red Grouse and a Raven before we gave up and continued on to Insh Marshes in the hope that there might be a Hen Harrier around. There had been one in the area accoring to the log book but we failed to see it during our visit. The most interesting bird we did see was a distant Hooded Crow - though it was probably more likely to be a Carrion Crow x Hooded Crow hybrid - so I didn't count it for the year-list. Jacqui got her 100th species for the year here - some Whooper Swans. A Roe Deer was also spotted from the viewpoint before we headed south again.
As we drove down the A9 we spotted a couple of Golden Eagles circling overhead, one on each side of the road, as the terrain grew more rugged and the sky grew greyer. Despite only being 4 days into 2020, I'd already seen 5 Golden Eagles - more than I'd seen between 2014 and 2019 (and 2 of those were seen together in 2018, and a 3rd a few months later) and having seen none at all last year. We stopped in at Killiecrankie and after about 5 minutes a
Nuthatch dropped in at the feeders in front of the visitor centre but I wasn't quick enough to get onto the bird Jacqui had spotted though I did see it flying up into a nearby tree. Thankfully it did eventually show really well on a tree next to the feeders to the right of us, and we had really close views of a Treecreeper on the tree a few feet in front of us, as a nice wee bonus.
We decided to check the grounds of Dunkeld Hydro hotel for Fallow Deer (we drew a blank) before paying a visit to Loch of the Lowes. Unfortunately things were rather quiet there though I did see 3 distant geese - which were probably Canadas, but the photos and views through a scope were poor given the distance and view from almost directly behind, as they flew off. Only 35 species seen, including 2 year-ticks (in bold), but another really enjoyable day out birding.
Species seen - Dundee to Loch Garten - Grey Heron, Carrion Crow, Herring Gull, Buzzard, Woodpigeon, Coal Tit, Chaffinch, Dunnock, House Sparrow, Blackbird, Jackdaw.
Loch Garten - Crested Tit, Great Tit, Treecreeper, Blue Tit, Great Spotted Woodpecker.
Mammals seen - Red Squirrel.
Cairngorm - Red Grouse, Raven.
Insh Marshes - Mallard, Teal, Pheasant, Whooper Swan, Wigeon, Robin.
Mammals seen - Roe Deer.
A9 south - Golden Eagle, Greylag Goose, Rook.
Killiecrankie - Nuthatch.
Loch of the Lowes - Goldeneye, Goosander, Mute Swan, Great Crested Grebe, Tufted Duck, Cormorant, Black Headed Gull
 |
| Coal Tit |
 |
| Crested Tit |
 |
| Crested Tit |
 |
| Crested Tit |
 |
| Robin |
 |
| Crested Tit |
 |
| Raven |
 |
| Wigeon |
 |
| Whooper Swan |
 |
| Roe Deer |
 |
| Buzzard |
 |
| Teal |
 |
| Probable Hooded Crow x Carrion Crow hybrid |
 |
| Teal & Mallard |
 |
| Treecreeper |
 |
| Treecreeper |
 |
| Treecreeper |
 |
| Robin |
 |
| Treecreeper |
 |
| Great Spotted Woodpecker |
 |
| Nuthatch |
 |
| Nuthatch |
 |
| Nuthatch |
 |
| Nuthatch |
Species seen -Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Cormorant,
Crested Tit, Dunnock, Golden Eagle, Goldeneye, Goosander, Great Crested Grebe, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great Tit, Grey Heron, Greylag Goose, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Mallard, Mute Swan,
Nuthatch, Pheasant, Raven, Red Grouse, Robin, Rook, Teal, Treecreeper, Tufted Duck, Whooper Swan, Wigeon, Woodpigeon.
Mammals seen - Red Squirrel, Roe Deer.
