Scottish Mist

Friday April 26

We woke early to find that it was raining steadily. The car packed, to-day's meals bought at M and S, newspapers from the garage, we set off north on the A9. Not pleasant driving conditions. The mud flaps on large lorries threw a curtain of spray high into the air, markedly marring visibility. Passing one only brought another trundler into sight. 

Dunkeld and the Loch of the Lowes nature reserve is not far from Kinross. It's one of our favourite stopping places but the first time we have visited in the rain.We parked in the designated disabled area, which is very near the Centre, and just sat there. Two very wet Pheasants sat hunched up in the woods nearby, Willow Warblers sang, a Great Spotted Woodpecker made a brief appearance and the rain eased and then stopped.

The Centre does not open until 10.30 but the hides are available from dawn until dusk. We sat in the lower section of the Tower Hide, avoiding the steep steps. We sat for over an hour watching the female Osprey incubating three eggs, the nest tucked in between two pines across the loch. Her wet head and shoulders all that was visible from our lowly position.

There is a very good webcam available on YouTube. Dedicated watchers have named the female Lassie and the male Laddie as - officially - they only have letters and numbers. All the Welsh Ospreys have names as do the Scottish White-tailed Eagles. I have no feelings either way.......

No water birds close to the hide to-day, nor Beavers either. The latter are best looked for late evening or early morning as they are nocturnal.  A sizeable flock of Goldeneye, a small group of Tufted Duck, six displaying Great Crested Grebes, eight Mute Swans chose the far end of the loch, A small group of darting, restlessly feeding Sand Martins, skimming the water to within a millimetre without breaking the surface tension, took the breath away. Brown Arrows.

No nest changeover or food drop-off for us to-day. Too cold and damp for me after way more than an hour, the Centre was open and the hot drink machine beckoned. Warming hands on hot chocolate, we sat and were entertained by the birds and animals coming to the well filled feeders outside the picture windows. Fewer birds and a smaller variety than in the past, the rain didn't help. 

Best was visits by two different Red Squirrels. The first shimmied up a tree, running across a slung rope before diving head first into a peanut feeder box, its lower back and bushy rain defined palomino tail the only part visible. The second chose a nearer box after running through the undergrowth. Delightful.

A male Great Spotted Woodpecker made a short visit as did Yellowhammers, Dunnock, Coal and Blue tits and Siskin.

Siskin

Yellowhammer

The ever present male Mallard lurked under the feeders waiting for a dropped meal - until a female turned up. She ran for her life (or virtue) hotly pursued by amorous males. One managed to grab her neck a couple of times - not the most sensitive of foreplay - but did not pin her down. 
Time to leave for Boat of Garten after a ten minute drive around the loch shores where the Wood Anemones were in bud. These were fully open last year at the same date.

We lunched off road, near KillieKrankie, at the Queen's Lookout where P and D was free for disabled badge holders. That was a surprise. 

Shortly after leaving the area, Pam called 'Raptor'. Our first Golden Eagle of the trip. As there was no sun, our entire glass roof was available to watch the bird overhead. For me anyway - Pam was driving !!

Yet more building under way in Aviemore and the Cairngorm funicular is still being signposted, despite it being very unlikely to ever run again. It was out of commission last year.

Our less than smart looking Craigowrie Cottage was a welcome sight. The lichen encrusted wooden fence and the rough, pebble, edgeless pathway does not give a good impression. The inside is warm, comfortable and well equipped and it's well situated.

Unable to access the internet, we drove to the Post Office which has the master router. No help there, but we did see our first Common Sandpiper from the bridge over the Spey. I rang  Property Sevices who told me that there had been problems with the router so there was a new one in the hall cupboard. The WEP key was on the back. Indeed it was, so here we are. Why not tell us? Pam is watching the Liverpool game on my IPad via SkyGo, sounds a good one to watch.........