Where Eagles Dared

11th March 2017

Now this was a big trip.  Brian asked if I wanted to go to the upper Findhorn Valley, otherwise known as 'Raptor Alley'.  The goal was to find a Golden Eagle.  Quick check with Jill that there were no other plans and we were good to go.  We started at 7.00am and I got back home at 6.30pm. In addition to Strathdearn we called in at Spey Bridge just outside Grantown on Spey to find a Hawfinch.  This is where I had seen them on the 8th January and where we had both seen them last year. Brian wanted Hawfinch for his year list.  It had been reported that one had been seen three days before.  Finding one Hawfinch along the banks of the Spey was always going to be a difficult task.  There were Chaffinches, Greenfinches, a Song Thrush, Mistle Thrushes, Blue and Great Tits, Long-tailed Tits and Goldcrests but no Hawfinch.  On the water we saw a pair of Grey Wagtails, a Dipper and a pair of Mallards.  The other notable sighting was a Weasel in the road just as we got to Spey Bridge.

Long-tailed Tit

Female Mallard

Dipper

It is another hours drive to the Upper Findhorn Valley.  the last ten miles is on a single track road with passing places. The local council seemed to have skimped on the size of the passing places.
At one point we had to back up to let a car past.  Now Brian knew what he was doing and I knew that Brian knew what he was doing but that still doesn't help the nerves when you are looking out of the passenger window and the edge of the road is mighty close and there is a 30 foot or more drop into the valley below and the 'your are getting too close' beeper is going like mad because to get the two cars past each other wing mirrors had to be folded in.

But we got there all in one piece.  As soon as we got out of the car Brian shouted 'There's a Mountain Hare' pointing up a seemingly barren mountain side.  He was right, there was a mountain Hare.

Mountain Hare taken with a 400mm lens from the car park

We decided to try to get closer.  The Hare sat in its little niche in the hillside until we got quite close.

Mountain Hare Looking Cross

 It did eventually think we might be hostile and it left its spot and run up the hill.

When we got down to the valley floor and looked back we saw that the Hare had returned to the same spot.

This is when the walking started. It is a one and a quarter mile  slog along the track to get into Eagle territory.  The only things of interest we saw were two Ravens and some Feral Goats  This would make mammal number five if you count the road kill badger and squashed rat.

Feral Goats

From the car park we were accompanied by a little black terrier

Our Walking Companion

Just over a bridge we had a choice, carry straight on along the valley bottom, on a previous visit Brian had seen a pair of Golden Eagles that way, or turn right following the river Calder,  others had seen Eagles this way.  We turned right.  This path took us on a 250ft climb which eventually came to a ford that, given the amount of water in the river, we deemed impassable.

The Ford

 We still hadn't seen anything and headed back the way we came.

Brian Scanning the Skyline for Eagles

Did I mention that the scenery was stunning?  It was stunning.

On our return to the valley we were extremely surprised to see a bat in the broad daylight (Mammal No 6).  By this time our doggy escort had deserted us.

As we had yet to find an Eagle we thought that it would be foolish not to explore the path that continued up the valley.  About a mile along here we saw it, a Golden Eagle.  I have to admit that we were a little confused.  The bird came into sight from behind us and soared above the mountain to our right, it then disappeared from sight.  A moment later what we thought was the bird reappeared but this time it was clear that it was only a Buzzard.  We had to examine the photos we took of the first bird to reassure ourselves that we had indeed seen a Golden Eagle.

Golden Eagle

Common Buzzard

All that was left to do was to walk the couple of miles back to he car. Some more Goats and a Dipper and a herd of Red Deer (Mammal No 7) later we got back to the car park.

Dipper

You are Kidding

Red Deer

In all we had been out away for about five hours so you won't be surprised to know that the Mountain Hare was still in its mountain side niche.

