Highland Birding Sites (1 Viewer)

[bongofury]

Early in May I shall be in staying near Aviemore for 4 nights and hope to see as many of the local species as possible. Sites I have come up with so far include:

RSPB Loch Ruthven - Slavonian Grebe
RSPB Loch Garten - Crested Tit, Crossbill, Osprey
Findhorn Valley - Golden Eagle, other raptors
Insh Marshes - ?
Craigellachie - Peregrines
Ptarmigan Restaurant - Snow Bunting, Ptarmigan

If anyone has any other suggestions, or any hints / tips for these sites, I would be grateful if you could pass them on.

Thanks a lot.

 

[Northern123]

The best advice would be to buy "The Best Birdwatching Sites in the Scottish Highlands" by Gordon Hamlett. It's usually available on Amazon. If not, if you find the publisher's website you should be able to order it online there as well. I went to this area for a week last May and found the book invaluable.

You could also try looking through the Vacational Trip Reports and the Scotland section of the Country by County Patches part of Bird Forum. This is where I found additional information. My trip report is here:

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=173160

The RSPB run something called CaperWatch every year from early April to mid-May at Loch Garten, where the wardens (hopefully) will be able to show you Capercaillie from the Osprey hide. Check the RSPB website or give them a ring to see if they are planning on doing it this year. It's an early start - it's advisable to be there before 5am (when it opens) as it does get very busy: it's first come first served and good viewing positions are quickly filled. If you want to do this I would base yourself near here because of the early start. Boat of Garten and Nethybridge are close.

I would recommend the walk up towards Ben MacDui from the Ski Centre car park in the Cairngorms if you are able. We had good views of Ptarmigan, Dotterel and Snow bunting and I have heard that sightings of these are distant and only occassional from the Ptarmigan restaurant (Note: you cannot actually get onto the mountain itself if you go up in the funicular railway). Otherwise Carn Ban Mor is supposed to be a good spot for these birds as well. I haven't done it but it's supposed to be a more scenic walk (although longer because you can't drive half-way up as you can at the ski centre).

At Tulloch Moor there is a screen in place for viewing Black grouse.

Loch Malachie and Loch an Eilean are known sites for Crested tits but we only saw one pair last year that seemed to be well known as they were nesting near the path. It appeared that everyone we saw had only seen these birds and I think they are quite hard to see in early May.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you want any more info but I think there are people on here with much more knowledge of the area than myself.

Ian

 

[Marmot]

Why not check the trip reports for the area on here...I have typed Aviemore in and came back with this
http://www.birdforum.net/search.php?searchid=10202522

I know I am am bit biased as this is ours from 2006
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=58912&highlight=aviemore

Lochindorb mentioned in it has either been very good or rubbish on the times that we have went so is worth a try for the variety you can get.

Another one which is worth a visit and very close to Loch Garten is Loch Milton in the Boat of Garten which has a hides a good variety of birds and even a Heronry. It is easy to get to instead of turning over the bridge at Spey Avenue you go a left turn, drive past the end of Birch Avenue and you will come to a dead end which is a parking area. You just walk along through from here to the hides. [check a map of book of Garten on google maps if this sounds confusing]

May even see you up there as we are possibly going in May.

 

[bongofury]

Thanks for all the info. I shall take print outs and get the book suggested off of Amazon.

Thanks again.:t:

 

[DMKSlater]

Moray Firth area for some late staying sea ducks, some coming into full plumage. Good site for almost garaunteed Crested Tit in Lossiemouth Area, Osprey "away from the maddening crowd" Elusive Capers and plenty of Crossbills.

 

[Phil Owen]

Can anyone help me out with a reliable site for Ptarmigan in March please??

Only 2 weeks to go now so could do with some info.

