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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Marcus Conway - ebirder" data-source="post: 1221758" data-attributes="member: 26747">Day five - the search turns uglyWe decide to try Forest Lodge, again at dawn. We again draw a blank. The only slight respite is that we finally get our first and indeed very decent views of crested tit. However, as we reach nearly 24 hour hours in the field searching for Caper and through severe sleep deprevation there is disagreement about where to turn to next. The forest is starting to drive us both crazy!A return to the cottage, coffee and breakfast all is resolved with a trip to Findhorn to look for some raptors. We're going to forget about Capper for the rest if the day or at least that's what we think. The trip to Findhorn is a cracking drive and we soon add spotted fly and another 5 or so pairs of redstart en route. The weather isn't ideal for raptors and we soon find ourselves chatting with the fellow watchers than scanning ridges. Then some breaking news. The couple next to us have just left the hide at Loch Garten where Capers have been under the Osprey nest. We can't beleive our ears and, yes, we decide to effectively twitch a Caper.We arrive on site to find they have gone. In fact they had not been looked for since the bad weather, but we were unablt to relocate them. Our spirits were high by now, and we started to feel there was a sense of destiny about this mission regardless of the outcome. We were leaving Loch Garten, where I bought the excellent 'Birds of Scotland', when someone noticed the purchase and we got talking. After a lengthy chat we were given details for a Caper nest site (pretty shocking leakage, but we were grateful), so we sped off to the site. another three hours wihtout any signs and delerium set in we were now converting football chants into songs about Capers - that's what thirty hours in the dead woods does!'There's only one Capercaillie''We love you Capers, and if it's quite alright, we love you Capers'etc etcTotal buzzard count after day five - ...Total time in Capper habitat - 24.5 hoursTotal Cappers - 0.91</blockquote>

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