May 2019 started with a very wintry feel, with cold easterly winds dominating, bringing some frosts and even snow down to low levels for a few days..but it soon changed, and the rest of the month was generally milder and more spring-like, with temperatures rising, and even topping 25c on one occasion in mid-month. The weather was a little changeable at times though, with snow, sleet, hail, rain, wind and sun all being experienced , occasionally even in the same day!
So although May is actually statistically usually one of our warmer and drier months, my advice to those considering a visit would still to be to prepare for anything and everything weather-wise!
With around 18 hours of usable daylight, and all of our summer visiting birds now arrived, our local full-day bird species day-lists climbed ever higher, with 50+ species a realistic proposition, and the early starts (now 4am or earlier) for the Black Grouse 'leks', also helped us to see up to 9 different mammals in a day too!!
With the 'dawn chorus' in full swing, the wild flowers now in full bloom, and butterflies, Bees and other insects on the wing, a day out in the wilds in May in this area really could truthfully be described as a 'whirlwind of wildlife'
A few day-trips further afield to various places, including the Isle of Mull, RSPB Fowlsheugh and Handa Island gave me my annual 'fix' of seabird colonies, including Skuas, Terns and Puffins, and some decent raptor and mammal sightings.
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| Early morning at a local loch |
To give you an idea of what you may realistically hope to see if you are planning a future May visit yourself, I hope the following more detailed information, illustrated with photos taken in and around the Cairngorms National Park (and occasionally beyond) by myself, my friends or my safari clients (thanks everyone) will help - clicking on the picture enlarges it to full screen.
Wildlife highlights included:
Local speciality and upland bird species seen regularly throughout the month included:
Black Grouse (pre-dawn start required), Red Grouse, Osprey, Ring Ouzel, Slavonian Grebe, Red-Throated Diver, Black-Throated Diver, Goldeneye and Dipper, and from mid-month a few Wood Warblers....and a solitary Pied Flycatcher...
We also had a couple of decent local sightings of Golden Eagle and White-Tailed Eagle....several brief dawn views of Barn Owl, and a solitary sighting of a Capercaillie, Short-Eared Owl and a Merlin...
and It should also be noted that, due to their very secretive nature at nesting time , Crested Tits continued to be extremely difficult to see during their breeding season (April-May), and we struggled to see them well until they fledged young late in the month....and Crossbill sightings, with the exception of a couple of occasions were sadly, once again largely restricted to brief fly-over glimpses...
Mammals seen regularly locally by my safari parties during the month included:
Rabbit, Brown Hare, Red Squirrel, Roe Deer, Red Deer, Reindeer, Feral Mountain Goat, Mountain Hare (now a mottled blue-grey), with just a couple of brief glimpses of Sika Deer and Bank Vole.....
Whilst trips to coastal areas also produced Seals of both types, Dolphins and Otters, and almost unbelievably, on the 22nd, a brief glimpse of the 'Holy Grail' of Scottish mammals - a Scottish Wildcat!! Our first for a couple of years.....
May 2019 bird sightings in more detail:
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| Cock Black Grouse by Nigel Wedge |
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| Lekking Black Grouse |
Black Grouse 'lekking' is surely one of British wildlife's top 10 sights (and sounds), and our local birds continued to 'perform' throughout the month, with up to 10 cock birds fighting it out, though not quite as vigorously as last month, and a few females 'spectating' early in the month, though with dawn at around 4 am, and the performance only lasting for around 90 minutes on average, it should be noted that a very early start is needed if you want to see them...and that we have to view from a respectful distance to avoid disturbance........but with a quality spotting scope, this is still a highly recommended and memorable experience, especially as on a few occasions whilst watching the lek, we had a supporting cast of Barn Owl and Short-Eared Owl hunting across the moors and fields close to the lek sites, as well as a number of sightings of displaying Snipe and calling Cuckoo, and up to 5 different mammal species including Mountain Hare , all in the first hour and a half of daylight!!
Please note though, that by the end of May the lekking season is usually over, with the birds seemingly losing interest, and 'disappearing' until the winter....
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| Male Capercaillie |
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| Female Capercaillie by Steve Nicklin |
Capercaillie, despite numerous forest walks and drives , sadly, again proved to be very elusive, up until the 29th that is..., when we finally got lucky with great views of a cracking male bird from my vehicle whilst driving through the Abernethy Forest.....the first view of one on my safaris since October 2018!!... and a couple of my birding friends also managed their own separate sightings....
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| Osprey by James Ball |
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| Osprey delivering fish by Nigel Wedge |
Our local Ospreys continued to entertain and thrill my safari clients, often being voted 'Bird of the day', though with the female birds spending much of the month deep in their nests incubating eggs with just their heads visible, and later in the month, brooding young, sightings could be a bit frustrating, as we needed a bit of luck to time our visit with the male birds being 'at home' or delivering a fish or more nest-building materials.....though we did also see birds fishing local lochs and rivers on a few occasions...and even witnessed a couple of successful 'plunges'!! always a treat....
