April 2016 was certainly the coldest and snowiest April I have experienced in my 14 years living on Speyside! The almost continuous northerly airflow brought cold air down from the Arctic circle and the regular snow, sleet and hail showers made it feel more like midwinter than early spring! Anyone considering visiting this area in April would be well advised to check the weather forecasts, and be sure to bring the appropriate clothing!
On the plus side though, it was actually a generally sunny and dry month, which made for good wildlife-watching conditions, and with around 14 hours of usable daylight now, we enjoyed many memorable days out, with lots of excellent sightings.
Although most of the winter visiting birds had departed by mid-month, the influx of migrant birds north into this area helped bird species day-lists creep ever higher, with 50+ species not uncommon on a full day, whilst full day mammal species day-lists regularly crept up towards double figures.
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| Early morning at Loch Morlich |
To give you an idea of what you may realistically hope to see if you are planning a future April visit, I hope the following more detailed information, illustrated with photos taken by myself or my safari clients, will help....
Local speciality and upland bird species seen regularly throughout the month included:
Osprey, Black Grouse (pre-dawn start required), Red Grouse, Ring Ouzel, Slavonian Grebe, Red-Throated Diver, Black-Throated Diver, Goldeneye, Snow Bunting and Golden Eagle, with a few dawn views of Capercaillie, and a couple of brief glimpses of Crossbills. It should be noted though, that due to their very secretive nature at this time , Crested Tit becomes extremely difficult to see during breeding season (April-May), and we struggled to see them throughout the month...
Mammals seen regularly by my safari parties during the month included:Rabbit, Red Squirrel, Roe Deer, Red Deer, Reindeer, Mountain Goat, Mountain Hare (now a mottled white/ blue-grey) Brown Hare, Bank Vole, and a few brief glimpses of Stoat and Weasel.....
Wildlife highlights included:
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| Osprey in nest |
One of my favourite wildlife moments every year, is the return of our local Ospreys to their nesting sites. These impressive birds of prey always provide great entertainment, with there dashing good looks, aerial acrobatics and plunge diving to catch fish. My favourite local pair were reunited early in the month after a winter apart in West Africa, and were soon seen building up the nest, mating frequently and by the end of the month the hen bird appeared to be incubating eggs as the cock bird performed all of the fishing duties.
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| Black Grouse lekking at dawn |
Dawn ( now around 5am ) visits to local Black Grouse leks continued to delight and amaze my safari clients with as many as 14 cock birds seen 'performing', their incredible bubbling and whooshing sounds drifting across the moor, and on several occasions we were very lucky to witness up to 5 hen birds watching the action and some were even seen mating with there chosen partner - a truly fantastic wildlife spectacle and a great way to start the day!
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| Cock Red Grouse - impressive eyebrows! |
Our local moorlands also continue to echo with the unusual cackling calls of the cock Red Grouse,many of whom were still actively displaying from prominent positions, but from mid-month we saw very few hen birds, suggesting that many may already be incubating eggs.....
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| Male Ring Ouzel |
Ring Ouzel is always popular with my safari clients, presumably because they tend to breed only in remote upland areas well away from human disturbance, and can be quite tricky to find. We are fortunate in having plenty of suitable habitat for them in this area, and we were able to get decent views and photographs of both male and female birds on a number of occasions.
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| Slavonian (Horned) Grebes |
Slavonian ( or horned ) Grebe is not only one of the UK's rarest breeding birds, nesting only in the very North of Scotland, but in summer plumage surely one of our most beautiful, wit its chestnut, black and copper toned body, scarlet eyes and amazing golden ear tufts it usually puts a smile on even the most hardcore birders face! .... and we are very fortunate to have a few pairs on local lochs...lucky us!
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| Red-Throated Divers |
Also on our local lochs we were able to obtain regular decent views of two other very rare and beautifully marked birds in the rather dapper forms of Red Throated Diver and Black Throated Diver. Decent photos of these two species are generally quite difficult to achieve though, as they usually seem to like to keep a fair distance from humans.
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| Drake Goldeneye |
Still on the lochs splendid drake Goldeneye continued to perform their elaborate courtship displays, though with many of the females now on eggs their audience is becoming noticeably smaller.....
