CairnGorm Mountain - Ring Ouzels and Reindeer

The day started off very well with this ring ouzel in the car park, busy collecting breakfast. Red Grouse were on the hillside and Ravens were drifting over.  

The view from the top 

A raven in the haze 

A herd of reindeer soon came into view, very interested in the hikers, thinking they were going to get fed.

A morning up CairnGorm Mountain. We took the first train on the funicular railway, which was quite pricey to be honest. There were lots of birders on the train and soon the viewing area was full of birders looking for the ptarmigan, but afraid we all came down disappointed. Not one was seen, and it wasn't for the lack of trying. Hours were spent scanning every bit of the tops, along the fence lines, against the rocks, but a big fat zero. Mountain Hare was also absent, not one. Disgraceful. 

Ring Ouzels, Cairngorm

A pair of ring ouzels were busy collecting worms on the top of Cairngorm. It's nice to see them on passage but even better to see them breeding. They were soon up and away once the masses arrived.

Cairngorn, Scotland

We have never been up to the top of Cairngorm on the train before so when the sky was clear and blue on Monday (and all the weekend walkers had gone) we treated ourselves to the trip. It was an 8 minute journey that cost £12,50, they must be coining it in. It was such a pity that you couldn't walk out from the ski centre yet people could mountain bike everywhere and the paths were strewn with plastic bottles. A bit of a double standard there.  We were on the first train up and were the first out onto the viewing area. The view was absolutely stunning. A pair of Ring Ouzels were feeding and we had excellent views before the masses of people arriving flushed them. We looked and scoured the rocks and scree for ptarmigan and didn't think we would be lucky until a pair flew past us and landed nicely behind the fence where they stayed preening and feeding all morning. We could just make them out through the fence with the scope, one occasionally sticking it's head up and looking round but they never came from behind the fence. A fabulous morning.

Scotland

Aviemore, Scottish Highlands

We watched a pair of Golden Eagles displaying over this valley. Fabulous !

Findhorn Valley, Scottish Highlands, A place we love to visit

Kintulloch, Inveruglas, Insh

This was our Scottish holiday accomodation, probably the best place we have ever stayed. The house was at the very end of a private road with an open aspect to the countryside. The garden was a hive of activity with birds constantly visiting the feeders and the resident 3 red squirrels were always in attendance! Deer grazed along the fence line and the scenery was stunning coupled with the total silence and the fact that it stayed light most of the night. The only disappointment was that we failed to see Pine Martin. Probably due to the fact that most of the neighbouring houses were empty (and so were their peanut feeders). We did try to tempt them in each night with peanut butter and jam sandwiches and then  trying to stay awake to see who ate it all !  We will just have to go back and try again. The house was perfect, we highly recommend it for your Cairngorm holiday.

Cairngorn, Scottish Highlands

Due to the dreadful weather we are experiencing this year in the UK, our annual visit to Scotland had to be postponed for 2 months. This was probably the worst time of year to go as most birds had failed to breed and had long gone. The residents hopefully had chicks by now so were laying low, the courtship over. We climbed Cairngorm twice but afraid that Ptarmigan was not on our trip list this time, not for want of trying. Still, with scenery like this to admire we still had a good day.

Highland Wildlife Park, Cairngorm, Scotland

 Arctic Fox

Capercaillie

 Markhor - a real billy goat with a mountain jumping kid !

 These really took some finding......can you see anything looking at you?

 European Lynx, a fabulous cat that we have yet to see in the wild. Hence the trip planned to Spain later this year. Lets hope we are lucky to see them.

Red Panda. The colours were so vivid and this handsome chappy was busy munching on carrots.

Pine Martin - afraid we were not lucky enough to see them in the wild this time.

Polar Bears - now these looked so out of place in a Scottish Wildlife Park but they seemed as happy as larry. With a large lake to swim and lay in and a huge field to run and roll in. They looked in excellent condition and not one bit bored. They were enormous with feet like shovels !

 Amur Tiger - after seeing tigers in the wild we don't really agree with these being in a zoo. Although in excellent condition, they seemed bored in a relatively small enclosure. Believe these are a breeding programme with one of the tigers being swapped for one at Doncaster Wildlife Park. It made us quite sad to look at them. They had no sparkle of life left in their eyes.

 Wild Cat - these had bred and the kittens were very amusing........but the smell !!

European Wolf -  the one we specifically went to see. These have 6 newborn cubs but they hadn't yet plucked up courage to come out. These too looked sad to see....... What have we done to our world when we have to visit zoo's to see animals that should be plentifull in the wild. We should be ashamed that we have hunted everything to near extinction. Its certainly not something to be proud of thats for sure.