Wildlife highlights included:
Local/upland speciality bird species seen regularly included Dipper, Crested Tit, Red Grouse, Golden Eagle (see pic below) and White-Tailed Eagle, whilst we also managed less frequent or fleeting glimpses of Crossbill, Black Grouse, Capercaillie and Ptarmigan.
Mammal species seen this month included Red Deer, Roe Deer, Reindeer, Rabbit, Brown Hare, Mountain Hare, Mountain Goat, Stoat and Bank Vole.
November is, in my opinion, THE month for seeing raptors in this area. With the combination of shorter daylight hours giving less available feeding time, the weather being still reasonably clement, no deep snow and plenty of food around, ranging from small rodents up to large mammals such as Goats and Deer (yes, they are on the Eagles menu!) and including staples such as Rabbit and Hares, and even Salmon, we have our best chances of seeing sought - after large birds of prey such as Golden Eagle and White-Tailed Eagle (see pic), if you know where and when to look.........
So, if it is Eagles you are after - book yourself a trip up here in November!
Still on raptors, as well as the two Eagle species, we also regularly encountered Red Kites (see pic), Buzzards, Peregrine, Kestrel and Sparrowhawk, with just a couple of fleeting glimpses of Merlin and Hen Harrier.
Crested Tit is always high on my safari clients 'wish-list', being a very localised and rare UK bird, so I was delighted when they proved to be regular visitors to my forest feeding stations, giving some excellent close-up views and photo opportunities (see pic)
Red Grouse too, is a very localised species, only being reliably found on upland moors, which is a fairly rare habitat around much of the UK, but we are fortunate to have some excellent and reliable sites in this area, which regularly produced good sightings (see pic)
Dipper too, is a bird absent from large areas of Britain, preferring clear, fast-flowing upland rivers over murky, slow-flowing lowland waterways. Fortunately, it is a fairly common sighting in this area, often perching prominently on a rock, and always proves popular with my safari clients (see pic)
Ptarmigan is not a species that features regularly on my safaris, but a regular client was very keen to try and see one, and fortunately, her visit coincided with a short window of opportunity where we had weather conditions conducive to taking a walk up high in the mountains, and thankfully, after a fair amount of physical effort and patience, we obtained some pretty decent views (see pic)
Black Grouse were seen at dawn on a couple of occasions on traditional 'lek' sites on cold, frosty and still mornings, but were absent on several occasions when I visited in milder, wet or windy conditions.
Capercaillie proved very elusive this month, with just one brief glimpse of two female birds at dawn , seen taking grit from a quiet forest track.
Crossbills too proved difficult, with our forest habitat sightings being limited to a number of fly-over flocks only being identified by their distinctive 'glip glip' calls.
Redwings and Fieldfares were seen fairly regularly, but became more elusive as the month progressed, as the birds presumably made their way further south, having consumed most of the berries in this area!
Grey Geese flocks in this area seemed to be all of the Greylag species, though we may well get some other species as winter progresses..
Whooper Swans were seen regularly on local lochs, often announcing their arrival with their distinctive, loud bugling calls.
Winter wildfowl numbers increased, with Wigeon and Teal being the species most commonly seen, though sightings of a Long-Tailed Duck and a Scaup were also reported on local lochs.
Woodcock is a bird usually only seen at dusk 'roding' over woodland, but during the winter months we occasionally get a few sightings of these beautiful, but cryptically plumaged birds feeding in the leaf litter at the side of quiet forest edges.
Mountain Hare is probably the most sought after mammal in this area, and it is quite understandable , as they begin to get their beautiful white winter coats about now (see pic), and are a very localised and rare species, being found only in upland areas.
Fish do not appear very often on my reports, but November is probably the best month of the year to see our Atlantic Salmon (see pic). These remarkable and often very large fish spawn in the shallow waters in the upper reaches of our rivers, at the very spot where they themselves were hatched several years before, having originally spent 2-3 years in the river, then another 2-3 years feeding and maturing out in the mid Atlantic, before undertaking a perilous journey many miles upriver, often involving negotiating high falls and rapids on the way - an amazing migration story!
So, although many people seem to get the 'winter -blues' as the days shorten and the temperatures drop , as a wildlife watcher, it is far from the case for me up here, with November now one of my favourite and most productive safari months, with lots of great wildlife to be enjoyed, and often in spectacular snowy scenery.....
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