The Cairngorms Wildlife Expedition with Iolo Williams - written by guest contributor Jan Lock

Day 1 - March 15th

On day one, the group met up at 2 o'clock down at the Grant Arms hotel’s reception, where

we got to know each other and set up a plan for the week. Shortly afterwards, we set off for

the area around Nethy Bridge in the hopes of spotting Dipper, Crested Tit and Red Squirrel.

Upon arrival, we took a path along the river where we spotted a female Goosander and a

pair of Dipper’s that were feeding relatively close to the bank.

After a stroll along the river, we walked into some nearby Caledonian pine forest, where we

saw Coal tits, Red Squirrels, and at least two Crested Tits, which were showing well on

some feeders in the forest, allowing the chance for good views of these birds, a specialty of

Caledonian pine forest.

Other species of interest included a flock of Bullfinches and a Sparrowhawk.

To finish off the day, we had a nice meal at the hotel whilst discussing plans for the following

day.

Day 2 - March 16th

Day two started with a large buffet breakfast before setting off towards the coast.

On the way there, we stopped off at some moorland where we saw one Red Grouse as well as a couple of Meadow pipits.

Upon arrival, we quickly located a male Eider close up in the harbour as well as

a male Long-tailed Duck. However, after some good looks at these birds, a quick scan of the

main sea produced much larger numbers of these species as well as Red-throated Diver,

Common Guillemot, Razorbill, and a distant Great Northern Diver.

After a productive scan of the sea, we turned our attention to the nice mix of waders near the

shore, which included at least five Purple Sandpipers, a flock of Bar-tailed Godwit, a couple

of Knot, and a good amount of Redshank and Turnstones.

On the way to Loch Spynie, we took a detour further along the coast, where we all stopped

for a well-earned tea and coffee stop at Lossiemouth, before having a successful scan of the

estuary producing Sanderling, Dunlin, Common Ringed Plover, Wigeon, Teal, and Greater

and Lesser black-backed gulls.

After our quick stop off at the estuary, we drove down to Loch Spynie, where we had our

packed lunch by the bird feeders, which proved to be successful as we added

Yellowhammers, Tree sparrows, Reed bunting, and another sparrowhawk hunting close in

the area. Aside from birds, we had a solitary Red Squirrel that took a real interest in the

Peanut feeder. Once we finished lunch, we walked down to the main hide where we stayed for a while and saw a flock of Pink-footed Geese, Goldeneye, Mute swans, and a very surprising Marsh

Harrier flying alongside a Buzzard.

To conclude our day, we all had dinner and attended an insightful talk by Jack on the

Seabirds of the Hebrides at the hotel.

Day 3 - March 17th

The day started off with a journey down to a Glen and some upland forest in the hopes of

spotting some emblematic raptor species such as Goshawk, Golden eagle, and White-tailed

eagle.

Our first stop was an area overlooking some forest and grazed fields, and despite our efforts

of scanning for any eagles, there was no sign of any. However, we were able to pick out a

Red Kite and a couple of Sparrowhawks flying over a copse of forest. Additionally, on the

nearby fields, there were flocks of Lapwing, Golden plover (of which some were coming into

summer plumage), as well as a good amount of Curlew present.

After this stop, we drove to a nearby glen where we had a short walk up from where we

parked. As we walked up Iolo and Jack quickly located a Mountain hare, which we steadily

walked up to, and ended up having good views of.

Once back at the van, we drove up the glen before stopping at another lookout, where we

spotted a pair of Peregrines as well as a couple of Ravens and a Kestrel.

After this stop, we headed to the final raptor destination of the day. However, the weather

continued to be a problem, so viewing was difficult. However, in spite of this, we saw several

Golden plovers and Lapwings on some surrounding fields, as well as a lone fieldfare among

a flock of Mistle thrushes.

After our successes in and around the area, we drove back to the hotel, where we had

dinner before heading out for another trip highlight, the Pine Marten and Badger hide. Before

setting off, we had high tea and departed shortly after six, and on the drive to the hide, we spotted Roe and Red Deer from the van. In total, we spent around 2 hours at the hide, and

we were able to see the whole set of Badgers as well as a brief Wood mouse appearance.

However, we had no sign of the elusive Pine Marten.

Day 4- March 18th

Day four began with an early morning start in the hopes of catching up with a Black grouse

lek. We set off at seven and went to the site where we saw a good number of these brilliant

birds displaying.

After a successful early morning outing, we arrived in time for breakfast before setting off for

another day in search of raptors. Our first stop was an area overlooking a pine forest, which

turned out to be one of the most successful stops of the trip. This is due to us spotting at

least three Goshawks, two Red Kites and a very distant White-tailed eagle.

When we were done scanning, we moved on towards Mount Cairn Gorm. On the way up, we

spotted two White-tailed eagles circling over, as well as a distant Golden eagle, both from a

viewpoint. After our brief stop, we continued up towards the ski station, where we had lunch

and saw another distant Golden eagle.

Once our stop at the ski station concluded, we traveled down to Loch Garten for our final

stop of the day, where we got exclusive access to the visitor centre before its official

re-opening date, allowing us to view footage of nest cams such as the White-tailed eagle

one. Additionally, we also walked through some of the reserve where we saw Goldeneyes

and more Coal Tits.

Day 5- March 19th

On the final day of the trip, we set off for Lochindorb to try and tick off some final species at

the loch. We saw several Goldeneye, Lapwing and good numbers of Common gull.

After our trip to the loch, we collected lunch at the hotel before driving down to Insh Marshes

for the final destination of our trip. On our way there, we saw several flocks of Pink-footed

geese, and we successfully located a lone Barnacle goose among one of these flocks. Upon arrival at the reserve, we went up to the lookout where we saw good numbers of

Whooper swans, Curlews and at least one Snipe calling on the marshes. Additionally, we

also had good views of Golden eagles and another distant White-tailed eagle.

After a successful time at Insh, we said our goodbyes after a very successful trip, having

seen over 95 species of birds and many more animals of interest.