Scotland Trip - Day 9

Kincraig, Loch Insh, Osprey, 60th birthday party.

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Scotland Trip - Day 8

Loch Shin, Falls of Shin, Loch Ness.

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Scotland Trip - Day 7

Strathpeffer for Slavonian Grebes, Tollie Red Kites and Dolphins at Chanonry Point.

 

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Scotland Trip - Day 6

Aviemore Ospreys and Kincraig.

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Scotland Trip - Day 5

Lochindorb and Findhorn Bay.

 

 

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Scotland Trip - Day 4

Loch Ruthven and the Findhorn Valley Loch - Slavonican Grebe, Spotted Flycatcher - Avielochan.

 

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Scotland Trip - Day 3

Chanonry Point - Bottlenose Dolphin, Arctic Skua, Arctic Tern, Swallow.

 

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Scotland Trip - Day 2

After a fairly early night in the Travelodge at Dunfermline, I arose at around 6am in the morning.  The weather had changed completely from last night's beautiful evening sun.

I like Travelodges because you know what you are going to get - every room is pretty much the same and all the basics are covered to a good standard.

They even give you 30 minutes of free Wi-Fi now, which is enough to read email, post on Facebook and do a bit of surfing.

I had a cup of tea and a look at the map and then, after a quick shower, I was off  on my travels. The route from Dunfermline to Inverness is very straightforward, M90 then A9 - that's all! My first stop was at the Loch of Lowes near Dunkeld where there are Ospreys nesting.  It is only a short hop off the A9 and then back again so I thought it was worth a look.

When I got to the town of Dunkeld I was told by a dog walker that the centre didn't open until 10am and so I was far too early. There was also a £4 admission charge and because I was only going to have a quick look, I decided to drive around the outskirts of the loch rather than go inside. Although the loch is close to the road at times it's surrounded by trees which makes viewing difficult. So after a short while I decided to cut my losses and head for the day's main event - the Ospreys at Kincraig, a small hamlet at the north-western end of Loch Insh, where I agreed to meet up with MarkBee3.

The A9 is a great road through stunning scenery skirting the southern and western edge of the Cairngorms National Park, and every so often I just wanted to stop and take in the views. There were lots of places where birds might be found, especially along the river which winds its way through the glacial valley. However, I didn't stop and just continued on my journey in search of Ospreys.

When I arrived at the cemetery car park for Inch Parish Church, I could see MarkBee3's car was already there. I gave him a quick ring to tell him I'd arrived whilst looking for the Osprey perched on one of the bare tree tops.  And there it was! I gathered my gear together in excitement and hurried off to meet Mark - this was going to be the closest I'd ever been to an Osprey.

After greeting each other and setting up our photographic equipment we watched the Osprey and chatted for a couple of hours, discussing the journey up and what a good view this was as well as moaning about the bad light. Mark had been up here the night before as he'd stayed in Kingussie which is just a few miles down the road and he'd already got some pretty good photos when the evening light was much better.

When I arrived the female Osprey was perched watching the nest and the male bird had flown off. I could just make out one chick occasionally raising its head and practicing flapping its wings above the edge of the nest. Mark thought there were two chicks, but I only ever saw one.

Soon we had the first view of the male bird returning to the nest with a headless fish.  It seems the male often removes the fish's head before offering it to the female to feed the chicks and there is a lot of discussion about why he does this: some say it is the most nutritious part which he takes to feed himself as catching fish takes up a lot of energy. Others say that, like the tail, it is the least nutritious part so he is saving the best parts for the female and chick.  A third view is that he does it to make sure the fish is dead before feeding it to the chick - take your pick!

Well the light wasn't great but I did get my best ever views of an Osprey and I doubt whether you can get legally any closer to a wild Osprey nest than this. All these photos were taken from a public area.

So that was my first look at the Ospreys here. The sky was rather grey and the light poor, but I knew I'd be back at least two more times so I wasn't unduly bothered at this point. Who could be when you've come so close to such a magnificent wild bird?