Still Hare

Now all Brian had to do was drive home starting with ten miles of single track road. Mammal No 8 was a Brown Hare seen from the single track road  He did it in less than three hours we were back in Fraserburgh at 6.10pm

Total on list 127

Auld Reekie

15th February.  Today was a day for the children and grandchildren.  But as we had planned to meet at 10.00 I had time to do a bit of Edinburgh birding.  My hotel was just across the road from the Botanic Gardens but they did not open until 10.00 so I had to look for birds elsewhere.  Breakfast at 8.00 and off to Duddingston Loch in Holyrood Park.  I had been told how to use my phone as a sat nav system (pity no one told me about that the day before) so finding it was not a problem.  Getting access to see what was on the Loch was a problem though.  At Balgavies the day before there was a path all round the Loch.  Here the only way I could find to get near gave a view of just part of the water and no way of getting round.  I walked round one side and found a locked gate and a sign saying that the Scottish Wildlife Trust reserve of Bawsinch was not open to the public.

I was able to see some of the bird life.  There was an impressive heronry.  The nests were low down some only a few feet off the ground.  There was a lot of nesting activity.

Grey Herons

I took the opportunity to photograph some more common birds

Mute Swan

Mallard

The top bird however as not on the water.  It was way up high soaring over Arthurs Seat being chased by a Jackdaw.  It was a Raven

Raven and Jackdaw

At around 10.00 we all met at the Dalkieth Country Park.  It has a very impressive play area build on a steep river bank that allowed the designers to incorporate slides, tunnels and climbing apparatus into the landscape.  The tree house has four stories!

'Fort Douglas', Dalkieth Country Park

 After lunch they went back to the play area and I went on one of the woodland walks.

 I had hoped to find a Nuthatch.  I have read that they are in the Botanic Gardens, in the city so surely they must be in the ancient oak woodland.  If there were I did not see or hear them.  I did see a Dipper and a Kingfisher

Kingfisher

Dipper

And a rather impressive bridge

Montagu Bridge, Dalkieth Country Park

No new birds but a great day out.

Total on list still 119

Sundays Big Trip

Sunday was going to be a Big Birding Trip.  I started from home in the dark to drive the two and a half hours to Mar Lodge Estate in Upper Deeside.  The weather was just as predicted by the Met Office.  It was still, there were very few clouds and there was snow on the ground.  Little wonder the photographer in me got distracted and had to stop for some scenic photos

Upper Deeside

Upper Deeside

But I arrived quite early.  The mountain climbers who had stopped overnight in their camper vans were only just getting their first cup of tea before tackling the snow capped peaks of the Cairngorms.  As a result I was first up the path the Glen Lui.  Only a little way along I got my first bird of the day and a tick for the year list.  A Black Grouse

Black Grouse - Glen Lui

My second bird, again another tick was heard first and then seen - at a distance- so no photo.  It was a Raven.

From then on for the next three hours not one single bird.  Lots of views, lots of hill walker to pass the time of day with.

These four were off the bag two Monroes (peaks over 3000 feet).  I had a chat with them about their walk and about the work that the National Trust for Scotland were doing to restore the natural Caledonian woodland habitat which will help the Black Grouse, Capercaillie (my first thought when I saw the Grouse was that it was a Capercaillie, mainly because if its size as it flew from the forest floor into the Scots Pine), and other iconic Scottish fauna and flora.

...but not one solitary single bird of any sort until I was nearly back at the car park when I heard and then saw a Coal Tit.

I left Mar Lodge Estate with three birds seen and two year ticks to go on to Glenshee.

Glenshee is home to a ski resort on the A93 between Braemar and Blairgowrie.  It is famed, not just for the skiing but for the Snowbuntings that frequent the car park, the Ptarmigan on the ski slopes and Mountain Hare.  I saw none of these unless you count the Hare road kill on the way back to Braemar.  I did see a covey, or is it a pack of Red Grouse.  Another tick for the year list.  Of course there were the views.

Perhaps one reason for the lack of wildlife was the large number of families enjoying the snow both on the slopes and in the car park.  I made a mental note to go back during the week and in school term time.

So there was nothing to it than to drive home.  Four birds and three to list (not counting the Carrion Crows, Rooks and Jackdaws I saw in the villages.

I drove back via the Glen Tanar Estate on the South side of the river Dee.It prides itself on its wildlife, open access and conservation work.  When I have been here in the past I have seen Green Woodpeckers, Jays and other birds that would add to the goal of 200 birds in 2017.  But like Mar Lodge and Glenshee the bird life was conspicuous by its absence.

And the views were not up to the standards of earlier in the day.










Total on list 108