Cairngorms, May (1 Viewer)

A friend and I are staying in Braemar for a couple of nights in mid May, with another night yet to be booked somewhere. We're flying to and from Aberdeen, hiring and dropping a car off at the airport.

One of the days will be spent in the Glen Muick/Lochnagar area and on the other days we plan to bomb around as many sites as possible, seeing as many of the things you just don't get in south Essex as possible...

Any suggestions for sites to visit/avoid, or where to book another night? We'd obviously like to bump into as many of the "Scottish specialities" as possible (grouse, caper, osprey, various crossbills, cresties, though I know May is a bad time for them...) along with things like wood warbler, pied fly, etc if they're around.

Thanks in advance.

Glen Muick/ Lochnagar should produce Red Grouse, Black Grouse (Glen Muick is very good for these) and Ptarmigan (on the tops). You might find Dotterel up there too, but could also try the Cairngorm plateau from Deeside e.g. Beinn a'Bhuird. For Wood Warbler, look in Craigendarroch Woods in Ballater - last year there was one near the entrance to the woods. Pied Flycatcher isn't really found in Deeside, and I don't really think they're in Speyside either. Crested Tits aren't in Deeside, so you'll have to go to Speyside for those. Osprey is likely to be around e.g. at Loch Kinord, but you may need luck to connect with them. Crossbills are certainly about, but you'll need to be careful in IDing them to species. The Mar Lodge or Glen Tanar areas have good pine forest, so would be good places to look for Parrot and Scottish.

Ospreys here this morning,

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Thanks Gordon.