April 22 - 23

Saturday April 22

Again, a fairly leisurely start. Loch of the Lowes, our first call is a short drive from Kinross, we were there by ten o’clock. It’s a Scottish Wildlife reserve, set up to protect a very well established Osprey nest. The nest is at the top of a tall pine across the other side of the loch. There are two hides, one a double decker, the other  a larger single storey. Upstairs gives a better view of the nest but we can no longer climb the steep stairway. There is a perfectly adequate view of the nesting Osprey’s head and the rest of the loch. 

 

We saw many Sand Martins hawking the water for any insects flying in the chilly wind, Goldeneye, Great Crested and Little Grebes, Whooper Swans and Canada Geese.

 

Repairing to the Centre for a welcome hot drink, we sat in the  picture windows overlooking a feeding area which was pretty quiet this morning. Unlike the, must have been very deaf, older man shouting at his companion whilst showing him photos he’d taken.

Coal Tits, Blue and Great Tits, and a Nuthatch visited the feeders, whilst Mallard and a Pheasant fossicked underneath, hoovering up the food tossed out by the perching birds. A Chaffinch was the boss bird.

On arrival, Pam spotted a Treecreeper making its way up the trunk of a nearby Birch tree. I just caught sight of it as it flew off to the next trunk. We didn’t see another despite careful looking as we left.

Apart from a short diversion from the A9 to buy fuel and a Telegraph in Pitlochry, it was a pleasant but birdless drive north to Aviemore. Still too early to access the cottage, we drove up to the Cairngorm summit train car park. There we found barriers across the entry to the usual parking area with a direction to use the unpaved lower car park. This is the area where the Ring Ouzel fed and nested. No sign of any birds at all – apart from a Pied Wagtail. In order to get to the funicular one has to climb a flight of steep steps. So that’s a goodbye to a possible Ptarmigan and Snow Bunting sighting.

Via Dulnain Bridge where a myriad Sand Martins sped around, the sky above the river full of flying specks, it was time to drive to Nethy Bridge and our cottage for the week. Hooded Crows fed in the adjoining fields.

Watched by some wary lambs

Finding the cottage was difficult, the SatNav didn’t find it and the instructions didn’t make any sense. They didn’t seem to bear any resemblance to the actual area. In the end, I phoned the caretaker and we found the place. It’s set behind another house which we have to drive past. The cottage is all we could wish for – apart from the lack of WiFi. Without the latter, I can’t check the details either.I’m writing this in a Word document that I will copy and paste next week. For some reason I haven’t had any WhatsApp messages since Thursday either. Ah well……

 

Sunday April 23

I woke to rain, which continued all day. What should we do? Go birding, yes, but where. The usual answer is to go to the coast.

Yesterday, we discovered that the shop in Nethy Bridge is closed and up for sale. The Boat of Garten shop closed early, was shut today and was also up for sale. I got my newspapers in Carrbridge, where the river was rather low with no birds to be seen.

Lochindorb was shrouded in mist, with sea-like white-topped waves whipped up by the chilly northerly wind. The car thermometer tinged at us to indicate that the temperature had dropped to 3C. no divers but a Red Grouse called at us before flying away. A short spell at the northern end with another Red Grouse before continuing along the road to Nairn, passing the thriving Common Gull nesting colony on the way.

The tide was high in Nairn Harbour,

where one can park on the seafront after driving through the marina. A splendid statue of a fisherwoman welcomes one to the area.

 

High tide with a very rough sea. Heaving water with giant rollers galloping their way to the shore before landing with a final leap of spray. Mesmerising. Not even a Gannet to be seen. Our first Rock Pipit was feeding along the sea wall as we left.

A short diversion to Loch Flemington where Pam saw her first Song Thrush of the trip, before slowly crawling the shore at Alturlie. Again a high tide, a narrow srip of beach gravel near the ‘dual carriageway’ yielded Redshanks, three Wheatears, three pairs and one trio of Oystercatchers and a Curlew, which called as it flew. One of my favourite sounds.

 

 

 

Pam shopped in Tesco for tonight's meal before we drove home, via Lochindorb again. The thermometer tinged. This time it went down to 1C, and the rain became soft snow splodging against the windscreen. More than time to head home to the comparative warmth of the cottage.

We’d managed to miss most of the FA Cup semi final between Man U and Brighton. I saw much of the second half, the extra time and the penalties – with the sound off. I looked up to see us celebrating, Some poor devil on the Brighton team had blazed his penalty over the bar.