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| Cock Red Grouse on sentry duty by Julian Mihalik |
On our local heather moorlands, the Red Grouse continued to show well, with some cock birds even still displaying and calling whilst defending their territory, their guttural 'go bak go bak' calls echoing across the moor, and late in the month we began to see the hen birds with their newly fledged families of up to 8 very cute fluffy youngsters...
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| Male Ring Ouzel by Steve Nicklin |
Ring Ouzels were seen regularly in their upland and mountainside habitat, especially early in the day, though compared to April, they now became a little harder to find, as most were no longer singing or calling, and sightings were mainly restricted to male birds collecting beakfuls of worms, as the females were presumably mostly on nests.....
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| Slavonian (Horned) Grebe |
The extremely beautiful (and incredibly rare) Slavonian Grebes were again seen and enjoyed regularly on suitable undisturbed local lochs, with the male birds seen fishing and delivering food to the nests hidden in the bankside sedge beds.....though it is sad that a number of birders and photographers were witnessed encroaching unacceptably close on several occasions, despite signs requesting that a respectful distance be kept....lets keep our fingers crossed for a glimpse of some youngsters soon, for a bird that is only just clinging on as a breeding species in the UK.....
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| Red-Throated Diver by Nigel Wedge |
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| Black-Throated Diver |
Still on the lochs, Red-Throated and Black-Throated Divers too, UK-wise, are only really found breeding, and in their dapper summer plumage, on suitable lochs in northern Scotland and it's islands. Due to their general wariness of humans, most views we get are through a scope at a fair distance, and any decent ripple on the water makes finding them very difficult, but on a number of occasions, and with a little persistence and patience we got lucky and obtained a slightly closer look,without risk of disturbing them, and even managed a few rare photo opportunities....
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| Goldeneye ducklings |
The same could be said of our Goldeneye, with this attractive tree-nesting duck (yes, really!!) being a north of Scotland breeding speciality too, and late in the month we got to see a few females with their ridiculously cute youngsters too... nice!
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| Dipper by Julian Mihalik |
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| Dipper fledglings |
On the local rivers, Dippers always prove to be popular with my safari clients, being absent from large parts of the central, eastern and southern UK, and from mid-month we had our first sightings of the parent birds feeding their newly-fledged youngsters......
In the Caledonian forests, Crested Tit sightings were very hard to come by, with the birds nesting very secretively, and only rarely heard singing or calling. To give you an example, we spoke to a party of birders who spent 10 hours one day,walking round several local woods, without a hint of a sighting...though with a lot of persistence, we did manage a couple of decent glimpses, though you really do need to be familiar with their distinctive calls and song...
As I have mentioned previously, it is well worth noting that the colder winter months (October-Feb) are actually the best time of year for seeing the 'wee Cresties', as these characterful little birds can be frustratingly secretive, unobtrusive and almost silent during the breeding season, with sightings being much more difficult to obtain between March and September....
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| Male Crossbill by James Ball |
Scottish Crossbills are all too often the cause of much frustration on my safaris, with me regularly hearing their distinctive 'jip' jip' jip' calls overhead, and my safari clients getting just a brief glimpse of the birds flying over, usually never to be seen again! But on a couple of occasions this month, they were actually very obliging, with us getting some super views, on one occasion, even through the scope, of a splendid brick-red male feeding on pine cone seeds - marvellous stuff! Generally, photographic opportunities continued to be a rare occurrence though...
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| Snow Bunting by Steve Nicklin |
Up in the mountains, as I mentioned in April, although I again did not make a trip up to the the tops myself this month - the Cairngorm Funicular railway is still out of action - visits to the ski centre car park in the first week of the month when the snow was down to lower levels gave good views of a few lingering Snow Buntings, and those that did walk up reported some decent sightings of Ptarmigan as well, with both species now morphing into their summer plumage...though I have yet to hear of any Dotterel sightings....
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| Soaring Golden Eagle |
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| Merlin |
Up in the glens, bird of prey sightings usually become less frequent during the longer days of spring and early summer, with many of the female birds now nesting and many more hours of daylight available for hunting, and so it proved this month. However, we still managed reasonably regular sightings of
Osprey and
Common Buzzard and
a few views of
Red Kite, P
eregrine,
Kestrel ,
Sparrowhawk, and
Barn Owl (at dawn) just a couple of
Golden Eagle and
White-Tailed Eagle, and one glimpse of both
Merlin and
Short-Eared Owl.....
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| Cuckoo by Steve Nicklin |
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| Pied Flycatcher |
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| Redstart by Steve Nicklin |
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| Wood Warbler |
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| Golden Plover |
Other good or rare (to this area) birds seen or reported locally this month included:
Little Egret, Wood Warbler, Pied Flycatcher, Spotted Flycatcher, Cuckoo, Redstart, Bullfinch, Golden Plover, and rather interestingly.....a potential breeding pair of Fieldfare and a potential breeding pair of Brambling.....
