Misty Owl

Last Thursday I seen some stunning images of the long staying Cairngorms Snowy Owl, I couldn't resist having a look at the weather forecast, by Friday evening Heather and I were heading North.

The mist never left us. We arrived at Loch Morlich at about 23:30, pulling up into one of the lake side car parks, we pitched the tent in the light of the car beams, accompanied by a Daubenton's, hunting in the beams, it gave us some stunning views, whirring its wings and clicking as it went.

We started our climb in the mist, the calls of Red Grouse haunting the hidden landscape. This was my first venture into these glens, the terrain was completely new. The mist aided the idea of mystery and discovery, as we climbed, areas cleared briefly and then were shrouded again, only offering fragments of the landscape at a time, unwilling to reveal its full face. The most impressive of these fragments was the steep back corrie wall of the Cairn Lochan, complete with a few patches of snow.

The weather gradually cleared as we continued further into the hills, showing bits of blue sky here and there, it turned out really nice by the time we got to our home for the night, on the edge of Lochan Buidhe. Passing a few birders on the way up, we had a better idea of exactly where the Snowy Owl was haunting, so after pitching our tent, watching the comings and goings of the many walkers and few birders on the hunt, we headed up onto a small boulder covered hill. A quick scan and there it was, a large white object in a landscape of browns and greys.

Moving down hill we stumbled upon a Mountain Hare, sporting its finest Summer threads. Leaving my bag behind we moved closer in fine sunny weather, we must of only moved 100 metres when the clouds came in, everything was lost to the mist. The Owl was perfectly suited to this harsh landscape, briefly ghosting out of view, before appearing on a nearby ridge. What a beautiful bird.

We managed to pick up a few feathers for our collections, and Heather collected a couple of the birds pellets !

The mist never left us, it only gave a brief window as the sunset. Ptarmigan called in the background, building upon that eerie feeling the mist creates, and a number of Pink-Footed Geese picked their way through the glens.

The sun returned as we headed back to the car, allowing us a few Ptarmigan sightings before we met the lower hills.

Live !

Over the past couple of days I've been working on setting up a website, I'm pleased to say its now at a stage where it can go live. You can find it here cainscrimgeour.co.uk.

The site will continue to develop so keep stopping by :)

A quick half an hour tonight at Holywell was more than worth while, 3 Short-Eared Owls were hunting the main meadow. If you haven't been down to Holywell to see the SEOs yet I would highly recommend it, you don't need to travel any further than the public hide.

Holywell

A full day of filming saw the morning start out at St Mary's for an hour or so, before the tide retreated and the wind began to pick up.


For the rest of the day I was on patch, between the Pond and the Dene. The pond was quiet as usual, although the NWT were working with chainsaws in the North Wood, 4 Tufted, a pair of Pochard, 2 Mute Swan, 4 Canada Geese, 1 Little Grebe, Moorhen, Mallard, Teal, 3 Gadwall and a lone Grey Heron were on the pond, with Brambling and Tree Sparrow in the feeding station.


The reeds reflecting in the warm light caught my eye from the members hide.




The main project for the day, in the Dene, was to film the Snowdrops. Pocketed up and down the burn, I quite enjoyed exploring the different patches of plants and their positioning.




The Dene seemed to be alive with song, with at least 3 Great Spotted Woodpeckers drumming. I've uploaded a short audio clip below, the microphone used wasn't ideal but I think its worked quite well, capturing the essence of the woodland, how I experienced it.





Heading back up to the pond as the light began to fade 2 Treecreepers amongst a Tit flock made an appearance, as did 3 Grey Wagtail on the burn. A pair of Shelduck were on the pond as I passed.




After tea I dropped my sister off at Cubs and headed back to Holywell, to photograph the stars. Passing the public hide the silhouettes of 300+ Geese could be seen, a mix of Greylag and Pink-Footed Geese could be heard. I've only ever seen the geese come to roost once, as it seems the majority of the time they arrived and leave in darkness. 


Generally once it gets dark you can walk anywhere, past the pond, through the dene and farmland and you'll not see a soul, but tonight I caught sight of a torch heading in my direction. It turned out that it was another photographer with the same idea!

This evening...

I'm pleased to find the Blue Tits have taken up residents in the camera box again, with the male voicing its presents from the roof tonight.

Then it was down to Holywell,  nice warm night, with the pleasure of a nice sunset and a visit from the Barn Owl.