IMAGES: ALAMY
BIRDWATCHING
FIVE PRIZED BIRDS IN THE SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS
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Crested tit Confined to the woods and
forests around Speyside, the tiny cousin of the familiar blue tit sports the distinctive crest that gives the species its name, and helps you identify it.
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Golden eagle This majestic bird of prey
hunts high in the sky in search of prey: look out for a huge, long- winged, soaring raptor — but beware of buzzards, which locals call ‘tourist eagles’.
Ptarmigan Spending its entire life on
the Cairngorm Plateau, this member of the grouse family is the only British bird that lives here all year round. Listen for its deep, croaking call.
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Slavonian grebe This rare and handsome
waterbird, with distinctive feathered golden ‘horns’ on the sides of its head, builds a floating nest on small lochs throughout the Highlands.
Snow bunting The hardiest of all
songbirds, these black-and- white birds breed on mountain summits, with flocks visiting the Cairngorm car park during autumn and winter.
call. Siskins and chaffinches are very common, and along with the various tit species, will often come to bird feeders in car parks, where you can get close-up views and take photographs. The most elusive bird of these forests is also
the largest: the mighty capercaillie, whose name also derives from Scots Gaelic, meaning ‘horse of the woods’, because of its bizarre call. The world’s largest species of grouse — the size of a turkey — used to be common here, but numbers have plummeted in the past few decades and birdwatchers are now asked not to go off the forest paths to search for them, as they’re very vulnerable to disturbance. If you’re very lucky, you might come across one at dawn or dusk as you walk along the forest trails — if so, be sure to keep your distance. The birch woods are easier places to watch birds:
listen out for the delicate song, descending the scale, of the willow warbler, which returns here in late April all the way from Southern Africa to breed.
Rivers and lochs Speyside — or Strathspey as it’s known in Scotland — is named after the River Spey, which flows through this valley in sight of the Cairngorms. As well as being a beautiful river in its own right — and supplying water for some of the best malt whiskies in the world — it’s home to a host of birds. Look out for the dipper — which birdwatching
hero Bill Oddie once described as “like a cross between a wren and a torpedo” — the only British songbird that regularly submerges under water. Plump and about the size of a thrush, it’ll bob up and down on rocks in the fast-flowing river, and then plunge beneath the surface to grab aquatic insects with which to feed itself and its young. Two other birds also perch on rocks and bob up
and down: the resident grey wagtail, which despite its name has bright lemon-yellow underparts, and the common sandpiper, a smart little wader that spends the winter in Africa. One species of duck — the goldeneye — was once only a winter visitor here, but in the past few decades, they’ve colonised as a breeding bird. Today, the black-and-white males and grey, chestnut-headed females can be seen all year round.
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Make sure you also visit some of the many
lochs that are dotted around the lowlands here. Special birds include the black-throated diver (on larger areas of water) and the Slavonian grebe (on smaller ones). Do keep an eye out for large raptors overhead — golden and white-tailed eagles are regularly seen. Perhaps the most famous bird of prey, however, is the osprey, which returned to the area to breed in the 1950s and is now commonly seen hunting for fish on the larger lochs from April through to August.
The coast If you can tear yourself away from the rivers and lochs, it’s worth spending at least a day on the nearby coast. Head to Spey Bay, Black Isle and the Moray Firth where, ducks, geese and waders are the main attractions, especially in winter or during the peak migration periods of spring and autumn, while ospreys often hunt for fish here. Target birds include the largest British duck,
the eider, whose calls resemble a very human- sounding “oooh”. In winter, there are large flocks of greylag and pink-footed geese, while waders such as dunlin, sanderling, curlew and redshank are found in huge numbers — sometimes accompanied by rarer species. Offshore, you might also see gulls, terns, divers and distinctive auks such as the guillemot and razorbill.
Other wildlife While birds are the main attraction, there are plenty of other wild creatures found here. The pine woods are home to red squirrels — which can be easy to spot as they clamber around the branches above your head — and pine martens, which are more elusive. If you walk up the path to Cairn Gorm, you have
a very good chance of coming across our only truly montane mammal — the mountain hare. This animal, like the ptarmigan, turns almost completely white in winter. Other easier-to-see mammals include red deer. Also, don’t forget to check the forest floor for colonies of wood ants, which emerge on a sunny day and whose colonial behaviour can be quite mesmerising to watch.
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