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| Ancient Caledonian pine forest |
Adventures 'out of area'.....
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| Whinchat |
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| Black Guillemots |
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| Great Northern Diver |
A couple of trips over to the Isle of Mull produced sightings of sought-after birds such as Black Guillemot, Great Northern Diver, Golden Eagle, White-Tailed Eagle, and Whinchat.....
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| Razorbill |
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| Great Skua |
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| Puffin |
May, June and July are also the best times in which to visit a coastal seabird colony, so taking advantage of favourable weather forecast, the 9th saw us take a very scenic drive up to the north-west coast to the SWT's wonderfully remote and beautiful
Handa Island.
Black-Throated Divers were seen on lochans en route, and
Twite were seen feeding around Tarbet harbour car park, and even the short ferry crossing gave us super close-up views of
Seals, and
Common Guillemot and
Black Guillemot , and once on the island, after our welcome talk by the SWT wardens, we went on to see
Red-Throated Divers, Snipe,
Wheatears,
Skylarks, and
Arctic and
Great Skuas nesting on the moors.
Once at the impressively high cliffs and coastal stacks, we were treated to the unique sights, sounds (and smells!) of a seabird city, with good numbers of
Fulmars,
Kittiwakes,
Razorbills,
Guillemots and yes, a few of everybody's favourite -
Puffins!
May 2019 mammal sightings in more detail:
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| Red Squirrel by James Ball |
Red Squirrel was probably voted 'mammal of the day' most frequently this month by my safari clients - not really surprising when you consider that they are undeniably cute and charismatic, and now very rare and localised in the UK, meaning that many were seeing them for the very first time...
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| Feral Mountain Goats |
Feral Mountain Goats too are rare across much of the UK, being mainly confined to remote upland areas, but we managed to see large families of them on nearly every safari this month...
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| Roe Deer buck |
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| Red Deer herd |
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| Reindeer by Steve Nicklin |
It's always good to see Deer too, and early starts and a variety of different habitats on the itinerary can give us the chance of seeing up to four different species, though it is usually the local speciality Red Deer and (re-introduced) Reindeer that prove to be the most popular....though due to their crepuscular nature, Roe Deer are still quite rare sightings for many people....
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| Brown Hares |
Brown Hares were seen much more regularly than normal this month, and were often seen 'boxing' and friskily chasing around , with early mornings usually proving to be most successful for sightings...
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| Mountain Hare with youngster by Nigel Wedge |
Whereas Mountain Hares were actually quite elusive, not too surprising I suppose, when you consider that they are usually quite nocturnal, and their mottled grey and white coats mean that they are now almost perfectly disguised as a lichen-covered rock...
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| Dolphins by Steve Nicklin |
At the coast, we were lucky enough to get a brief glimpse of two Otters fishing along the shoreline of a sea-loch on the Isle of Mull, and decent views of both types of Seals and Dolphins at the Moray Coast
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| Badgers |
We did very well for nocturnal mammals as well this month too, a couple of visits to a local dusk hide produced lots of very entertaining Badgers, including one cub, and a brief glimpse of a Pine Marten.
Enjoyable though these sightings were, they were however, 'put in the shade' a bit by our early morning encounter with Britain's rarest mammal, the near-mythical Scottish Wildcat on a remote moorland track on the 22nd!! Our first sighting of one for a couple of years, a very lucky and truly unforgettable experience....
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| May is usually the last month that you can see the Cairngorms 'snow eagle' |
Summary:
Wow!! What a month that was!
After all those early starts, epic adventures and long days, I think it is definitely fair to say that I am feeling mentally and physically exhausted... but also very happy that I managed to really make the most of my favourite month of the year!
As well as being easily my busiest ever month for safaris (a big thank you to all my clients!) in mostly decent weather, now I have finally had time to sit back and reflect, whilst putting together this report, I reckon that it will definitely rate as one of my most memorable too... for the sheer enjoyment of being in such a beautiful part of the world, at (in my opinion) the best time of year, in majestic , incredibly varied, and largely unspoilt scenery, sharing marvellous wildlife sightings with fellow wildlife enthusiasts and photographers from around the globe... as far as 'job - satisfaction' goes, I may never be a rich man, but this'll do very nicely for me, thank you!
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| A hillside of beautiful bluebells... |
I know a lot of visitors to this area very wisely check out reviews of attractions at tripadvisor before 'taking the plunge' and booking - if you wish, you can check out my clients comments at the link below....Many thanks to all those that have made the effort to post me a review..... just cut and paste it into your web browser...
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g186537-d3335134-Reviews-Highland_Wildlife_Birdwatch_Safaris-Aviemore_Aviemore_and_the_Cairngorms_Scottish.html
If you think you know someone who may enjoy a taste of what I do, why not treat them to a safari gift certificate. They make a thoughtful and imaginative present, are available for any amount and are valid at any time within a year from date of purchase....
