Alan Hobson
Well-known member
I have just returned from an enjoyable time in the Cairngorms, with excellent birding and mountain views!
I go every year, but as I wasn’t a BF member this time last year, I thought I’d post a thread on it this time.
The week got off to a rather good start, with a walk round Loch an Eilein in the Rothiemurcus Forest. Saw Crested Tits, including good views of one, plus Tree Pipits, Spotted Flycatchers [in short supply south of the border this year, according to a recent thread], Buzzard and Redstart.
Day 2 saw a climb up Carn Ban Mor, and located a Dotterel near the top. Not that this was very difficult, as it was right by the path! It was very tame, and allowed me to approach to within five feet. It was a welcome return to my year list, as last year was the first since I started going up to the Cairngorms that I hadn’t seen a Dotterel.
We then decamped to Loch Garten, and very good views of the female Osprey. Plus the obligatory Red Squirrel there! In fact, saw more Red Squirrels this week (five) than at any other time in my life!
As I had taken my family, for only the second family holiday we had had together since I was a teenager 20 years ago, we didn’t go birding every day. My mum is a birder, but my dad and sister are not! So Day 3 was a non-birding day, although even here did see Grey Wagtails at a remote and hidden lochan in Glenmore Forest.
And, even on non-birding days, did see good birds around our Scandanvian-style wooden chalet in the forest, including Spotted Flycatcher, Bullfinch, Siskin and Great Spotted Woodpecker, as well as a delightful Roe Deer fawn.
Day 4 saw a climb up to the top of a mountain near Cairn Gorm and saw Snow Buntings, which happily have been there every year I've been. They look terrific in full summer plumage, and, enjoyable as seeing them on the Norfolk coast in February/March is, this is definitely the most rewarding way (and place) to see them! Also saw another Dotterel up there, but no Ptarmigan that day.
Another welcome "ever-present-er" [for my summer trips each year] was the Red-throated Diver I saw on a loch near Cairn Gorm. They are another bird which look great in summer plumage.
Day 5 was a non-birder, though still saw Buzzard and Oystercatchers. In the evening, however, a rewarding birding trip to a loch some miles north of the Cairngorms proper, to see the lovely Black-throated Divers. I went the previous night and saw nothing, but tonight saw them in their exquisitely patterned plumage. They are still in my Top Ten birds for favourites, although the views this year, alas, were not as good as the magical close-ups last year.
On the last full day, day 6, climbed up Cairn Lochan, next to Cairn Gorm, and saw very good views of a Ptarmigan. This kept up its ever-present record as well.
So, seven firsts for the year for me (Black and Red-throated Divers, Dotterel, Ptarmigan, Osprey, Tree Pipit and Crested Tit), which took me past the 200 mark for my year list [it used to take me all year to get to 200, and this year I did it before the end of the first half!], several lifers for my mum (who has never been to northern Scotland before) and a very enjoyable time.
But a question for any BF'ers who know about mountains: why is it that Cairn Lochan, although one of the highest mountains in Britain, is not credited as such, or as a Munro, just because it is fairly close to Cairn Gorm? After all, in England, Scafell and Scafell Pike are counted as two separate mountains, although they are equally close......
I go every year, but as I wasn’t a BF member this time last year, I thought I’d post a thread on it this time.
The week got off to a rather good start, with a walk round Loch an Eilein in the Rothiemurcus Forest. Saw Crested Tits, including good views of one, plus Tree Pipits, Spotted Flycatchers [in short supply south of the border this year, according to a recent thread], Buzzard and Redstart.
Day 2 saw a climb up Carn Ban Mor, and located a Dotterel near the top. Not that this was very difficult, as it was right by the path! It was very tame, and allowed me to approach to within five feet. It was a welcome return to my year list, as last year was the first since I started going up to the Cairngorms that I hadn’t seen a Dotterel.
We then decamped to Loch Garten, and very good views of the female Osprey. Plus the obligatory Red Squirrel there! In fact, saw more Red Squirrels this week (five) than at any other time in my life!
As I had taken my family, for only the second family holiday we had had together since I was a teenager 20 years ago, we didn’t go birding every day. My mum is a birder, but my dad and sister are not! So Day 3 was a non-birding day, although even here did see Grey Wagtails at a remote and hidden lochan in Glenmore Forest.
And, even on non-birding days, did see good birds around our Scandanvian-style wooden chalet in the forest, including Spotted Flycatcher, Bullfinch, Siskin and Great Spotted Woodpecker, as well as a delightful Roe Deer fawn.
Day 4 saw a climb up to the top of a mountain near Cairn Gorm and saw Snow Buntings, which happily have been there every year I've been. They look terrific in full summer plumage, and, enjoyable as seeing them on the Norfolk coast in February/March is, this is definitely the most rewarding way (and place) to see them! Also saw another Dotterel up there, but no Ptarmigan that day.
Another welcome "ever-present-er" [for my summer trips each year] was the Red-throated Diver I saw on a loch near Cairn Gorm. They are another bird which look great in summer plumage.
Day 5 was a non-birder, though still saw Buzzard and Oystercatchers. In the evening, however, a rewarding birding trip to a loch some miles north of the Cairngorms proper, to see the lovely Black-throated Divers. I went the previous night and saw nothing, but tonight saw them in their exquisitely patterned plumage. They are still in my Top Ten birds for favourites, although the views this year, alas, were not as good as the magical close-ups last year.
On the last full day, day 6, climbed up Cairn Lochan, next to Cairn Gorm, and saw very good views of a Ptarmigan. This kept up its ever-present record as well.
So, seven firsts for the year for me (Black and Red-throated Divers, Dotterel, Ptarmigan, Osprey, Tree Pipit and Crested Tit), which took me past the 200 mark for my year list [it used to take me all year to get to 200, and this year I did it before the end of the first half!], several lifers for my mum (who has never been to northern Scotland before) and a very enjoyable time.
But a question for any BF'ers who know about mountains: why is it that Cairn Lochan, although one of the highest mountains in Britain, is not credited as such, or as a Munro, just because it is fairly close to Cairn Gorm? After all, in England, Scafell and Scafell Pike are counted as two separate mountains, although they are equally close......