Holiday to Scotland (Part 2)

We left Coll after four days and took the ferry crossing back to Oban and then drove to the Cairngorms basing ourselves in Dulnain Bridge for a week in a delightful self catering 'Shepherds Cottage'.The kitchen was a good place to watch the great variety of wildlife in the garden on wet days, which was the majority of the time!

The birds didn't look their best in the rain!

One wet Robin

but we had good close up views of Pheasant

...and Red Legged Partridge

...and Siskin

...and Coal Tit

...and Oystercatcher

...plus a few hares

...and a regular Black Rabbit!

In between the rain we did visit some good birding spots but failed in our quest to even see Crested Tits despite visiting Locks Garten, Mallachie and  Morlich and the recognised hotspots. The river Dulnain hosted common Sandpipers, Dippers, Grey and Pied Wagtails and a  family of Goosanders.             .

Female Goosander and youngsters

Goosander...full frontal

Common Sandpiper

Dipper

Grey Wagtail (f)

Grey Wagtail (m)

Pied wagtail

A visit to Loch Indorb  was uneventful but between the showers we did locate a Red Grouse

...another Red Grouse...both photos taken from the comfort of the car!

 Another dull and cold afternoon saw me trekking up the Cairngorm but handholding the 700mm lens on rough terrain and in windy conditions  made  photography difficult!

 Just a few cropped shots of the Ptarmigan....nice birds to see!

Ptarmigan...difficult to locate at a distance...they merged so well within their habitat

A sightseeing trip to Loch Alvi  produced a whole gaggle of geese and goslings....

Greylag geese families.

...and a superb Osprey

Whilst in the area we decided to visit Loch Ruthven to see if we could improve on our photos of Slavonian Grebes which we had captured on previous visits in the past but it wasn't to be and we just managed a few record shots. Prior to this we made our way up the Findhorn Valley to see the Golden Eagles....after a 2 hour search in  squally showers and a biting easterly  with only a Buzzard sighted and a Ring Ouzel heard  we gave up and headed for Ruthven.
Distant views, but always nice to see in Summer Plumage rather than the winter plumage we are used  to here on the South Coast.....

Slavonian Grebe 

Next stop....Islay!

Lets hope the weather improves!