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March 2024 Evening Mammal Hide Update
Badger Sightings The Badgers continue to come in and feed at our hide near Aviemore, now that the winter has passed it is warmer and that...

Harris Brooker
Mar 26, 20243 min read
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Scottish Wildcat in the Cairngorms National Park
One of our rarest and most elusive mammals, the Scottish Wildcat, epitomises the Scottish Highlands. Sometimes referred to as the Highland Tiger, they are about the same size as a domestic cat but bulkier. They have greyish fur with black stripes and a thick club-like tail, with three to five black bands on it, with no line running down. The Wildcat is said to look more ‘serious’, which emphasises its wild nature, far from the comparative gentleness of domestic cats. Contrary

Harris Brooker
Mar 11, 20243 min read
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Hide Update February 2024
Badgers A trickle of normality is returning following the end of winter at our hide near Aviemore in the Cairngorms. The Badgers have...

Harris Brooker
Feb 26, 20243 min read
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January 2024 Evening Mammal Hide Update
Our local Badgers Winter is a quieter time at the hide for Badgers. Stormy and cold weather can sometimes keep them at bay and when they...

Harris Brooker
Feb 2, 20243 min read
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Tit Species in Speyside
In this blog post we’ll talk about the five species of tit that occur in Speyside. All of them can occur on bird feeders here, but one of...

Harris Brooker
Jan 15, 20244 min read
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The Chronicle's Of My Garden Birdfeeders
I'm lucky to live in the Cairngorms National Park and I have positioned my bird feeders in my garden so I can sit and watch them from my...

Ailie Brown
Dec 21, 20233 min read
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Crossbills
There are currently three species of crossbill recognised in Speyside: the Common Crossbill, the Scottish Crossbill and the Parrot Crossbill, with around six species recognised in the world. Members of the finch family, they have bills which their mandibles crossover. This is an adaptation for extracting the seeds from pinecones. Their genus name is Loxia, the Ancient Greek, meaning ‘Crosswise’. The crossbills use their bills to prize apart the cones segments and they have ba

Harris Brooker
Dec 18, 20234 min read
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Monthly Hide Update
Here is our monthly update from our hide near Aviemore in the Cairngorms. Our Local Badger Clan - There are at least eight Badgers in our...

Harris Brooker
Nov 6, 20231 min read
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Wonderful Wildlife and Walking
It’s a great past time of mine, walking and looking for wildlife at the same time. In the past couple years, gaining more experience as a...

Ailie Brown
Oct 27, 20233 min read
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Owls in Speyside, Scotland
In this blog post we’ll talk about the four most regular owl species found in Speyside and in most of Britain. Because most of these are nocturnal, owls are something of an enigma. So let’s broaden our understand of these charismatic, elusive birds. Tawny Owl ( Strix Aluco ) Tawny Owl (Photo Credit: Speyside Wildlife) This is the owl that makes the classic ‘twit-ti-woo’ noise. What you might not know is that only Tawny Owls make this sound and even then, only the males. The f

Harris Brooker
Oct 23, 20234 min read
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Monthly Hide Update
Here is our monthly update from our Evening Mammal Hide in the Cairngorms, near Aviemore. Badgers - They’ve been coming in every day...

Harris Brooker
Oct 9, 20231 min read
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Monthly Hide Report
Here is our monthly update from our Evening Mammal Hide in the Cairngorms, near Aviemore. Badgers - The Badgers have continued to amuse...

Harris Brooker
Sep 11, 20231 min read
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Raptor Blog
Common Buzzard (Buteo Buteo) - One of our commonest raptors and often mistaken for the Golden Eagle, it has been dubbed the ‘Tourist’s...

Harris Brooker
Aug 28, 20235 min read
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Evening Wildlife Watching Hide Update
Our Local Badger Clan - There are at least nine Badgers in our group, one of which is a cub from this year which took almost a month to...

Harris Brooker
Aug 14, 20231 min read
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Botany in Speyside (Part 2)
Hello everyone, it’s Harris here and we are back with part two of ‘Botany in Speyside’. Last time we looked at some of the rarest plants...

Harris Brooker
Jul 31, 20234 min read
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Midsummer is Here
At our Evening Mammal Hide near Aviemore, the Badgers are still coming regularly to feed and delight our visitors at every turn. There’s...

Harris Brooker
Jul 17, 20232 min read
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June Is Here
The action has kept going at our Evening Wildlife Watching Hide and the Badgers have been coming every night. No sign of the cubs yet but...

Harris Brooker
Jun 19, 20231 min read
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Summer Visitors to the Cairngorms National Park
In this post I’ll be sharing with you our star attractions that appear seasonally in Speyside and the surrounding areas. Some you might...

Harris Brooker
Jun 5, 20234 min read
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Spring is Here
At our Evening Wildlife Watching Hide, the Badgers have continued to entertain visitors. They feed peacefully most of the time but now...

Harris Brooker
Apr 24, 20231 min read
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Pine Martens in the Scottish Highlands
One of our most elusive mammals in Britain, the Pine Marten captures human imagination. It is a member of the weasel family Mustelidae,...

Harris Brooker
Apr 10, 20234 min read
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