Scotland Trip Day 1 - Loch Garten

In February of this year I was very fortunate to be offered a room in a cottage in Scotland for a week by well-known local photographers and naturalists, Pauline and Ian Mellor-Greenhalgh. Pauline and Ian visit the Cairngorms area for a month in most years and they have become very familiar with the areas up to a few hours drive from their base near Nethy Bridge.  My friend David Shallcross, Chairman of the Leigh Ornithological Society and also a keen photographer was also going and he agreed to give me a lift up to the cottage - however, as he was going for two weeks, I would need to get the train back.

So today was my first outing in Scotland with Pauline, Ian and David and Loch Garten was the chosen destination for the well-known Crested Tits there.  Crested Tits are only found in Scotland in the UK and this would be the first time I'd seen them close up with the chance of decent photographs.