Birdwatching in Strathspey with the Grant Arms

13 Feb

We have just returned home from a fabulous week guiding and lecturing for guests at the Grant Arms hotel in Grantown on Spey, Strathspey. Alongside Iolo Williams and local guides, we were able to show guests some of the highlights of the highlands and February is a brilliant time to explore the Cairngorms. As luck would have it the mountains and strath were blanketed in a fresh envelope of snow making for a pristine winter wonderland.

Purple Sandpipers hunker down over high tide with Turnstones

The Moray Firth coast is a haven for waders and wildfowl and it was great to be able to show folk Long-tailed Duck, Common Scoter, Razorbill, Purple Sandpiper, Bar-tailed Godwit and Red-throated Divers. We even had a trio of Snow Geese. Inland the moors produced Red and Black Grouse whilst a Golden Eagle put in an appearance over one of the ridges.

Common Scoter give a close fly-by to a backdrop of the Sutherland Mountains

Strathspey is renowned for its extensive swathes of Caledonian Forest which harbour some really special birds including Crested Tit, Scottish and Common Crossbills and this year large numbers of Brambling. Sites like Loch Garten allowed us to appreciate common species such as Coal Tit and Chaffinch feeding out of our hands and the nearby village of Nethy Bridge proved to be a mecca for birds with hundreds of finches in and around the houses on bird feeders.

One in, one out as Coal Tits take seed from our hands at RSPB Loch Garden

There is something immensely uplifting about a tiny bird feeding without fear from your hand

The extensive marshes of the Spey held flocks of Greylag and Pink-footed Geese as well as Whooper Swans and a variety of ducks, but most excitingly we also discovered a roost of six Hen Harriers at one site. During the week we were also treated to a trio of Waxwings in Grantown on Spey that gorged themselves of berries before moving on.

Enjoying six Hen Harriers at dusk over the frozen marshes of the Spey

The week was no just about getting out and about and as always it was great to deliver a couple of presentations in the evening introducing people to some of the more fascinating aspects of bird ecology, physiology and behaviour from remarkable migrations to evolution of camouflage.