Christine's walking & birds blog

Carn na Caim (Drumochter)

We had another 2-hour drive today before parking in the same lay-by and trudging up the same stony track that we parked in and trudged up almost two weeks ago! Four red grouse were flushed from the heather but didn't go far before dropping out of sight. Higher up were thirteen golden plover; at least three adults and several juveniles were present so this was probably a flock made up of two or more families.

Several small heath butterflies and one small tortoiseshell were seen. After reaching the point where the track divides, we took the left-hand fork this time and struck off across a wide, airy ridge, already feeling this walk would be more attractive than the last one.

Where we turned to the north-east to follow an old fence-line, two dark blobs on the path ahead looked like stones. Then I realised they were ptarmigan - with a third lying a little way off.

Reluctantly they got to their feet and walked away from us into the long grass - not something we've seen very often.

Perhaps they'd been feeling the heat up on the exposed tops, or maybe an eagle had been cruising; if so, we didn't see it. 

We reach the summit - Munro no. 147 for me, 106 for Greger.

We wandered over to the edge of the great bowl of Choire Chaim (reminiscent of Coire na Feola on Ben Wyvis) and gazed across to Loch Cuaich and Meall Chuaich  - destination of a hill-walk in June. With such a view and soft moss to sit on, this made a great lunch spot.

It was quite windy on the tops - which probably helped us beat the heat. As we set off back along the ridge, we realised that despite the breeze it was now quite hot. There had been only a few other walkers up here and they were long gone. Greger, who tends to burn in the sun, was very glad of his hat.

The long ridge rising from the opposite shore of Loch Ericht includes a Corbett known as the Fara.... 

..... with tor-like crags and a "dry-stane dyke" being a feature of its summit. Looks tempting.....

A golden-ringed dragonfly was hunting low along the track, and a mountain hare was spotted.

 In the distance two small patches of snow could be seen.....

 .....even though, on the way home, the car's thermometer hit 31℃.

It eventually dropped back to 28℃ - still, "Scorchio!"

// posted by Christine @ 12:46 PM