Many Thanks

 

[forthbirder]

re Aviemore area. Close to the village is Rothiemurchus fishery. Very good chance of fishing osprey here and goldeneye often seen too. From there you can take the walk throught the woods to loch an eilann. I've seen crested tit and crossbill in this area many times.
Another place close by to try is Glenmore, by loch morlich. Early morning rt divers on loch, and the high level track from behind the visitor centre through the native woodland past the "green lochan " i think, is another spot for cresties and crossbills. I had a flyover female capercaillie the last time I went. Once out of the woods the moors here should be full of red grouse, stonechat, wheatear, and a good chance of a range of raptors too.
My best sighting in Aviemore was a white tailed eagle carrying prey, seen from the car park at the chip shop on the high street! If you are also into mammals red squirrells can be seen in many locations and there is a hide, in Rothiemurchus I think, where pine martens and badgers are nightly visitors. Other members may be able to give you contact details for the hide.
Hope you have a great time, Mark

 

[Dmacaskill]

Can anyone help me out with a reliable site for Ptarmigan in March please??

Only 2 weeks to go now so could do with some info.

Many Thanks

Hi Phil,
I spoke to a couple of birders today who saw Ptarmigan yesterday from the car park at the funicular railway at cairngorm. a walk up the track from here to the summit can be good for Ptarmigan.

 

[Farnboro John]

Can anyone help me out with a reliable site for Ptarmigan in March please??

Only 2 weeks to go now so could do with some info.

Many Thanks

Cairn Wells uphill from Glenshee ski centre (West side of the road) is pretty solid for Ptarmigan and the area is also awesome for Mountain Hare. In March you may be able to see both from next to the road, where there is acres of free parking.

John

 

[den mather]

I've very often seen Ptarmigan from Fiacaill ridge. If you leave the funicular car park down to the little stream and bridge (westwards for 100 yardsor so) you can immediately turn south onto this ridge between the skiers in corrie cas and the climbers in corrie an sneachda. Sometimes I've heard that call of theirs like someone's slowly pulling a piece of cardboard down the teeth of a large plastic comb before I've seen them and it can be possible to get quite close if you approach carefully. if you are at the carpark very early you might see the reindeer which woke me up 2 years ago when I was sleeping in my car there! If you have the good mt kit and carry on to the top you can look for snow bunts in Sneachda and then for dotterel from the MacDui path.
Carn Ban Mor means a 700 metre climb up an excellent 5 km path from Auchlean carpark in glen Feshie but if you continue a bit to the top of glen einich there is always the chance of a goldie sailing over the dotterel. Going on to Braeriach is a classic walk but you must of course have the right kit and good nav skills in case the weather suddenly changes.
I don't know if the peregrines still hang out on the cliffs behind Aviemore but if you take the track to Rothiemurchus from Glenmore Lodge you may see them when you leave the trees behind and the path forks for Bynack stables (bothy).
In May Glen Tromie is an interesting low level walk and there used to be the chance of running into hunting hen harriers further up it.
best of luck
den

 

[Capercaillie71]

Bear in mind that there is currently still a lot of snow at Glenshee (http://www.snow-forecast.com/resorts/Glenshee/webcams/latest) and Cairngorm (http://www.snow-forecast.com/resorts/Cairngorm/webcams/latest). It is forecast to get a bit milder this week which may shift the snow a bit, but there is still likely to be a fair bit in a couple of weeks time. This means it a) may be more difficult/dangerous to wander far uphill and b) there may be lots of skiers about (particularly at weekends) which may make parking more difficult. I suppose the disturbance may mean fewer ptarmigan nearby as well, although you may not have to go too far to find them.

 

[HilQ]

This is my home territory; visiting friends and relations often say there's more in my garden than on Insh Marshes reserve... (I think it's just that it's more comfortable to sit indoors for hours than in a hide). I've just been out for a run and saw a female capercaillie in the forest, I had a crested tit on a feeder yesterday, haven't seen him today (yet!), just the usual suspects - and the squirrels of course. So I think what I'm saying is go beyond the obvious named places. Yes Glen Tromie is a good start, Glen Feshie's good too, and the forest in between.

There were a few almost tame snow buntings around the Cairngorm ski car park a couple of weeks ago; I've usually seen ptarmigan on the summits west of Loch Eanaich.

Snow is patchy and there was a new dusting on higher slopes last night. As others have advised, these are serious hills. Conditions are extremely variable - do please take care. Good luck