May,s first week saw the amazingly warm, settled weather continue. I was therefore inspired to take a small party high up into the Cairngorms in pursuit of the true mountain species. We had only been walking a while, and had reached around 2,000ft, when we had good views of male Ring Ouzel and male Red Grouse, on both occasions being alerted to their presence by their distinctive calls, a harsh "chak-chak" and a guttural "go-back, go-back" respectively - a good start! By the time we had reached 3,000 ft we had added several male Wheatears to our list, their smart grey, buff, black and white plumage giving them a very dapper appearance, and the views, of course, became truly spectacular in all directions. The gruelling "final push" up to the summit at 3,600ft was rewarded in great style, when our packed-lunch break was interrupted by a lovely close-up visit from an inquisitive male Snow Bunting in his beautiful almost all-white summer plumage (see pic). Our luck continued as we walked around the sheltered corries below the summit, when, within just a few minutes,we had good views of 2 Ptarmigan, their upper plumage beginning to turn a mixture of greys and browns, though their lower half remained winter-white, a splendid white Mountain Hare, and one of the Cairngorms Reindeers - giving us pretty much a full-house of the hoped-for species, Excellent!

Late April saw fantastic weather - high pressure and clear skies meant cold, crisp mornings followed by warm, sunny days - perfect safari conditions.
Safari highlights (as voted for by my customers) were several good dawn sightings of Otter on the River Spey ( a good way of justifying the 4am alarm clock!) , lekking Black Grouse, calling Cuckoos, Ospreys catching fish and delivering them to the nest, a hunting Red Kite, good views of Scottish Crossbills, and an amazing close encounter with 2 Ptarmigan.
With bird day-lists now hitting 60+ and mammal day-lists of 7-8, it is probably fair to say that we are getting into peak safari-season!

Mid April at last saw us enjoy some Southerly winds and warmer weather, and with it came some of our returning migrant birds, with species such as Ring Ouzel (see pic), Wheatear, Common Sandpiper, Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, Swallow, House Martin & Sand Martin all being seen in this area for the first time since late Summer last year.

Capercaillie always seem to feature on my Safari guests "wish-lists", but are one of the most difficult species to see, with many hours searching in suitable forest usually ending in failure, or at best, with a fleeting glimpse of the backside of one as it disappears noisily into the canopy, it having seen you long before you saw it!

However, help is at hand in the form of the RSPB early morning Caper-Watch , which takes place at their Loch Garten reserve between April 1 and May 20, with the Osprey hide and a specifically built new hide overlooking a traditional lek site giving us a much better chance of seeing this magnificent creature. With as many as 4 Capercaillie being seen on some mornings it is well worth a visit, and also means less pressure on other sensitive lek sites.

April started with the weather showing signs of improvement, with the Easter weekend being particularly pleasant, and ideal for safaris. However, with no Southerly winds to report, returning migrant birds were still very thin on the ground.
Despite the lack of migrants, day-lists of birds started to creep up into the mid 50's, with day-lists of mammals regularly reaching 7 or 8.
My personal favourite sighting of early April,s outings had to be the return to her nest of a female Osprey - to be joined a day later by a male who soon earned his conjugal rights by bringing her regular fish deliveries!
Another highlight was a close-up fly -past by a dashing male Merlin with a small bird clutched in his claws, which interupted our viewing of the (still mainly white) Mountain Hares in a beautiful mountain glen.
The Slavonian Grebe was seen to have transformed from it's uninspiring black and white Winter colours into it,s beautiful summer plumage with those amazing gold ear tufts seemingly glowing in the sunshine.
Most of the other "local specialities" continued to show well and I think it' fair to say that my safari customers went away very happy with what they had seen , if a little tired maybe, after the 5am starts!

Mid- March saw Winter return with a vengeance, with one 48 hour period seeing 10 inches of snow fall in the Cairngorms National Park -very scenic (see pic) and great for skiers- not so great for birders wanting to get to remote areas!

However,the weekend of the 24th/25th saw the winds switch from Northerly to Southerly and the beautifully calm, sunny days made for perfect safari conditions.

A safari on the Saturday gave 50+ bird species & 8 mammal species:

The Rivers produced Dipper, Grey Wagtail, Goosander, and Goldeneye.

Farmland's highlight was a great close-up of a perched Long-Eared Owl, it's prominent ears and bright orange eyes showing well at close range - sadly, it flew off as soon as I reached for the camera! Yellowhammer, Lapwing, Oystercatcher, Curlew, greylag Geese & 4 Thrush species as well as Roe Deer and Sika Deer were also all seen.

Moorland gave us Black Grouse (lekking), Red Grouse, Meadow Pipit and Stonechat.

Lochs produced 4 red-Throated Divers & 3 Black-Throated Divers and many other species of wildfowl & waders.

Forest specialities were represented by a beautiful male Crossbill seen drinking from a puddle, and several Red Squirrels.

Mountain habitat's best sightings were 20+Reindeer , white Mountain Hares, and a herd of multi-coloured Mountain Goats with 2 tiny youngsters.

Even the breakfast stop was enlivened by a close encounter with a dashing male Sparrowhawk attempting to snatch a chaffich from the bird feeders as we enjoyed our bacon butties!

A great day of wildlife-watching, and all with a fantastic backdrop of blue skies and snowy mountains!

Early March saw lengthening days and rising temperatures and more birds making their return to Speyside for the breeding season. Curlews were seen to join the Lapwings and Oystercatchers , their bubbling calls drawing your attention to them from some distance away.
I saw my first Grey wagtail of the year on the 4th March, it,s long tail pumping furiously as it sat on a rock in the River Spey, it,s gorgeous lemon yellow underparts showing well in the sun.
Our Winter visitors are still around, with good numbers of Greylag geese and Whooper Swans still being noted, with just the odd report of a Waxwing here & there, though Waxwing numbers in the UK this Winter are well down on the previous few years.

February ended with more signs of Spring approaching. The Red Grouse are becoming noisy & conspicuous now, their guttural "go back , go back" calls enlivening the previously quiet Moors, their red eye-combs becoming visibly larger & brighter. Oystercathers are returning to their breeding grounds along the River Spey flood-plains, their dapper black & white plumage & bright orange bills brightening up the still wintry scenery (see pic), their shrill "peep peep peep" calls filling the air as they wheel around in display flights.