The white stuff - Snow buntings, grouse & other beasties

Yesterday wasn't brilliant weather-wise; while England basked in glorious sunshine, in Lothian we had drizzle and grey skies through to outright downpour for most of the day. However, we did grit our teeth and head over to the coast at Musselburgh as planned, to see what seabirds & waders were around. On the plus side, there were some really good birds present - including Red-breasted Mergansers, Slavonian Grebes, Common Scooter & one very elegant Surf Scooter -as well as the more typical Redshanks, Spotted Redshanks, Eider Ducks & Oystercatchers... There were also lots of gulls present - including Glaucous & Mediterranean Gull, as well as the more common Herring Gull, Black-Headed Gulls, Little Gulls, Common Gulls and Great & Lesser Black-backed Gulls. 

Slavonian Grebe - for reference

On the downside, the tide was really low, so all the birds were quite far out - so coupled with the horrible light conditions, not much hope for photos of the more unusual birds. Weather conditions being what they were, we really weren't tempted to linger waiting for the tide to rise - but I may pop back at the weekend, depending what we see on some of the other coastal sites we're planning to visit during the course of the week. 

We did get some good views of some of the waders, particularly a mixed flock of Bar-tailed & Black-tailed Godwits feeding along the shoreline,

Godwits 

Today, we were greeted by a lovely sunny morning; ideal conditions for our drive up further North  to visit Louise's parents in Aberdeen. Rather than go the most direct route, we like to drive up through Perthshire & Glenshee, as there are lots of possibilities to see some of Scotland's most iconic species along the way. 

We had a particularily good day today; coming up through Perth, we set a wee challenge to guess how many new species (for the trip) we would see by the time we got to Aberdeen. Lou was conservative & guessed at least 6, while I was more ambitious at 10. How wrong we both were...

Within a couple of miles of starting the count, we'd seen flock of White-fronted Geese and a large herd of around 25 Fallow Deer (sadly on a very sharp bend of the road where we couldn't stop), plus a Roe Deer doe & her half-grown fawn. Entering the main Glenshee pass, we quickly spotted a juvenile Golden Eagle kiting along the  ridge line. We watched it land on an outcrop with a Mountain Hare corpse, before getting harassed by a pair of Kestrels & taking off again. 

Red Grouse - Male

Driving further up into the pass, we soon started seeing lots of Red Grouse - now starting their mating displays in earnest. We parked up by the Ski-lifts & walked back along the road, with some great views of pairs of Grouse on snow along the way. I love their funny whisking calls - and the males bright red eyebrows! I was really pleased to be able to get close to a trio on snow, all clucking & chirping away to each other.

Red Grouse - Male

We did also see a group of 3 Ptarmigan, but they were very high up on the slopes & as the snow was rather soft and rotten, we decided it wasn't a good idea to attempt to climb up to them (this being after I'd already gone knee-deep in a drift creeping up on the Grouse!)

Red Grouse - Female

There was a lot of evidence of Mountain Hares, with lots of tracks in the snow all over the area. However, it did take up a while to track one of the actual beasties down. After spotting a few distant individuals high up on the slopes, we finally spotted one crouched down on the edge of a culvert above the road. Lou also found some rather grisly evidence of what the Golden Eagle's are eating...stumbling upon a collection of four Mountain Hare corpses in one spot. To make matters worse, she insisted on bringing home a couple of the (rather whiffy) skulls, which are now soaking in a bucket of bleach - much to the disgust of her parents, who thought she'd outgrown that sort of thing long ago!

Mountain Hare

Returning to the main carpark, I was really chuffed to get some fantastic views of a very confiding group of around 14 Snow Buntings. These are really stunning little birds, and although we have seen them before, getting such close views was a real first for me - made even better by them being on snow!

Snow Bunting - Pair

Driving down the valley towards Braemar, we saw a couple of groups of Red Deer stags up towards the snowline. More surprisingly, we also spotted a beautiful pair of Roe Deer- just past the Ski centre. We have seen them further down the glen by the treeline, but wouldn't have expected to come across them quite so high up!

Roe Deer - Buck with velvet on antlers

After a quick stop to refuel on Scotch Pies & Irn Bru, we carried on along Deeside - passing a number of Lapwings doing their display flights to ward off the attention of a trio of Buzzards. Just past Braemar Castle, we were surprised to spot a solitary Whooper Swan on the River Dee. The lonesome beastie also seemed rather bemused to be there, as it was honking most mournfully.

Whooper Swan

We turned off towards Bridge of Gairn to visit another Red Grouse moorland - where we had some more good views of the birds including display flying. An added bonus was spotting a first for me; a pair of Dippers on the fast-flowing river through the glen. I didn't manage to get any shots, but it was lovely to see them & hopefully we may stop by again on the way back to Edinburgh later in the week. We also had nice views of a pair of Mistle Thrushes.

Red Grouse - Display flight, male is below the higher female

Back on the main Deeside Road, we also had a good view of a male Goosander just outside Ballater, as well as a flock of Greylag Geese by Cambus o' May.  We also spotted various waterfowl on small ponds & lochs close to the road - including Coot, Tufted Duck, Mute Swans, Mallards, and Grey Heron plus Pied Wagtails, Carrion Crows, Jackdaws and Rooks.

All in all, we added a further 17 species to the trip list during the course of the day - a pretty good total, I'm sure you'll agree!