Scotland Day 1

After the excitement of the day before, with me finally seeing one of my Unseen Birds in the UK, I awoke early on Friday morning so that myself and my birder's wife could get started on our journey up north.

For some reason the journey seemed to go on for ever and after crossing the border it started to rain which did not improve matters.  In fact, for the rest of the day it rained and rained and rained.

Odin the Osprey

Upon arrival in the Cairngorms, I made for the Cairngorm itself with the hope of seeing Ptarmigan on the slopes.  Unfortunately, we were not lucky and had to content ourselves with great views of very charming Snow Buntings feeding on seed in the car park along with distant calls of a Ring Ouzel and Red Grouse.

Next stop was then Loch Garten for the Ospreys and an outside chance of Capercaille (although I was doubtful that they would be showing in the afternoon).  Odin the Osprey was showing well, near the nest site and outside the hide an obliging Crested Tit gave us our first Highland specialty.  After checking into the Boat Hotel where we had decided to stay as a treat for our first night, we ventured out again in the rain for a drive up to Lochindorb for the Black Throated Divers. Unfortunately due to the wind and rain being so bad, they must have been sheltering up somewhere.

We decided to give up due to the tireless rain and retreated to our hotel for a slap up meal and the most expensive round of drinks I have ever encoutered.

Not a great start to the weekend away (except for the amazing food and nice room at The Boat).....