Summer Day Guiding Highlights

This past summer has been a series of surprises, during our Guided Day’s Out. The Summer months always seem a little bit quieter, with most birds quietly recovering from raising young. However, with more birds present, this provides more food availability for raptors.  There have been several fantastic birds of prey sightings, along with some species unique to the Cairngorms. Here is just a few of our highlights from this past summer.

Cairngorm Mountains and moody skies (Ailie Brown)

On a particular day out in early August, we had lovely calm weather heading up into some moorland. We made our way round a back road and drove next to a loch. The heather was a glorious purple hue and we came across a group of Red Grouse. Their little heads peered over the heather, making for some fantastic photos. On round the corner, we stopped and scanned the loch, I had been scanning for divers but hadn't seen them in a couple weeks so wasn't sure if they had moved on. Then a familiar shape appeared, and we were greeted with two adults and two juvenile Black-throated Divers very close to shore. Just wow! A real treat. We watched the adults feed the chicks eels for a few minutes before they moved a bit further away. The photos below were snapped by our guest Ian Sinclair.

Over Spring time, sightings of Crested Tit can be very difficult. They are sitting on eggs, or feeding young, and generally being quiet about where they are. Over the Summer months, the Crested Tit's become more obvious by calling more and traveling in little family groups. So rather than one individual day out, there was a collection of at least 5 days over two weeks, where I ventured into ancient Pine woodlands, where we had wonderful sightings of Crested Tit, and on more than one occasion, it was at least three or four individuals at a time. A commonly asked for species, it's great to have reliable places to find them.

Beautiful Pine Woodland (Ailie Brown)

Finally, the day of Raptors. I often have requests for birds of prey, such as Merlin or Goshawk. Both of these species are very tricky to connect with. Although we may know where they can be seen, sightings of either of these species are distant, fleeting and uncommon. On a day out in late August, I was asked if we could try for Goshawk, Merlin, Hen Harrier, and any other birds of prey. So we started of on a moorland, with great views of Red Kites and Buzzard, then as driving slowly and looking over a woodland on a hillside, a large bird of prey comes into view, Goshawk! It glides past and gives us a good view of it's underside. Wow! After a comfort break, we take a back road into a Glen and we pull over to identify a large bird flying towards us. Osprey, then a Red Kite and a Sparrowhawk fly past the Osprey. Unreal. Finally, in the afternoon, we head over to marshes and after a good thirty minutes, a female Hen Harrier comes into sight, feeding over the fields. Then a second Hen Harrier.......then a Merlin! The Merlin is chasing Meadow Pipits being flushed up by the Hen Harrier. I couldn't believe it! It was the finale to a day of great sightings.

Merlin, always a tricky species to spot (Ailie Brown)

Moving into our Autumn months, our Guided Day's Out are being booked up and we are looking forward to what a new season has to bring.