Tuesday 25th July 2023

Planning the Day

My first day in Grantown on Spey started with breakfast of fruit and ‘real’ Scottish porridge – it seemed appropriate to enjoy it without milk and too much sugar. While sipping coffee I thought about the day ahead and how to best spend it – I wasn’t keen to do too much travelling but rather find some good birding spots nearby where I could spend some quality time.

The Grant Arms Hotel where I was booked is renowned for being a “Birder’s hotel” and has an in-house birding guide available each morning after breakfast to provide advice on birding spots and to lead guests on various walks and outings in the area.

I had checked out the planned walk for the morning and tentatively put my name down for it, so straight after breakfast I went to reception where Sue, the birding guide on duty for the day, was sitting and introduced myself.

No one else had booked for the walk but Sue was happy to still go ahead and after giving me some tips about other birding spots we arranged to meet at the Loch Garten parking area at 9.30 am.

Loch Garten Nature Walk

We duly met at the parking area for Loch Garten, another reserve run by the RSPB and walked slowly down the path towards the water, stopping frequently to look at plants, fungi, trees, even bugs and bees that Sue had lots of info about – this was a true nature ramble not just confined to birds and I enjoyed it thoroughly.

The area around the loch was mostly well developed Scottish Pine forest with a carpet of green comprising several different plant species – too many to take in on a short walk but fascinating to see. Here and there colourful fungi were prominent

At one point Sue stopped to listen to the various calls which indicated the presence of a small bird party in progress and we spent a while listening for and finding Crested Tit and Greater Spotted Woodpecker as well as Spotted Flycatcher and a Tree Creeper (which I did not get a good view of).

Getting a photo of the Crested Tit was a priority for me but was particularly tricky as it was high up amongst the branches with foliage obscuring it and with a strong backlight behind, added to which the bird was constantly on the move, hardly sitting in one spot for more than a half second or so. Each time I saw it I rattled off a number of shots and hoped for the best…

Fortunately (thanks Canon R7) just one of the many shots came out reasonably and with that prize in the bag we moved on.

On reaching the loch just a single Goldeneye was visible – a juvenile it seemed, and after following the track along the loch edge for a while we headed back to the carpark, having walked two hours in all.

Sue left to return to Grantown and I headed further down the road to the visitor centre for a brief visit – mainly to get a sandwich for my lunch later but while I was there I took advantage of the viewing windows and scopes provided to look at a distant Osprey on a nest.

Back in the car I looked at potential sites to visit that afternoon and selected Insh Marshes Nature Reserve as it promised a different habitat with other birds, possibly waders.

Along the road to Insh Marshes

Google maps indicated about 30 miles – a doddle on normal roads but as it turned out the route was along narrow, twisty, up and down country roads which made fast driving impossible as you have to take avoiding action every time a vehicle comes in the opposite direction.

Not only are the roads narrow but they are hemmed in on both sides by fences and stone walling right up against the verge so there is very little space to move to the side and in some cases, you have to almost come to a halt and let the other cars go by – not a moment’s relaxation can be afforded.

There seemed to be birds active in the trees and bush lining the road, so I looked for an opportunity to pull off and take a closer look, as well as to take a break from the concentration required driving these roads.

A small parking area next to the road at the start of a forest walk seemed like just the right spot and I spent a pleasant half hour or so scouting around, finding a few birds in the process. I was most excited about a European Blackcap flitting about the top of the low bushes at roadside – this is a bird that occurs in certain parts of Southern Africa but has eluded my efforts to find one, so seeing it here and managing to capture a fleeting image was a highlight of the day.

A Song Thrush was more relaxed and posed nicely on a post for me

With a few decent bird images in the bag, some striking wild flowers begged my attention and they soon joined the birds on the SD card

Time to move on, but I was hardly back on the route to Insh Marshes when I crossed a bridge over the Feshie River – not a major river but one of the prettiest sights of the day, so I had to stop again at a safe spot on the other side of the bridge and walk back for a quick snap

Insh Marshes

I reached Insh Marshes and found a spot in the full car park, then took the pathway that others were using and found my way to the hide which was sited at the end of a slippery downhill track.

The hide overlooks a part of the vast marshes and promised to be a good spot to spend time scanning for birds. In fact, the opposite was true as all I could pick up was a lone Grey Heron partly concealed by long grass – perhaps many others were present but hidden, however there were no calls to indicate this.

Somewhat disappointed, I went back to the car park and beyond to another hide which had a different view but the same lack of birds. Nevertheless it was a fine place to enjoy the sandwich and tea I had brought with me, before heading back to the car park, where I made up for the lack of other photographic subjects by taking advantage of some relaxed Chaffinches and a Robin that took an interest in my doings.

I had spent less time than expected at Insh, which meant there was more than enough time to get to Avielochan, the last stop on my itinerary for the day, one which I hoped would be more successful from a birding aspect.

Avielochan

A short drive later I turned off towards Avielochan, a small loch in the middle of an agricultural area, and followed the road past a few houses until I found the hide located some distance from the water’s edge. The hide was erected by and belongs to Grant Arms hotel and is made available to guests

There were many waterfowl swimming on the loch, including several Greylag Geese which I had seen in fields earlier in the day, and Herring Gulls along the shoreline.

Most of the birds were on the far side of the loch and difficult to identify without a scope, however I used my camera’s reach to good effect and was able to pin down an ID on most of them.

Little Grebe and Common Goldeneye were additions to my trip list and then I turned my attention to trying to find the bird featured in a large poster on the hide’s wall – Slovenian (Horned) Grebe. There are just 30 breeding pairs of this bird in the UK, all of which are to be found in the Scottish Highlands, with Avielochan being one of its favoured sites.

After some searching with my binos and taking a few photos I was fairly sure I had spotted one – this is what the image looked like at full 800mm zoom and with way too much light coming off the surface of the water

The same image after some serious cropping, exposure adjustment and enhancement – the miracle of modern photographic technology allowing me to ID this Slovenian Grebe with certainty

By now it was getting close to dinner time and, not wanting to miss the excellent hotel dinner, I made haste back to Grantown and the Grant Arms for a lovely supper of soup, gammon, and a rich tart for pudding.

Sue, the hotel’s birding expert, had given me some good tips for birding spots which I planned to visit the next day …… but first a good night’s rest was what I needed most after another busy day.