Scotland Trip Day 1 : Loch Garten : 26th May 2014
We left Loch of the Lowes and headed off for Grantown on Spey. As we drove up there we saw a Hooded Crow and lots of House Martins – seemingly at every house we came across, suddenly there were Martins. There were also plenty of Swallows. At RSPB Loch Garten we had a more heartening Osprey experience.
We watched EJ, the female, sitting on three chicks that occasionally peeked out from under her. As we watched, Odin, the male bird flew in with a small fish and the female EJ proceeded to feed the chicks. To add to the pleasure, the nest can be viewed from the hide in close up on the big video monitors on the walls of the “hide”. On the feeder At the entrance there were a couple of Siskins
We left Loch Garten as the afternoon started getting on as we had to get to Grantown on Spey in plenty of time to get cleaned up and ready to meet our guide. As we drove up we saw Pied Wagtail (which seemed to be abundant everywhere we went), Jackdaws, Kestrel and Buzzard.
After a quick change of room at the hotel we settled in a room much more to our liking than that originally offered to us and, after a quick wash and brush-up, we met up with out guide, John Poyner of Highland Nature . We met him and the three other people who were to join us two for the three days of guided birding that was to start the next morning. It was good to see John again and we all briefed him about our most desired birds.
The other people on the guided tour were a couple called Mark and Tracy and a wildlife photographer called Sheena Jolley