We began with some pre-breakfast Dippers down on the Spey where the youngsters were still bobbing along after their parents while the other river bobbers - Grey Wagtails and Common Sandpipers bumped out their own rhythms on the rocks.
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| I had not seen a juvenile for many years |
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| Dippers - Pete Osgood |
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| Dipper - Pete Osgood |
North bound again
saw us checking under the Kessock Bridge unsuccessfully for Otters before a
gloriously sunny spell on the beach at Rosemarkie saw us watching slowly
feeding Bottle-nosed Dolphins gently breaking the glassy surface. A huge melee
of Gulls and Guillemots did not reveal a beast underneath but a couple of
Red-throated Divers fished around the edges.
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| Kessock Bridge |
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| Rosemarkie - if only every day had been like this |
Down at Chanory
there were people waiting for the Dolphins but we were happy with two
Tern-chasing Arctic Skuas and a flyby Merganser.
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| looking up the Moray as the weather changed yet again |
From here were cut
back through Inverness and then wormed our way through and up onto the Farr
road. I remember it from my trips 30 years ago with Grouse and Mountain Hares
and Eagles but it was a barren managed landscape and the Hares have been almost
exterminated.
The one saving grace was a fenced valley where regeneration was evident already and Kites, Kestrels and Buzzards sought refuge. But how can it ever retake the devastated, sanitised landscape beyond its fences?
Lunch in the pines
listening to invisible Crossbills and Tree Pipits was enlivened by Northern
Emerald and Common Hawker and a beast of a furry Robberfly called Laphia flava.
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| The clearfell here had been replanted with mostly broadleaf natives... |
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| Heath Spotted Orchid |
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| Laphia flava - I was very pleased to find this and shouted at Andy R to take a shot quickly! |
We popped back out in Strath Dearn and spent some time searching for Eagles in increasingly windy conditions before the drive back to Grantown.
Early dinner was taken back at the Grant Arms although there was no way we were getting trough the cake selection...
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| Nick: untroubled - Kim: daunted |
Later on we headed down towards the Inshriach Nursery for a fabulous evening waiting for the mammalian stars to come in. Four snuffling Badgers (along with a Wood Mouse) eventually waddled in and kept the crew entranced before the female Pine Marten dropped in and indubitably stole the show. My first in the UK quickly following my very first in Estonia last week!
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| The Wait - Bob Fraser |
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| Badgers |
A Grasshopper
Warbler reeled in the marsh below and Woodcock 'tis-wicked' and grunted through
the barely darkened canopy.
We left when Mrs
Marten had had her fill and got back to the Grant Arms Hotel just before
midnight after a fantastic trip finale.
The next morning we started to head home after breakfast and frustratingly I heard some Parrot Crossbills in the woods before we left! Always the way.
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