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| Snow Bunting |
Although we did not attempt any mountain top adventures in search of Ptarmigan and Snow Bunting this month we regularly saw a flock of up to 18 of the latter frequenting the Cairngorms Ski Centre car park when the snow returned to lower levels.
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| Golden Eagle |
Golden Eagle is certainly an iconic bird of the Scottish Highlands and one that almost every visiting birder wants to see. Generally speaking the short days of winter give us the best chance of seeing these magnificent birds of prey but we did surprisingly well this month, with lots of good sightings. Though most views were quite distant we also enjoyed several reasonably close encounters with hunting birds - always a very memorable wildlife experience!
Capercaillie too is another iconic bird of this area and early morning visits to the RSPB Loch Garten Caper - watch initiative ( 5.30 to 8.00 am from 1st April to 20th May each year ) were a little disappointing this month with just a handful of very distant views obtained. Generally though a visit to their hide does give you the best opportunity of seeing these impressive but very secretive birds, and without disturbing them.
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| Crossbill (juv/female) |
Crossbills are probably one of the most difficult of our local speciality birds to get a good view of. However, this month we did actually manage a few decent sightings of perched birds feeding from cones near the tops of conifer trees. Although I only managed one very poor photo.........
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| Woodcock |
Other good birds of note seen this month included an unusual but very welcome daylight sighting of a usually crepuscular species, namely the Woodcock. With one obliging individual showing well down to close range at the edge of a quiet forest track. Bullfinches are always a delight to see and we were fortunate enough to get some excellent close up views of these attractively coloured but increasingly rare birds.
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| Male Bullfinch |
As well as the aforementioned Ospreys and Ring Ouzels, other returning migrant birds seen this month for the first time this year included Wheatear, Sand Martin, House Martin, Swallow, Willow Warbler, Redstart and Common Sandpiper.
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| Great Northern Diver |
A trip to the wild and wonderful Isle of Mull at the very end of the month also gave views of White Tailed Eagle, Hen Harrier ( male and female ), a selection of sea birds including Gannets and Eiders and the much sought after West Coast specialities, Black Guillemots and Great Northern Diver, as well as providing some wonderful scenic photo opportunities.
Onto mammals now........
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| Mountain Hare |
Our local Mountain Hares, though they are rapidly morphing their attractive all white winter coats into their blue-grey Spring outfits, again proved popular with my safari clients, presumably because they are confined to upland areas of the UK and are therefore not easily accessible to most wild life watchers.
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| Mountain Goats |
The same could also be said of Mountain Goats and we were lucky enough to have many good views of these wild looking creatures, now with well grown youngsters.
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| Red Squirrel |
Similarly, Red Squirrels, being largely confined to Highland Scotland are always a treat for visitors to see and forest feeding stations again proved to be our best bet for sightings.
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| Red Deer stag - unusually close! |
It's always nice to see Deer too, and early starts and a variety of habitats on the itinerary can give us the best chance of seeing up to four different species.
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| Brown Hare |
Brown Hares were witnessed 'boxing' and chasing around this month in suitable habitat, though a decent 'action' photo has escaped me so far.....
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| Dolphin |
Dolphins are always high on most peoples mammal wish list when visiting coastal areas, and we are very lucky to have probably the best land based sight in the UK nearby ( about an hour drive from Aviemore ) at Chanonry Point on the Black Isle just north of Inverness. A visit at the right stage of the tide on the 29th gave us excellent close up views of these entertaining, charismatic and surprisingly large animals.
And on to amphibians!!!
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| Frog |
The warmer days saw the emergence of our local Frogs and Toads. I only started photographing these last year, so I thought I would have another go this year - I am actually quite pleased with some of the shots!
So, to summarise....It is only when I have time to sit down and compile my monthly wildlife sightings blog and look back through the photos that I have taken during the month that I really become aware of what a great time I have had, appreciate how lucky I am to live and work here, and see how successful our safaris have been.... and it would appear that April 2016, despite the unusually wintry weather, turned out to be a really excellent and very enjoyable month for wildlife watching in and around the Cairngorms National Park. With the returning summer visiting birds flooding northwards to join our resident species, the days lengthening, flowers (finally!) blooming, stunning scenery and the weather ( generally! ) improving, I can honestly say that I would not want to be anywhere else in the world than here in the majestic Scottish Highlands at this time of year....
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| Sunrise at Corran Ferry |
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