In the afternoon we called in at Aviemore to meet up with guys running the Aviemore Ospreys hide where we would be spending a very early Wednesday morning hoping to get some good shots of them fishing in a small lochan or pool. We didn't meet Gordon, the owner, but we did meet his brother Dave who showed us around the site and took us into the dugout hide we'd be using whilst giving us tips about what we should do to get the best photos.

After filling up with fuel in Aviemore at an eye-watering £1.16 per litre, we set off up the A9 for the cottage south-west of Aviemore, arriving there in the late afternoon.

Scotland Trip - Day 1

Well the day finally arrived for me to set off for Scotland on a week-long nature adventure with Mark Battersby (MarkBee3) and Mark Bowen (MozBoz1), a couple of birding friends I first met on Flickr. Mark (yes, I know it's confusing so I'll call him MarkBee3 from now on) had booked a cottage in a remote area about six miles from Inverness back in January, and he offered me a room in it. Ever since then I had been anxiously getting my equipment sorted for a week of photography - midges were a real concern and I bought a full body midge cover, a head net, some surgical gloves and two bottles of the well-known midge repellent from Avon, Skin-so-Soft.  I even bought a new camera rucksack and two new camera bodies to make sure I didn't miss any shots.

Taking two days to travel the 360 or so miles up to Inverness would allow me to stop at a couple of places on the way. So my first stop was at a Travelodge in Dunfermline, where I'd last stayed with my family on New Year's Eve in 2008 when we went to Edinburgh for Hogmanay. Doing this allowed me to spend a few hours at the Eskrigg Nature Reserve near Lockerbie before I got to the hotel.This reserve is a place I've been meaning to visit for ages, but one which I didn't fancy doing in a day trip from Manchester.

Eskrigg is a small nature reserve famous for being able to get close to Red Squirrels and it's run by Jim Rae who maintains a small but excellent visitor centre overlooking a lake.  There are quite a few other species around in the pine woodland and on the lake, but I had only one target in mind, the squirrels.

After a short walk from the new car park I got to the squirrel hide and was met by a Great Spotted Woodpecker on one of the feeders.  I had the small hide to myself and so could set up my gear where I wanted and soon a squirrel appeared on a feeder.  I must say that I did expect more squirrels to be about, but I expect that at this time of year there will be a lot of natural food available in the woods.

I spent a good hour or so in the hide, but wasn't really happy with any of the shots I got - the light was  up and down and the squirrels were a bit scarce. I did manage this one of a baby Red Squirrel though.

I decided to have a look around the visitor centre and lake but there wasn't too much about today, save for a Mute Swan family, a Grey Heron, some Mallards and the common Woodland birds.  There was a Red Squirrel on a feeder, but I didn't want that type of shot.  I had a nice chat with a lady outside the centre and she told me a little about Jim and all the work he had done here. She also mentioned a couple of other places including a Sand Martin bank which I may have a look at next time I come.

I then went back to the small squirrel hide and found it to be full with a family party inside - so I sat down outside and waited to see some squirrels.  It wasn't long before one appeared, but I kept thinking I should put some peanuts on the stumps a little closer to us.  Then, a lady came out of the hide, walked up to one of the feeders, took a handful of nuts and started to sprinkle a few in the very places I was considering!  I told her I was going to do the same when everyone had left and she said she was a regular here and does this all the time.

It wasn't long before three squirrels appeared and I managed to get some of the shots I wanted.  I'm not particularly keen on having peanuts in the photos, so next time I photograph Red Squirrels I'll be sure to have some hazelnuts and conkers for them to eat, as these look a lot more natural and appealing.

Mission 1 accomplished, I set off on the scenic route to Edinburgh to cross the Firth of Forth via the Forth Road Bridge and then to find a fish and chip shop for tea in Dunfermline. I ate my fish supper (which, I didn't realise when I ordered it, meant having two fish) on a hill overlooking the three bridges over the Firth: the iconic Forth Rail Bridge, the beleaguered Forth Road Bridge and the partially completed New Forth Road Bridge. And then back to the Travelodge for an early start in the morning.