Quintessential Speyside ! 21.4.2015

I'd deliberately set this day aside to visit as many favourite sites as I could manage  and so it proved to be. Glen Feshie, Boat of Garten, Carrbridge, Loch Garten, and Abernethy Forest were just some of the sites I went to in great weather too.

Glen Feshie, as ever, proved irresistible and a walk around the Uath Lochans a necessity.

This area is quite extensive and you could spend a considerable time there. I've seen some good birds over the years in this area but this occasion proved to be less than productive with no crossbills or Crested Tits on offer. The added self imposed restriction of not entering certain areas that potentially hold Capercaillie didn't help either. But the weather was good and, at times, the absolute silence was a real tonic in itself. The Feshie river looked as photogenic as ever but I did wonder what its temperature might be!

A visit to the Osprey Centre at Garten provided the information that a second egg had been laid that very morning and incubation was underway. The male bird sat dutifully on a lower branch to the nest and preened having brought in food earlier seemingly unaware that his input will increase significantly once the young hatch!  A walk around the nearby trail produced Common Redstart and Tree Pipit and a twice tantalising soft trill of Crested Tit but with no views emerging.

 

The afternoon proved to be sunny and warm and provided perfect conditions for a walk on the outskirts of
Abernethy  Forest. A single Black Grouse proved the bonus bird of the enterprise but the conditions more than made up for the lack of birds.  Another good series of memories to take home from Strathspey.