Scotland: part 1

Image: the-owl-barn.com

Imagine looking through your binoculars at a red squirrel only to see a Great Spotted Woodpecker poke its head out from behind the squirrel. Two beasties I've never seen in one sighting! I was up in Scotland visiting the Osprey Centre near Aviemore in the Cairngorms.

I had been lucky to arrive just in time to see an osprey sitting on a tree at the far end of the reserve. It was there for 5 mins, long enough to get a good look through the telescope, before it rose up and soared over the building, giving us an even more magnificent view. 

The centre (closed now for winter) is a fantastic place to sit and watch literally dozens of different breeds of birds (and animals) feasting on the feeders. I suppose you could argue (and dedicated twitchers no doubt will) that it is a bit of a zoo, given that the birds are there for the feeders. But it is a fantastic place to see all sorts of birds in one go. As well as the osprey, red squirrel and woodpeckers I also saw greenfinches, chaffinches, coal tits, blue tits, great tits and robins. 

I learnt how to identify the different genders of great spotted woodpecker; the juvenile has a red cap on its head, the male has a red patch on the back of its head and - as usual - the female is a little more drab with no red patch.

I spent three days staying in the Grant Arms in Grantown-on-Spey, "the wildlife hotel", home to the Birdwatching and Wildlife Club. The club organises walks and tours and so on from the hotel, some you can do on foot from the hotel itself. I set off on a couple of hour hike with the club to the woods behind Grantown, where red squirrels are in abundance. The birds were in short supply that day unfortunately but the walk is beautiful and comes out at the maginificent River Spey. 

Taking advantage of the decent weather, having arrived - and left - just before the floods, I also spent an afternoon heading up to RSPB reserve at Udale Bay. The drive up there is beautiful, with sweeping views of the Cromarty Firth. The reserve ittself is 'blink and you could miss it'. One hide overlooking wetlands. But there is certainly no shortage of birds from oystercatchers, curlew and plover to teals and mallards. 

Further round the coast, a gorgeous spot to stop for tea and cake is Cromarty. From there it's short drive to Chanonry Point, the best spot in the area for dolphins apparently. I was unlucky that day - but hey, you can't have everything.