Christine's walking & birds blog

It was grey and rainy today so we stayed in. But yesterday we drove to the Cairngorms, setting off half an hour earlier than we did last week. Greger dropped me in Glen More again, and I followed a road up behind the visitor centre to an old township; there wasn't much to be seen apart from ruined walls, but it made a good walk. I took a picture on the road up because it's where I heard a crossbill calling as it flew over - but that was as close to a crossbill as I would get all day.


Rising above the forest I spotted two birds engaged in a spat above the distant ridge, and getting the bins onto them realised that it was a buzzard mobbing a golden eagle. I got the camera out and switched on in time, only to find myself looking through the viewfinder at the picture I'd just taken; I'd pressed the viewing button by mistake! By the time I'd sorted myself out, the buzzard was gliding back down to the clearing, and the eagle had disappeared.

It was a fabulous day, blue skies and bright sunshine, and the mountains looked wonderful. Looking back I could see the whole Cairngorm range; these corries are to the south-west of the main ski-ing area, and are very popular with climbers.


Making my way back down, I sat on a tree stump in a clearing and spotted a longish bird sitting on a pine branch below, with Loch Morlich offering a good, plain background. Looking through the bins, I realised it was a sparrowhawk. I should have just taken the picture, because as I reached for the camera, it flew down and out of sight.

Greger took this picture high on the slopes, looking along the Cairngorm range across the funicular railway towards the corries in my photo.


He'd had a fantastic day. They'd opened another tow further to the east, which gave access to a nice long run which he thought was the best of all. The snow was mostly good although getting slightly thin in one place, and the views were fabulous. I was glad he'd enjoyed it; and I felt that although the birding had been a bit frustrating, I was at least getting to know the area, and - well, I can't expect the equivalent of an obliging tawny owl on every walk!

P.S. I mentioned in my previous post from the Glen More area that although I'd often heard tawny owls call in the daytime, I'd never heard one call twice. But, re-reading a post from a trip down south in March last year, I note that we went for a walk in Dorney Wood (Bucks) and heard a tawny owl call - twice. My memory isn't what it was. Come to that, almost everything isn't what it was.